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2012 Macbook Pro Redesign

So

usual question. Do we purchase one now?

My gf wants/needs a new computer. She is now at the stage where she can begin to write her PhD so will need her own computer to go lock herself away with to get writing.

As it stands she wants a MBP (however I personally think a similarly styled Windows effort may be better as I think Office 2010 is much nicer to use than the Office Mac 2011) and will likely go for the 13 incher. She likes the current design and really doesn't like the design of the Air. If the MBP's are going in the direction of the Air then thats gonna put her off.

Really she could just buy now and get something that will be good. However, the only thing I am telling her to hang back on is the screen. The rest of the 13's specs are more than good enough for her uses and she likes the current design. However that screen is pretty pitiful at 1280x800 and comparing the higher res MBA side by side shows it to be pretty pitiful as well. If only there was a screen upgrade option on the 13... after using retina displays on the iPhone and New iPad, the screen on the 13 looks very low rent indeed. Very fuzzy and blocky.

She needs to start writing soon and I don't see that the new MBP's will be out this side of summer.
 
One interesting snippet Horace Dediu picked up from yesterday's earning call was that Mac sales growth was a measly 2% for the quarter (making it the worst performing quarter for the Mac since Q2 ‘09, and a significant reversal to the trend, which has seen growth of 20%+ for almost every quarter for the last two years).

I'd have to interpret this lack of growth as being at least in part due to a lack of new hardware refreshes (and in fact I can't think of a time in recent years when so many different parts of the Mac lineup were due, if not overdue, for refresh). Apple has to be even more keenly aware of this; we can't be long from the refreshes their lineup demands. I'm wondering though if this doesn't mean they're waiting to refresh the whole line-up simultaneously? Would there be any strategic benefit to doing so? Perhaps they intend to time the refreshes to coincide with the release of Mountain Lion?
 
AlexMason86 said:
So

usual question. Do we purchase one now?

My gf wants/needs a new computer. She is now at the stage where she can begin to write her PhD so will need her own computer to go lock herself away with to get writing.

As it stands she wants a MBP (however I personally think a similarly styled Windows effort may be better as I think Office 2010 is much nicer to use than the Office Mac 2011) and will likely go for the 13 incher. She likes the current design and really doesn't like the design of the Air. If the MBP's are going in the direction of the Air then thats gonna put her off.

Really she could just buy now and get something that will be good. However, the only thing I am telling her to hang back on is the screen. The rest of the 13's specs are more than good enough for her uses and she likes the current design. However that screen is pretty pitiful at 1280x800 and comparing the higher res MBA side by side shows it to be pretty pitiful as well. If only there was a screen upgrade option on the 13... after using retina displays on the iPhone and New iPad, the screen on the 13 looks very low rent indeed. Very fuzzy and blocky.

She needs to start writing soon and I don't see that the new MBP's will be out this side of summer.
Click to expand...

Hard to say. I wouldn't buy one right now. I expect a redesign to be released this year, probably in June, but perhaps even later. If your girlfriend really needs the laptop now, then I guess she has to buy it then. There's always the risk Apple releases a new one a few days later... Or not. Apple is very unpredictable.
 
slumpey326 said:
because of Apple's WWDC 2012 being announced today for June 11-15, I have a feeling that's when the new macbook pros will come out.
Click to expand...
It's possible but don't be quite sure. Apple will want to spend a considerable amount of time talking about iOS 6, especially if it's a major reworking, and of course mountain lion. That doesn't leave them with much time to announce a MacBook. I'm still hoping for a May release.
 
slumpey326 said:
because of Apple's WWDC 2012 being announced today for June 11-15, I have a feeling that's when the new macbook pros will come out.
Click to expand...

I might be mistaken, but I think that Apple rarely introduces new hardware at WWDC. That's not what the conference is for, and Apple usually respects that.
 
anthonylambert said:
Historically they released the Mac Pro at WWDC....
Click to expand...

This was not true between 2008-2010.

MacPro 2008 introduced in January:
https://www.macrumors.com/2008/01/08/apple-announces-penryn-mac-pros-and-xserve/

MacPro 2009 introduced in March: https://www.macrumors.com/2009/03/03/apple-introduces-new-mac-pro-with-nehalem-xeon-processors/

MacPro 2010 introduced in July:
https://www.macrumors.com/2010/07/27/apple-announces-new-mac-pros-with-up-to-12-cores-ssd-options/

In all those years, WWDC happened in June.
 
skaertus said:
Hard to say. I wouldn't buy one right now. I expect a redesign to be released this year, probably in June, but perhaps even later. If your girlfriend really needs the laptop now, then I guess she has to buy it then. There's always the risk Apple releases a new one a few days later... Or not. Apple is very unpredictable.
Click to expand...

Why not pick her up a used 13", and if she decides she wants the new one when they come out, sell it at minimal loss?
 
Hi-res screens

http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/...-to-ultrabooks-new-zenbooks-to-have-1080p-ips

Looking at that.... surely its got to be the only way apple can go.

Samsung have a 1600x900 panel in their Ultrabook and now ASUS are upping the ante supplying 1080p displays in both 11 and 13 incher's. Not only that, these are going to be proper IPS panels. None of this TN rubbish. For the type of machine the MBP supposedly is, proper 8bit displays are surely a must.
 
The only logical explanation if the MBPs won't get updated until June at the WWDC is Apple are still waiting for the dual core chips for the 13" MBP :/
 
No chance we'll see a renewed macbook pro before the release of mountain lion :(

you can expect a new macbook pro two months after mountain lion is released.

My guess is october now, Q3, right afterback to school

They will release mountain lion which will boost macbook sales again, and when that boost is over, two months or so, they release a renewed macbook pro.releasing them too close together will cannibalize sales


I don't think they have ever released new software and new hardware at the same time, and the os x ml news is coming very fast.
 
mr.bee said:
My guess is october now, Q3, right afterback to school
Click to expand...

Why wait til after? That would make no sense, they would release them before back to school to help sales. I know that's why I'm waiting to purchase one.
 
mr.bee said:
They will release mountain lion which will boost macbook sales again, and when that boost is over, two months or so, they release a renewed macbook pro.releasing them too close together will cannibalize sales
Click to expand...

I don't think that makes any sense at all. Why would releasing what seems to be minor update to osx make a macbook pro with previous generation hardware appealing?

And I wouldn't be surprised if mountain lion was free, as Apple is primarily a hardware company.
 
mr.bee said:
No chance we'll see a renewed macbook pro before the release of mountain lion :(

you can expect a new macbook pro two months after mountain lion is released.

My guess is october now, Q3, right afterback to school

They will release mountain lion which will boost macbook sales again, and when that boost is over, two months or so, they release a renewed macbook pro.releasing them too close together will cannibalize sales


I don't think they have ever released new software and new hardware at the same time, and the os x ml news is coming very fast.
Click to expand...

Wrong, Wrong, Wrong.

Remember the lion upgrade scheme?

Ever heard of a laptop release after the BTS offer? nope.

You are right about software and HW not releasing at the same time though, minus one Wrong:)
 
mr.bee said:
No chance we'll see a renewed macbook pro before the release of mountain lion :(

you can expect a new macbook pro two months after mountain lion is released.

My guess is october now, Q3, right afterback to school

They will release mountain lion which will boost macbook sales again, and when that boost is over, two months or so, they release a renewed macbook pro.releasing them too close together will cannibalize sales


I don't think they have ever released new software and new hardware at the same time, and the os x ml news is coming very fast.
Click to expand...

I disagree with all of this. Edit: didn't read the last line, at first.
 
mr.bee said:
No chance we'll see a renewed macbook pro before the release of mountain lion :(

you can expect a new macbook pro two months after mountain lion is released.

My guess is october now, Q3, right afterback to school

They will release mountain lion which will boost macbook sales again, and when that boost is over, two months or so, they release a renewed macbook pro.releasing them too close together will cannibalize sales


I don't think they have ever released new software and new hardware at the same time, and the os x ml news is coming very fast.
Click to expand...

October? Are you high? The last update was in February (October spec bump doesn't count)! You're saying Apple is going to have a 20 month cycle?!

No. Just no.
 
My guess is, and has been for the past several months, May. I am guessing it's in the first 3 weeks of May.

Also, when ML comes out, will the upgrade be free?
 
My guess is June. Because I am a pessimist, because it'd be nearer to the buyer's guide average, and because the iMac is in more need of the update than the MBP, again judging by the buyer's guide.

I know the guide does not take into consideration current circumstances. But I'll still value it 10 times more than whatever expected release dates are mentioned but Digitimes.
 
charlieegan3 said:
Wrong, Wrong, Wrong.

Remember the lion upgrade scheme?

Ever heard of a laptop release after the BTS offer? nope.
Click to expand...

Except the original unibody Macbook Pro release, which was in October 2008. ;)

I agree that the MBP will probably be refreshed before ML is released, with a free upgrade to ML.
 
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