Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
That would need a much more powerful GPU which would hurt the MBA's great battery life.

no.. i think if the ipad3 can do it a 1" retina air is very possible.. in 3 to 5 years all apple products will be retina im sure

----------

I'm not sold on retina yet either... I don't want to allocate that significant amount of my CPU and GPU to retina which would in turn decrease overall performance. I need that boost for design and rendering. In other words, I don't want to wait around all day while looking at a pretty screen with the loading wheel on it...

^^ i was thinking just that... the screen takes up so much power that the overall machine power is not that high.. and the 15" retina suffers from frame drop and slow down. all buyers will be well served to get no less than 8 gigs of ram

----------

Good for you guys who can buy a new Mac every two years, just because your "maxed out" previous MBP or Air is not enough anymore... :) I'm gonna stay with my 2011 MBA 13" until 2014-2015 at least, but I wish you will enjoy your new Retina Pros .-)

I may sell mine next year if the 13" retina looks good:cool:
 
Please tell apple that this is their time to concentrate on getting a great iphone out. If they drop the ball on that, I am going to android period.
 
I'm not sure what's the point of a retina macbook pro 13 inch, since the lighter and thinner form factor 13'' is already available in the form of a macbook air. That is already a pretty powerful computer for daily use. Unless people are in the market for a 13" with discrete graphics.

most MBP 13" users dont need discrete graphics if the crank their ram up to at least 8 gigs.. if you are doing super high end 3d rendering of video editing you will get at least a 15" and the MBP 13" with 8 gigs ram drives an external 21 inch cinema display perfectly..

Yes discrete is better but mainly for high end use.. I think apple will be better served by simply improving the power of the integrated graphics method.. in the 13"er

----------

Which, sadly enough, is going to be the end of the road for me and OS X. I will not buy notebooks, as I have no need for a portable computing device other than the iPad, and I will not buy an iMac, as I don't see why I should buy a new display every time I buy a new Mac (and I like to have a choice when it comes to displays).

I don't even know which other platform I could move to when Apple decides that they don't want me as a customer anymore. I am certainly not going back to Windows. :mad:

^^^i used to think like that and i had a mac mini for a year.. it was a great machine... BUT as a graphic designer if find that the versatility of a MBP makes it a better value.. I use my 13" MBP in dock mode using a henge dock http://hengedocks.com/ which enable my MBP to be 100% pug and play removable so i can take it with me every day and do work when i am away from home if i choose to.. at home it is connected to my stereo system and HD cinema display and mouse with full key board..
 
I think MacBook Air would get "retina display" last - as in like 2 years from now last.

Seems like a more "pro" oriented feature. We have to remember what this computer replaced - the entry level white MacBook.

Just my thoughts - also, keeping that entry level model at the $999 ($949 for students), is very ideal from a marketing perspective.

As for the iMac, I hope that we get a surprise tomorrow !

Although waiting wouldn't be bad, because then that'll only point toward a redesign if they're having issues manufacturing a new display.

Sounds like the display will borrow technology for the rMBP and the iMac won't have a separate layer of glass, but instead something baked into the panel. Could be a good thing because as many of you know, opening that glass panel on the iMac and then closing it again results in annoying dust particles that are nearly impossible to get 100% rid of. It probably won't have "retina", but who knows.

Imagine if the panel had it's glass built into it, and suction cups were the only things needed to pop the panel out to get to the inside? No more fumbling with T8 bits, etc. That would be really nice - just a speculation though.

That would be nice if they crammed more pixels in, but not an obnoxious amount where the hardware takes a performance hit (jury is still out on that one too).
 
Second, I agree that a 13" rMBP could take away sales from the 13" MBA. But it will definitely completely kill off the 13" MBP. Which is as Apple planned it: it's clear they did nothing except the absolute minimum to disguise that the 13" was a dying product that happened to bring in loads of cash.

But the MBA also had "the absolute minimum" changes. The MBA 13" and MBP 13" are now priced the same. If the MBP 13" sells twice as many units as the MBA 13" after the rMBP 13" comes out then there is a good chance the MBA 13" would be the model on death row.

The rMBP 13" would likely move into price points that the older MBA 13" used to occupy (above the MBP 13" ). If the weight of the rMBP 13" is trimmed to be within 0.5-0.8 lbs of the MBA 13" weight the difference wouldn't be that much. It would weight a bit more and not taper so dramatically but you'd get a retina display (and battery to drive it) in exchange. The MBA 13" could be retired.

If the sales numbers are skewed the other way then sure. Apple would like users to prefer no optical drives , soldered ram , and non mainstream storage formats. However, there are some upsides to standard 2.5" drives and being able to do memory upgrades with SO-DIMMs. Having to jump to a 15" MBP to get user upgradable memory is kind of ridiculous and certainly unnecessary.


The 15" MBP will continue in retina and non-retina versions as it does at the moment.

If it makes sense to continue the two 15" models over an extended term... it also makes sense to do the same with the 13" model for similar reasons.

A significant number of folks will trade the lower price and flexibility against the thinner, less flexible , but higher res display.

What gets squeeze here is the MBA since is also is less flexible, thinner and not so relatively high res display (relative to retina). Its sole upside is that it is just cheaper than the rMBP 13".

I think the MBP 13" classic to stick around until the broad model update. That way they can measure whether customers like the MBP 13" more than the MBA 13". They could simply later by just dropping all of these adjectives (except retina)

Macbook 11" , Macbook 13" , Macbook retina 13" , Macbook 15" , Macbook retina 15"

Frankly, much of the distinctions the "Air" and "pro" adjectives add have been muddled at that point. It is just the portable Macs ... Macbooks. They are all in the relatively expensive range ( greater than or equal to $999). The majority of them are Air-ish ( thin and relatively stripped of legacy standard ports )
 
Last edited:
Knowing what I know now

Knowing what I know now, I would have become a technology "analyst." I have never seen a job where you get paid so much to make guesses with no consequences for being wrong. Simply amazing!! Great gig.
 
All signs point to October being a good month to spend some money. Be it on a 13" or a 15" refurb.

High resolution displays are fun but are we actually going to get to the point where we can use them?
 
Mobile GPUs still exist in the real world and not on some fantasy alternate plane of existence.

Ehh, sort-of. They exist in the Windows world, but in the Apple world, they only exist in 15" and 17" MBP's. I would love to buy a 13" with a discrete graphics card, but I have little hope.
 
Imagine if the panel had it's glass built into it, and suction cups were the only things needed to pop the panel out to get to the inside? No more fumbling with T8 bits, etc. That would be really nice - just a speculation though.

Imagine if Apple redesign the case so that didn't need suction cups at all. That perhaps the back of the iMac just unscrewed similar to a MBP and didn't need to suck the display off to get to internals.

If the panel is fused to the glass that suction cup method is rather dubious. The panel will be attached to the board beneath for electrical and video data connections. Pulled too far could cause damage. The glass was independent outside of the magnets holding it in place.
 
I just left Tim a message, but from his voicemail greeting, I can only surmise he's busy.

:D

As long as you left the vmail? Consider this message being delivered to mr.cook.

----------

btw, I just got 2012 mba.. so this type of news doesn't sit well w/ me.. But at least laptop will always be just laptop so... but if they go retina iMac.. i am truly screwed.
 
Ehh, sort-of. They exist in the Windows world, but in the Apple world, they only exist in 15" and 17" MBP's. I would love to buy a 13" with a discrete graphics card, but I have little hope.

I thought you were talking about the iMac and hoping for a desktop GPU, instead of mobile GPU and were referring to the mobile GPU in iMacs as imaginary. My apologies.
 
Just on a tangent. There will be a price increase in € prices of macs (maybe only mac minis tomorrow?) with the new release, so if I was in the shoes of any of my continental cousins, I would look to splash the cash today and if you don't like what gets released tomorrow, you at least take advantage of last year's exchange rates. If on the other hand anything spectacular gets announced, you can always take your new computer back for a refund and get a new one...
 
What I'm really waiting for...

is a 15" MacBook Air. I wish Apple would make this happen. I don't care if it's Retina or not, just want the screen real estate.:D
 
I just got my 13 MBP, so please don't release it this year. This update cycle is way too short.

This is a very strange mentality, if you think about it. "Innovate until I buy something, and then stop innovation so I don't feel buyer's remorse." I think if we were honest, we have all felt this way at some time, but we also must admit that it is pretty foolish.

Rant aside, bring on the new iMacs, daddy needs a new desktop!
 
The retina display on the rMBP has no glass covering the display. There must be some protective layer laminated over the display, or it could be damaged too easily. Heck, I have a Samsung LCD TV that was damaged by foam toy that one of the kids threw a little too close to it. Prior to that, it was a nice TV, but unfortunately the protective covering was insufficient. It's quite possible that a protective covering that Apple is using for the display is not adhering well, or that the adhesive is causing discoloration, as was seen in some previous iMacs.

----------


It will be a real GPU, but a portable one, as dictated by the form factor, unfortunately. Whether it's expensive will depend on your point of view - it will be more than the current iMac, but you won't be able to buy anything else like it for any price.

The LCD and glass are supposedly permanently laminated together(and hence the problem with the lamination). If there is a problem with one, you get to replace the whole affair. I am not certain if the aluminum lid is also permanently affixed to the LCD/glass part.
 
It seems to me like there will be a lot of redundancy in the product lineup if all of these rumors end up being true. I assume that some will not happen, or will happen alongside some lines being discontinued.

I'm thinking specifically about the small-touch-screen market. A 7" iPad mini, and an iPod Touch and an iPod nano with a large touch screen and iOS? Seems to me that something is going to have to go in order to make this work. It would be really bad to go back to their 80's pattern of selling lots of different models with only minor distinguishing features.
oh I don't know. Right now the iPod Touch is basically an iPhone that doesn't make phone calls. ...
It would be nice if that's what it was. The iPod Touch is thinner, has a smaller battery, a slower processor, less RAM, an inferior camera and no GPS. Aside from being thinner, all of the differences make it a significantly inferior product.

I'd love to see a redesigned iPod Touch that actually was an iPhone 4S, minus the phone-network-connectivity (filling up the vacated space with more battery, of course.) I don't know what such a device would cost, however.
... There does seem to be a blurring of the distinction between MBP and Air...
I guess eventually, the aim will be to have every product with a retina display. They have done it with the iPhone/iPod Touch, iPad and now the rMBP. Just the rest to migrate to the technology now... I guess it will come eventually though :)
It appears that the Air has taken the place of the Mac Book (and iBook before it). It is the low-cost model with the small footprint, light weight and missing several popular ports. I think this tradition will remain, with the MBP being the "power user" model and the Air being the "lightweight on the go" model.

As for Retina, I think it's inevitable that ultimately all Apple products will have high-DPI displays. It's just a matter of time, so Apple can recoup the R&D costs on the most profitable models before porting the feature elsewhere.
If LCD displays are having lamination issues when they haven't in the past, I would think it's the new Retina technology that's making the lamination difficult. Making much finer pixels (higher pixel density) requires much more than just making smaller pixels, there are other interesting electrical properties that occur with the higher pixel density.
Possibly, but the new displays have other features beyond high resolution. For instance, the display elements are affixed to the glass, instead of having a glass cover. That's probably more significant than simply packing in more pixels.
 
Where's the Ivy Bridge (with USB 3.0) Mac Mini update? Its delay can't be due to screen lamination issues.... :rolleyes:
 
Hopefully "tweaked internals for the full-size iPad" will turn out to be a die shrink for the A5X inside the iPad3 to 32nm or possibly smaller. A decrease in heat and power consumption would be welcome.

I highly doubt Apple would do that, remember antenna-gate? Everyone thought Apple will modify the design second batch around, but they didn't.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.