Microsoft’s hardware plans for the coming year, and a bit beyond, have reportedly leaked according to reports from Thurott and ZDNet. So what could we see announced this year? Oh, just HoloLens 2 and maybe a cheaper Surface Pro. And early next year, we could also see the release of the Surface Pro 6.
As we previously reported, a leak of Microsoft’s hardware plans has been making the rounds, suggesting big plans for the end of 2018 and the early part of 2019. Not only could we see the announcement of the long-rumored Andromeda device, but leaked code names and release targets strongly suggest that a next-generation HoloLens is slated for release in 2018, and a new Surface Pro will be coming out in the early part of 2019.
“The coming family of small, cheaper Surface tablets (basically, successors to the Surface 3), are expected later this year. The Walking Cat said these could be codenamed ‘Lex,’ but like Thurrott.com’s Brad Sams, I’ve also heard the name ‘Libra’ associated with these. Target launch date: This summer, I’m hearing, at least for some models,” ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley reports.
Additionally, the same leak mentions a device codenamed “Sydney” coming out later this year. Foley’s sources indicate this device is likely the upcoming HoloLens 2, which would be the first major hardware refresh since the device debuted in 2016.
“It supposedly will be lighter, have better field of view, hopefully be cheaper and, as Microsoft has said previously, will come with an A.I. chip inside so as to handle A.I. processing at the ‘edge’ for better performance,” Foley continues.
As always, it is important to view these leaks with some amount of skepticism, but given the number of individual sources coming out to corroborate Microsoft’s upcoming hardware roadmap, these leaks are more credible than most. That is not all, according to Foley’s other sources, we might be looking at a new Surface Book at some point in the near future as well.
“Intel eighth-generation refreshes of Surface Pro and Surface Laptop could be coming this fall. I’m not sure if these will include USB-C ports (I’d think/hope so), but I believe they still will include the Surface Connect port,” Foley reports.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.
Two new highly requested iCloud plugins just got added to ChatGPT, giving people who rely on Apple’s Mail and Calendar services a way to search emails, check appointments, and manage their schedules directly through the chatbot.
The integration is rolling out to all ChatGPT plans, including the free tier. You can access it on the web, desktop, and iOS.