Nawwww... won't happen anytime soon.
Pure sales numbers can be deceiving. If 17" laptops comprise only 10% of sales, yet cost only a fraction more to produce than a 15" model, that is still profitable. Companies do not often walk away from profitable products.
The 17" isn't a unique design unto itself - it utilizes the same manufacturing process, engineering, and support of the 15" models. Not very different, and certainly not different enough to be considered a drag on the other lines. Nobody is holding their head in their hands wishing they could dedicate the extra assembly lines to building 13" systems.
As far as the 13", the only reasons it outsells the 15" would be weight and cost. If the new Macbook Pros debut as thin and light as expected, that would eliminate one of the concerns. And, I could see the larger 17" form factor as being large enough to house TWO SSD drives, perhaps in a RAID, that would blow away performance specs of any rotating drive system out there at any price.
I think the 17" system is a gotta-have purchase for many of its owners, and the cost is a secondary consideration.
Pure sales numbers can be deceiving. If 17" laptops comprise only 10% of sales, yet cost only a fraction more to produce than a 15" model, that is still profitable. Companies do not often walk away from profitable products.
The 17" isn't a unique design unto itself - it utilizes the same manufacturing process, engineering, and support of the 15" models. Not very different, and certainly not different enough to be considered a drag on the other lines. Nobody is holding their head in their hands wishing they could dedicate the extra assembly lines to building 13" systems.
As far as the 13", the only reasons it outsells the 15" would be weight and cost. If the new Macbook Pros debut as thin and light as expected, that would eliminate one of the concerns. And, I could see the larger 17" form factor as being large enough to house TWO SSD drives, perhaps in a RAID, that would blow away performance specs of any rotating drive system out there at any price.
I think the 17" system is a gotta-have purchase for many of its owners, and the cost is a secondary consideration.