Skip to main content

Apple reportedly pulling legacy MacBook Pro from stores in step toward new release

new macbook offers usb speeds 10 gbps possibly thunderbolt 3 pro
Image used with permission by copyright holder
As consumers who’re waiting to get their hands on an all-new MacBook Pro sit tapping their fingers wondering if such a machine will ever arrive, reports Monday suggested the company is quietly making preparations for the expected incoming laptop, which some commentators say could land in the final quarter of this year.

The arrangements include reorganizing the Pro line-up by winding down sales of the legacy, non-Retina machine, which last received an update in 2012, according to a report from Apple Insider.

Recommended Videos

Apple Store sources told the site that over the last week the tech giant has started removing the older 13-inch machine from the sales floor, news that admittedly may have some observers responding, “I didn’t even know the Apple Store still displayed the non-Retina Pro.”

At $1,099, the non-Retina machine costs $200 less than the Retina version. Besides the superior display, the more recent model is also lighter, slimmer, more powerful, and includes flash storage instead of a spinning hard drive.

DT carried out a detailed comparison of the two machines a while back, pointing out that interested buyers should really do all they can to cobble together the extra $200 for the Retina machine. However, anyone looking to get a new Pro today will be wondering whether to hold out till the end of the year, when the updated Pro is expected to launch.

Besides being lighter and thinner than the current MacBook Pro, the next-gen machine is expected to include an “OLED display touch bar” in place of the function keys along the top of the keyboard, according to the generally reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

It could also feature an ultra-shallow keyboard similar to that seen on the 12-inch MacBook, the company’s thinnest computer which launched in 2015.

A Touch ID scanner and support for Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C are also expected to appear with the next Pro machine.

As for Apple’s wider laptop line-up, Kuo says he expects the company to also introduce a revamped Air as well as a 13-inch MacBook, though he couldn’t offer any retails on what new features they might include.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
I’m worried Apple will skip its October event – here’s what that means for the M4 MacBook Pro
Apple CEO Tim Cook looks at a display of brand new redesigned MacBook Air laptop during the WWDC22

For months now, we’ve been hearing that Apple is set to announce a boatload of new products -- including the M4 MacBook Pro range, fresh iPads, and more -- at an event this October. Yet a new report suggests that things might not be quite so simple after all.

In his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman says that Apple is set to reveal these new products “around the end of October,” with the devices going on sale on Friday, November 1. So far, so expected.

Read more
An all-glass MacBook? Here’s what Apple thinks it would look like
Bladur's Gate 3 being played on the M3 MacBook Air.

Patents and clues pointing to all-glass MacBooks and iMacs have been floating around since 2011, and this week, another patent has appeared on Patently Apple -- a "glass housing" for a MacBook-like device. It has a virtual keyboard and trackpad, and there's even a separate patent for "finger devices" that would decrease the strain of typing on a glass surface.

One of the most interesting things about the glass housing is that it "provides I/O functionality." This means, that instead of inserting a separate trackpad or keyboard keys into the housing for users to interact with, the housing itself would provide a method of input and output. In some areas and contexts, the surface would function simply as housing to protect internal components, and in others, it would display information and react to user input.

Read more
The M4 MacBook Pro is apparently listed for sale on Facebook — but I don’t buy it
An open MacBook Pro on a table.

According to analysts and industry experts like Mark Gurman and Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple is expected to announce an M4 refresh of the MacBook Pro possibly this month and most likely before the end of the year. No event announcements have come yet, though Apple has historically held an October Mac event. But now, an online leak discovered by Wccftech claims the new model is up for sale on a private Facebook group. The claim is backed up by alleged images of the retail box, but there's plenty to be suspicious about.

While the images were posted by known leaker ShrimpApplePro, the information was sent to them from an unknown source. There are two posts so far, one with an image of the back of the retail box -- with comments from AppleShrimpPro saying to take it with asome skepticism -- and one showing additional images and claiming it's for sale on Facebook.

Read more