Whether you follow Apple news religiously or just casually consume, you should know a second Keynote event in two months will take place this Thursday, October 27th. In September we got the introduction of the iPhone 7 and Apple Watch Series 2. A few weeks later we got those products in our hands along with the official launch of both iOS 10 and macOS Sierra (RIP OS X).
There’s been speculation for quite some time that Apple would be announcing new hardware this fall as the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro lines haven’t received an overhaul in the last few years. Apple has done a great job of upgrading these guys, but the body styles have stayed the same (save for the introduction of the 12-inch MacBook a year and a half ago). Better battery life, better processors, Retina display, and force touch trackpad have all made their way in to the MacBook lineup, but users have been left wanting a redesign. Not to mention, the MacBook Air models still do NOT have a retina display
It’s our nature. We want sexy new hardware. There’s a reason Apple releases a new iPhone every year. It’s a cash cow, because we love having our hands on the latest and greatest. MacBooks are no different. Now that it’s been some years since we had a redesign, we’re craving another one and it appears Apple is set to deliver this Thursday at 1PM EST.
We’re not entirely sure what to expect with these announcements besides the typical hardware upgrades. Will the screens improve to something more beautiful than a retina display? Will the batteries be stacked and maximized like they are in the 12-inch MacBook? Will the logic board be tiny, and yet packing a punch capable of doing heavy video editing and more? Will we lose USB drives? The headphone jack? How many USB-C ports will these new models have? Will the new MacBooks have TouchID like the iPhone? And maybe even an OLED touch, nav bar at the top of the keyboard? Speaking keyboards, will the new Macs adopt the same keyboard as the 12-inch model that has a minimal keystroke?
We have so many questions and so few answers at this point. It’s kind of why we love these events. There’s always a ton of speculation, but until Tim Cook takes the stage, we’re all in the dark together.
We’ll be watching the keynote on Thursday and you can be sure we’ll have a round up of some kind! If we don’t do a video for this event, stay tuned for an in-depth blog post summary next Monday. We’ll do our best to share the big news and give a little bit of commentary and insight into what we think these changes will mean for users and businesses down the road.
In the mean time, you should check out this recent blog post from Seth Godin titled, Hardware is Sexy, but it’s Software that Matters. I’m not sure if I agree or disagree, but he makes some great points. While we love hardware because it’s sexy, flashy, and new, what about the actual user experience? That is dictated by software and if software takes a back seat, then isn’t the user experience taking a back seat as well? Why not put just as much emphasis on making software as powerful and wonderful to use so that it gets us just as giddy as sexy, new hardware?
Have a great week and stay tuned for the announcements coming later this week from Apple!