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MacBook Pro Updates Still to Come, But What Can We Expect?

calaverasgrande

calaverasgrande

macrumors 65816
Oct 18, 2010
1,291
161
Brooklyn, New York.
the main thing annoying to me about the lack of opticals isnt that I burn discs. It's that I would have to buy a DVD drive just to load software I already own.
Of course as we get farther down the road with Mac OS all the old optical disc based software will just get obsolete. Which kinda sucks for orphaned stuff that isn't being updated.
Of course the only people that care about this are gamer nerds and music software nerds.
 
R

RBR2

macrumors 6502
Jan 12, 2003
307
43
calaverasgrande said:
the main thing annoying to me about the lack of opticals isnt that I burn discs. It's that I would have to buy a DVD drive just to load software I already own.
Of course as we get farther down the road with Mac OS all the old optical disc based software will just get obsolete. Which kinda sucks for orphaned stuff that isn't being updated.
Of course the only people that care about this are gamer nerds and music software nerds.
Click to expand...

"It is what it is." "That's just the way it is."

However one looks at it, Apple have chosen a path that does not include internal optical drives. According to many, the reason is that fewer people are using them anyway and so why bother? Even among the group that uses an optical drive, the number of occasions they use the device is simply not that great and is declining all the time. As the market has gone mobile, being able to shed the optical drive provides more freedom of design and enables a more compact device. People really are not enamored of hauling around a lot of weight. Just look at the new Macbook Air. It promises to be a huge hit because it is light, compact and offers the promise of excellent battery life. What's not to like?

Although PC manufacturers have not yet dropped the optical drive from their mainstream laptops, the ones intended to compete with the Macbook Air have and I can only guess how long it will be before the "full size" laptops drop the optical drive to shed some weight.
 
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tywebb13

macrumors 68030
Apr 21, 2012
2,942
1,626
RBR2 said:
That's just the way it is.
Click to expand...

No. That's just the way it isn't.

I use the optical drives all the time and want blu-ray in the new computers please. If apple won't provide this there are plenty of others who will (and do).
 
R

RBR2

macrumors 6502
Jan 12, 2003
307
43
tywebb13 said:
No. That's just the way it isn't.

I use the optical drives all the time and want blu-ray in the new computers please. If apple won't provide this there are plenty of others who will (and do).
Click to expand...

Native Blu-Ray support is supposedly coming with the new Mac Pro. We will have to wait and see if the same will be true for the rest of the lineup. Buffalo has a solution presently I am told.
 
E

emton

macrumors newbie
Jul 12, 2013
1
0
lombax54 said:
Same here...
Click to expand...

6 hours of reading/watching reviews and countless more hours sitting and pondering and wavering later, I too am waiting patiently with money in hand for the haswell upgrade to the rmbp 13 inch!

sigh... :(
 
prospervic

prospervic

macrumors 65816
Aug 2, 2007
1,023
1,178
NYC
Optical drive liberation

RBR2 said:
However one looks at it, Apple have chosen a path that does not include internal optical drives. According to many, the reason is that fewer people are using them anyway and so why bother? Even among the group that uses an optical drive, the number of occasions they use the device is simply not that great and is declining all the time. As the market has gone mobile, being able to shed the optical drive provides more freedom of design and enables a more compact device. People really are not enamored of hauling around a lot of weight. Just look at the new Macbook Air. It promises to be a huge hit because it is light, compact and offers the promise of excellent battery life. What's not to like?
Click to expand...

Indeed. Funny thing about the optical drive, in the last three years I've only ever used it when I was at home, and only once had the occasion to use it while I was out and about with my MacBook Pro (and that was due to bad planning). So, in preparation for buying my retina 15 inch MBP, I bought a Samsung external optical drive (it was only 30 bucks). It gets only occasional use, even with my wife and I sharing it (she has a 13 inch MBA). The Samsung has a little weight to it (probably due to the housing), and it sure is nice not having to lug it everywhere my MacBook goes when it's not even needed.
 
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Razormau5

macrumors newbie
Jun 14, 2013
14
0
tywebb13 said:
No. That's just the way it isn't.

I use the optical drives all the time and want blu-ray in the new computers please. If apple won't provide this there are plenty of others who will (and do).
Click to expand...

Then you should probably go and buy one of those, Apple aren't going to cater for the few when leaving it out means they can do more with the hardware that goes into them, so you will either have to put up or find another manufacturer. They certainly aren;t in that poor of a state to need to worry about the few potential buyers not willing to part with their cash for the sake of a DVD player.
 
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tijj

macrumors newbie
Jul 17, 2013
1
0
Quu said:
I was all set to purchase a maxed out 15" Retina MacBook Pro after WWDC. I did expect them to update the machines at that time and I was surprised that they didn't. But unlike some of the other posters on here I'm not mad about it. Dissapointed, yeah but not mad.

The keynote was very entertaining I really enjoyed the playfulness that Greg Fegorini displayed with the crowd and I really liked the unveiling of the new Mac OS X Mavericks and iOS 7. The Mac Pro was a bonus and I am also really happy that Apple is turning to PCIe based SSD sticks as opposed to the SATA ones.

So overall I am happy to wait. I fully expect Haswell, increased battery life, PCIe SSD's and 802.11ac networking (Already got an 802.11ac router!).

I think the reason that they delayed the machines is because of Thunderbolt 2. I think that for them is an important specification to add to a "Pro" notebook while the MacBook Air doesn't really need it and since the Air lacks a Retina display I think it shows they are willing to withhold the "Best" stuff from the Air while the Pro could stand to wait for something like Thunderbolt 2. I think that is also the reason the Mac Pro is being delayed however they obviously want to wait for Ivy Bridge-E before they release that machine so that is another fa<i>Craig Federighi?</i>
Click to expand...

Craig Federighi? ;)
 
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yrelyk

macrumors newbie
Sep 6, 2013
5
0
I do not think a Haswell 15-inch rMBP will happen...atleast not without a redesign. Here is why.

The Air obtained better battery life by going from a 17W TDP CPU to a 15W CPU. The benchmarks that surfaced for the 13-inch rMBP have a 28W CPU and the old generation has a 35W CPU. This suggests better battery life on this model.

However, the new Haswell CPUs that would go into the 15-inch rMBPs are 47W, up from Ivy Bridge's 45W. So Apple will either have to sacrifice battery life on these models or make the laptop thicker to accommodate a bigger battery. I see them doing neither.

Keep in mind that Apple tests configurations that will never be released such as the AMD Macbook Air's (with APUs) that were to come before the Ivy Bridge air's.

Besides lower power (and thus battery life), the only thing Haswell brings is better GPUs. Since the 15-inch models have dedicated graphics they do not require such GPUs. For these reasons I see no benefit of a 15-inch rMBP with Haswell CPUs. The 13-inch model can benefit since it has no discreet GPU.

/my 2 cents
 
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yrelyk

macrumors newbie
Sep 6, 2013
5
0
rezonat0r said:
Since the 13" now has essentially the same cooling system (i.e. two fans) as the 15", I don't see a reason they can't let me buy a 13" with 4 Haswell cores and 16GB RAM.

EDIT: Indeed, Apple always blows out their current models for back-to-school suckers. Any updates are going to come at least 14 days after that promotion has ended.
Click to expand...

I agree with the back to school suckers...I was one of them (the $100 gift card is nice) I ordered a 13-inch 3Ghz 8GB 256GB. However, there are 2 reasons you will not see a quad core CPU in the 13-inch model (yet). For one, the only CPU that would work (i7-4702MQ) is a 37W CPU (up from 35W). This would decrease battery life unless apple makes it even thicker to accommodate a bigger battery. Also, this CPU only has Intel HD 4600 (GT1) graphics...where as the 28W CPUs (which would offer much better battery life) have the 5200 GT2 graphics.

Sorry to burst your bubble but this just isn't going to happen with Haswell. Also see my post about no Haswell 15-inch model for the same reasons (higher wattage CPUs and the 15 will not benefit from better iGPU as it has dedicated graphics).
 
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yrelyk

macrumors newbie
Sep 6, 2013
5
0
laurim said:
I really dislike that people have started saying "dongle" when they mean "adapter". They are different things.

A dongle is a small piece of hardware that attaches to computer, TV, or other electronic device and enables additional functions such as copy protection, audio, video, games, data, or other services that are only available when it is attached. The term "dongle" was originally used to refer only to software-protection dongles.

For example, in order to use software called PlayBack Pro, you need the usb dongle to authenticate your machine (although they have made a digital version of the dongle now to make it easier for someone to rent their license). QuarkXPress use to also require a dongle for each computer, not sure if it still does.
Click to expand...


I too use software dongles (ProTools). However, do you remember PCMCIA or Cardbus ethernet adapters? They too used "dongles" to get from a tiny port to full sized ethernet. So yes dongle can refer to both.
 
AidenShaw

AidenShaw

macrumors P6
Feb 8, 2003
18,667
4,676
The Peninsula
yrelyk said:
However, there are 2 reasons you will not see a quad core CPU in the 13-inch model (yet). For one, the only CPU that would work (i7-4702MQ) is a 37W CPU (up from 35W). This would decrease battery life unless apple makes it even thicker to accommodate a bigger battery.
Click to expand...

Why do you assume that a 37 watt TDP CPU would decrease battery life compared to an earlier generation 35watt TDP CPU?

One thing that anyone with any recent laptop knows is that "if you push them hard, they get hot, the fans come on, and the battery is drained".

Many of the "power saving" features of newer CPUs apply to dropping the power consumption under light or idle loads.

If your use is "typical", a new 37watt CPU may give you much longer battery life than an older 35watt CPU. If you push them to the limit - maybe not much better.
 
laurim

laurim

macrumors 68000
Sep 19, 2003
1,985
970
Minnesota USA
yrelyk said:
I too use software dongles (ProTools). However, do you remember PCMCIA or Cardbus ethernet adapters? They too used "dongles" to get from a tiny port to full sized ethernet. So yes dongle can refer to both.
Click to expand...

But if they are "adapting" one port to another, that's an adaptor, not a dongle. Did they have an internal intelligence that, without it, the ethernet wouldn't work? Were they specific to an owner? Without that, it's not a dongle.
 
Galatian

Galatian

macrumors 6502
Dec 20, 2010
336
69
Berlin
AidenShaw said:
Why do you assume that a 37 watt TDP CPU would decrease battery life compared to an earlier generation 35watt TDP CPU?

One thing that anyone with any recent laptop knows is that "if you push them hard, they get hot, the fans come on, and the battery is drained".

Many of the "power saving" features of newer CPUs apply to dropping the power consumption under light or idle loads.

If your use is "typical", a new 37watt CPU may give you much longer battery life than an older 35watt CPU. If you push them to the limit - maybe not much better.
Click to expand...

Not to mention the fact that Intel moved quite a few things from the mainboard to the CPU package itself with Haswell (power regulators come to mind). Of course Haswell will have a higher TDP, but the mainboard will have less.
 
Diatribe

Diatribe

macrumors 601
Jan 8, 2004
4,256
44
Back in the motherland
So who thinks that the new MacBook Pros might get the fingerprint sensor? I for one think that would be really cool but I think Apple might be inclined to first learn from the iPhone, then put it on the iPad and then into their notebooks.
 
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