Apple is kicking off the very best week in tech with a rare Monday event, one it’s decided to call “Unleashed.” That could refer to any number of things, but at a high level we are expecting it to be about new, redesigned MacBook Pro laptops with Apple’s own processors. Will they be called M1X, M2, or something else? What will the GPU performance be like? Will battery life match the excellent quality of the original generation of M1 Macs? All open questions we hope to see answered today.
There should be two sizes, with 14- and 16-inch screens. There have been long-standing rumors that Apple will bring back an SD card reader slot, MagSafe for charging, and may even switch these Macs over to more advanced, Mini-LED displays. Apple is also said to be doing away with the unloved (except by a few) Touch Bar and will have a regular row of honest-to-goodness function keys.
There’s also a late-breaking rumor that Apple will put an actually good webcam inside these MacBook Pros. The disappointing webcams were really the only notable downside with the M1 MacBook Air and base-spec MacBook Pro, so that’s overdue.
The other side of that webcam rumor is talk that the MacBook Pros will have thinner bezels and therefore an actual notch for the webcam. That likely won’t mean it will use face unlock for unlocking the Mac — a feature many Windows computers have had for years.
What else? Tough to say! There are a handful of products that we’ve been expecting, ranging from new AirPods to updated Mac Minis — plus of course we need a final release date for macOS Monterey. We’ll be live blogging the whole event, so stay tuned!
Apple Unleashed keynote live blog
Watch the MacBook Pro keynote live
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