Report: Apple's mini-LED MacBook Pro refresh set to arrive within weeks

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MacBook Pro keyboard
MacBook Pro keyboard (Image credit: Rene Ritchie/iMore)

What you need to know

  • Apple's new mini-LED MacBook Pros are expected to go on sale "in the next several weeks."
  • The new machines are set to come with Apple's new M1X chip inside.
  • Both 14-inch and 16-inch models are in the works.

Apple will begin selling the much-rumored mini-LED MacBook Pros "within several weeks" according to a new report. Those machines will also sport a new Apple-designed M1X chip, too.

Writing in the weekend's Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that we should expect the new MacBook Pro refresh within weeks, with the return of MagSafe just one of the features we can look forward to. New 14-inch and 16-inch screens are rumored, while faster M1X chips are thought to debut inside the new notebooks.

14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros with high-end M1 chips, MagSafe magnetic charging, miniLED screens, and no Touch Bars are in the offing. After delays, look out for these to hit shelves in the next several weeks.

The new machines will be the first Apple notebooks to use mini-LED technology. Apple already offers mini-LED as part of the iPad Pro lineup, with improved color reproduction and brightness just some of the benefits afforded by the technology.

While Apple is holding an event tomorrow, that looks set to be dedicated to iPhone 13, Apple Watch Series 7, and even AirPods. It seems unlikely that we should expect new Macs to arrive during the same event at this point.

Given the arrival of the Apple M1X chip, a new screen, and the return of MagSafe, it's fair to say the 16-inch MacBook Pro refresh could become the best Mac for a ton of people — although anyone expecting this thing to be cheap is likely to be disappointed.

Oliver Haslam
Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.