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Apple have been safe lately - will that end with the 2012 MacBook Pro

S

SisterRay

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 25, 2006
221
9
UK
Apple have been sort of ....Yawn..zzzz..zzzz. lately. Will the new 2012 MacBooks Pro's keep them again of the game with another leap of technology. Or will it be a humdrum release hidden behind the reality distortion field.

I fear the field may be slipping.

What do you think
 
In what way is the 2011 MacBook Pro "humdrum"? It remains the best laptop on the market today.
 
It might be good, but there is nothing unique. It needs that little bit of something special.
 
I agree. There's nothing in particular that separates an MBP from its competitors, aside from maybe battery life (?) and of course, the operating system.

I mean, yes, it's a big slab of aluminum that makes it look different from the majority of other similar laptops, but I personally don't like the look. I guess the aluminum is fine, but the overall design isn't particularly anything to get excited about (especially since it's fairly played out). At least with the MacBook Air, it's sleek and sexy... same with the iPad and iPhone. The Mini and iMac look very classy. But the MBP? Not my cup of tea, weirdly.

I also think it weights a lot... not that I'm weak, but its deceiving with its footprint I would say.

To each their own though!
 
SisterRay said:
It might be good, but there is nothing unique. It needs that little bit of something special.
Click to expand...

You want a new design? So it isn't actually a need?
Apple fared quite well with the pre-Unibody design they employed for five and a half years with the G4 PowerBook and MacBook Pro.

Apple doesn't need to introduce new designs all the time, the products sell just as well, though they will do a new MBP design eventually, but not because some people want that, but because Apple saw the need and means to do it.
 
Wow...distortion field already in overdrive :D

The innovative portable computing you see is embodied in the Air, iPad and iOS.

The Mac OS is rather humdrum and old fashioned, but certainly serviceable. The iOS is where the future lies. Same with hardware: the hard drive/optical drive lugging mini desktop has more or less run its course. Many of us will continue to need and use it, but the cool kids have moved on to something else.

Rob
 
SisterRay said:
Apple have been sort of ....Yawn..zzzz..zzzz. lately. Will the new 2012 MacBooks Pro's keep them again of the game with another leap of technology. Or will it be a humdrum release hidden behind the reality distortion field.

I fear the field may be slipping.

What do you think
Click to expand...

I think you are expecting too much
 
KylePowers said:
I agree. There's nothing in particular that separates an MBP from its competitors, aside from maybe battery life (?) and of course, the operating system.

I mean, yes, it's a big slab of aluminum that makes it look different from the majority of other similar laptops, but I personally don't like the look. I guess the aluminum is fine, but the overall design isn't particularly anything to get excited about (especially since it's fairly played out). At least with the MacBook Air, it's sleek and sexy... same with the iPad and iPhone. The Mini and iMac look very classy. But the MBP? Not my cup of tea, weirdly.

I also think it weights a lot... not that I'm weak, but its deceiving with its footprint I would say.

To each their own though!
Click to expand...

The weight is determined to a large degree by internals. Okay the case weighs something, but you are limited in potential methods of weight reduction without removing things internally. The Air isn't actually light because it's thin. Some of the internals are significantly different, and the usual comparison (13" air to 15" pro) is fundamentally flawed. If you compare to the 13" pro and make some adjustments for the weight of the normal HDD vs the stick type SSD (which is tiny and extremely light) and factor out the weight of the ODD, they're not so far apart.


SisterRay said:
Apple have been sort of ....Yawn..zzzz..zzzz. lately. Will the new 2012 MacBooks Pro's keep them again of the game with another leap of technology. Or will it be a humdrum release hidden behind the reality distortion field.

I fear the field may be slipping.

What do you think
Click to expand...

Laptops in general are a relatively mature market. The Airs give them a new method of differentiation by packaging the results of a lot of recent advancements in technology. If you want the fastest possible cpus in a laptop format, you're looking at the macbook pro. If you can deal with some limitations on ram and cpu (some, as in may not affect everyone equally) get the Air. They used practically every cpu in the ULV lineup across the Air line. They used all but the most expensive standard tdp cpus in the macbook pro, and they run hot enough as it is. You won't see much of a design change in the pro unless things change with the technology used to build them. I'm not sure how this is difficult to grasp.
 
thundersteele said:
I'm waiting for the dual screen MBP. Physical keyboard is removed, instead the second screen can transform into a touch keyboard if required.
Click to expand...

1. What do you think a second screen the same size as the first one will do to the battery life?

2. If the physical keyboard was replaced with a touch one, why not just use a tablet? The physical keyboard is one of the main advantages laptops still retain over tablets.
 
mrsir2009 said:
1. What do you think a second screen the same size as the first one will do to the battery life?

2. If the physical keyboard was replaced with a touch one, why not just use a tablet? The physical keyboard is one of the main advantages laptops still retain over tablets.
Click to expand...

Every time I think about the dual screen MBP, I try to come up with applications for such a setup and reasons why this is great. Unfortunately I'm never very successful with that.

1. Yeah, it might hurt the battery. Good point
2. A real operating system and a powerful CPU are the main advantages in my opinion. An iPad with external keyboard is still a tablet, not a laptop.


Here are a few scenarios I managed to come up with:

- programming: IDE on the top screen, ebook (Cocoa for dummies) or API as background for the keyboard screen.
- video controls on the keyboard screen during fullscreen playback
- dashboard as background for the keyboard screen
- handwriting, drawing, 10 finger touch input without the stretching your arms to touch the screen problem

Not so great, I know. The biggest problem is that it still wouldn't have the compactness of a tablet - you still have to open it to play a video.

How about a top case made of two layers of gorilla glass, with the screen in between (self glowing AMOLED stuff or so)? Laptop closed = tablet, laptop open = laptop.
 
thundersteele said:
How about a top case made of two layers of gorilla glass, with the screen in between (self glowing AMOLED stuff or so)? Laptop closed = tablet, laptop open = laptop.
Click to expand...

That could actually happen. It's possible to think up a lot of interesting concepts, but they rely on technology to be at a point where the concept could result in a successful product. That was one of the cool things about the ipad. Technology isn't at a point where such a device can provide a good user experience with a full blown desktop OS, but the available technology resulted in a very cool/usable product. A decade ago such a device may not have been pleasant to use.
 
I'll tell you. You guys are all crazy. Loopy even. I would be very happy with a 17" MacBook Pro with Retina display and solid-state hard drive.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

Aidoneus said:
In what way is the 2011 MacBook Pro "humdrum"? It remains the best laptop on the market today.
Click to expand...

Are you kidding? The only thing making it good is the OS. The specs for the price are ABYSMAL!
 
thundersteele said:
Laptop closed = tablet, laptop open = laptop.
Click to expand...

What, like these successful products?

dell-inspiron-duo_21.jpg


hp_02.jpg


haier_48.jpg


Hp-Tablet-Laptop.jpg


eee-pad-transformer-190511.jpg


imgres


Tablet/laptop hybrids have not taken off in any of their incarnations. At least not yet, with our current technology.
 
mrsir2009 said:
What, like these successful products?

Tablet/laptop hybrids have not taken off in any of their incarnations. At least not yet, with our current technology.
Click to expand...

The Thinkpad convertible has been around for a while. It's a niche market, but it exists. Maybe someday Apple or some other manufacturer will come up with a way to implement a hybrid that appeals to a larger group of people.

At least now you don't have to tell people why they should want a tablet...
 
KylePowers said:
I agree. There's nothing in particular that separates an MBP from its competitors, aside from maybe battery life (?) and of course, the operating system.

I mean, yes, it's a big slab of aluminum that makes it look different from the majority of other similar laptops, but I personally don't like the look. I guess the aluminum is fine, but the overall design isn't particularly anything to get excited about (especially since it's fairly played out). At least with the MacBook Air, it's sleek and sexy... same with the iPad and iPhone. The Mini and iMac look very classy. But the MBP? Not my cup of tea, weirdly.

I also think it weights a lot... not that I'm weak, but its deceiving with its footprint I would say.

To each their own though!
Click to expand...
What is amazing about this post is how you have taken Apple for granted.....
It has the best selling tablet....the best selling MP3 player....the fastest growth gains in the computer space company wide. The are the most watched and imitated company by all of there competitors. Just the mention of a RUMOR that Apple MIGHT release a TV and the Whole TV industry is scrambling.....they produce the most innovating products and designs. Yet because their unique blend of software and hardware is often taken for granted because the whole design is for it "simply work". You have a MBA from your sig so why would you want a MBP?
 
phyrexia said:
I see lots of Transformers around Campus. Mainly iPads, but there are some xformers floating around.
Click to expand...

Yeah, sure, some of them do alright. But none of them have really 'taken off' like the iPad. Probably because the thick & heavy form factor of a laptop makes it unattractive to use as a tablet. Perhaps if it was a MacBook Air thinness then it might have a chance...
 
Last edited:
I don't get the point of this thread.

Do you know how amazingly fast the 2011 MBP's are? I've done tests with my early 2011 and it's almost as fast as my 2008 8 Core 3.2Ghz Mac Pro! Think about that for a second.

For slickness, go with an Air. They look nice and thin.

For pro use, go with an MBP.

The unibodies are nice. As mentioned, the MBP's are very tightly packed and I don't really see a miniaturisation of internal components unless Apple starts removing the optical drive, removing the hard drive (and using the Air SSD chips), etc. These machines are using the latest components as it is.

My 15" MBP is not even that heavy. Have you used other laptops? You'll notice the difference in a heartbeat.
 
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