There will not be a new MacBook pro.

[BluAffiliate]

I have been obsessing to myself and losing sleep over a new MacBook pro case redesign and refurnish. Check my prior threads. However, I have finally realized after being able to check out the Google Chrome and now I see that the future of Apple products will not have a MacBook Pro.

It will all be replaced by a Macbook Air. There will only be Airs, the pros will be decommissioned.

And Apple will be moving heavily into iCloud based laptops. This is why they are taking so long.

Basically, the next generation of Apple laptops will be: All Airs, heavy on iCloud features, using the new generation of intel processors. They will be even faster than the current MBP that are top of the line.

It really makes no sense to create a "full feature" laptop anymore, and by that I mean a large device. We'll get rid of the CD drive once and for all, freeing up a lot of room, and use the next gen ATI video card and intel processors.

I for one am all for it. Computers are simply getting smaller.. but do we really need an ultraportable as well as a portable? No. We just need a unified line in the AIR.

 

[iThinkergoiMac]

It will all be replaced by a Macbook Air. There will only be Airs, the pros will be decommissioned.

This is not at all likely.

And Apple will be moving heavily into iCloud based laptops. This is why they are taking so long.

What?! We've had two MBP refreshes this year... which is more than average. How can you say they are "taking so long" when they've updated fairly recently. Apple has waited FAR longer than this for an update...

Basically, the next generation of Apple laptops will be: All Airs, heavy on iCloud features, using the new generation of intel processors. They will be even faster than the current MBP that are top of the line.

You'll need full discrete GPUs for that, and the Air has never had this.

It really makes no sense to create a "full feature" laptop anymore, and by that I mean a large device. We'll get rid of the CD drive once and for all, freeing up a lot of room, and use the next gen ATI video card and intel processors.

It seems to make sense for the thousands of people who buy them every year...

Technology is not at a point where we can easily do this. The big thing about the MBPs is the screen size and discrete GPU. You can probably slim down on the GPU a bit, but you can't shrink a 15" screen and have it still be 15". LxW is more important than thickness at this point, as far as portability is concerned.

 

[thekev]

Why would you need to redo the case currently unless it's just moving around the internals or fixing design quirks. Apple is pretty heavily invested in the cnc'ed case design. In the end it wouldn't make a lot of sense to change things dramatically until there are major changes from suppliers, whether they're radical changes in display panel design or components that run on significantly lower power budgets. Intel seems like they've been experimenting with this, but some of you need to stop treating a laptop like it's a fashion accessory. It does not need a complete visual makeover on a biannual basis.

Even if components did come down in power consumption, I'd like to see a nice quiet machine that doesn't generate noticeable heat even from the keyboard under load. That is something I would personally view as progress in design, and I'd buy it. If it's just an issue of weight, that's more about what is contained in the laptop. The Air uses a very light hard drive and lacks an optical drive. Between those two things alone that shaves off roughly half a pound. You'll probably see that in the Pro eventually as well. Currently my only real issue with SSDs is that reasonable capacity can be cost prohibitive. I could see SSDs becoming standard around 2013 if HDD manufacturing capacity remains low into next year. Just my thoughts...

 

[BluAffiliate]

This is not at all likely.

No I think this is the natural order of things.

What?! We've had two MBP refreshes this year... which is more than average. How can you say they are "taking so long" when they've updated fairly recently. Apple has waited FAR longer than this for an update...

The "updates" are just faster CPUs and other part switching. It's not that hard to switch around a processor or RAM, and I don't consider that an upgrade.

You'll need full discrete GPUs for that, and the Air has never had this.

AMD has a new GPU that is fairly small and can probably fit into 13, 15, 17 inch air form factors.

It seems to make sense for the thousands of people who buy them every year...

Technology is not at a point where we can easily do this. The big thing about the MBPs is the screen size and discrete GPU. You can probably slim down on the GPU a bit, but you can't shrink a 15" screen and have it still be 15". LxW is more important than thickness at this point, as far as portability is concerned.

Yeah, but I think we'll be shocked at the new release.

 

[DayOfChaos]

Somebody get this man a Chromebook! Allow us power users to enjoy our MBP kthx.

 

[VMMan]

We all know that future laptops will become more powerful, smaller, etc so long as we still have a system of capitalism around.

 

[ethics101]

Why discontinue their best selling notebook. Apple is cutting edge, but not stupid

 

[spl456]

LOL.
Good thing that this is just 'your' interpretation of what Apple will do in the future.

 

[0000757]

Maybe they'll go back to translucent colors.


I for one would love to see a "Lime" Macbook Air or "Bondi Blue" Mac Mini. Oooh, maybe even a "Grape" Mac Pro.

 

[unobtainium]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

And what about HD capacity? You think all (or even the majority) of MBP users will want to pay premium prices for tiny little SSDs? I have a 250GB iTunes library and 16GB of photos on my MBP.

 

[Steve.P.JobsFan]

Maybe they'll go back to translucent colors.


I for one would love to see a "Lime" Macbook Air or "Bondi Blue" Mac Mini. Oooh, maybe even a "Grape" Mac Pro.

What about a Macbook in the limited edition 'Flower Power' shell!?!?!?!?

Tangerine iMac's too!

 

[snazzyiphoneguy]

i think someone needs a spanking

 

[0000757]

What about a Macbook in the limited edition 'Flower Power' shell!?!?!?!?

Tangerine iMac's too!

We need a Blue Dalmatian iPad.

Quick someone make a case.

 

[dontwalkhand]

Of course there will be new pros, it is the best selling Apple notebook. There may not be a case redesign, and maybe the ADDITION of a 15" Air, but the Pro isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

If anything, they need to bring back the MacBook, (and probably drop the "Air" name altogether)

 

[Krazy Bill]

I have been obsessing to myself and losing sleep over a new MacBook pro case redesign and refurnish.

Really? We couldn't tell.

 

[0000757]

Apple will be dropping the Air and Pro.


They'll bring back the Clamshell iBook and Pismo Powerbook G3 shells.

 

[ralphj]

I have been obsessing to myself and losing sleep over a new MacBook pro case redesign and refurnish. Check my prior threads. However, I have finally realized after being able to check out the Google Chrome and now I see that the future of Apple products will not have a MacBook Pro.

It will all be replaced by a Macbook Air. There will only be Airs, the pros will be decommissioned.

And Apple will be moving heavily into iCloud based laptops. This is why they are taking so long.

I hope for all of us, you are wrong. As someone who was very displeased when the entry level white macbook was exchanged for the macbook air 12in with a meager 64 GB flash drive, I can only imagine what this will mean for the mass market. I simply see a CD Drive as a necessary component, not to mention the hard drive space!

 

[BlaqkAudio]

I have been obsessing to myself and losing sleep over a new MacBook pro case redesign and refurnish. Check my prior threads. However, I have finally realized after being able to check out the Google Chrome and now I see that the future of Apple products will not have a MacBook Pro.

It will all be replaced by a Macbook Air. There will only be Airs, the pros will be decommissioned.

And Apple will be moving heavily into iCloud based laptops. This is why they are taking so long.

You do realize before the unibody redesign, Apple stuck with the same design for five years? Apple introduced the aluminum Powerbook G4 in early 2003 and stuck with this same design until late 2008. The unibody has only been out for three years, it's hardly been a "long" time.

Basically, the next generation of Apple laptops will be: All Airs, heavy on iCloud features, using the new generation of intel processors. They will be even faster than the current MBP that are top of the line.

It really makes no sense to create a "full feature" laptop anymore, and by that I mean a large device. We'll get rid of the CD drive once and for all, freeing up a lot of room, and use the next gen ATI video card and intel processors.

I for one am all for it. Computers are simply getting smaller.. but do we really need an ultraportable as well as a portable? No. We just need a unified line in the AIR.

If anything, Apple might get rid of the Macbook. It makes no sense to not create the MBP when it's still used by professionals who still use optical media

 

[dontwalkhand]

You do realize before the unibody redesign, Apple stuck with the same design for five years? Apple introduced the aluminum Powerbook G4 in early 2003 and stuck with this same design until late 2008. The unibody has only been out for three years, it's hardly been a "long" time.


If anything, Apple might get rid of the Macbook. It makes no sense to not create the MBP when it's still used by professionals who still use optical media

Apple did technically get rid of the MacBook, it is now only sold to educational institutions.

 

[Jiten]

take some buddhist meditation classes OP, you're over thinking this.

 

[BlaqkAudio]

Apple did technically get rid of the MacBook, it is now only sold to educational institutions.

Hmm, that's interesting. I never noticed it being removed from the Apple Store page.

 

[marc11]

I have been obsessing to myself and losing sleep over a new MacBook pro case redesign and refurnish. Check my prior threads. However, I have finally realized after being able to check out the Google Chrome and now I see that the future of Apple products will not have a MacBook Pro.

It will all be replaced by a Macbook Air. There will only be Airs, the pros will be decommissioned.

And Apple will be moving heavily into iCloud based laptops. This is why they are taking so long.

Basically, the next generation of Apple laptops will be: All Airs, heavy on iCloud features, using the new generation of intel processors. They will be even faster than the current MBP that are top of the line.

It really makes no sense to create a "full feature" laptop anymore, and by that I mean a large device. We'll get rid of the CD drive once and for all, freeing up a lot of room, and use the next gen ATI video card and intel processors.

I for one am all for it. Computers are simply getting smaller.. but do we really need an ultraportable as well as a portable? No. We just need a unified line in the AIR.

You have obsessed to the point of losing sleep over this????? Ha, just wait until you have kids and a mortgage....seriously, there are much bigger things in life to worry about other than when some company may or may not redesign computer!

 

[diannao]

It's an interesting thought experiment to think about there just being one kind of Apple notebook in different sizes (leaving aside the education MB). In reality, Apple moves slower than MacRumors commentators, so it's not at all clear that next year will be the year of the unified, 'air-ified' MacBook line.

IMO there is a clear trend with Apple products away from optical drives and user expansion. I'd argue that Apple would prefer to sell you a unit with one solid state storage device -- every mobile device it sells except the MBP (and legacy devices such as the iPod Classic and the education market MB) are that way.

Leaving aside gaming, is there a reason Apple couldn't drop the discrete graphics from its notebooks and just use integrated graphics in 2012? I'm genuinely curious.

For my personal needs, the limited RAM in MacBook Airs have been the biggest drawback. If they were able to be configured with 8-16GB when ordered, they would be more able to replace MBPs.

There are many ways to deal with ports being removed. I could see Apple making an optional, expensive power brick/hub which plugged into the magsafe connection and the thunderbolt port and had various ports on the brick. Or it could sell a thunderbolt hub, or individual adapters, or some other solution.

Having bought a 17" this year, I'm not in the market for a new computer in 2012, so I don't have a dog in this fight.

 

[iamthedudeman]

It's an interesting thought experiment to think about there just being one kind of Apple notebook in different sizes (leaving aside the education MB). In reality, Apple moves slower than MacRumors commentators, so it's not at all clear that next year will be the year of the unified, 'air-ified' MacBook line.

IMO there is a clear trend with Apple products away from optical drives and user expansion. I'd argue that Apple would prefer to sell you a unit with one solid state storage device -- every mobile device it sells except the MBP (and legacy devices such as the iPod Classic and the education market MB) are that way.

Leaving aside gaming, is there a reason Apple couldn't drop the discrete graphics from its notebooks and just use integrated graphics in 2012? I'm genuinely curious.

For my personal needs, the limited RAM in MacBook Airs have been the biggest drawback. If they were able to be configured with 8-16GB when ordered, they would be more able to replace MBPs.

There are many ways to deal with ports being removed. I could see Apple making an optional, expensive power brick/hub which plugged into the magsafe connection and the thunderbolt port and had various ports on the brick. Or it could sell a thunderbolt hub, or individual adapters, or some other solution.

Having bought a 17" this year, I'm not in the market for a new computer in 2012, so I don't have a dog in this fight.

They will get thinner and lighter. They are thin now. The ports for example the firewire port is almost as thick as the laptop itself. How much thinner could they get and still add all of the features of the current models?

SSD's as standard is coming soon. Either as a hybrid option or as a standalone. This is why they bought anobit this month. More capacity in the same space as the current SSD's and high quality MLC memory to reduce prices.

That are buying nand in record numbers. More so next year than the last three years combined. They have to be doing something with this nand.

As far as the current models shape and form factor. These things are pretty damn thin as it is. Less than a inch. 0.95 to be exact. How much thinner do you want them?

 

[Zendokan]

I have been obsessing to myself and losing sleep over a new MacBook pro case redesign and refurnish. Check my prior threads. However, I have finally realized after being able to check out the Google Chrome and now I see that the future of Apple products will not have a MacBook Pro.

It will all be replaced by a Macbook Air. There will only be Airs, the pros will be decommissioned.

And Apple will be moving heavily into iCloud based laptops. This is why they are taking so long.

Basically, the next generation of Apple laptops will be: All Airs, heavy on iCloud features, using the new generation of intel processors. They will be even faster than the current MBP that are top of the line.

It really makes no sense to create a "full feature" laptop anymore, and by that I mean a large device. We'll get rid of the CD drive once and for all, freeing up a lot of room, and use the next gen ATI video card and intel processors.

I for one am all for it. Computers are simply getting smaller.. but do we really need an ultraportable as well as a portable? No. We just need a unified line in the AIR.

The Macbook Pro name says it all: it's a professional notebook, optimized in screensizes, HD capacity, optical storage device, ports, CPU and seperate GPU for professional users and college/university students in practical science (graphical, ICT, etc...) and engineering.

That's why they still have a conventional HD, because the storage is needed and an optical drive (mes around enough and you will reïnstall even OSX on a regular basis, additional/changing software installations (business applications, VMwares, other operating systems) still go faster from a CD/DVD than downloading them.


The Macbook Air is designed as
a) a netbook (the 11" version)
b) a notebook for the more common users (read mail, surf internet, use an officesuite application, listen to some music and view a movie from time to time) and college/university students in non-engineering/non-graphical/non-ICT studies.

And this will even become more and more a certainty when Apple released the 15" version besides the already existing 13" version.


Two completely different user types and you want to give them all the same type of notebook? And then even the "weakest" one (everything that can be done on a MBA can be done on a MBP, but not the other way around)?
DELL and HP are going to have a fieldday.

There's a MBA line and a MBP line for a reason, don't think that the people working in the marketing division at Apple Inc are just sitting around drinking coffee, reading a newspaper and discussing the last cliffhanger od 'Dexter'.

The only people that will have to make a choice nowadays are the ones that fit into the profile of Macbook users (need more power than a MBA, but a MBP could be considered overkill), since that line doesn't exists anymore and will probably not come back, because
a) the MB profiles are a very small percentage of all the Mac-users
b) a MB line (especially if it has a metal casing) will only cannabalize other Mac lines, not compateture product lines
c) R&D and production will be to expensive (especially with a plastic casing) to become profitable. It's not that Apple just can slap an Apple casing around a Lenova and call it Macbook.