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New MBP update/redesign cost more than the current MBP?

I

insignificantMB

macrumors member
Original poster
When the new Macbook Pro comes out, montevina chip update, or possible redesign.. will apple raise the current price?
I heard for laptops they raise the price, but for like iphones and ipods, they don't.
 
insignificantMB said:
When the new Macbook Pro comes out, montevina chip update, or possible redesign.. will apple raise the current price?
I heard for laptops they raise the price, but for like iphones and ipods, they don't.
Click to expand...

typically Apple keeps the price point the same for each of its product lines. Every once in a while there is a "re-alignment", but typically stay in the same price range. I think the MBP price points are pretty similar to when they were the G4 powerbooks.
 
I heard that the truly redesigned MBP that we'll see at MacWorld was going to be priced at $199 in order to attract new customers.
 
Scottyk9 said:
typically Apple keeps the price point the same for each of its product lines. Every once in a while there is a "re-alignment", but typically stay in the same price range. I think the MBP price points are pretty similar to when they were the G4 powerbooks.
Click to expand...

oh, thats good to know
hmm, does anyone know when the redesign of the MBP will be? if it isnt on the new montevina MBPs...
 
insignificantMB said:
oh, thats good to know
hmm, does anyone know when the redesign of the MBP will be? if it isnt on the new montevina MBPs...
Click to expand...

how do you improve on perfection 😉

anything you hear right now will be a "guess"
but that is why it is MacRumors

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insignificantMB said:
When the new Macbook Pro comes out, montevina chip update, or possible redesign.. will apple raise the current price?
I heard for laptops they raise the price, but for like iphones and ipods, they don't.
Click to expand...
FWIW, there's a "Buyer's Guide" tab underneath the search bar towards the top-right of the screen.

It's an awesome way to research when Apple's done updates on products, and how much they cost.

Looks like Apple's base 15" laptop price has been $1999 since Tuesday September 16, 2003.
 
ok so I need a MBP before I go to college, so if I buy the current one and lets say the montevina ones come out a week later, can I exchange for a montevina MBP?
 
redalert2317 said:
ok so I need a MBP before I go to college, so if I buy the current one and lets say the montevina ones come out a week later, can I exchange for a montevina MBP?
Click to expand...
If it's a config-to-order from Apple.com, no.

If it's a stock model, unopened, and within 14 days, yes, for no fee. You simply return it for a refund and then buy the new one.

If it's a stock model and opened, you can return it for a 10% restock fee and then buy the new one. Some folks have been able to get that fee waived, but that's not normal operating procedures.
 
Who says they'll come out with a new design?

The MBP/Powerbook has had the same design since 5 years, and in my opinion, for as long as

1) there's no serious competition to MBP from other companies, and
2) Apple users keep wanting to haul around optical drives,

there won't be updates. I personally would love to have something lighter and thinner (I probably will get yelled at for daring to have this opinion), but am not expecting updates to the design before, maybe, sometimes next year.
 
I'm not sure about #1.

It used to be pretty rare to find a Windows laptop that was 1" thick and around 5 pounds, but Dell's been pumping out 1530s and now their new Studio lines that are closer dimension and spec wise to the MBP than ever.

It irks me every time my roommate hooks his 1530 up to the HDTV in the living room via the 1530's included HDMI-out and then pulls the remote out of the ExpressCard slot. 😱
 
aristobrat said:
I'm not sure about #1.

It used to be pretty rare to find a Windows laptop that was 1" thick and around 5 pounds, but Dell's been pumping out 1530s and now their new Studio lines that are closer dimension and spec wise to the MBP than ever.

It irks me every time my roommate hooks his 1530 up to the HDTV in the living room via the 1530's included HDMI-out and then pulls the remote out of the ExpressCard slot. 😱
Click to expand...

You get those Dells running Mac OS X reliably and then we'll talk about competition.
 
raejae said:
You get those Dells running Mac OS X reliably and then we'll talk about competition.
Click to expand...

That may be why you don't see them as competition, but we're talking about the larger market here. Most PC users don't know that there's a reason to prefer OS X, so that's not a factor in their purchase. The other specs mentioned for the Dells are.

However, if they were real competition for Apple, then we wouldn't be seeing Apple's consistent gain in market share... which interestingly corresponds pretty well to Dell's loss in market share...
 
raejae said:
You get those Dells running Mac OS X reliably and then we'll talk about competition.
Click to expand...
I'm just saying that up until the last few months, MBPs had size/weight, specs, and OS X going for it.

Now, in a lot of cases, it seems like all the MBP has going for it is OS X. 🙁

I think it would be cool if Apple could do something to the MBP design that sets it apart from PC notebook manufacturers for another few years.

TheCookie said:
However, if they were real competition for Apple, then we wouldn't be seeing Apple's consistent gain in market share... which interestingly corresponds pretty well to Dell's loss in market share...
Click to expand...
After having seen "blah" reviews about Dell's notebooks over the last few years, it seems like the blogosphere reviews of the last 1530 and the new Studio line are way more excited and positive than normal. 😱

I think Apple can face real competition and still show a consistent gain in market share. (Meaning, if they had less real competition, their gain in market share could have been, say, 5% larger last quarter...)
 
the only time i noticed that apple raised the price on a laptop was from the ibook to the macbook and that was probably because of the cost of the intel chip. the macbook pro will remain the same. there would be an uproar if apple
raised the price.
 
insignificantMB said:
so if the MBP won't have a new design this summer, when will it be redesigned?😕
Click to expand...
Simply put: when new technologies become mainstream to allow a design change.

The simpler and smaller (less heat) Montevina chipset could be such a technology change, but perhaps it's not enough.
Perhaps Apple is waiting for CPUs to get even smaller with Nehalem. (first half of 2009)

Yet there are other components that could be considered:

LCDs will eventually be replaced with 1mm thin OLEDs. Imagine changes to the screen possible with that! But 15-17" OLEDs won't happen until 2009-2010 at the earliest.

But once the screen is 1mm thick, which is probably too thin for a lid (bends too easily) how about swapping the traditional HD for thin flash memory banks mounted behind the screen. The screen could then be 3-4mm, still thinner than today, but you save the whole space now used by the HD. I could see that happen in late 2009-2010.

With the HD gone from the bottom case, one can imagine reducing the thickness of the base.
Although Superdrive heights will always be a limiting factor. I don't really see those drives to get much thinner than today's 7mm and I don't think those exist in slot-loading versions yet. Let alone Blu-Ray.
But once they do, expect a redesign. Depending on Blu-Ray availability probably late 2008-late 2009.
Their current slot-loading Blu-Ray drive is 12.7mm which I think is thicker than what Apple uses currently, so not yet suitable.


From all this you can see that late 2009 - early 2010 seems like a good time for an over-all redesign. That's 1 1/2 years away. Until then changes will be minimal, because current parts don't allow for radical redesigns.
 
I think the price will remain the same. Though I'm starting to doubt if we will ever see a redesign.

Like dreamail said. Once technology becomes mainstream Apple will adapt, and might make a redesign.

The change that we'll see Blu Ray in a Mac are slim very slim. Blu Ray isn't doing so well. People still aren't buying these things by the hordes. My believe is that we'll never see Blu Ray in a Mac ever. I would love to be proven wrong but I just don't see this happen 🙁.

I think we will see a redesign when Apple starts to adept the Nehalem platform/chip. I think the power requirements of that platform will allow Apple to make a thinner MBP. Hopefully still with a optical drive. I'm just guess here of course.

I think one of the other hurdles for Apple are the FW USB ethernet and DVI connector size. I think that if they were to drop DVI and go for Display Port or HDMI, they would have a little more space to play with.

Well whatever they do the MBP need a mighty overhaul. The case design might have been OK a couple of years ago but it's showing age and flaws.
 
aristobrat said:
I'm just saying that up until the last few months, MBPs had size/weight, specs, and OS X going for it.

Now, in a lot of cases, it seems like all the MBP has going for it is OS X. 🙁

I think it would be cool if Apple could do something to the MBP design that sets it apart from PC notebook manufacturers for another few years.


After having seen "blah" reviews about Dell's notebooks over the last few years, it seems like the blogosphere reviews of the last 1530 and the new Studio line are way more excited and positive than normal. 😱

I think Apple can face real competition and still show a consistent gain in market share. (Meaning, if they had less real competition, their gain in market share could have been, say, 5% larger last quarter...)
Click to expand...

You are right. The competition is getting closer and closer. They see that people are willing to pay more for good design. So they design their machines to be slightly less crappier then the ones before.

But seriously Apple should really come up with something really smashing. If they want to stay ahead.

I've owned two MBP's a 2.4 and currently a 2.6GHz 15". And I'm not really satisfied with either of them. The design is starting to lose it's appeal with me. I would love to see faster connections, 3G much, much better battery life and a completely new design.
 
RoDe said:
I think the price will remain the same. Though I'm starting to doubt if we will ever see a redesign.

Like dreamail said. Once technology becomes mainstream Apple will adapt, and might make a redesign.

The change that we'll see Blu Ray in a Mac are slim very slim. Blu Ray isn't doing so well. People still aren't buying these things by the hordes. My believe is that we'll never see Blu Ray in a Mac ever. I would love to be proven wrong but I just don't see this happen 🙁.

I think we will see a redesign when Apple starts to adept the Nehalem platform/chip. I think the power requirements of that platform will allow Apple to make a thinner MBP. Hopefully still with a optical drive. I'm just guess here of course.

I think one of the other hurdles for Apple are the FW USB ethernet and DVI connector size. I think that if they were to drop DVI and go for Display Port or HDMI, they would have a little more space to play with.

Well whatever they do the MBP need a mighty overhaul. The case design might have been OK a couple of years ago but it's showing age and flaws.
Click to expand...
BluRay is actually selling better than DVD when it first came out. But I agree, we might never see it in the Mac (at least not as standard).
 
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