Kuo details 2021 MacBook Pro: new design, MagSafe and IO return, no Touch Bar
9to5mac.com
9to5mac.com
It's definitely something I like, but almost never use it due to using an external keyboard at my desk.
As for the MagSafe and IO return, that just feels un-Apple? Very curious to see if this actually happens.
In saying that, Kuo is by far the Apple leaker that I trust the most.
Literally every single person I know who owns a 2016+ MacBook has some sort of multi-port dongle they use with it. At this point it'd be silly for Apple to keep ignoring this. Besides, it's just strange to see a computer positioned for photographers, among others, lacking an SD card slot. And HDMI for connecting to TVs and projectors isn't going away any time soon either. So I'd expect them to add these two, at least.
As for the touch bar, if I were Apple, I'd have made it an optional upgrade a long time ago. It's always been very divisive.
That seems like a good reason to actually use an adapter, as outside of photography and similar niches, an SD card slot is not very commonly used. In the past it was used by most people, but nowadays non-enthusiast photographers don't really use much beyond their phones.
HDMI I could somewhat see as more likely due to how ubiquitous it is, but it very much feels like a step backwards.
USB-C is great because it's a port that can be anything. The world is moving more towards it in general; Apple conceding and going back to specific ports IMO would be a bad move for the industry in general.