It is no secret that Apple kind of missed the mark when it released the revamped MacBook Pro last year. With an insanely limited number of ports and upgrade options, the thin and sleek machines were practically an irony of their “Pro” moniker. If recent reports and rumors are any indication, however, it appears that Apple will be stepping up its game in the professional-grade market this year, with the MacBook Pro 2017 debuting a new color option and possibly featuring a nifty innovation for creative professionals.

Thom Holwerda of OSNews stated in a recent report that Apple was forced to rethink its whole strategy in the Pro market after the release of the 2016 MBP. According to Holwerda, immediately after the launch of the MacBook Pro 2016 with Touch Bar, orders for refurbished old MBPs practically went through the roof. Unfortunately for Apple, the orders for refurbished older MacBook Pros got even higher after the initial batch of reviews were released for the MacBook Pro 2016 with Touch Bar.

[Image by Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP Images]

This, according to the OSNews report, completely caught Apple by surprise, as the Cupertino-based tech giant was expecting a warmer response from its loyal user base and the professional creative market as a whole. Coupled with the aging iMac and the even older Mac Pro cylinder, Apple’s Pro strategy definitely appeared to be in dire straits. Thus, for 2017 and the upcoming years, Apple would be doubling down in its efforts to adequately cater to the professional market.

An especially interesting innovation in the 2017 MacBook Pro that has arisen as of late is a unique system that would enable the laptop to create content comparable to Cintiq’s Wacom pen displays. Cintiqs are among the most reliable and robust creative pen and touch screens in the market, being utilized by countless professionals across the globe. Apple, for its part, would be developing a system that would enable MacBook Pro 2017 users to use an iPad Pro as a Cintiq-like device.

This would entail the Cupertino-based tech giant to develop a robust proprietary software, but the hardware needed is already in Apple’s lineup of devices. After all, both the 12.9-inch and 9.7-inch iPad Pro (and surely the iPad Pro 2 series) are equipped with robust internals capable of handling heavy creative tasks. Apart from this, the tech giant already has a pretty capable pen in the form of the Apple Pencil. Thus, it would only be a matter of tweaking the iPad Pro’s iOS and the MacBook Pro 2017’s macOS so that the two devices could simultaneously work side by side.

Apart from the possible introduction of Cintiq-like capabilities in the 2017 MacBook Pro, Apple is also rumored to expand the color options for the professional-grade laptop series. According to a MacWorld report, the MacBook Pro 2017 might see Apple introducing a gold color option as a special creative edition for its MBP range. The MacBook Pro series has been characterized by its unassuming silver frame for years until the tech giant introduced a darker gray option in the 2016 MBP. With this in mind, there is a pretty fair chance that for the 2017 edition of the laptop, Apple might expand its color palette even further, introducing a new gold color option to spice up the variety in its professional-grade laptop series.

Rumors about the MacBook Pro 2017 have been consistently trickling down from the rumor mill over the past few months. So far, persistent speculations are pointing to the premise of the MBP 2017 being equipped with Intel’s 7th-generation Kaby Lake processors, a 32GB RAM option, and longer battery life. Unfortunately, the MBP range’s lack of ports and over-reliance on dongles is expected to continue well into this year’s updated laptops as well.

The release date for the MacBook Pro 2017 has not been announced or teased by Apple as of date. However, rumors are high that the device might see an October debut, exactly a year since the MacBook Pro 2016 was released. Pricing for the professional-grade laptop series is also expected to be maintained for the upcoming 2017 machines.

[Featured Image by Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP Images]