Forget the MacBook Pro, Apple has bigger plans

Apple’s new MacBook Pro laptops will arrive. The 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro will be launched later this year, with an improved processor, a brighter screen and a new design. For many, these laptops will be different enough to upgrade, but if you’ve recently bought a new laptop or are happy with where you are and need something bigger, Apple’s plans won’t stop with all the laptops that tinguin Apple Silicon.

Apple won’t get up and soon announce any major changes to the macOS vision, but anyone who pays attention will notice that Tim Cook and his team are bringing two platforms together along with each iteration of the hardware and software. When the iPad and MacBook were clearly seen to be dealing with different areas and use cases, Apple has been bringing macOS and iPadOS closer in recent years.

Moving the macOS platform away from the Intel architecture and moving it to Apple Silicon has been a major change that has affected the design, software, and delivery schedule of Apple’s desktop computers. It has also moved the platform to work with the same silicon architecture as the iPhone and, more importantly, the iPad.

This will allow a synergy of hardware and software that would be impossible at Intel.

Apple promotes the ability to run iPadOS applications on MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. This increases the target audience for developers, but also blurs the line between the two mobile computing platforms. And, since the iPad is the largest district, you can be sure that the tablet’s interface will be the first, with commitments for the laptop coming later in the design process.

And the current hardware iteration works well along with the ability to use the iPad as an extension of a Mac’s screen and operate the Mac’s keyboard and touchpad, regardless of which screen has the focus.

In all this, one thing is missing. Something that would make the interface, hard programs and software have maximum compatibility. Tap the entry on your Mac.

This is where Apple’s latest patent comes into play. Titled “User Interfaces for Multi-Screen Devices” and awarded earlier this week, it describes a number of potential user interfaces, and the one that caught the community’s attention has been the inclusion of a stylus. Yanko Design has taken the details of the patent, including the pencil storage trench, to bring together a series of computer representations to illustrate the new technology.

Of course, the grant of a patent does not necessarily mean that innovations appear in retail units. Still, the direction of travel already shown by Apple is bringing the iPad and MacBook closer and closer. Starting with the basic chips in the center of each device, going through the operating systems and even the application frameworks, everything moves in one direction.

Apple is taking all the necessary steps to contact the Mac family. There is a MacBook Pro with a touch screen on the way. And if that’s what you want, you may not want to invest in one of the new MacBook Pro laptops that will be released later this year. There is something better left.

Now read the latest headlines in this week’s Apple Loop column …