17" going to be around in the next MBP re-design

what if you died before the new form factor lands and you never even had an aluminum unibody.... what then?

i kid, but honestly, the real action is in the photo editing you want to be doing... not walking around your new macbook like a chihuahua... that feeling is totally impermanent, like a couple weeks at best... then it just looks like... your notebook.

Keep in mind the new form factor may only have space for one drive. If you want to store a lot of files/music/movies and don't want to carry around lots of external storage, you may want the old form factor to be able to add a second HDD/SSD in place of the DVD drive.

not sure what the advice you want is since your desires aren't realistic - you can't get the redesigned laptops now, you can't get the ivy bridge chips now, so either go for the current 17" or wait.

diannao said:

Keep in mind the new form factor may only have space for one drive. If you want to store a lot of files/music/movies and don't want to carry around lots of external storage, you may want the old form factor to be able to add a second HDD/SSD in place of the DVD drive.

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This is what triggered me, I folded and bought a new MBP 8.2, 15" 2.4 Core i7, the new design may drop the ODD and I want to have the option of an SSD/HDD combo. I travel with work too and although Apple`s pricing is consistant taxes vary, saving close to $1000 verus the same MBP bought in the UK or EU, which is a serious consideration.

If the new MacBook Pro`s do offer a significant advantage I will trade the 8.2 if not I will wait on the release of the Haswell CPU`s if not the next generation. I generally upgrade my Mac`s every four years and my Early 2008 4.1 MBP 2.4Ghz Penryn is still a capable machine in many respects, however no match for the new 8.2 with Quad Core i7 and it`s just about time.

I would guess that the new MBP will come between March and August 2012, remember the present iteration of MBP is very tried & proven, a redesign will no doubt bring advancements. For all we know Apple may well keep the same form factor for the Ivy Bridge MBP as it`s all going to be down to the thermal dynamics.

The present MacBook Pro`s are tremendously powerful, if you can wait why not, if your present Mac is inadequate make the change, as they will always improve; Prenryn to Sandy Bridge is a colossal jump in performance, as I hope will be Sandy Bridge to Skylake...

In your shoes, I would buy now, as I prefer the system to have a level of maturity, rather than 1st generation; new design, new CPU etc, if I was set on Ivy Bridge I would still wait on the speed bump for everything to settle down, especially if the machine is primary/critical.

I think that if you are concerned enough to post, then you should probably wait. Those who aren't bothered at the idea of a major update occurring within a year or so of a purchase, would just purchase the current model.

Looks like you've answered your own question... Wait

You want Ivy, so you have to wait anyways. What are you worrying about? If you don't like the new model/design, bad luck.

id buy now. the current design works and it has an optical drive that can either be used or replaced for a ssd. the new thinner design might have flaws like cooling or may not be as sturdy. id def wait for the 2nd or 3rd generation of the redesign for them to work out the bugs. buy now im sure the top of the line 17" will be plenty for you.

funny, i just got one this saturday. i use it for work and also shoot for several wire agencies on weekends--so wanted the bigger screen for editing on site. I originally bought the 15, but found i can see so much more detail in my images on the 17 that it's worth lugging the extra pound (mine weighs 6.5 lbs on my postal scale). my camera gear weighs a ton, so adding a pound over the 15" model doesn't phase me.

as for waiting, it just depends on if you can live with what you have. i will probably have uploaded 1000's of images before a new 17" comes out, so not so worried about getting obsoleted right away. this one does the job great, so no compliants.

Aren't the rumors about the remake saying it will be much thinner and lighter?

Seems to me they may be removing some desirable items from the current 17" to make the new.

I know many speculate the optical drive will go, but I like the optical drive and in the event I want more HDD space I can pull the optical drive and put a second HDD internally using an opti-bay fixture.

Probably will have fewer ports, making it more dependent on the Thunderbolt Port.

If it were me, I would buy a new 17" MBP now, because what the new one comes out you may not like it. On the chance that you do like the new one, you can sell the current one and buy the new.

The 17" MacBook Pro is a great pick for the reasons you listed about moving every few months (using it as a desktop but not being a pain when you have to move around).

I would however also suggest the 21.5" iMac. If you keep the retail box, it really isn't all that hard to move around as well. A little over 20 pounds which is like three 17" MacBook Pros on top of each other. Very doable and os almost half the price of the MacBook Pro.

philio32383 said:

Good advice everyone!!! I guess I was just wondering if the 17" would still be around? All the talk is of the 15" being thinner, and adopting the style of a MBA. and the major reason I am hesitant now is that my '08 macbook had the click button and the two piece plastic body, making it easy to break. I don't like the click. I would like to wait for Ivy, because that would be a jump of 50-60x faster than my current model. But if apple DC's the 17" MBP... I don't really care what it looks like, but how it functions. One bit to note, I know many many companies are going with the download route for products. In the states thats great because download rates are around 3-50Mbs so no issues. Where I live in China my average is 40-50Kbs maybe I need the optical drive. I remember that Mac was of of the first comps to DC the floppy drive and about 3 years later it died out in all PC's too. Apple has always been ahead of the curve.

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Apple tends to be secretive about their designs...

I too hope their 17" model remains. The screen quality (for a TN panel) really is solid, and they're the only brand I know of that has 1920x1200 res, but also uses OS X -- both res and OS I adore.

And, by and large, Apple being proactive on ditching legacy technology was a good thing. (I was a PC person and knew the floppy, etc, would vanish, but de facto standards take longer to get rid of. Apple's ecosystem made it easier to do, especially as they (thankfully) use their own OS by default instead of Windows. They have a level of control the bulk of the industry could not have.)

I didn't expect a late-2011 refresh either. (Though, given the AC power supply remains 85W, anybody buying the early-2011 is at absolutely no loss, or might be better off since the faster CPU will require more power... and given the 17"'s larger battery, that is why the 2011 17" models outperform the 2011 15" models with the same-speed CPU. The 15" throttles even more since its battery can't add the needed power. http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review...-GHz-quad-core-glare-type-screen.50346.0.html has more to say, at least on the 17" model, but Macrumors did have a benchmark diagram showing the 17" being noticeably faster than its 15" sibling of virtually identical components (save for the battery). I much prefer my MBP over competition, but it is a fair situation to point out. Apple's engineers did drop the ball.)