Apple's MacBook Pro Is Allegedly Going Back To The Future With Legacy Ports
At the time, Mark Gurman added some rather vague information regarding ports. He stated that the MacBook Pros would feature additional ports; current high-end MacBook Pros only come with a maximum of four Thunderbolt 3.
We're now getting some added clarity from reputable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who claims that the new MacBook Pros will see not only the return of an HDMI port but also an SD card reader. Apple removed both of those ports when it last redesigned the MacBook Pro chassis back in 2016. Apple ticked off many dedicated "pro" users by removing the HDMI port and SD reader, and it meant that they would now need to use a USB-C/Thunderbolt hub or dongle to connect to an external display or even read images from a D-SLR.
All we can say is, "it's about time," and Apple probably should have never gotten rid of those ports in the first place. But Apple has been better about listening to user feedback in recent years, which is why the company finally ditched the problematic butterfly keyboard switches in favor of older (and time-tested) scissor switches across its laptop family.
Another feature reportedly on tap -- which we have previously discussed -- is that the MacBook Pro will bring back a MagSafe connector for charging the device. Apple also nixed MagSafe with the 2016 MacBook Pro redesign. Given these developments, it's starting to look like Apple is going Back to the Future with the 2021 MacBook Pro family if these reports are indeed accurate.
Recent reports have indicated that the new 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro will use a more powerful version of its Apple Silicon, reportedly called M1X. The M1X will allegedly be available in a 12-core configuration (8 high-performance cores, four efficiency cores) with support for up to 32GB of LPDDR4x memory.
