With a new year comes new tech. For the next few weeks, I plan on making some wishlist for some Apple products that I’d like to see this year. While some of these wishes are based on rumors, some of these are just wishes.

With that in mind, here is my wishlist for the Mac in 2020.

Magic Keyboards

I’m going to start with a softball here.

Apple started off 2015 by introducing the Butterfly keyboard when it introduced the MacBook. The claim, as everyone knows by now, was a better typing experience. The keys were supposed to be more stable and provide users with a slimmer laptop. It also brought with it numerous problems and issues and updates that never solved the issue– although the word is still out on the latest update). Users grew to hate and distrust the keyboard.

I did get to test out a MacBook Air while I reviewed it, but I never felt like the keyboard was a huge issue. I didn’t have the laptop long enough to really experience the problem. Still, I won’t miss the Butterfly Keyboard.

Apple closed out the year by introducing the new MacBook Pro 16-inch that brought a new keyboard with it. I haven’t had more than a couple of minutes with it in the store, but the keyboard felt pretty good.

Apple used the same mechanism that it uses in the current Magic Keyboard, which I use pretty often on my iMac. It’s a great typing experience, and I’ve never had an issue with it.

I expect Apple to slowly roll this keyboard out to the rest of the Laptop line eventually. A mass rollout isn’t expected, but a gradual update throughout the years is. I expect the MacBook Pro 13-inch to be the next laptop to get the keyboard, but I wouldn’t expect it until Spring.

Apple’s rhetoric about the keyboard has been interesting since the new keyboard. They haven’t committed to rolling it out, and have said that they will continue to push the butterfly keyboard in new directions. Will the MacBook Air keep the butterfly switches to keep its slim profile? I would imagine that the Smart Folio Keyboard will keep using the butterfly switches since there haven’t been any issues with it, but will laptops keep using it?

I hope not! A new MacBook Air might be in my future, once they are released.

An ARM laptop

While I really doubt it will happen, I think Apple will eventually transition the Mac to its own ARM processors. There are just so many benefits to owning the entire system.

Right now, the development of laptops is slowed by the development of intel chips. If Intel can’t push out the chips needed, the MacBook languishes.

Apple’s chips are getting better each year. The last update to the iPad Pro brought it in line with many currently shipping laptops. So could the MacBook benefit from the same chip?

Using an ARM chip would give them the control they want in the widget while providing more power and battery life. The problem is that there isn’t an ARM chip powerful enough to bring the power to pro machines like the Mac Pro. Not yet at least.

So if Apple were to start rolling out the ARM chip, they couldn’t do it all at one time. They would need to split macOS to run on the ARM system or on Intel, or they would need to build in an emulator of some type. None of these is the best option.

I wouldn’t cross out the return of the MacBook 12-inch with a new keyboard and new processor.

But I also think that Apple wants to really push the iPad as the future of what a computer is.

Bug-Free OS

Here’s another softball. I know that Apple was under a lot of pressure to meet deadlines and bring new things into macOS, iOS, and iPadOS this year. But with all the new features can new ways to do things, new under-the-hood features, and more.

Sadly, most of it is buggy.

Now, I haven’t really had too many bugs afflict me during work time, but my Macs have been used as much as my iPad has lately. Still, Apple software this cycle has been super buggy.

For instance, unlocking my Mac with my Apple watch rarely works. Authenticating with Apple Watch has worked maybe once. This should be a really amazing feature that could enhance using a Mac, but really, it has just been a letdown.

That’s just me though. I’ve heard that other users are having rougher times than I am with macOS.

I would love for Apple to slow down a little bit and really firm up the Operating system.

iOS Apps

Catalina was supposed to iPad app easier to port to macOS, but that really hasn’t happened. I don’t think that this feature has been accepted by developers because it isn’t that good.

The rocky nature of all of Apple’s OSes has caused developers to spend more time making the apps work on their natural system. They haven’t had time to spend making an iPad app work on macOS, because there’s really not much need.

It would be nice to see more apps ported and cross-platform, but there’s no real reason to bring things to Mac. The Mac App Store isn’t thriving. There’s no promise that sinking time into porting an App will bring about any kind of profit. The Mac App Store is kind of stale.

It didn’t help that when Apple unveiled Catalyst it almost made it obsolete just moments later when it introduced SwiftUI. I would imagine that most forward-thinking developers are building their new apps with SwiftUI since you’ll be able to scale that app much more easily than with Catalyst.

Developers will be able to build one codebase for apps that go from Apple Watch all the way to the Mac or Apple TV.

That is the future that I want. I can’t wait to really get all the apps that I want to cross both systems, then using iCloud, everything is where I want it to be. Right now, there are slimmed down apps on iOS and iPadOS and more advanced versions on Mac.

More Affordable

Finally, I’d love for Macs to be more affordable.

Listen, I definitely understand that features and progress cost money. I don’t mind paying more money if there are huge advancements. But I also know that I don’t want to spend $1400 for a laptop that I’m not going to use as much as my iPad (which is also pretty expensive).

Apple struck the best balance of price and features with the previous version of the MacBook Air. It was such a great laptop and everyone knew it. It had a great processor and could do plenty of work for most people, and it was one of the cheapest laptops Apple made.

Now, the MacBook Air has the perception that it is underpowered and expensive. iCloud has really come a long way, and cloud storage, in general, has helped not need as much hard drive space as the previous decade, but the capacity that Apple offers in its cheapest laptop just seems too small. I don’t think I could live on 128 GB that the laptop offers.

I would love for Apple to bring the price of its Macs down, but I doubt it will really happen. They keep adding new things to them like the touchbar that most users won’t ever really use.

Security

Security is an area where Apple has made pretty great leaps lately. They’ve added the T2 chip to most modern macs (although not the newest iMac) which has brought many security features to the Mac such as the encrypted storage and Activation lock.

I’d like Apple to bring that to every Mac since it missed the iMac update in 2019.

I’d also like the Mac, at least the iMac to bring FaceID. FaceID is great on the iPhone and iPad, and the Mac needs it too. It might help since unlock with Apple Watch is so bad, especially with multiple users.

More Updates

Finally, I want Mac systems to get more updates. It took 6 years for Apple to bring out a new Mac Pro. The iMac hasn’t gotten a new design in almost a decade. While there has only been one version of the iMac Pro, it has been two years since it was updated. Will the iMac Pro languish for six years like the Mac Pro? Who knows?

I don’t think Apple needs to announce a new Mac every six-months, but I don’t think its systems need to languish for years. They could at least update the chips inside once a year. I’m not sure anyone could complain about there being more updates.

Wrap up

I love my Macs. I might not use them like I do my iPhone or iPad these days, but I do still love them. They offer power and grace in a great -and expensive- package.

But I don’t want the Mac to languish. If Apple is going to keep making them, I want them to keep pushing them forward. The Mac Pro and the MacBook Pro 16 have been great additions to the Mac in 2019, now, let’s see what Apple can do in 2020.

Is there anything you want to see in the Mac that I didn’t cover here? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter!

Also, check out my opinions on the MacBook Air and my iMac.