MacBook Pro may have first major upgrade in four years – EXAME.com

Apple is preparing the first significant update to its line of laptops MacBook Pro in four years, according to people briefed on the matter.

The company will use one of its older products to help reverse two quarters of declines in sales.

notebook updated will be thinner, will include an screen range touch with function buttons and will be offered with more powerful and efficient graphics processors for advanced users, such as video game players, said the people, who requested anonymity.

the new computers are submitted the advanced testing at Apple since the beginning of the year, said one of the people, who declined to be identified for comment on the product before its release.

The MacBook Pro probably will not be released in the event scheduled for September 7 to reveal the versions of the next generation iPhone, according to one of the people. The spokesman for Apple, Bill Evans, declined to comment.

Steve Jobs, cofounder of Apple, said that the tablets were the possible substitutes for laptops and described the iPad as a device “post PC “after its release in 2010, but the MacBook Pro and other products have shown an amazing resilience.

The sales of Macs, including the Pro line, grew 6 percent in the last fiscal year to $ 25.5 billion, while iPad sales fell 23 percent to US $ 23.2 billion.

the MacBook Pro remodeling this year aims to increase notebook sales in a time when consumers are taking longer to purchase or replace the iPads.

Research conducted by Apple indicate that customers update their iPad every three years or so, and buy new iPhones every 18 to 24 months, according to a person briefed on Apple’s strategy, which helps explain why the iPad sales figures have been falling relative to its peak in 2013.

the most significant addition to the new MacBook Pro is a secondary screen on the keyboard replacing the row of buttons with functions standards.

Instead of physical buttons, a screen similar to a track display functions when they are needed, tailored to the task or application in use.

The smaller screen will use organic light-emitting diodes (OLED, its acronym in English), a thinner, brighter and sharper screen technology, said Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst at KGI Securities, earlier this year.

the objective of Apple with the display dedicated to the functions is to simplify the keyboard shortcuts commonly used by experienced users.

the panel theoretically display the playback controls when iTunes is open, as could show editing commands such as cut and paste for word processing tasks, the people said.

The panel also allows Apple to add new buttons through software updates instead of hardware upgrades, more expensive and slow.

The new MacBook Pro notebooks, top line will be slightly thinner than the current models, but not narrow like the MacBook Air and the latest 12-inch MacBook, said one of the people.

The new MacBook Pro takes up less space than current models and the casing has less sharp bends near the edges. The pressure-sensitive trackpad is also slightly wider, said the person.