Thursday, August 29, 2013

MacBook Pro Haswell and new Mac Pro tower release date 2013

MacBook Pro Haswell and new Mac Pro tower release date 2013Apple continues to progress into summer 2013 without giving the new MacBook Pro a release date, months after it launched the new MacBook Air. Would-be buyers have pointed to everything from the lack of a faster version of the new Intel Haswell chip to the possibility of a full blown hardware redesign as reasons for the holdup. But now another scenario emerges.

One source tells us that the new MacBook Pro isn’t going anywhere thanks not to Haswell but to another Intel technology: Thunderbolt 2. The super fast next generation connector will leave USB 3 and FireWire in the dust. But if it’s set to be a core feature in the new MacBook Pro then Apple could well be sitting on its hands until Intel is ready.

Actually that scenario would explain a lot.The new MacBook Pro isn’t the only piece of new
hardware Apple is sitting on. Earlier this summer it showed off the new Mac Pro tower, an ambitiously

redesigned cylindrical tower, but also offered no shipping or release date information.

The lack of even so much of an estimate was curious; why wouldn’t Apple simply say when it expected to have the Mac Pro ready by? But if it is indeed waiting on Thunderbolt 2 for the Mac Pro, then it wouldn’t have offered a launch estimate because it has no idea how much longer Intel will take.

The same logic applies to the new MacBook Pro: Apple simply doesn’t know when it’ll be ready.

It’s difficult to believe Apple will go into the start of the holiday shopping season without turning over the MacBook Pro first. So if Thunderbolt 2, or whatever is holding it up, isn’t ready by that time then expect Apple to roll out a new Haswell era MacBook Pro without the new port. But Apple make such an extreme move unless its back is against the wall. So as long as it’s still summer or early fall, don’t look for the new MacBook Pro to roll out unless all its ducks are aligned.