This is really cool. My dad is looking to switch over to the Mac, and we suggested a MacBook Air, but he wasn't thrilled with the small screen size. A 15" MBA-like notebook would be awesome, especially if it came out this year.
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Apple Finishing Up Work on an Ultra-Thin 15" Notebook
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Is it conceivable that they drop the 13" Pro in favor of the Air? The line then looks like this...
11" Air
13" Air
15" Pro (with Air-like design)
17" Pro (design?)
Does the 17" Pro sell well enough to even justify its existence? It seems like Apple is trying to streamline their offerings. This may be a sign of things to come for the 17" Pro.
Depending on how similar the designs of the 15" and possible 17" are, maybe they just drop "Air" and "Pro" and call everything "MacBook"?
11" Air
13" Air
15" Pro (with Air-like design)
17" Pro (design?)
Does the 17" Pro sell well enough to even justify its existence? It seems like Apple is trying to streamline their offerings. This may be a sign of things to come for the 17" Pro.
Depending on how similar the designs of the 15" and possible 17" are, maybe they just drop "Air" and "Pro" and call everything "MacBook"?
The truth of the matter is that even Pros need an Optical Drive with them sparingly. You don't run anything off your optical drive. You copy that stuff (apps, videos, etc) to your computer and then use them from your computer.
And if you do in fact need an optical drive frequently, its not too hard to pull out an external drive, copy the optical disks data to your computer, and stash it away.
The idea that a laptop should always be lugging around an optical drive was a flawed one even before digital delivery and cheap, huge hard drives, made Optical media far less relevant.
how reliable is the source? damn it! should i cancel my 13" MBA order? i've lost hope when they haven't released the 15" along the small ones 
I don't think the crusade is artificial. Many people use optical drives rarely. It's becoming a niche periphreal, so it makes sense to give people the option to not carry one around all the time (by making it an external device).
Exactly, especially if they have lots of build-to-order options. Pick your MacBook processor, pick your storage, and add an external optical drive if you want one.
Rather than having an optical drive in each computer, we should think about having one per household.
OH thank god please please please let this be.
OH my my my.
I was just talking to my wife about this. Thinking that the Pro Computers would be updated for Christmas. Hint Hint Wink Wink Nudge Nudge.
Going to raid safe for future purchasing orgasm!!!
Now on a more serious Note!!
It should have a good graphics card. Not some Intel abortionized panty waste integrated graphics. Sometimes I think its a damn Hardy Boys Mystery for apple to put in just a really good graphics card.
Patriot24
11" Air
13" Air
15" Pro Air
17" Pro The design will more than likely stay the same. If your going that big you might as well have the Optical drive anyway. Although well see.
I Predicted something like this a while ago. Didn't see the 11 air coming along though. Always thought the slate would be a net book replacement.
Personally I'd love a 15in with the Air form-factor but not at the expense of ports. If they can fit thunderbolt/mag/usb on one side and fw/usb on the other then I'd be all in.
Honestly I think I've used my optical drive twice.
Honestly I think I've used my optical drive twice.
I wouldn't hold your breath for FW800. Maybe cross your fingers that a FW800 adapter becomes available by then.
One question. If the Pro line adopts all of the features of the Air line (tapered, thinner design with no optical drive), then what's to distinguish them? Unless they're going to arbitrarily label the 11 and 13 inch models as Air and the 15 and 17 inch models as Pro.
That would be some reduction in laptop options for 2012: from 6 in 2011 to 4 in 2012. There would be more iPad models than MacBook models.
That would be some reduction in laptop options for 2012: from 6 in 2011 to 4 in 2012. There would be more iPad models than MacBook models.
upgraded too early I guess
I shouldn't worry too much, it will be a good while before Apple gets their shizz together, since there has only just been a MBP refresh. I wouldn't expect one until Q2/Q3 2012 at the earliest.
Eh are you guys crazy or something?
whats the point in making the pro like this? then whats the difference between them?
It might as well be called the 15" Macbook Air .... if its using that design... then you could keep the pro line up with the more ports and the dvd drive and the better graphics solutions...
Edit: Or... drop the dvd drive in the mbp and give us a 2nd HDD... I think an SSD blade like in the air for the OS and some apps then a 2nd drive (HDD) that can hold all your data and more apps.
whats the point in making the pro like this? then whats the difference between them?
It might as well be called the 15" Macbook Air .... if its using that design... then you could keep the pro line up with the more ports and the dvd drive and the better graphics solutions...
Edit: Or... drop the dvd drive in the mbp and give us a 2nd HDD... I think an SSD blade like in the air for the OS and some apps then a 2nd drive (HDD) that can hold all your data and more apps.
I don't see why everyone is so eager to give up physical media. I often use my DVD drive for watching DVDs, I prefer to have a hard copy as it is more reliable in the event of a hardrive crash and it protects my privacy in such a way that cloud storage never can.
Downloading software from a centralised cloud source owned by one authority, when there is no other option is simply setting up a situation where the consumer is dependant for the software supplied on the company, in this case Apple. Who can cut your access at their pleasure. And in the case of data, this means a company can access and potentially disseminate your information to whomever they please (regardless of the legality), and cut you off from your OWN data.
Therefore it seems more secure to use physical media. It also keeps control of the content in the hands of the user. I am surprised that more people do not see the dangers of cloud distribution.
Downloading software from a centralised cloud source owned by one authority, when there is no other option is simply setting up a situation where the consumer is dependant for the software supplied on the company, in this case Apple. Who can cut your access at their pleasure. And in the case of data, this means a company can access and potentially disseminate your information to whomever they please (regardless of the legality), and cut you off from your OWN data.
Therefore it seems more secure to use physical media. It also keeps control of the content in the hands of the user. I am surprised that more people do not see the dangers of cloud distribution.
Hmm... I really like this idea, but I just don't think I'll wait cuz it could easily be another 9-12 months till this may come to light.
What I would expect to see in 15" MBA/MBP(w/o odd). Discrete graphics, 25W Proc, 7-9HR battery (At least apple advertised), and a secondary mechanical hdd paired with 128GB SSD. That's really it. Would I get it... maybe. Not sure how much I like 15" over 13", but what the 15" would offer, it sure would be hard not to go for it. Base price I'd guess $1599/$1699
What I would expect to see in 15" MBA/MBP(w/o odd). Discrete graphics, 25W Proc, 7-9HR battery (At least apple advertised), and a secondary mechanical hdd paired with 128GB SSD. That's really it. Would I get it... maybe. Not sure how much I like 15" over 13", but what the 15" would offer, it sure would be hard not to go for it. Base price I'd guess $1599/$1699
I think I'll get a nice Crucial M4 and then get the same current design MB Pro to fit it in thanks!
If they go the same SSD style as the Air's, bye bye upgrade path... plus will you be able to upgrade the memory or be stuck with soldered on chips due to the thinness?
No thanks.. A lot of things to think about other then the loss of the ODD should they make then ext Pro's the same thickness as the Air's.
If they go the same SSD style as the Air's, bye bye upgrade path... plus will you be able to upgrade the memory or be stuck with soldered on chips due to the thinness?
No thanks.. A lot of things to think about other then the loss of the ODD should they make then ext Pro's the same thickness as the Air's.
This is the most ridiculous retort to an obvious baiting comment. Why do it? And even if someone has a source, that doesn't agree with your opinion, you can just claim "bias" and push it off as "unreliable".