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2012 Macbook Pro Redesign
- Thread starter Funkymonk
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Im still having a really hard time understanding your argument against the touchscreen. i guess i just dont understand how much and what you are doing with your track pad. the only thing i do is click to select things....and like i said before, i do this 16 hours a day. i just cant see how having to stop, wipe your finger around on the trackpad, find the pointer, move it to where you want to select, then tap, is better than just........tap. i would think just reaching up for a second to tap (with out bending or twisting the wrist) vs. bring my hand/wrist back or twisting it to reach the trackpad than doing the other movements to tap is better/more efficient especially for my carpel tunnel. which every laptop user has
Most of us do a lot more with the trackpad than just click to select things, and would find a touchscreen to be an inadequate replacement. For instance...
Text selection: Given the size of your fingertip, can you manage to select just the letters you want, especially with your fingertip blocking your view?
Detailed image editing: Can you get a pixel-precise selection, again with your fingertip blocking the view?
Web browsing: I currently use two-finger scrolling a lot. I'd rather not reach out to the screen several times a minute to keep reading.
Etc, etc, etc. That's just off the top of my head. I could no doubt come up with many more.
I have a hard time seeing they would remove Firewire when Thunderbolt obviously still havent taken off, the accessories that do exist are priced in a way that makes firewire a useful thing for a while to come still. I have a usb2.0/firewire800 external drive and it would sure suck to reduce it to USB 2, but Im not particularly worried about that. I have really come to a point where I dont know at all what to expect from this coming laptop, but Id be sincerely suprised if they removed the firewire at this stage.
With the greatest respect, I do understand that this thread is about a redesign, believe me, I've worked in the design industry for 22 years. Redesigns occur when they are needed and required, the competition is killing you or a usability paradigm has changed.
Ask yourself this, why does the MacBook need to be redesigned? From what perspective?
Is it harder to use now? Have our fingers become much fatter? Has our sight become worse? Do our brains and hand-eye co-ordination now work much faster?
Do professional users not need an ODD anymore? Would this be an issue? Do Apple care?
Apple and Jonny Ive won't make changes for changes sake. It costs an inordinate amount of investment to change a whole product line-up.
If anything is "real lame" around here , it's your inane comments. Go and play outside.
Liquid Metal is not enough to shave off the weight from MacBook Pro. I think the current Aluminum casing is incredibly durable & lightweight. The number one contributor to the weight of MBP is the glass panel. Try to hold MacBook Air with 1 hand and see how light it is. Look at the Air's screen: NO GLASS!
I don't know what else Apple must do if the weight is their primary concern. But the Pro machine is really a desktop machine. I don't see people carry MacBooks anymore. They carry iPads, proudly
What they can do IMHO is :
1. Increase the efficiency of battery. Double the cell size like they did in iPad 3
2. Find a way to put a speedy 1 TB Samsung SSD in there. Forget about Ram & CPU. The real bottleneck is the HDD. A hybrid SSD/HDD is nice, like the current iMac
3. Improve wireless communication between peripherals like Time Capsule. Sometimes my iTunes wirelessly connected to TC would need to be reloaded. It took more than 10 minutes to reload all 10GB of songs. It kinda lose connections when you don't play music for days. File transfer between MacBook & TC is painfully slow. It should at least achieve USB2.0 speed by now.
4. Reduce heat, increase efficiency of processing chip. Bring on Haswell. The first 24 hr laptop? That's next year, I can't wait.
I don't know what else Apple must do if the weight is their primary concern. But the Pro machine is really a desktop machine. I don't see people carry MacBooks anymore. They carry iPads, proudly
What they can do IMHO is :
1. Increase the efficiency of battery. Double the cell size like they did in iPad 3
2. Find a way to put a speedy 1 TB Samsung SSD in there. Forget about Ram & CPU. The real bottleneck is the HDD. A hybrid SSD/HDD is nice, like the current iMac
3. Improve wireless communication between peripherals like Time Capsule. Sometimes my iTunes wirelessly connected to TC would need to be reloaded. It took more than 10 minutes to reload all 10GB of songs. It kinda lose connections when you don't play music for days. File transfer between MacBook & TC is painfully slow. It should at least achieve USB2.0 speed by now.
4. Reduce heat, increase efficiency of processing chip. Bring on Haswell. The first 24 hr laptop? That's next year, I can't wait.
Are there any other professional designers out, there like me, who really don't give a flying ***** about the form factor of the new MBP??! All this talk of skinny MacBook Airness is really boring now.
I just want fastest possible processors, more space for RAM, a retina display or higher resolution anyway, anti-glare glass or the same old non-glossy screen. That's it. I'm still happy with the ODD drive. (I have hundreds of CDs and DVDs that I use for back-up and reference, not to mention software from over the years). Do I really want to have to carry another drive with as well as my HDD? Call me old fashioned, but this Mac is the workhorse of many of us graphic designers and should remain so.
PS. Can we have this update soon please?!
At last! Someone I agree with!
Nothing *needs* to be redesigned, but Apple could conceivably vastly improve the user experience, which is a very good reason for a redesign.
- solid-state drives are now becoming viable as primary drives for higher-end machines than netbooks
- almost nobody needs optical drives any more -- certainly not frequently enough to require an internal one on a portable.
- eliminating a platter-based hard drive and optical drive allows for a number of improvements:
- significant reduction of form factor (purely aesthetic)
- significant reduction of weight, a MAJOR improvement for anyone who carries their computer around
- potential improvement of battery life
- faster startup times.
No, eliminating the magnetic and optical media does not *require* a redesign, but it would be an excellent reason to make one.
In addition, there's a possibility that new chips and graphics cards will require different internal layouts, and that higher RAM capacities could also be provided for with a redesign.
So, yeah. You may not redesign a kettle or a toaster every couple of years, but in computing you redesign fairly frequently because the hardware keeps advancing so quickly.
lets see
- ultrabooks are coming(and came) with SSD
- Apple planned big money on the Cloud (farewell od)
- a new Os update is coming (Mountain Lion)
-- a removed HD makes space (like it or not)
-- apple likes the retina displays (not easy but who knows)
there is very little fantasy in the upcoming updates (if it's in the 2012 or 13 edition we will see)
- ultrabooks are coming(and came) with SSD
- Apple planned big money on the Cloud (farewell od)
- a new Os update is coming (Mountain Lion)
-- a removed HD makes space (like it or not)
-- apple likes the retina displays (not easy but who knows)
there is very little fantasy in the upcoming updates (if it's in the 2012 or 13 edition we will see)
first of all, who the h*ll edits images with a trackpad. I even carry a small pen pad in my bag for on the go editing. In no way did i say the touch screen would replace a pen pad.
second of all, the whole text selection issue would be the same as what is dealt with when using the iphone or ipad, which isnt an issue once you use it for a bit.
third off all, its not like you have to reach all the way to the middle of the screen or top of it to scroll, but i can see this one as a win for you, not really against the touchscreen, but a reason maybe to keep the trackpad.
fourth of all, i still think it will be a good idea (or even required) to keep the trackpad around for a while, for good, or at least long enough to phase it out.
fifth of all, every body needs to remember, its not like everybody started using a mouse and was perfect at using it, have you not seen one of your grandmas or grandpas, or kids, try to use a mouse......you have to learn to adjust to it.
lastly, you bring something like a touch screen to be a major part of all laptops, then future generations, would think the track pad is dumb.....like that dumb little nub they use to put in the middle of the keyboard...
Beowulf you clearly have the design industry's experience but you've got no or very little marketing knowledge.
Products NEED to be changed visually to refresh them every once in a while, so that the customers feel atracted to them, it's a psychological maneuver. How many times did you see a commercial of product "x" has now a new packaging? new color? etc.
There's your answer mate ^^
Products NEED to be changed visually to refresh them every once in a while, so that the customers feel atracted to them, it's a psychological maneuver. How many times did you see a commercial of product "x" has now a new packaging? new color? etc.
There's your answer mate ^^
Haha, what? That's what Apple DO, my friend. It's pretty much as big of a part of Apple as the actual computers. They're not making cargo pants for trekking, they're making suits in the latest cuts.
The line need to be redesigned from the perspective of having looked the same for a few years. The original iPhone design didn't need to change, nor did the 3G/3GS. The 4G/4GS design definitely doesn't need to change, but I'll give you ten to one that it will with the next iPhone. Because it's Apple. That's what they do.
I will agree with you that $300.00 for an adapter is just a tad ludicrous. Who knows, when the new mbp's are released if they don't include firewire ports maybe apple will release an adapter of there own that is somewhat reasonably priced.
how did you get the idea i wasnt reading your post. i was just asking for a detailed explanation of why and how it wouldnt be beneficial rather than a few lines only telling me that you wouldnt benefit from it.
i dont understand what you mean by switching out the keyboard for something smaller like the apple bluetooth one.
and again, im not saying that the touchpad needs to disapear like instantly, but a more gradual move from it would be more like it. just like they kept the firewire 800 port along with the thunderbolt, because, it will eventually be removed.
and your kidding about using anyother touch screen besides an apple one right.....i barf when i have to use ANY AND ALL other touchscreens besides an apple one. they just dont work period. which brings me back to the point that a touch screen on an apple laptop would be completely different than how it has been on a PC.
i really do appreciate you.
wow, im surprised at your reaction to my comment, since i thought it was a pretty positive one about your desires, rather than a crap comment bashing you.
i think you totally misunderstood me.
unless i misunderstand you, what you just said is exactly my ENTIRE argument. The fact that there is really nothing to redesign about the macbook, except, if anything, the incorporation of a touch screen, which in itself really wouldnt be a redesign, because they can probably do it without changing anything (about the form factor). apple has made the mbp perfect, up untill now it has been improved by its redesigns, but i cant see how it could really benefit from one now with out it being some gimmick or unimportant change. (all spec bumps aside)
And how you took my comment to you to be anything in anyway against you or negative.....is really a mistake.
All i was saying is that, your most likely going to get what you want with the spec bump....so be happy....
why are you so offended, what is there to be offended about, and why are you being negative towards me now...
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i agree with that person too, and somehow, he/she thinks i dont....
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if i worked for apple, id like the macbooks to stay how they are right now, and only update internals....because i havent fallen out of love with the current design.
everyone is missing my point. which is, theres nothing they can do to make it better in the "redesign" aspect of it....
but they always surprise.
Because I had to repeat myself, you asked questions to which the answer was already given.
In order to use a laptop touch screen in a way that doesn't put great strain on your shoulder, back and neck, most people would have to place their elbows in front of the screen. Basically the palm rest and touch pad is in the way.
You can't compare firewire and touchscreen, one is for communication between the computer and peripherals, the other is for interaction with the computer.
You don't have to use another brand.
Does anybody know if there is any update regarding these external GPUs? Can you buy them yet?
Iam putting up my MacBook 13 2010 for sale if I good sell for $900 which leaves me 450 loss than maybe I might consider a new model otherwise if I can't sell I will wait based on my readings it seems the MacBook will retain its same form factor but will become thinner something which I can live it.
Yes, but it's highly unlikely since an invitation for a presentation and launch next week would already have been issued.
Apple doesn't hold events for Mac updates, unless it's a complete redesign. Who is to say the MBP will get redesigned? Maybe they are just adding a 15" option to the Airs later in the year. That being said, I doubt we will see a MBP refresh next week. As much as I'd like to see it because I need a new laptop, I think it will be a few weeks yet.
I second this, Im not sure there will be a complete redesign and so many removals as people are worried about I have a hard time seeing happening.
Wirelessly posted
Hear that! I just want something new, fast, and 8 GB of memory because my MB is still running close to max at 4 GB.
Boe11 said:
Hear that! I just want something new, fast, and 8 GB of memory because my MB is still running close to max at 4 GB.