WWDC is around the corner.

Time to dream up what would be awesome, and then have a reality check tomorrow.

Hardware

• An expandable Mac Pro with a competitive price vs. a Windows-based machine (Below €3-4k depending on options) . I want a machine where I can slot in 32Gb of RAM and a super great GPU (like a GTX1080 or something newer). But I won’t need it if the new Macbook Pro turns out to be perfect (see below)
• A new Macbook Pro that is really just a faster version of the 2015 Macbook Pro aka the perfect laptop
  • Brings back the good stuff
    • Actually has ports again: HDMI (full), SD, headphone jack, USB A (x1 or x2)*
    • Has magsafe <3
  • Removes the “innovations” that turned out to be actually worse than what we had
    • Removal of newer trackpad that is way too huge*
    • Removal of Touch Bar*
    • Removal of the Butterfly key switch mechanism*
  • Upgrades what is decidedly 2015 about the 2015 Macbook Pro
    • 720p webcam becomes 1080p
    • The 2 thunderbolt ports on 2015 Macbook Pro should become USB-C (Thunderbolt 3)
    • Newest Intel processor line (8th gen I believe)
    • A laptop graphics card option that can hold up in 2018, even when it comes to gaming (this would be a GTX1060 equivalent)
  • In terms of looks, I think the 2015 Macbook Pro is pretty much perfect and I don’t desire another look. But less bezels might be nicer, maybe?
• A Mac Mini with a Blu Ray slot to put next to my TV. I regularly stream from Universcine or other web sources, play Blu Ray discs or DVDs, and I just want to show my computer screen on my TV with the last amount of hassle. It needs to have at least 1Tb internal storage that I can access over the network (i.e. from my Macbook Pro). It should also have a big picture mode (like Steam).

Software (Mac)

For the Mac, I feel it is time for another “Snow Leopard” style release where Apple just works on the stability of the system, and doesn’t add any new features.

It happens too often that your machine might just lag for a bit when you log in to your account – or that randomly Spotlight reindexing messes up your entire workflow.

I have to dig deep to find things that I would want on the Mac that aren’t already there.

I would opt to remove some features that I deem crappy or replace them by newer implementations. For example the way fullscreen apps work in MacOS is pretty much terrible.

The Mac can take a hint from Windows or from apps like SizeUp. This would be one less thing to have to install on a new Mac.

Software (iWork)

For iWork I would love better documentation surrounding Numbers on how to do spreadsheets that talk to each other and that have pivot table-like functionality.

Also having an up to date documentation surrounding automation would be great. I imagine a website where Apple explains with screencasts how you can do your business administration using iWork efficiently, with example files.

For Keynote, I would appreciate a way to export your slide content as JSON, and deeper options on how to optimize image output from large presentations.

Software (iOS)

I am entirely happy with iOS, I can’t really think of anything I need or want.

But I’ve also largely given up on the idea of using iOS for actual work, so maybe there is some work that can be done in this arena. At some level it would be awesome to be able to do design work on an iPad Pro.

I am curious to see what Apple will announce tomorrow!

*I’ve never used a 2016 or 2017 Macbook Pro as my daily driver because of all the bad things I keep hearing about them. So I don’t have practical experience with the machines, but I don’t think I need that to know that dongles suck, and that keyboards breaking is just bad news.