Apple’s MacBook Pro might get a lot more versatile this year.
According to a report by Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo (via MacRumors), Apple is working on two new MacBook Pro laptops. These computers will have several “significant design and specification changes” compared to current models, Kuo wrote.
The most notable of these are the return of the SD card reader, as well as the HDMI port. Apple famously removed most of the ports from the MacBook Pro in 2016, leaving only USB-C ports alongside the headphone jack. This may have helped the company make the MacBook Pro slimmer and fancier, but it didn’t sit well with some users, who rely on HDMI and the card reader to do actual work.
In January, Kuo said Apple is working on two new MacBook Pro computers, which would come with a revived MagSafe adapter, and more input/output connectors. Bloomberg had a very similar report, confirming the MagSafe news. Neither outlet said which ports, exactly, will be coming to the new MacBook Pros.
If the new report is accurate, it will probably make many photographers and videographers smile. Yes, dongles and adapters have gotten better since 2016, but having a built-in card reader and an HDMI port is just so much more practical.
As for timing, Kuo says these new MacBook Pro computers are arriving in the second half of 2021.