Today’s MacBook Pro looks fantastic. I’m hoping it’s a first step toward what I think will be my next setup:

  1. A MBP like the 16′ but in a smaller size (11′–13′) for portability when I’m in a coffee shop or my kids are at swim practice.
  2. An external monitor that’s not as fancy as the XDR display. The extra space is very helpful for programming and video work, but I’d be happy with something more like the 5K iMac’s screen without the computer.

I have a ’12 15′ MBP that’s still working fine, but after owning it for seven years now, and switching to a 27′ iMac two years ago, I’ve really come to think of large laptops as strange compromises. They’re big if you’re actually using them on the lap and they’re heavy if you’re commuting with them. The screen is big, but not big enough to really spread your stuff out like you can on an iMac.

In reality I hardly use my laptop anymore in favor of the iPad Pro (all of Flowers of Transylvania was written on an iPad), but whenever I want to really do anything on it, I want to be using Mac OS. Even just writing, it’s tiring using iOS if I want to flip between my open draft, notes, and research or reference material. I love iOS for some uses (and I’m looking forward to trying audio editing with Ferrite), but I still think the Mac is the right tool for a lot of jobs.