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How long before the 13" MBP dies?

R

Richard1028

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jan 8, 2009
1,577
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If next April's rumors are true, the gap between the 13" MBP line and the 13" Air will close even further.

Frankly, I don't understand Apple's laptop marketing scheme anymore. Other than to come to the conclusion that something will eventually be phased out. Right now folks are splitting hairs over two different offerings:

* CPU power in the MBP (debatable) vs.
* Weight and "thin-ness" for the Air

Not sure if the above distinction is worth having 2 different laptops compete with each other for the long term.

The 11" Air has a niche market IMO. Aside from a real OS it's basically a netbook or iPad with a keyboard. But make a few subtle changes to the 13" Air and this will kill its MBP sibling.

I'm writing this as a warning. I plan to purchase either a 13" MBP or MBA next May. Whatever I chose will be discontinued shortly thereafter. :D

- Richard (Personally responsible for the recent housing crisis and stock market crash of 1987)
 
The current lineup is messy, but the current 11/13" MBA is nowhere near the 13" MacBook (Pro)
Yes, It's thin and fast and it has an SSD, but it can't be a main computer for most people, for 1199$ you get 2.4GHz C2D 4GB Ram, 250GB, with 1199$ you get am 11" Air with 128GB SSD, 1.4 C2D and 2GB of Ram, that's basically half the computer

The 11" Air kills the market the iPad already killed for most, the portable device for browsing when you already have a good powerful desktop

To get the same value based on how useful it is you have to get the top of the line 13" with the 2.13GHz Processor and 4GB of ram, that will take you to $1,799.00, A tempting number for a slim MacBook Pro, but I'd rather get a 13" MBP and an iPad for that Money
 
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The MBP has it's own niche as a small, portable computer that can basically do anything - it's a fully featured Mac complete with as much storage as you can afford to put in there, so it really can act as your main computer while taking up next to no space. The Air has a different niche, its more portable than anything else like it, but unless you're happy tethering to external drives a lot of the time (and can live with the slower processor and no ram upgrade options) it's not going to be your main machine.
 
I don't think the 13 MBP is going anywhere. If they remove the optical drive, then that space will be used for something else (dedicated GPU?).
Either way, both the MBA and MBP 13 are aimed for different markets. Even now, the MBP 13 has a faster processor than the (high end) Air. I assume the next MacBook Pro will be faster than the air (just like it is now) to make the difference in markets.
 
Apple OC said:
The 13" MBP is not going away anytime soon
Click to expand...
No, but it's about to go through some kind of metamorphosis which will make it more "air" like. I'm just curious as to how Apple will keep the 2 distinct enough to maintain them both.

The MacBook will go before the MBP :cool:
Click to expand...
Honestly, for the life of me I can't figure out exactly why the polycarb MB is Apple's #1 seller.

For the paltry sum of $150 (given educational discounts), you get 2 extra GB of RAM, Firewire, and an SD slot along with a more robust design that weighs slightly less and is thinner.

I'm obviously underestimating the power of the color "white". :D
 
Even if the SuperDrive gets tossed out there are plenty of other opportunities to differentiate between the MBP 13 and MBA 13:

- RAM upgradeability and 8 GB max
- FW 800 port (replaced with light-peak?)
- Gig-ethernet
- higher storage capacity (maybe an HDD bay?)
- backlit keyboard
- iSight camera (1.3 MP versus FaceTime 0.3 MP)
- battery indicator lights
- sleep indicator light
- Kensington lock slot
- ambient light sensor
 
miata said:
Even if the SuperDrive gets tossed out there are plenty of other opportunities to differentiate between the MBP 13 and MBA 13:

- RAM upgradeability and 8 GB max
- FW 800 port (replaced with light-peak?)
- Gig-ethernet
- higher storage capacity (maybe an HDD bay?)
- backlit keyboard
- iSight camera (1.3 MP versus FaceTime 0.3 MP)
- battery indicator lights
- sleep indicator light
- Kensington lock slot
- ambient light sensor
Click to expand...

This
 
miata said:
Even if the SuperDrive gets tossed out there are plenty of other opportunities to differentiate between the MBP 13 and MBA 13:

- RAM upgradeability and 8 GB max
- FW 800 port (replaced with light-peak?)
- Gig-ethernet
- higher storage capacity (maybe an HDD bay?)
- backlit keyboard
- iSight camera (1.3 MP versus FaceTime 0.3 MP)
- battery indicator lights
- sleep indicator light
- Kensington lock slot
- ambient light sensor
Click to expand...

For many of these, one can make a case that the 13" MBA will one day have them. A year to 18 months from now the 13" MBP will need to a lot more to maintain its distance (other than a faster CPU).
 
Richard1028 said:
For many of these, one can make a case that the 13" MBA will one day have them. A year to 18 months from now the 13" MBP will need to a lot more to maintain its distance (other than a faster CPU).
Click to expand...

the MBA is really slim.. i doubt that apple would spend time with that machine to make it "similar" to the MBP.. one day sure, but not now and most likely not in the next 3 years. and in 5 years, the MBA would be called something else (i heard they are making it out of carbon or something like that.. even less weight and all!)

if apple does add these features to the air, there isnt a point to the MBP- and some people may not turn to the air because of its extremely light weight (some people are clumsy)... that being said.. what apple IMHO , might do is keep adding higher tech specs and things that would make the MBP a great candidate and hide them form the Air. right now hte Air has 6 hours of batt. life. the MBP has 10.. its gonna go on like this forever.. until apple creates something they think can replace both lines or one line..
 
the MBP is thin enough, like what the hell are you doing to need more thin-ness, that being said if you want such a thin device just go buy an ipad.

also apple wont be putting SSD's into the mbp by default.
 
Richard1028 said:
For many of these, one can make a case that the 13" MBA will one day have them. A year to 18 months from now the 13" MBP will need to a lot more to maintain its distance (other than a faster CPU).
Click to expand...

Your point is valid only if you assume that the MBA will continue to evolve and the MBP will not. Which is a ridiculous assumption - Apple isn't going to leave the Pro stagnant and improve the Air.

Yes, the Air 18 months from now might look better than the current Pro. But the Pro 18 months from now will look better than either.
 
As far as outdated by specs, yes the MBP 13" will get outdated with it's CPU, GPU, and etc. But, that doesn't mean it still isn't a strong, portable notebook that will last you many more years than traditional Windows laptops. Even though the current lineups use a Core 2 Duo processor, it's still able to run many current programs fine. And while it is not a gaming laptop, I can run Black Ops really smooth on mines with acceptable settings (I'm not picky).
You just have to know that everything get's outdated fairly quickly as the years go by (technology advances very quickly! :))
 
Becomes obsolete? I agree with one of the poster, become the MBP becomes obsolete, the macbook will be first!

I love my MBP and plan on using it until it dies on me!:p:p:p
 
shyam09 said:
and in 5 years, the MBA would be called something else (i heard they are making it out of carbon or something like that.. even less weight and all!)
Click to expand...

Any guesses of how long it will take for the MacBook Feather or MacBook Zero comes out?
 
Jdstew1234 said:
Future lineup

11 MBA
13 MBA
13 mb
15 mbp
17 mbp


My guess
Click to expand...
I don't see the 13 MBP going away. It is the perfect size for somebody that needs more than the MBA, uses an external monitor for serious work, and still needs something more portable than the 15" MBP. The only way that the if 13 MBP would be removed is if the 15" MBP got really thin and light, but even then the 15" is too large to use in coach on most airlines.
 
Apple OC said:
Apple must be fed-up with repairing all those cracked white MBs
Click to expand...


Seriously. Why haven't they fixed that issue? I mean you don't hear of other plastic notebooks cracking so often.

It's why I will pay the little extra now for the aluminum body than go with another white plastic notebook (and honestly, I also hate white as a notebook color, I really don't get why people like it).
 
I hope the 13" MBP doesn't go away. I need a laptop with firewire for recording music, and I like that laptop to be as small as possible. Unless they add firewire to the MBA, I would be out of luck.

Would probably switch to a Windows/Linux laptop if that happened.
 
Just thought I would chime in here. The MBP 13 and MBA 13 are very different. I had a maxed MBA 13" and when ever I tried to use to do anything remotely difficult it got hot and noisy (not super bad). The MBA is cool but too limited. I hope that the MBP 13 comes with dedicated GPU and a better screen.
 
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