Apple’s Shock MacBook Pro decision

Apple It is expected to announce updated 14-inch and 16-inch models MacBook Pro laptops in the next week. This should be the debut of the fastest M2 chips yet with the Apple Silicon M2 Pro and M2 Max powering high-performance laptops. But if you’re expecting Tim Cook and his team to light up the hall and satisfy their fan base with impressive macOS hardware, think again.

The MacBook Pro will be marginalized and pushed into the shadows. Apple has opted for a quieter boutique event in November that will instead focus on the launch of the Mac Pro.

This will be the final step in the transition of the Mac platform from the x86 Intel platform to Apple’s own ARM platform. Announced at Worldwide Developers Conference 2020Tim Cook has set a deadline of ‘end of 2022.’ for every new Mac to be released with an Apple Silicon chipset.

The MacBook Air, macMini and the entry-level MacBook Pro soon followed. After that, the iMac arrived along with the Mac Studio (which presumably takes over the desktop Mac police, but in the form of a mac Mini), with the launch of the high-end MacBook Pro, almost closing the portfolio. Only the Mac Pro remains.

The Mac Pro has many of the same story points as the high-end M2 MacBook Pro laptops expected next week. The Mac Pro takes power options to a very high level, far beyond what regular consumers need. It offers far more possibilities for creatives where speed and ease of development are key, and it does so in a way that can easily fit into existing systems and software. And that’s the last step of the promise of Apple Silicon in 2020.

The Mac Pro launch deserves a launch event – for some this is the most critical part of the macOS platform, the machine that unlocks “God-level creativity” – but for it to be the final chapter in the origin story? Where is the honor guard of “the best MacBook Pro we’ve ever made” leading to “the best Mac we’ve ever made”? That dramatic one-two is sacrificed for a more introspective ending to the story of Apple Silicon.

IT IS Apple’s story to tell, and no doubt geeks will spot the press releases when they appear in the Apple Newsroom. Still, I can’t help but feel that delivering “the best high-performance laptop the way only Apple can” is a story that needs to be told far and wide and complement the finish of the Mac Pro rather than being hidden to allow the Mac Pro to offer a quiet and focused denouement.

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