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All MBPs will lose optical drive within a few months
- Thread starter drjsway
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Battery Test Explanation for those who are wondering
Since there was one post in the last page that said it is odd that the MBA does so well in the light usage test and looses against the MBPs in all the other Tests.
It is pretty simple to explain.
In one sentence the light usage test is ********.
What the did with the air is lower all the energy consumption they could. The display brightness is not as important even on MBP than what it used to be 5 years ago. The HDD disappeared an SSD is usually much better in most circumstances. The one thing they couldn't change is the CPUs power draw because they didn't want to use an ARM or Atom like the ipad.
Intels CPUs save loads of power when sleeping but whenever they aren't sleeping they make up for a huge part in the total power draw of the MBA.
What this means is that once you scroll with the touch pad through a webpage or PDF the power consumption jumps around 30%. Just move the mouse around. That is not much work for a CPU but it is more than nothing.
Apple did a lot to keep the CPU from waking up in OSX unless necessary which is why they shine in those so called light usage tests.
They test automated how long the notebook lasts when they forward every 20 seconds or 30 secs. That means unless there is active content like flash on the page the CPU has to wake up only 2 or 3 times a minute. In real life people will scorll through documents they are using, maybe they never lift the fingers from the touchpad. The CPU has to wake up an do some insignificant work mulitple times a second or at least every few seconds. That makes for a huge difference in real world battery life. MP3 playing draws less power.
The only thing that really reflects these tests is reading PDFs and swichting to the next page with keyboard short cuts, which let the CPU sleep much longer than the touch pad does.
I didn't read much about those new tests of Apple but I hope they do reflect light usage like a human does it not a javascrpt forwarding script.
Since there was one post in the last page that said it is odd that the MBA does so well in the light usage test and looses against the MBPs in all the other Tests.
It is pretty simple to explain.
In one sentence the light usage test is ********.
What the did with the air is lower all the energy consumption they could. The display brightness is not as important even on MBP than what it used to be 5 years ago. The HDD disappeared an SSD is usually much better in most circumstances. The one thing they couldn't change is the CPUs power draw because they didn't want to use an ARM or Atom like the ipad.
Intels CPUs save loads of power when sleeping but whenever they aren't sleeping they make up for a huge part in the total power draw of the MBA.
What this means is that once you scroll with the touch pad through a webpage or PDF the power consumption jumps around 30%. Just move the mouse around. That is not much work for a CPU but it is more than nothing.
Apple did a lot to keep the CPU from waking up in OSX unless necessary which is why they shine in those so called light usage tests.
They test automated how long the notebook lasts when they forward every 20 seconds or 30 secs. That means unless there is active content like flash on the page the CPU has to wake up only 2 or 3 times a minute. In real life people will scorll through documents they are using, maybe they never lift the fingers from the touchpad. The CPU has to wake up an do some insignificant work mulitple times a second or at least every few seconds. That makes for a huge difference in real world battery life. MP3 playing draws less power.
The only thing that really reflects these tests is reading PDFs and swichting to the next page with keyboard short cuts, which let the CPU sleep much longer than the touch pad does.
I didn't read much about those new tests of Apple but I hope they do reflect light usage like a human does it not a javascrpt forwarding script.
Yeah, scratch the USB 3.0 fetish already
Not really. The Sandy Bridge sets have been told that they will support USB 3.0 natively. Here is the link: http://www.fudzilla.com/processors/item/20347-sandy-bridge-to-get-usb-30-support
All my predictions are based on sources, not mindless hopings.
I need more proof that Steve Jobs actually said that, and that it was not a faked e-mail.I don't think Apple are ready to completely drop the optical drive just yet, but they're certainly gearing up to do it.
Most Mac software is already downloaded off the internet, and the Mac Store will only make this easier. I'm sure the main stream providers, Adobe, Microsoft, etc could be tempted to put their Mac Software on flash drives rather than cd's.
I think Apple will wait to let the Mac Store establish it's self fully first, which will no doubt encourage/force the major software companies to move to digital distribution over physical hardware anyway making the dropping of optical drives easer, and a lesser bag of hurt for users when it happens.
My guess would be the late 2011 revisions, or early 2012 by which point we'll be no doubt heading for a full case redesign anyway.
Most Mac software is already downloaded off the internet, and the Mac Store will only make this easier. I'm sure the main stream providers, Adobe, Microsoft, etc could be tempted to put their Mac Software on flash drives rather than cd's.
I think Apple will wait to let the Mac Store establish it's self fully first, which will no doubt encourage/force the major software companies to move to digital distribution over physical hardware anyway making the dropping of optical drives easer, and a lesser bag of hurt for users when it happens.
My guess would be the late 2011 revisions, or early 2012 by which point we'll be no doubt heading for a full case redesign anyway.
mac store and data center?
i can see it happening.
really cant remember the last time i used my optical bay.
i can see it happening.
really cant remember the last time i used my optical bay.
I use my optical drive so infrequently, but I'm always glad it's available and handy w/o pulling out and hooking up another drive altogether. I still buy physical disks, and being able to rip them immediately is no problem.
That said, I'm sure I could learn to live with it, especially if it meant more space and better battery power.
The size of the MBP I'm not too concerned with. Apple's lust with making things "thinner" is absurd to me.
That said, I'm sure I could learn to live with it, especially if it meant more space and better battery power.
The size of the MBP I'm not too concerned with. Apple's lust with making things "thinner" is absurd to me.
I agree... I like the current macbook pros... being smaller isn't all that matters...
Steve 
said that the Macbook Revolution has started.
So, I can bet 100$ that the optical drives will be ditched.
At the next release. And I will be happy to get rid of it.
said that the Macbook Revolution has started.So, I can bet 100$ that the optical drives will be ditched.
At the next release. And I will be happy to get rid of it.
ok,after reading all thez comments and suggestions,I guess the best way is to get rid off the OD ONLY in 13" model.Let the 15" and 17" models have these ODs so people who use them,have options.1 thing most people don't understand is that by removing optical drives,its not like they can't access CD/DVDs,u can always have external drives for $50-100...And still if u love these drives go for 15" and 17"...I guess this will satisfy the majority.
Now to utilize the space on 13",firstly give it a speed bump,it lags behind many $1000 laptops in terms of specs,so give it a good GPU and just put a massive battery in the remaining space,even if they increase the size of battery by 1.5x times,we'll have some 10 hours of real time usage.
This way 13" will be a perfect fit between the air and the pro...
What do u guys think?
Now to utilize the space on 13",firstly give it a speed bump,it lags behind many $1000 laptops in terms of specs,so give it a good GPU and just put a massive battery in the remaining space,even if they increase the size of battery by 1.5x times,we'll have some 10 hours of real time usage.
This way 13" will be a perfect fit between the air and the pro...
What do u guys think?
Drives = $20 - $100
I think they should ditch it in all but the 17 inch haha. the 17 not lacking in space.
It the space could be used for much better things in the 13 and 15 models
:O as a 17" owner i think they should ditch it.
idc what they add to replace it but the last time i used a CD was 2 years ago...and that was only because i found an old disc in my room that i wanted to see what was on it...(found out it was empty...)
but im hoping for 2 hard-drive spaces and slightly larger battery.
If you don't want the optical drive and only want another hard drive, why not just spend the $30 or so bucks to get a caddy and do it? Unlike battery and GPU upgrades, that's something you can all do, right here, right now.
Why do u want 2 hard drives?
We already have 2.5" hard drives upto 1TB.And if u r planning to have 1 SSD and 1 HD I doubt Apple will do that.We also have momentus Xt which is a hybrid drive,I guess there r better options than having 2 HD slots.
Space should be utilized for a GPU and a bigger battery...
15 and 17" users are less likely to use the OD. It's mainly less tech savvy people who rely on ODs, not pros.
Here are my predictions:
13" MBP
2.5ghz i5 Sandy Bridge
Intel HD Graphics
NVIDIA GeForce GT 435M with 512MB
32GB Flash storage (for OS and apps) + 320GB HDD
10 hours battery (using new test)
15" MBP/17"MBP
2.7ghz i7 Sandy Bridge
Intel HD Graphics
NVIDIA GeForce GT 445M with 1GB
64GB Flash storage + 500GB HDD.
10 hours battery
13" white MB
i3 Sandy Bridge
intel HD Graphics
built in Optical Drive
320 HDD
7 hours battery
Price reduction to $899.
future of MB
The tagline for the MBA is the future of the MacBook Line. even steve Jobs stated this.
I think Apple has been pushing for the removal of the ODD since they introduced the MBA thats the whole reason why they created the app store for the Iphone. havnt you noticed that the App store has permiated every level of Apples line starting with the Iphone, then the Ipad and now it is being brought to the Mac.
regarding the future of the MB line. steve was refering to the long battery life which he stated in part that he achieved from moving to flash from hdd. the next MBP's will go completely flash based and better screens.
they will not eliminate the ODD quite yet, Cause the MBP like is for people who do stuff like editing and other graphics intensive projects who need the ODD.
also what people are forgetting about is the MBA which does not have an ODD is meant as a travel computer and for the asian market.
The tagline for the MBA is the future of the MacBook Line. even steve Jobs stated this.
I think Apple has been pushing for the removal of the ODD since they introduced the MBA thats the whole reason why they created the app store for the Iphone. havnt you noticed that the App store has permiated every level of Apples line starting with the Iphone, then the Ipad and now it is being brought to the Mac.
regarding the future of the MB line. steve was refering to the long battery life which he stated in part that he achieved from moving to flash from hdd. the next MBP's will go completely flash based and better screens.
they will not eliminate the ODD quite yet, Cause the MBP like is for people who do stuff like editing and other graphics intensive projects who need the ODD.
also what people are forgetting about is the MBA which does not have an ODD is meant as a travel computer and for the asian market.
No chance IMO, but an ultra thin 15" MB Pro unibody with better battery life would be cool. Still no chance IMO.
Built for the Asian market lol....
But yes , the MBA is seen as a travel/companion machine.
Say what you wish, but apple a)doesn't have an App store for the Mac as of right now, still distributes much of their software packages via cd, and still expects users to have another machine available.
If Apple were really balls out like some of you wish to claim, there would be no external optical drive available, the app store would have launched the same day as the new MBA, and apple would have taken the remote disk sharing program off their site.
I don't think you're going to see small boot-up only SDD drives. From a marketing point of view it doesn't make sense... costly, doesn't help battery life, complicated to manage.
All of the iLife apps assume that they should put stuff in your home directory - on the boot disk. Managing home directories across multiple drives is more difficult and not very Apple.
You make an interesting point but you could add the 64gb flash to the board making it non-replacable. A single 64gb chip is extremely small. You could almost do it without removing the OD. I don't think we will see an optical drive removal on the next refresh. Not that i'm against it, I have no issue using a USB to plug it in when i need to.
Optical drive hasn't been a useful backup device for quite a while. But while I don't mind at all buying things via download without getting something physical, I very much like buying music and movies at the best possible price and having as much choice as possible. For iOS users, downloads (what idiot decided to call it "digital"? All the music on CDs is digital, all the movies on DVDs are digital), give you all the available software at the best possible price. For music and DVDs, that is not the case.
An extreme case, but relevant today: Supermarket sells a CD with horror sounds for Halloween for £0.99. On iTunes, £7.99. Just as extreme: Amazon sells Stravinsky's complete works, 22 CDs for £17. That would cost you a lot, lot more on iTunes, or on Amazon downloads. With movies, there is just not very much avaliable for downloads at all. Interestingly, for Audiobooks downloads seem to give the biggest choice at good prices.
I can't understand this obsession with SSD for booting a Macintosh - how often do people reboot their Macs? I do it at most once every few weeks, not worth wasting expensive SSD memory for. Hybrid drive is a much better solution. At the moment, they are still too primitive (4 GB SSD used as a read-only cache only), but within a year I would hope for something significantly better.
That one made me laugh. The pros that I know have a 13" MBP and a Mac Pro for doing their real work.
Optical drive hasn't been a useful backup device for quite a while. But while I don't mind at all buying things via download without getting something physical, I very much like buying music and movies at the best possible price and having as much choice as possible. For iOS users, downloads (what idiot decided to call it "digital"? All the music on CDs is digital, all the movies on DVDs are digital), give you all the available software at the best possible price. For music and DVDs, that is not the case.
An extreme case, but relevant today: Supermarket sells a CD with horror sounds for Halloween for £0.99. On iTunes, £7.99. Just as extreme: Amazon sells Stravinsky's complete works, 22 CDs for £17. That would cost you a lot, lot more on iTunes, or on Amazon downloads. With movies, there is just not very much avaliable for downloads at all. Interestingly, for Audiobooks downloads seem to give the biggest choice at good prices.
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I am hoping that with the MBP move to Flash memory this means that the next MBP 13" model will finally match the 15inch model see with them moving to flash that should allow them to finally include a dedicated GPU cause they can custom build
flash like they did with the MBA
I am hoping that with the MBP move to Flash memory this means that the next MBP 13" model will finally match the 15inch model see with them moving to flash that should allow them to finally include a dedicated GPU cause they can custom build
flash like they did with the MBA
No doubt this is a goal, particularly with the Mac App Store coming. But that's going to need a year or two to mature before this makes any sense at all.
How will they solve the battery "problem"? Simple: keep using the old math for MBPs. Or, put the numbers side by side. You make it sound like they've painted themselves into a corner with this "stricter" battery testing. It's just marketing. Useful for internal testing, perhaps, but otherwise totally meaningless to future product development.
If you want to take a major revelation from the MBA release, it's that Apple is about to get very serious about cloud computing so that they can remove traditional, internal HDDs from their products. This means faster/instant boot times and ever-thinner models.