Apple Prepping for Notebook Refresh?

[iMacmatician]

Jobs wouldn't release a *redesigned* mbp without making a big show on stage in a black shirt. Seems like a waste of a good 'one more thing...' moment. Or maybe they're not that proud of their mbp updates.

The iBook was redesigned to the MacBook without an event. The iMac was redesigned with an event, but that could be largely due to the iLife and iWork updates at said event.

Apple can send out invitations one week before an event.

I'm standing by July 29 (with a runner up of Aug 5)

I'd say August 5 as an early date. The iMacs were redesigned at that time last year (August 7). September is iPod month, so the next opportunity for a redesign would be October, which may be too late.

I don't think Apple will be able to wait that long. $500 PCs will have quad-core CPUs around the beginning of next year (and certainly no later than the middle). Heck, you can already buy a complete quad-core desktop PC from Dell for under 800 bucks.

Here's why.
(I'd like to be wrong though.)

I don't know about others, but typically if I read "by 2009" then I expect it BEFORE 2009. If it was to happen during 2009 then the word "in" would be more appropriate.

I don't know about others, but I think:

• "Before 2009" means "2008."
• "By 2009" means "2008 or 2009."
• "In 2009" means "2009."

 

[drsmithy]

Here's why.
(I'd like to be wrong though.)

Competitive pressures might just have to trump advertising aesthetics. Especially with "Snow Leopard" purporting to be concentrating a lot on improvements and optimisations for multicore machines, it will look pretty dumb for Apple's standard desktop offering, at ~$1300, to be dual core, compared to quad-core PCs costing less than half as much.

 

[Tallest Skil]

it will look pretty dumb for Apple's standard desktop offering, at ~$1300, to be dual core, compared to quad-core PCs costing less than half as much.

It won't look dumb when Grand Central makes those dual-core computers outperform those quad-core computers by 10% or more.

 

[AidenShaw]

3 CPU, 3 GiB, 640 GB - $500

I don't think Apple will be able to wait that long. $500 PCs will have quad-core CPUs around the beginning of next year (and certainly no later than the middle). Heck, you can already buy a complete quad-core desktop PC from Dell for under 800 bucks.

not far from that already....

 

[iMacmatician]

Competitive pressures might just have to trump advertising aesthetics. Especially with "Snow Leopard" purporting to be concentrating a lot on improvements and optimisations for multicore machines, it will look pretty dumb for Apple's standard desktop offering, at ~$1300, to be dual core, compared to quad-core PCs costing less than half as much.

It's been that way since 2007. I do agree with the Snow Leopard (Grand Central) part though.

Keep in mind that we could have (55 W):

• 3.2 GHz with Montevina
• 3.33 GHz with Q1 2009 Montevina mini-refresh (1333 MHz FSB?)
• 3.33 GHz (possibly 3.47 GHz) with Q3 2009 Nehalem

It won't look dumb when Grand Central makes those dual-core computers outperform those quad-core computers by 10% or more.

That's a very… interesting way of looking at Grand Central!

not far from that already....

2.1 GHz triple core ≈ 3.07 GHz dual-core assuming near-perfect scaling. In other words, $500 PC ≈ $2000 iMac in CPU.

 

[diamond.g]

It won't look dumb when Grand Central makes those dual-core computers outperform those quad-core computers by 10% or more.

I would be impressed if this turns out to be the case.

Montevina as a chipset means squat in CPU performance, as a whole discounting FSB increase.

If Apple isn't moving to Nehalem and that they can get Penryn to somehow overcome the 20% speed disadvantage it would face that would be cool.

I also am curious to know if Grand Central is going to be the holy grail others are claiming it to be. If it is, I wonder how IBM/Sony would feel as they claim to have tools that help with massive parallelism (think Cell) already.

 

[tdk86]

Could I buy the old design at apple.com the day the new ones are released?

Thanks for your response to be question. I was wondering however, if it would be possible to buy the old case design the day or so after the new one is released. A mac store isn't an option for me because I go to school in Fargo and the closest store is hundreds of miles away. Would I be stuck buying from the macmall or amazon or refurbished?

Does anyone have a firm hunch on what the redesign would include? Like will they change the keyboard to the mba? Will they get rid of the optical drive? Will they merely increase the trackpad and maybe included blu-ray? Change the latches to magnetic? If macrumors gets a date, my best bet might be to buy the old one a week before and then wait and see to return it. But I think purchasing a mbp and not opening is pure torcher!!!!!!

What are the chances this is all a bunch of crap and we are all getting over excited for nothing? If Jobs does need to release this at a conference, when is the next conference that he would possibly release it?

 

[Tallest Skil]

Like will they change the keyboard to the mba? Will they get rid of the optical drive? Will they merely increase the trackpad and maybe included blu-ray? Change the latches to magnetic? If macrumors gets a date...

We don't know.
HECK NO.
Maybe.
No Blu-ray.
Maybe maglatches.
We won't.

And he doesn't need to, nor will he have a physical release for these... I'm pretty sure.

 

[iMacmatician]

What are the chances this is all a bunch of crap and we are all getting over excited for nothing?

Lower with each successive rumor.

If Jobs does need to release this at a conference, when is the next conference that he would possibly release it?

Any Tuesday from next Tuesday (no I am not joking).

 

[gnikcjack]

How much do you think the new MB will go for? I certainly hope they will keep them below 1400, but I'm not so sure.

 

[Tallest Skil]

How much do you think the new MB will go for? I certainly hope they will keep them below 1400, but I'm not so sure.

Same prices across the lines.

 

[drsmithy]

It won't look dumb when Grand Central makes those dual-core computers outperform those quad-core computers by 10% or more.

That would represent a monumental failure of what "Grand Central" is supposed to achieve.

(Not that the improvements in 10.6 will be anything amazing to those of us that have been using OSes which have been undergoing SMP optimisation for upwards of a decade and a half, and multi-CPU machines since 2000 or so. Apple are just trying to make the best of their 5-odd-year delay in moving towards a "next generation" OS.)

 

[iMacmatician]

Same prices across the lines.

Either that or an increase like what happened with the original MacBook and redesigned aluminum iMac.

If there's a price increase, I'm seeing $1199/$1499/$1799.

 

[Tallest Skil]

That would represent a monumental failure of what "Grand Central" is supposed to achieve.

Eh?! No... dual-core processors in Macs with 10.6 outperforming the same line of quad-core processors in PCs. How is that a failure? The quad-core Macs would do even better...

 

[drsmithy]

I also am curious to know if Grand Central is going to be the holy grail others are claiming it to be. If it is, I wonder how IBM/Sony would feel as they claim to have tools that help with massive parallelism (think Cell) already.

Grand central is just a fancy name for the sort of SMP improvements that other OSes like Linux, Windows and Solaris have already had (or been pursuing) for years - re-entrancy, pervasive multithreading, fine-grained locking, better CPU scheduling, etc.

OS X was quite late to the multiprocessor game. It's got a lot of catching up to do and The Steve is cranking up the RDF to maximum so as to make as much lemonade out of those lemons, as possible. Result: "Grand Central".

 

[iMacmatician]

Eh?! No... dual-core processors in Macs with 10.6 outperforming the same line of quad-core processors in PCs. How is that a failure?

Totally agree. Grand Central will optimize performance in multi-core CPUs. According to Tallest Skil, those optimizations are significant enough for a dual-core CPU to beat a quad-core CPU.

 

[drsmithy]

Eh?! No... dual-core processors in Macs with 10.6 outperforming the same line of quad-core processors in PCs. How is that a failure? The quad-core Macs would do even better...

I thought you were referring to dual-core Macs being faster than (lower clocked) quad-core Macs.

 

[tdk86]

Where to pick up an old design

Does anyone know if it would be possible to buy the old case design the day or so after the new one is released? A mac store isn't an option for me because I go to school in Fargo and the closest store is hundreds of miles away. Would I be stuck buying from the macmall or amazon or refurbished?

How long does the 10% restocking fee on returns last? Do I have 30 days or 14 days with this fee if it is open? If I don't open it, how many days do I have to return it?

What should I do, since I need one for college.

 

[Tallest Skil]

How long does the 10% restocking fee on returns last?

14 days.

 

[SchneiderMan]

Does anyone know if it would be possible to buy the old case design the day or so after the new one is released? A mac store isn't an option for me because I go to school in Fargo and the closest store is hundreds of miles away. Would I be stuck buying from the macmall or amazon or refurbished?

How long does the 10% restocking fee on returns last? Do I have 30 days or 14 days with this fee if it is open? If I don't open it, how many days do I have to return it?

What should I do, since I need one for college.

14 days if you open or not

 

[cromwell64]

"Apple notebook lines to see major design changes, sources say" Aluminum MacBook in 2008.
"Component report pins MacBook overhaul for third quarter"
"All Apple MacBooks to use LED backlighting by 2009"
Note it says 2009, not 2008. If the MacBooks were likely to go LED in 2008, wouldn't Economic Daily News say 2008?
In other words, the most likely scenario is: Aluminum 2008, LED 2009.

By 2009 means just that. Does that mean that if I have to be at work by 11, I can show up any time before 12 and still be on time?

 

[iMacmatician]

By 2009 means just that. Does that mean that if I have to be at work by 11, I can show up any time before 12 and still be on time?

That's by 11:00.

"Cram 4TB on Desktop Drives by 2009, Hitachi Says" (October 14, 2007)
"Hitachi Global Storage Technologies plans to announce Monday it has developed technology that will quadruple the storage capacity of desktop hard drives within the next two years."
"The company hopes to implement the technology in hard drives in 2009."

 

[digitalbiker]

Does anyone know if it would be possible to buy the old case design the day or so after the new one is released? A mac store isn't an option for me because I go to school in Fargo and the closest store is hundreds of miles away. Would I be stuck buying from the macmall or amazon or refurbished?

How long does the 10% restocking fee on returns last? Do I have 30 days or 14 days with this fee if it is open? If I don't open it, how many days do I have to return it?

What should I do, since I need one for college.

DON'T PANIC!

Just decide. If you are happy with the current design and performance just buy it now. You can buy with the educational discount and get a free nano or a discounted touch ipod. It's a great deal.

If you really need the latest and greatest, then wait for the release as long as you can before school starts.

Apple will come up with a coveted re-design for the MBP if it is even released at all. There have been very few times in Apple history under SJ where the new release is less desirable than the previous offering.

Many people on this board are afraid of change. That is why they put down a redesign, new keyboard, or whatever. However several years from now the Feb. 2008 MBP will look like a dinosaur. If you don't change, you become extinct.

Either way you decide, I'm sure you will be happy. A new MBP arriving in the mail always puts a smile on my face.

 

[NovemberMike]

Eh?! No... dual-core processors in Macs with 10.6 outperforming the same line of quad-core processors in PCs. How is that a failure? The quad-core Macs would do even better...

In what tasks? It is widely known that for many applications (mostly games, but anything that has poor multi-core performance) a fast dual core is better than a slower quad core, but multicore optimizations mean that you can actually bring the extra cores into use, and in those cases a quad core will rip a dual core processor to shreds. And, surprising as it may be, Windows and Linux have been worrying about multicore processing for a lot longer than Apple has (in the server environments, these kinds of systems have been used for ages) so they are fairly significantly ahead of the game.

 

[iMacmatician]

Definition of "by"

Mac OS X's Dictionary:

"4 indicating a deadline or the end of a particular time period : I've got to do this report by Monday"
It means "Monday or before," not "Sunday or before," right? (Otherwise I may have failed a lot of reports. )

And, surprising as it may be, Windows and Linux have been worrying about multicore processing for a lot longer than Apple has (in the server environments, these kinds of systems have been used for ages) so they are fairly significantly ahead of the game.

Will they be ahead of Grand Central?