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Apple Predicted to Discontinue 17-Inch MacBook Pro
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Sorry, SB = Sandy Bridge. Good thing Apple puts limits on things they don't even make. Anyway, the real official RAM limit is 32GB, as I said I am running 16GB happily
build it and they will come
Dropping the 17" MBP would be short-sighted. There are people who need such things. This would be as foolish as dropping the XServe.
The problem isn't the form factor or the product category. They problem is producing something the customer is willing to buy.
Apple failed to update the design and configuration of the XServe for years, and then they wonder why sales slowed? If they would have switched to 2.5" hard drives, the latest CPUs, and stopped intentionally making it difficult to install Windows or Linux on the XServe, they would have continued selling well.
Likewise, the 17" MBP needs an overhaul. A little thinner would be nice, but not at the expense of capabilities: Needs one of the new fastest quad-core Ivy-bridge CPUs, an actual top-of-the-line mobile GPU, an 85 watt-hour battery, dual hard drives in a RAID0 config - 2TB, and support for 16GB of RAM. And since the width of the chassis is more than the smaller laptops, put a figgin' extended keyboard on the thing!
Get serious, and you'll have improved sales of the 17" MBP.
Dropping the 17" MBP would be short-sighted. There are people who need such things. This would be as foolish as dropping the XServe.
The problem isn't the form factor or the product category. They problem is producing something the customer is willing to buy.
Apple failed to update the design and configuration of the XServe for years, and then they wonder why sales slowed? If they would have switched to 2.5" hard drives, the latest CPUs, and stopped intentionally making it difficult to install Windows or Linux on the XServe, they would have continued selling well.
Likewise, the 17" MBP needs an overhaul. A little thinner would be nice, but not at the expense of capabilities: Needs one of the new fastest quad-core Ivy-bridge CPUs, an actual top-of-the-line mobile GPU, an 85 watt-hour battery, dual hard drives in a RAID0 config - 2TB, and support for 16GB of RAM. And since the width of the chassis is more than the smaller laptops, put a figgin' extended keyboard on the thing!
Get serious, and you'll have improved sales of the 17" MBP.
So yes I have a 13MBA, a 13MBP, two 15MBP's but the one I really LOVE working with is my 17MBP. Never expected it to be such a difference, always thought the 15inch MBP's where perfect but after using this 17 you find out the difference is HUGE. Stuff just seem to fit better and well.. it is a speedy monster.
So I guess we will see if Apple is going to do whatever the rumor is, I'm not taking anything very serious unless apple announces it, because so far pretty much every product was suppose to be canceled and FCPX is suppose to be iMovie GOTY. So most stuff on here is just to get people enraged in some way hah... or not.. but maybe...not?
So I guess we will see if Apple is going to do whatever the rumor is, I'm not taking anything very serious unless apple announces it, because so far pretty much every product was suppose to be canceled and FCPX is suppose to be iMovie GOTY. So most stuff on here is just to get people enraged in some way hah... or not.. but maybe...not?
50,000 a quarter is not exactly no sales... just happens to be a drop in the iOS Ocean is all. but high end machines always sell less.
Macintosh a pro machine? Get a clue. Macintosh was Apple's first consumer computer. Apple II and Apple Lisa were higher priced more prosumer oriented machines while the Macintosh project from start to finish was aimed at home users who wouldn't want to pay a lot of money for a personal computer. It used a much slower CPU compared to other Apple machines at the time, and one that was much much slower compared to intel offerings.
Quadra (I owned one) was a fast machine, but still a prosumer class machine due to motorola chips. For Apple, it was their high end professional machine, but if you looked at other offerings from all brands, if you wanted actual computing power you'd have to go SGI at that time.
G3's were slightly faster than Pentium 3's. They weren't faster than Xeon's. Intel offered workstation class processors long before Apple switched to Intel. Not that it mattered. When Apple released G3's, Windows was years ahead of Mac OS so any speed increase coming from the processor was lost due to outdated system architecture.
And again, at that point in time, SG offered the fastest workstation class video oriented computers.
That was only at the early times. For a small while, Photoshop worked faster on Mac 68k processors than it did on Intel offerings on Win machines. That didn't really last long and that couple percentage of speed difference was NOT the reason why people used macs. Macs were easy to use, and desktop publishing folk are not computer experts. So they chose the mac due to ease of use and less everyday issues.
Basically for a very long time, SGI was THE computer to use if your work demanded a lot of CPU time. Almost all post production work was done on SGI's until the early 2000's when Intel offerings started to be "fast enough" for most of the work done so some post production did switch to Intel's due to cheaper price than SGI workstations. Then when Apple released G4 and then G5, they did attract some people, mostly due to the price of their software offerings (Final Cut was 1/10th the price of Avid, Apple Shake was 1/5th the price of Shake, Apple Color 1/10th the price of Color) etc. The computers were still slower than Xeon workstations, but they were fast enough for most work and the software price difference was considerable.
I would say that Apple never sold professional level machines until Mac Pro, which was truly the first niche product Apple came up with. But some pro folk did use Apple because Apple's prosumer machines were "fast enough" for their work. Desktop publishing is the area where Apple did shine, because of less need for CPU power compared to video, 3D etc.
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Oh that's some pretty good points, although i don't really mis the extended keyboard it would be nice, but I love the speakers.
Definitely a second drive, not a fan of the data doubler solution. Now I carry a external DVD drive, which, considering the size of the thing, is a bit silly.
Definitely a second drive, not a fan of the data doubler solution. Now I carry a external DVD drive, which, considering the size of the thing, is a bit silly.
I bought mine for the fact that I can have a 500GB+ hard drive. I can't have my personal and work files all onto a 256GB SSD.
Read this on a finance website possible regarding tomorrow's Earnings Announcment...
"It's not going to be about the new iPad and it's not going to be about the the iPhone 4S, it's going to about Mac sales and the outlook going forward."
Ah, yes, the Mac. Lost in the storm surrounding the "Newest Biggest Thing" is that there hasn't been a refresh on Mac products in over a year. Mac accounts for roughly 15% of Apple revenues; not enough to really sink the ship on the margin, but certainly a factor to be considered in light of the moribund growth of the traditional computer industry as a whole.
A slimmer form factor, new chip set, or a refresh in general for the Mac would be more than welcome news to analysts and investors.
"It's not going to be about the new iPad and it's not going to be about the the iPhone 4S, it's going to about Mac sales and the outlook going forward."
Ah, yes, the Mac. Lost in the storm surrounding the "Newest Biggest Thing" is that there hasn't been a refresh on Mac products in over a year. Mac accounts for roughly 15% of Apple revenues; not enough to really sink the ship on the margin, but certainly a factor to be considered in light of the moribund growth of the traditional computer industry as a whole.
A slimmer form factor, new chip set, or a refresh in general for the Mac would be more than welcome news to analysts and investors.
OR... Apple decided long before it officially EOLed the Xserve it wasn't a market it wanted to compete in but let it linger on the sales sheet for as long as the current model was viable.
It's laughable to say Apple made a mistake KOing the Xserve or will make one by nixing the 17" as if the company is in a financial tailspin now because of bad decisions. Apple has a roadmap of where it wants to go. Clearly the Xserve didn't make the cut. We'll see what happens to the 17". Everyone thought the Mini was a EOL computer spinning too, so who knows. But I think Apple has a good eye on what products are needed for its future growth, and also doesn't want to cater to niche markets anymore.
Yes, that be the 17" monster we should have, especially the extended keyboard.Bought one external to run mine.
For my 5 cents I'd welcome a 23" version, kind of a portable imac.
(A desktop to go, no cables or other parts but the charger)
Never mind who wants to schlepp that. I would and whoever wouldn't can stay with 13, 15 etc.
tossing this grain of salt over my shoulder
Discontinue the 17", I really doubt that. So many professionals rely on that extra real estate and the extra slots/ports/power.
I had a few reasons why I didn't test a 17", but this analysis does not make sense to me.
If Apple kills this and the Mac Pro (please no) - they will drive away many professionals who kept them floating long before the iBusiness.
If I were to ditch my iMac, I would consider 17" MBP since it is a desktop replacement. While I might really enjoy iPad and iPhone, reality dictates I still need a computer. The iPad school solution is not working as well as I'd hoped, so I still use my iMac for the majority of my paper-writing, compiling and web-based schoolwork. If my iMac dies, I would definitely get another Apple computer (but not an iMac). I would hope I still have this choice. So I'll toss this rumor since so many have said Apple have waited to refresh the 17" long after the 13" and 15" models were updated.
Discontinue the 17", I really doubt that. So many professionals rely on that extra real estate and the extra slots/ports/power.
I had a few reasons why I didn't test a 17", but this analysis does not make sense to me.
If Apple kills this and the Mac Pro (please no) - they will drive away many professionals who kept them floating long before the iBusiness.
If I were to ditch my iMac, I would consider 17" MBP since it is a desktop replacement. While I might really enjoy iPad and iPhone, reality dictates I still need a computer. The iPad school solution is not working as well as I'd hoped, so I still use my iMac for the majority of my paper-writing, compiling and web-based schoolwork. If my iMac dies, I would definitely get another Apple computer (but not an iMac). I would hope I still have this choice. So I'll toss this rumor since so many have said Apple have waited to refresh the 17" long after the 13" and 15" models were updated.
Relatively, the 17" MBP may be a small market.
But with Apple expanding everywhere, and people actually needing a large laptop, it would make no sense to drop it.
But with Apple expanding everywhere, and people actually needing a large laptop, it would make no sense to drop it.
Dear Apple,
drop the 17'', no problem.
As long as there will instantly be a brand new 17,6'' !
OK? OK!
drop the 17'', no problem.
As long as there will instantly be a brand new 17,6'' !
OK? OK!
This makes me very sad. I really wanted a 17 inch
Buy one. They're for sale on the Apple website.
Please elaborate.
You really thing a 'pro' is editing on a 17" screen?
Nope.
A 'pro' (which is stupid word anyways because the market has shifted) is using multiple screens, something that can easily be achieve via Thunderbolt.
If anything, Apple has been making their consumer lineup more 'pro' oriented with features like Thunderbolt.
The trend seems to be toward smaller laptop screens
I wouldn't be surprised to see Apple discontinue the 17" MBP. Lenovo discontinued their 17" models a while back too. It seems most people favor "smaller and lighter" in notebooks.
I'm disappointed to see this trend though. While "smaller and lighter" is great for the real road warrior, a larger screen is advantageous for anyone (like a contract worker or consultant) who uses the machine as their "desktop", working on it for the majority of their waking hours each day. A 15" screen is pretty small for that.
I wouldn't be surprised to see Apple discontinue the 17" MBP. Lenovo discontinued their 17" models a while back too. It seems most people favor "smaller and lighter" in notebooks.
I'm disappointed to see this trend though. While "smaller and lighter" is great for the real road warrior, a larger screen is advantageous for anyone (like a contract worker or consultant) who uses the machine as their "desktop", working on it for the majority of their waking hours each day. A 15" screen is pretty small for that.