Before, everyone was expecting a MWSF update on the MBP, but since that didn't happen, it opens some possibilities for a new GPU (and boot camp gamers)
The first is the multi-touch trackpad, which was already mentioned. Also, waiting this long means Penryn chips are a given.
However, both ATI and Nvidia have new product launches in February. If you go to ATI's website, you can see information about new mobility hd 3400 and 3600. Unfortunately, information is scarce, but you can tell that it's mostly just a die shrink of the current 2600 available for notebooks. It does add DirectX 10.1 support however. Also, a die shrink means higher clock speeds, so a 3600 would likely perform moderately better than the current nvidia 8600m gt.
As for Nvidia, their desktop series is confirmed to be going into the 9 series in February, but there is less information about the mobile 9 series. An Asus laptop with a 9500m GS was demonstrated at CES, and some retailers claim to be getting stock for this in February. However, there are no hard specs on this (and people have pointed out that nvidia products with 5 in the name tend to not be so great. This is coupled with the GS in the name, which points to slower RAM), and no way to guesstimate its performance against the current chip. Information on the 9600m is completely non-existent.
If you go to wikipedia, you can see that 9500 is the entry level desktop platform, suggesting 9500m is the same for the mobile market. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeForce_9_Series
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeForce_8_Series (for previous gen).
However, in the last gen, the entry level and mid-level for notebooks had a simultaneous launch. So we'll have to see what happens.
One thing that is certain is that you will NOT see a 8700m or 8800m in a MBP. They are too large and consume too much power (8700m is just an overclocked 8600m anyway). The only reason Alienware crammed the 8800m in a 15.4" is they made the case almost 2" thick.
Others have said they expect the iPhone SDK announcement to coincide with a new MBP, and this would be the prime time for one of these new chips if Apple opts to upgrade the GPU rather than just giving VRAM bumps from 128MB and 256MB to 256Mb and 512MB.
The first is the multi-touch trackpad, which was already mentioned. Also, waiting this long means Penryn chips are a given.
However, both ATI and Nvidia have new product launches in February. If you go to ATI's website, you can see information about new mobility hd 3400 and 3600. Unfortunately, information is scarce, but you can tell that it's mostly just a die shrink of the current 2600 available for notebooks. It does add DirectX 10.1 support however. Also, a die shrink means higher clock speeds, so a 3600 would likely perform moderately better than the current nvidia 8600m gt.
As for Nvidia, their desktop series is confirmed to be going into the 9 series in February, but there is less information about the mobile 9 series. An Asus laptop with a 9500m GS was demonstrated at CES, and some retailers claim to be getting stock for this in February. However, there are no hard specs on this (and people have pointed out that nvidia products with 5 in the name tend to not be so great. This is coupled with the GS in the name, which points to slower RAM), and no way to guesstimate its performance against the current chip. Information on the 9600m is completely non-existent.
If you go to wikipedia, you can see that 9500 is the entry level desktop platform, suggesting 9500m is the same for the mobile market. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeForce_9_Series
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeForce_8_Series (for previous gen).
However, in the last gen, the entry level and mid-level for notebooks had a simultaneous launch. So we'll have to see what happens.
One thing that is certain is that you will NOT see a 8700m or 8800m in a MBP. They are too large and consume too much power (8700m is just an overclocked 8600m anyway). The only reason Alienware crammed the 8800m in a 15.4" is they made the case almost 2" thick.
Others have said they expect the iPhone SDK announcement to coincide with a new MBP, and this would be the prime time for one of these new chips if Apple opts to upgrade the GPU rather than just giving VRAM bumps from 128MB and 256MB to 256Mb and 512MB.
