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Apple Prepping for Notebook Refresh?
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A. if things are more common or standardized it doesn't necessarily mean they are better. The wedge shape design is there just to fool people in to thinking they have a thin computer. And it also doesn't mean you get better cooling. What's a true professional laptop anyway. You have to be a Windows user to be a true professional now don't make me laugh.
B. A tray loading optical drive isn't necessarily better. I've seen my share of busted tray's. And why would you want it to be user replaceable.
C. Finger print readers can be very easily fooled. So trust me on this one, if the mythbusters can do it you can too. So that means they aren't secure at all.
D. What is up with memory card readers. Use the cable that came with your camera. If it wasn't supplied with your camera, return it and buy a proper camera. Oh and don't be fooled by usb 2.0 on camera's. It comes in two versions hi-speed and full-speed. http://www.everythingusb.com/usb2/faq.htm
I use my cable on my nikon D40 and it is just as fast as if I were to use a card reader.
E. The thing with dedicated graphics is that a very large percentage of standard consumers doesn't need dedicated graphics. Besides there aren't that many applications that truly use a graphics card anyway, games being the only acception and some stuff like FCP and Aperture.
F. And yes the MBP needs to be that thin. I carry my MBP with me on a daily basis. Fat PC laptops just are to damn big. And yes they get hot so what.
At least they don't start to huff and puff like PC laptops do. My nephew has a 17" toshiba laptop a Satellite Pro. Not a bad computer at all. And it has this giant ventilation grill at the back and on the sides. But when he does ordinary things the thing takes off. Now he doesn't mind the noise it makes. But I would have thrown the thing out of the window a longtime ago. My MBP is on all the time. When I'm at home I run apps like visualhub to convert video's to Apple Tv format. I sleep roughly 2 meters away from the damn thing and it is quiet no huffing and puffing. The only time when the fans start turning is when I play games. And that's because those fools at NVIDIA and ATI don't get that GPU's should be more power efficient and shouldn't produce so much damn heat.
G. If you like PC laptops so much stick with those, nobody is forcing you t use a Mac.
True very true. But would you rather have a reader than a burner? I think not.
I understand your point - better quality is better quality and thus more desirable, plain and simple. However, my point is that I do not need to see Click in 1080p. I'm sure it's great and obviously it's better quality than DVD, but I simply don't care, and having a Blu Ray copy of this movie is not a priority or desire for me. I would be extremely surprised if I am alone with this opinion.
Based on this argument, should I criticize someone who doesn't want to listen to all their music on SACD or Audio DVD? Better frequency response, higher sampling rates, come on, who wouldn't, right?!
To modify your quote: "Why would I want to listen to better quality, better sounding music?"
Fact is, for some people they just don't care to. And I think this gets back to one of the previous points where there will always be videophiles and audiophiles wanting the latest, greatest and best; but for many others, this simply isn't a priority or necessity. For me (and I realize not others) Blu Ray falls into this space. Very cool, obviously better technology, but not a fundamental shift as VHS to DVD was (i.e. analog to digital) and as a result, not the be-all and end-all some make it out to be. (And I'm not saying DVDs will be around forever and that 5 years from now Blu Ray will not be more dominant in the marketplace - obviously technology moves forward.)
But most Adobe stuff is on both Apple and Windows (and where it's not on both, it's probably on Windows and not Apple). For the other applications, there are capable Windows softwares available.
Computers are just tools - not status symbols, not religions.
I understand your point - better quality is better quality and thus more desirable, plain and simple. However, my point is that I do not need to see Click in 1080p. I'm sure it's great and obviously it's better quality than DVD, but I simply don't care, and having a Blu Ray copy of this movie is not a priority or desire for me. I would be extremely surprised if I am alone with this opinion.
Based on this argument, should I criticize someone who doesn't want to listen to all their music on SACD or Audio DVD? Better frequency response, higher sampling rates, come on, who wouldn't, right?!
To modify your quote: "Why would I want to listen to better quality, better sounding music?"
Fact is, for some people they just don't care to. And I think this gets back to one of the previous points where there will always be videophiles and audiophiles wanting the latest, greatest and best; but for many others, this simply isn't a priority or necessity. For me (and I realize not others) Blu Ray falls into this space. Very cool, obviously better technology, but not a fundamental shift as VHS to DVD was (i.e. analog to digital) and as a result, not the be-all and end-all some make it out to be. (And I'm not saying DVDs will be around forever and that 5 years from now Blu Ray will not be more dominant in the marketplace - obviously technology moves forward.)
Shard,
I understand where you are coming from and I used to have much the same opinion until I bought a 2nd gen sony BD player and a 60" 1080p Pioneer Kuro plasma TV.
Now I have completely changed my stance on this. HD Sports like football take on a whole new dimension of enjoyment. The same goes for just regular TV programing, I hardly watch anything that isn't HD. Standard def video just isn't enjoyable for me anymore. It doesn't offer anywhere near the same level of immersion into the story, sound quality, etc.
I would hardly ever watch DVD movies more than once. However I can't tell you how many times I have repeat watched "3:10 to Yuma", "Casino Royale", "Blade Runner", "Live Free, Die Hard", etc. etc.
If I may add something, there has even been an opposite trend since the last decade or so (since the advent of MP3). Most people are trading lossless CD audio in favor of easier access and portable librairies of lossy music. From audio tapes to CD to MP3, not audio tapes to CD to DVD-Audio. Same goes for video, from VHS to DVD to MP4 files (from DVD to iPod resolution) and not VHS to DVD to Blu-Ray.
Of course, the easy access and portability will be able to join hi-def audio and video when storage capacities go up, but when capacities go up I think most people see it as the ability to store more things at the same quality, not the same things at higher quality.
This it the first worthwhile observation in this thread. There's nothing as handy as just docking a notebook rather than doing the 4-6 cable plug in shuffle.
Fair enough, and to each their own - thanks for the contribution. I would completely agree with on on the sports front wrt HDTV. I guess I was referring more to Blu Ray vs DVD and in that respect, movies. Regardless, although watching sports in HD (keeping in mind they are 720p not 1080p like Blu Ray) I can't see myself ever wanting/needing to watch the local news, Game Show Network, soap operas, etc. in HD - same argument as before, there are just some things I don't care or need to have HD for.
I completely see your point though and perhaps my opinion will change once I buy a 60" plasma TV as well.
Lastly though (and referencing my comment of "to each their own") I simply don't watch a ton of movies or TV, so it may not be a big a priority for me as it is for other videophiles, sports fanatics, couch potatoes and what have you. And Yvan256, excellent points, I agree. This somewhat ties into the matter of Blu Ray being cited as a failure with respect to content delivery method.
You and your darn logic.
I have my PC notebook plugged into a small docking station that provides extra USB, LAN, power, video, etc. I can use it with my KVM when I'm home, and just pick it up and rock if I need to take it on a trip.
I personally agree with everything but this point. I used to get a lot of use out of my Dell laptop's car reader prior to buying my MacBook. Although other cameras may have a different design my last three cameras have been Canon and they tend to put a relatively cheap flap over the USB connector and I hate pulling it out of the way to put the cable in. Sony typically is better at this but I refuse to get on the Memory Stick bandwagon.
Sorry you are wrong. Apple is a hardware company. Thats where they make all their money. All this talk about changing the world and the way people live is, I'm sorry to say, fanboyism at it's best.
OSX (Macs), iTunes (iPod, iPhones), iLife is all to support the sales of their hardware. Steve hooks us on the software so he can sell us the combo drive loaded macbooks while we bitch about the BD loaded, SSD totting, carbon fiber covered Sony Vaio Z's kicking Johnny Ive's white plastic macbooks a$$.
Even the App Store and iTunes has been built to sell more iPhones, not the other way round. SJ knows once you have all that (the app store, iTunes/Mac integration) the eco system is too hard to crack. That is why RIM's growth is going to stall,. because BB's are not a platform the way iPhone is. iTunes is run to break even. If I'm not wrong, they are losing money on the HD content on Apple TV.
The only reason they aren't obsessed with bleeding edge hardware is because they don't have to be. There are no alternatives short of using windows.
I am getting a new MacBookPro in late August and am hoping that Apple gets their new line out before then but I am pretty sure that that won't happen and that is fine
I will still be buying something come mid-late August so whatever Apple offers, I will get it
I will still be buying something come mid-late August so whatever Apple offers, I will get it
Even still, I would say they are pretty obsessed with bleeding edge hardware.
Multi-touch iphones when they first came out were fairly bleeding edge. The first TI PB was bleeding edge. The ipod nano & touch were both pretty bleeding edge.
I can't wait to see what Apple does with the MBAs and MBPs with the release of Montevina.
Hopefully more than just laptops
"Apple is a hardware company. That's where they make all their money."
I hope they remember that soon. The Quicksilver on my desk will be replaced when and only when I (not Steve) think Apple has something worth buying. And the SO has a pretty fast Dell ($650) that runs Ubuntu very well thank you. Purchased without the Microsoft Tax too.
With that Dell as the baseline, there is no way I can justify spending that much on a mini, or twice that much on an iMac that is slower and not upgradable. Ubuntu is not as nice as OS X, but it's good enough. Open Office is not as pretty as iWork, but it's good enough. (I was going to add Open Office was not as powerful as MS Office, but since MS has nerfed the latest version of Office for Mac so bad, that is no longer true.)
So, to get more of my money, Apple needs to meet the following conditional;
Nehalem AND Snow Leopard AND (competitive minitower OR iMac with Expresscard slots).
They have until next fall to produce. If Intel blows the delivery of Nehalem processors, I'll even grant a reprieve of that date.
Actually, if they cut the price of a mini to $399, I could justify buying a new one of those every other year and frisbeeing the old one into the dumpster. Economically it would come out about the same as a $700 computer every 4 years when you add in the mid-life upgrades.
"Apple is a hardware company. That's where they make all their money."
I hope they remember that soon. The Quicksilver on my desk will be replaced when and only when I (not Steve) think Apple has something worth buying. And the SO has a pretty fast Dell ($650) that runs Ubuntu very well thank you. Purchased without the Microsoft Tax too.
With that Dell as the baseline, there is no way I can justify spending that much on a mini, or twice that much on an iMac that is slower and not upgradable. Ubuntu is not as nice as OS X, but it's good enough. Open Office is not as pretty as iWork, but it's good enough. (I was going to add Open Office was not as powerful as MS Office, but since MS has nerfed the latest version of Office for Mac so bad, that is no longer true.)
So, to get more of my money, Apple needs to meet the following conditional;
Nehalem AND Snow Leopard AND (competitive minitower OR iMac with Expresscard slots).
They have until next fall to produce. If Intel blows the delivery of Nehalem processors, I'll even grant a reprieve of that date.
Actually, if they cut the price of a mini to $399, I could justify buying a new one of those every other year and frisbeeing the old one into the dumpster. Economically it would come out about the same as a $700 computer every 4 years when you add in the mid-life upgrades.
I would really like to see a small 12'' MBP like the old Powerbook G4, but with better specs and thinner.
Definatly with a non chiclet keyboard too. I love the MBP keyboard.
I am sad to say I am typing this on a Gateway Laptop with Vista.
However I am a junior in high school, and may be getting a college laptop in a year or so. And I am definatly getting a Macbook Pro when that happens, or when my Windows machine dies.
Definatly with a non chiclet keyboard too. I love the MBP keyboard.
I am sad to say I am typing this on a Gateway Laptop with Vista.
However I am a junior in high school, and may be getting a college laptop in a year or so. And I am definatly getting a Macbook Pro when that happens, or when my Windows machine dies.
I wouldn't jump all over the Z just yet.
13.1" screen (Kind of explains the large drop from the MBP's weight, although I agree it's got the clear weight advantage on the MB)
You cannot get the HDD "in addition" to a SSD (I think you meant either/or but I'm just clarifying.)
"Hight performance discrete GPU" as you put it is a total joke of a 9300M GS, featuring a laughable 64-bit memory interface along with a poor 1500 point score in 3Dmark 06 (The current 8600M GT posts double that; see http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-9300M-GS.9452.0.html and http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-8600M-GT.3986.0.html for comparison)
Sony has clearly aimed at a market of professionals who do light lifting on the road (browsing, writing, email checking) and then hook their laptops to a projector for presentations. It's not meant for rendering or photo work while traveling or on site, like the MBP is.
I still don't get why you want a Blu-ray drive in a MBP, let alone a MB. It consumes battery power like no tomorrow (Don't listen to Sony's 6 hour claim, that's only due to the weak 9300M GS they put in it), you won't have the ability to take advantage of the increased resolution unless you go to the 17" MBP (at which point is ceases to be a notebook and turns into a desktop replacement, trust me I tried lugging one of those around and I've come to the conclusion that 15" is enough for me at least), further totaling your battery life, and if your response is I"ll hook it up to an external at home" then you have the option of just buying a stand alone or one to stick into your desktop.
In a world where Apple is REMOVING optical drives I would be suprised if they made such a design change. I'm not trying to say you can't or shouldn't have the option, but I fail to see the need.
when will the new iPod Touch come out? I want to get some Apps from the app store, but the Buyers Guide says to wait.
Just to clarify, that is not my opinion. Steve has made it very clear that the company is driven by software. Look at the iPhone. Sure, they make money by selling the hardware, but the device is 99% software. That's where the technology development is.
If Apple just wanted to sell hardware, why would they choose to spend an incredible amount of money developing an OS that has just taken 8% of the market? Better yet, how can just another hardware company grow at nearly 10 times the industry average, especially when everyone is complaining how far behind they are?
I couldn't agree more with Shard and Cromwell64. To sum up my opinion: I wouldn't spend one dollar extra for having blueray on board. Even if the drive increased the weight only by 1 gram, I would opt to not have it in there if I could. I simply have no need for it as I use the computer for work. So I very much hope this will be an option, not built-in by default. I'm sure people will understand that there are many other options out there that can satisfy their will to watch movies. It doesn't have to be a Macbook Pro that plays this role.
It really should not be surprising that Sony VAIOs have Blu-Ray since Sony invented the technology and want to push it out.
I just don't see a 17" display being the optimal way to watch a 1080p film, personally. And for data backup, an external 2.5" HDD is so much cheaper and more convenient since it can be used with any PC with a USB port. Not to mention if you are really serious about optical media as backup medium, you want DVD-RAM or HD DVD-RAM since those are the only two formats with built-in error correction and they're fully flexible for reading and writing.
I just don't see a 17" display being the optimal way to watch a 1080p film, personally. And for data backup, an external 2.5" HDD is so much cheaper and more convenient since it can be used with any PC with a USB port. Not to mention if you are really serious about optical media as backup medium, you want DVD-RAM or HD DVD-RAM since those are the only two formats with built-in error correction and they're fully flexible for reading and writing.
3G is a cellular technology so it will never be on an iPod Touch, just as EDGE never was.
I don't argue with the fact that Apple produces great products, but to say their computers are bleeding edge is stretching it a little. The TI PB was a long time ago and the MBA is undernourished compared to the competition (MBA vs X300 vs Vaio Z vs Voodoo Envy). The iPhone 3G still only has a 2 mega pixel camera, no flash and no video recording. I'm not saying these functions are necessary, it's simply to highlight the fact that the iPhone is NOT as bleeding edge as SJ woould like us to believe. In fact the iPhone 3G is a joke compared to the some of the phones available in Asia. I had 3.2 mp camera, 3G with xenon flash in my Sony Ericsson K800 in 2006. The iPod still doesn't have a FM tuner.
With Apple it's a case of form over function and to many of us, thats ok because the software and user experience makes up for it.
Great OS and user experience - check, bleeding edge industrial design - check, bleeding edge tech? No.
Don't get me wrong, as a AAPL shareholder, I think SJ has done a bang up job with the company. My only worry is that as there are more and more switchers and a growing "captive" audience, as well as more product lines, Apple will become complacent in their mac updates and rely instead on the strength of the OS, while we gaze longingly at the Vaio Zs of the PC world wondering how to put Snow Leopard on the damn thing.
