Apple Partners Applaud Rumored MacBook Pro Design Overhaul

Apple partners are cheering rumors that Apple will dramatically overhaul several features and designs of its popular MacBook Pro laptop.

According to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple will revamp its MacBook Pro to include a Touch ID sensor, along with an OLED touch-screen display panel above the keyboard.

Jay Gordon, vice president of sales at Plano, Texas-based partner Enterprise Mobile, applauded the possible changes, saying that they would be popular "on the consumer or BYOC [Bring-Your-Own Computer] side of the house."

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’Improvements in screen resolution, enabling Touch ID to support faster and easier authentication and lower weight and faster processing are all welcome additions that Mac fans will embrace,’ he said. ’At a time where most traditional ’laptop’ manufacturers are moving to smaller tablet-based form factors with touch screens and built-in LTE, Apple continues to enhance and offer a ’traditional’ option for computing on the run.’

In addition to these new features, newly released models of the MacBook Pro will feature a thinner and lighter design, and will be coupled with Intel Skylake processors, according to Kuo.

To accommodate the thinner design, the new MacBooks will adopt the thinner USB-C standard, as well as Thunderbolt 3, Kuo said.

’Apple is now and has always been an industry leader here, and I see this overall as very positive and strategic,’ said John Convery, a vendor relations and marketing consultant to Denali Advanced Integration, No. 87 on the 2015 CRN Solution Provider 500. ’My experience with Apple is that they are always ahead of the curve, and this ’overhaul’ is driven, as all industry change … by the customer, and to leapfrog competition.’

For partners, Gordon said that the new rumored MacBook features could eventually lead to better traction in the enterprise as organizations embrace a BYOC model to mirror that of personal mobile devices connecting to corporate networks.

’Despite Apple iPhone and iPad traction in the enterprise, Macbooks continue to significantly lag behind PC-based laptops in most industries despite better security, manageability and, overall, lower cost of ownership,’ he said. ’Consumers will flock to their closest retailer to get a closer look and purchase the latest and greatest. … IT shops in education, marketing, design firms and software development sectors will consider the Macbook Pro as a replacement to the laptops they currently offer employees.’

Last year, Apple, Cupertino, Calif., said it would release an array of new enterprise-friendly features for the MacBook Pro and iMac, including improved discrete graphics, longer battery life and faster flash storage.

According to Kuo, the new MacBook line will be introduced in the fourth quarter of 2016.