2016 MacBook Pro Wishlist

In March, my 15-inch MacBook Pro will be 5 years old. It doesn’t have a Retina display or a Force Touch trackpad, it has an optical drive and a Firewire 800 port, and it weighs about 5.6 pounds. In other words, it’s a clunky, pixelated behemoth, and though it’s served me very well over the years, I can’t wait to say goodbye to it.

Unboxing photo from March 4, 2011

Unboxing photo from March 4, 2011

Here are my hopes and dreams for the new Skylake MacBook Pros that will supposedly be released early next year, in no particular order:

  1. Lighter. According to Apple, the average weight of the current 15″ MacBook Pro is about 4.49 pounds. Given the company’s unwavering commitment to shrinking things, I think I can reasonably expect that number to drop a bit for next year’s models.
  2. Touch ID. Because why not?
  3. Individually backlit keys. I don’t really want to see any changes to the key travel, but those backlit keys on the new MacBook are rad.
  4. Wider color gamut, like the new iMacs. I don’t know if this is technically possible because I have zero knowledge about display technology. However, since MacBook Pros are generally geared toward creative professionals, this would be a change that makes sense.
  5. Different finishes. Gold. Space Gray. Black. White. I don’t really care, as long as it’s not just stupid boring silver. Ugh.
  6. USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 ports. Because if I’m going to be using this laptop for another 5 years, it needs to have the Port of the Future. Or whatever.

Ok, now for some truly weird suggestions. WHAT IF:

  • The trackpad was bigger and had built-in Pencil support. Like a mini built-in Wacom tablet. I know: crazy.
  • You could change the color of the LEDs behind the keyboard. Psychedelic.

Mostly, I just hope the darn things come out soon. I know we’re waiting on Intel’s Skylake H-series chips with Iris Pro graphics, but I mean, early 2016 could mean anything from January to April, and I don’t know if I can wait that long!