[dougbarrett]

I don't see the 13" MBP sticking around much longer. At this point, the differences between the Air and 13" MBP are minimal, so I see them eventually adding a few more cores to the air, possibly giving that some of the aesthetic treatment of these new Pro's, and removing the 13" from the lineup.

It's possible the Apple employee knows something we don't, but it doesn't make sense to keep it around since there is nothing particularly Pro about it when comparing it to the new machines.

[gnicholas]

That was my feeling as well, but when I talked to this employee he pointed out that they've always had a low-end MBP that's available for much less than $2k. If they ditch the 13" MBP then the cheapest MBP will be pretty expensive.

It is possible that they'll get rid of it and make the MBP line truly 'Pro'-only. But I hope not, especially if that means that you can't get more ports/connectivity without dropping 2 grand on a laptop...

[raihansaputra]

Yeah the MBP always has a more low end SKU (single fan, low memory, etc). I think since retina came out.

Maybe it was that way to get Retina displays to more people. It wasn't possible to package Retina on an MBA with onboard GPU with lower thermal dissipation (1st retina MBA only came out in ~2019 with horrible thermal issues, and also the 12" MacBook failure).

I wish Apple would instead transition the cheap MBP to an MBA+ or high spec MBA instead. More ports, more display capabilities, but not far more GPU or CPU power. The base M1 is fine power wise. Just more RAM, and more usability in port selection. Or even a 15" MBA using previous-gen's MBP LCD panels.