Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Confirmation of Fixed 17" MacBook Pro Battery, Mac Mini with Firewire
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
well, i doubt that they make a mini with 2.0GHz Dual Core, Nvidea GPU, two display adaptors, 5 USB ports, Superdrive and a FW800 port.
But if they do and keep the pricepoint at US $600-700 then it will be a killer machine. I might use one as a backup mac for my MBP.
But if they do and keep the pricepoint at US $600-700 then it will be a killer machine. I might use one as a backup mac for my MBP.
This may be a dumb question, but if the new mini has FW 800, do you also need a special cable to run FW 400 devices? I am under the impression that FW 800 uses 9 circuit vs 6 circuit for the FW 400.
Also, with regard to the mini DVI and minidisplay port, am I correct that the only way to get beyond 1920x1200 resolution is by using the minidisplay port? for some reason I thought that miniDVI allows a maximum 1920 resolution. If that is true, will an adapter allow higher resolution on a non ACD monitor? It appears as though the 9400 will drive a 30" display, so I have no reason to doubt that the Mini will also, but until now, I didn't know that the miniDVI had restrictions (no dual link).
thoughts?
Also, with regard to the mini DVI and minidisplay port, am I correct that the only way to get beyond 1920x1200 resolution is by using the minidisplay port? for some reason I thought that miniDVI allows a maximum 1920 resolution. If that is true, will an adapter allow higher resolution on a non ACD monitor? It appears as though the 9400 will drive a 30" display, so I have no reason to doubt that the Mini will also, but until now, I didn't know that the miniDVI had restrictions (no dual link).
thoughts?
Yes, it is. But that hasn't stopped everybody from doing it. Well, except Apple. I can't keep in stock the 17" HPs that have Blu-ray players.
I don't think that the idea of a 17" macbook air (as for instance put forward here: http://blogs.eweek.com/applewatch/content/rumors/is_the_17-inch_macbook_rumor_credible.html) should be dismissed. maybe we will see both, a 17" MBP with a replaceable battery, the new Core 2 Duo T9800 CPU, GForce M9800GTX etc.
AND
apart from that a 17" Macbook Air with non-removable battery that distinguishes itself from the 13" MBA through only the following two to four points:
-4GB RAM
-a 17" 1920p-screen
-(maybe) a FW800-port
-(maybe) a 2,67Ghz P9600 Core 2 Duo processor
This is perfectly doable from a technical point of view: unibody frames are extremely stable and the new Core 2 Duo P9600 only uses max. 25W - only slightly more compared to the 20W of the Rev. A MBA C2D and the 17W of new MBA C2D. Due to the increased size of the machine, the fan can also be of a larger dimension which is why 25W are probably possible.
Realistic pricepoint for the 128GB SSD version: min. $3199.
The thing about the machine I described is exactly that I think it could be done easily with the current state of innovation within apple and intel and be a cash cow for apple, too. I'd buy it the minute it would be released since I as somebody who only wants to use only one computer, the necessity of a high-res screen and being on the go all the time is not necessarily going well together.
Such a 17" MBA will probably not be released tomorrow. But I don't think it will be too long!
AND
apart from that a 17" Macbook Air with non-removable battery that distinguishes itself from the 13" MBA through only the following two to four points:
-4GB RAM
-a 17" 1920p-screen
-(maybe) a FW800-port
-(maybe) a 2,67Ghz P9600 Core 2 Duo processor
This is perfectly doable from a technical point of view: unibody frames are extremely stable and the new Core 2 Duo P9600 only uses max. 25W - only slightly more compared to the 20W of the Rev. A MBA C2D and the 17W of new MBA C2D. Due to the increased size of the machine, the fan can also be of a larger dimension which is why 25W are probably possible.
Realistic pricepoint for the 128GB SSD version: min. $3199.
The thing about the machine I described is exactly that I think it could be done easily with the current state of innovation within apple and intel and be a cash cow for apple, too. I'd buy it the minute it would be released since I as somebody who only wants to use only one computer, the necessity of a high-res screen and being on the go all the time is not necessarily going well together.
Such a 17" MBA will probably not be released tomorrow. But I don't think it will be too long!
A fixed battery is a disaster for anyone who uses their notebook away from a power point for longer than 4-5 hours away from a power point.
I had to dismiss the MacBook Air as an option. I needed a light notebook for a driving trip through Europe, but the Air's fixed battery totally ruled it out.
Remember, just because your you can file power points everywhere you go doesn't mean other people can.
When I travel with my MBP, I carry an extra battery, and usually have to use the 2nd battery, e.g. on long international air flights (I don't travel business class where they have power points).
Apple is just sick with its own arrogance that it thinks it's choices are the best for all of us, e.g. loss of matte screens, loss of firewire, never giving replaceable batteries in iPhones and iPod Touches. It's time Steve retired. Even if he's not sick, I'm sick of him.
I had to dismiss the MacBook Air as an option. I needed a light notebook for a driving trip through Europe, but the Air's fixed battery totally ruled it out.
Remember, just because your you can file power points everywhere you go doesn't mean other people can.
When I travel with my MBP, I carry an extra battery, and usually have to use the 2nd battery, e.g. on long international air flights (I don't travel business class where they have power points).
Apple is just sick with its own arrogance that it thinks it's choices are the best for all of us, e.g. loss of matte screens, loss of firewire, never giving replaceable batteries in iPhones and iPod Touches. It's time Steve retired. Even if he's not sick, I'm sick of him.
why would someone want a 17" underpowered computer? Not to mention a 17" MBA would probably be 2500k for lower end 
Don't you have to wait to see how long those batteries last before calling it a disaster?
And the percentage of people that wouldn't be near a power outlet for that period of time is probably very slim.
Actually thats slightly simplistic, whilst i agree in the US, Canada, UK, Australia, NZ and some other countries it may be easy to access to free power and find plugs in public, in a lot of less developed countries, and in certain places in asia, remember these are still big markets for apple, these people dont have such ready access to the power we take for granted, and so having a swappable battery may be useful for them.
While I agree with nearly everything you said, esp. apple's lack of catering to different customer types. Ex. fw, matte, etc. oh and those dange earbuds. ha, i just got my 2nd bluetooth headset. Man that thing is sexy but it just doesn't stay in my ear. Now I remeber why i took it back the first time. haha.
Anyways, I agree with alott of what you seem to stand for but I'm not necessarily sick of Steve. Sure, I wish some things were a little bit different on the apple front but when I go hop on a pc I just smile and rejoice inside and think about my macs. Call me crazy, a fanboy or what you will but when it comes down to it, I enjoy my mac, alott!
why would someone want a 17" underpowered computer? Not to mention a 17" MBA would probably be 2500k for lower end
Right. Only an over paid consumer would want to drop $2500 on a 17" ultra thin laptop that has the same power of a machine that is half the price or less. I really think some people have lost their minds when they say a 17" MBA would be a "great idea"
But whatever, this is the new Apple.
Nope, Apple pretty much disappoints no matter what the new toy is going to be.
I place money on it being a disaster from announcement up until Rev B.
why would someone want a 17" underpowered computer? Not to mention a 17" MBA would probably be 2500k for lower end
Well the use of a 17-inch "underpowered" computer can be compared to the use of the current "underpowerd" MBA compared to the unibody MB.
Specs-wise you have to pay $500 more to get -400 Mhz, -80GB HDD, no fancy glass screen; but still there is a number of people who chose the MBA over the MB...
The 13" MBA is somewhat of a success DESPITE the new netbooks, DESPITE the high pricepoint and DESPITE the fact that the unibody MB is an already relatively good and compact laptop.
So why shouldn't the success of the 13" MBA be possible with a 17" model?!
About the high pricepoint: Apple has a 2/3 market share in the $1000 and over laptop category. The MBA is by far not the most expensive computer in the 13.3" category (Lenovo X301, Vaio Z21 anyone?) and the same goes for the MBP.
Also: The MBP is still the smallest 17-inch laptop and I assume that with the one introduced today, the dimension will stay roughly the same. While it was the smallest 17-inch machine BY FAR around two years ago, competitors have caught up (see HP 8730 etc.) so by introducing a 17-inch MBA, Apple can make another jump ahead.
Imagine a computer as thin as the 13" MBA, but with a 17" Full-HD screen that weighs around 1.8kg/4 pounds...it is bound to be a seller despite it's high pricepoint.
Why hasn't anyone on this forum commented on some things that really matter for the new 17"?
For instance here are a couple of requests:
Whether the battery is removable or not is not a deciding factor for me. Any of the above suggestions are much more desirable. A silver-oxide battery (wherever the hell this rumor came from), would be a fantastic feature. Very expensive though. I believe the Mercury issue has been resolved though.
I totally agree that Apple would be crazy in creating a so-called 17" MBA. What market would it fill? Unpowered, not upgradable yet still meant to be Pro... meh, are you kidding us?
Get a grip people!
For instance here are a couple of requests:
- Dual HDD's
- eSATA port
- Quad CPU support
- Calibrated LCD for Adobe users
- A decent GPU- like a Quadro for us 3D CAD users!
Whether the battery is removable or not is not a deciding factor for me. Any of the above suggestions are much more desirable. A silver-oxide battery (wherever the hell this rumor came from), would be a fantastic feature. Very expensive though. I believe the Mercury issue has been resolved though.
I totally agree that Apple would be crazy in creating a so-called 17" MBA. What market would it fill? Unpowered, not upgradable yet still meant to be Pro... meh, are you kidding us?
Get a grip people!
Why hasn't anyone on this forum commented on some things that really matter for the new 17"?
For instance here are a couple of requests:
- Dual HDD's
- eSATA port
- Quad CPU support
- Calibrated LCD for Adobe users
- A decent GPU- like a Quadro for us 3D CAD users!
Get a grip people!
Do these things matter for the new 17" MBP? More than a removable battery?
I could agree when talking about calibrated LCD and Quadro GPU.
Dual HDD: unnecessary since the first 500GB 2.5" SATA drives are emerging
eSATA: Big weakness for a portable solution when using eSATA is that a power cord still necessary (contrary to FW800, USB2 and 2.5" external drives)
QuadCore CPU: Won't happen because they need two much power. A 2,93 Ghz Core 2 Duo is the maximum we'll get to see in a 17" MBP
Why hasn't anyone on this forum commented on some things that really matter for the new 17"?
For instance here are a couple of requests:
- Dual HDD's
- eSATA port
- Quad CPU support
- Calibrated LCD for Adobe users
- A decent GPU- like a Quadro for us 3D CAD users!
Whether the battery is removable or not is not a deciding factor for me. Any of the above suggestions are much more desirable. A silver-oxide battery (wherever the hell this rumor came from), would be a fantastic feature. Very expensive though. I believe the Mercury issue has been resolved though.
I totally agree that Apple would be crazy in creating a so-called 17" MBA. What market would it fill? Unpowered, not upgradable yet still meant to be Pro... meh, are you kidding us?
Get a grip people!
Check the sig
Been waiting for these on a 17" Apple portable desktop replacement multimedia power house performer game changing machine for about two years or so. Pretty much since the PC market had them, which was about 3-4 years ago.
You agree with the lcd and quadro, you want a mobile workstation then right? As options? Noone wants a quadro, unless they want a quadro, yeah?
Might as well have dual hdds? 500gig isn't very much digital media. There's a lot of space under the keyboard in a 17" case - multiple bays for drives/batteries is a more sensible solution for a machine like this.
Might as well have esata? - it'll cost nothing to implement and give you external access to drives faster and cheaper than anything else.
Might as well have a quadcore? - A mobile workstation should have this option now surely? You can shut down cores, scale frequencies etcetc, but when you need more power and speed you have access to more power and speed. If it comes with a non removable battery, you're hardly going to be working far from a power supply anyway
a quadro or firegl/pro doesn't have to be the main gpu but it would be nice to have it as an option
Fixed battery - even though I've never actually needed a spare battery the idea of not being able to use one if needed is a bit off putting. If this is the situation I suppose the biggest screen I'll be getting anytime soon is the 15" (assuming that keeps its battery drawer)
Fixed battery - even though I've never actually needed a spare battery the idea of not being able to use one if needed is a bit off putting. If this is the situation I suppose the biggest screen I'll be getting anytime soon is the 15" (assuming that keeps its battery drawer
)Their laptop prices go up as the screen size does, unlike many other manufacturers. If you're paying 'pro' prices for a workstation then you'd think they'd fit a workstation card, at least as an option.
Offering it as an option is going to increase costs in general while offering it as standard is going to increase costs relative to a faster and cheaper card for most uses/users.
Still can't see how a non removable battery makes much/any difference to the overall size, Sounds crazy to me.
Offering it as an option is going to increase costs in general while offering it as standard is going to increase costs relative to a faster and cheaper card for most uses/users.
Still can't see how a non removable battery makes much/any difference to the overall size, Sounds crazy to me.
My Lenovo X61 already gets close to 8 hours(not as good as the X60 though). I will believe it when I see it. My ipod nano was supposed to get 4 hours and gets 1 1/2.
The X60s's 8-hour, 16-minute battery life is the longest we've ever seen--very impressive, though not quite surprising, given that our review unit's price included an 8-cell high-capacity battery. The battery costs $143 if you buy it as an option, and we think it's worth it.-Cnet
If it gets 9 hours I will eat my own tail.
BAD BAD BAD Move actually happened
Well, I guess it is official.
No panels on the bottom of the 17" MBP. No battery, no HD, no RAM access.
no swappable battery, and warranty or NON-warranty service required to replace the battery, RAM, or Hard Drive. ALL of that now means downtime.
I can swap ALL THREE ITEMS in any Dell, Gateway, HP, Toshiba, or other normal-size laptop, in less than two minutes. LESS THAN TWO MINUTES.
Now, I will have to make appointments, pickups, queue waiting times, and service time, delivery time, just to do any of that service on an Apple. If it is under AppleCare, that COSTS APPLE MONEY, which costs everyone who buys the product or warranty coverage. and if the battery is not covered after the first year, as current batteries are not, then it will cost the USERS.
It is going to be a nightmare for us if there is a recall, or battery problems with cell balancing and maintaining a base 3.5 volt per cell charge. Lithium ion or polymer based cells, which I assume they are referring to by not being AA size cells inside the casing, have to be balance charged, and can be finicky, and volatile if discharged below 3 volts per individual cell. and with multiple cells, if they don't discharge all at the same rate, they have to be balance-charged individually, to make sure that all of them are re-charged to their full capacity, not just one cell reaching full capacity voltage.
I can't just say NO to these machines next year, because the users will want to be able to use Mac OS, and otherwise it seems like a fine computer in daily use, if you are near a power point at least some of the time.
But from an IT and Service perspective, this is a BAD, HORRIBLE move.
Well, I guess it is official.
No panels on the bottom of the 17" MBP. No battery, no HD, no RAM access.
no swappable battery, and warranty or NON-warranty service required to replace the battery, RAM, or Hard Drive. ALL of that now means downtime.
I can swap ALL THREE ITEMS in any Dell, Gateway, HP, Toshiba, or other normal-size laptop, in less than two minutes. LESS THAN TWO MINUTES.
Now, I will have to make appointments, pickups, queue waiting times, and service time, delivery time, just to do any of that service on an Apple. If it is under AppleCare, that COSTS APPLE MONEY, which costs everyone who buys the product or warranty coverage. and if the battery is not covered after the first year, as current batteries are not, then it will cost the USERS.
It is going to be a nightmare for us if there is a recall, or battery problems with cell balancing and maintaining a base 3.5 volt per cell charge. Lithium ion or polymer based cells, which I assume they are referring to by not being AA size cells inside the casing, have to be balance charged, and can be finicky, and volatile if discharged below 3 volts per individual cell. and with multiple cells, if they don't discharge all at the same rate, they have to be balance-charged individually, to make sure that all of them are re-charged to their full capacity, not just one cell reaching full capacity voltage.
I can't just say NO to these machines next year, because the users will want to be able to use Mac OS, and otherwise it seems like a fine computer in daily use, if you are near a power point at least some of the time.
But from an IT and Service perspective, this is a BAD, HORRIBLE move.