MacBook Pro’s two biggest problems may get fixed in 2017

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The MacBook Pro will be more affordable next year.
The MacBook Pro will be more affordable next year.
Photo: Apple

Apple just barely revealed its new MacBook Pro, but rumors about the next-generation model are already giving fans something to get excited about in 2017.

The next MacBook Pro will supposedly come with a much-lower price tag, according to one of the most accurate Apple analysts in the biz, Ming-Chi Kuo.


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The KGI Securities analyst told investors in a recent note that he expects Apple will bring big price-cuts to the MacBook Pro along with some internal upgrades. Kuo also claims the 2017 update will finally give the MacBook Pro up to 32GB of RAM.

Apple usually drops the price on computers a year after major upgrades. The MacBook Air was viewed as an over-designed laptop for the rich. Subsequent price drops and internal upgrades quickly turned into one of Apple’s most popular portables ever, so it’s reasonable to expect the same thing to happen with the MacBook Pro.

Waiting on CannonLake

“The new MacBook to be launched in 2H17 may support 32GB DRAM, eventually attracting more core users,” Kuo wrote, according to MacRumors. “This depends on whether or not Intel ships Cannonlake CPU on time in 2017, which features 15-25% less power consumption of LPDDR 4, versus the existing LPDDR 3.”

CoffeeLake CPUs will be used if Intel’s Cannonlake chips aren’t ready. That will keep max RAM support at 16GB for another year.

Apple unveiled the new MacBook Pro at an event at its headquarters in Cupertino last week. Major features include a new OLED Touch Bar that adapts to apps, providing dynamic buttons in place of the function keys. Designers at Apple also made the device thinner than ever. New internals were added for faster CPU performance with four USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 ports on the side.

Price cuts on the next MacBook Pro won’t arrive until the second half of 2017 though. So if you’re desperate to get your fingers all over the new Touch Bar, you might as well pull the trigger now and use one of these ways to get a discount.

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