- Hoping to use one of its older products to help reverse two quarters of sliding sales, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is prepping the first significant overhaul to its MacBook Pro laptops in more than four years, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
- The new Pros will be thinner, have a touch screen strip for function keys, and will be offered with more powerful and efficient graphics processors for expert users like video gamers.
- Mac sales have proved to be surprisingly resilient in the age of the tablet, rising 6% last fiscal year to $25.5B while iPad sales fell 23% to $23.2B. This set of changes is aimed at boosting notebook sales as consumers take longer to buy or replace their iPads.
- The biggest addition to the new model is a secondary display above the keyboard that replaces the standard function key row. Instead of physical keys, a strip-like screen will present functions on an as-needed basis, depending on the current task or application.
- As for timing, it's not clear, but don't look for the new MacBook Pros to debut at the Sept. 7 iPhone event.