And the slightly thinner new Macbook Pro is gonna weigh, what... 6 oz less than the current ones? Sounds like the only thing that'll be different is your laptop will be in two pieces now.
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Apple to Release Thinner MacBook Pro at WWDC
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Because MOST people don't need it inside their computer and if you are truly "PRO" you can buy the adapter. An adapter does not take that much space on your bag and if you really want to have every type of port you should just buy a 17". My guess is that most PROs that use a hard connection use it at the same office so you can just leave the adapter in your office, no extra 'weight'. All this is doing is GAINING, NO LOSS. Smaller form factor & weight and an adapter for whoever needs to use hard connections.
Relax everyone. They're just putting a 1920x1200 screen in the 15", with a recommended viewing distance of 4'
On the other hand, should this rumor be true, just think of all the new yellow-screen-threads it will create. Yay!
On the other hand, should this rumor be true, just think of all the new yellow-screen-threads it will create. Yay!
Steve Jobs would NEVER have approved of a desktop without a floppy drive, or a phone without a physical keyboard. Oh, wait.
A 15" quad-core Ivy Bridge machine with a Retina Display is NOT a netbook just because it may need an adapter to access Ethernet, or lacks an internal optical drive. Actually, Steve Jobs hated optical drives and was quick to push notebooks that didn't have them. Remember, he called the MacBook Air the "next generation" of MacBooks, and said that one day, all notebooks would be like it. Well, "one day" has arrived (or will in June, at least).
And the slightly thinner new Macbook Pro is gonna weigh, what... 6 oz less than the current ones? Sounds like the only thing that'll be different is your laptop will be in two pieces now.
Not when I'm just leaving the adapter at my home suite. I carry my laptop around a lot more than I carry all my adapters around.
This article from a few years ago is interesting, it talks about how Apple does its controlled leaks:
http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/how_apple_does_controlled_leaks/
http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/how_apple_does_controlled_leaks/
...with a big fat dongle hanging out of it and being carried along perpetually, lost and re-bought... This is an incredibly (in the full sense of the word) misguided decision and this one, as many other ones they are taking these days (and are starting to add up one after the other) is going to come back and bite them in the ass at some point. They are making the competition look better via their omission just to make this look infinitesimally thinner where they could have easily stole this 1-2mm via tapering. And for that ethernet has to go, while every other competitors notebook on the market will connect to the ubiquitous ethernet infrastructure out of the box. Oh how incredibly stupid they are in their decision making these days.
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Try transferring 25+GB of data over WiFi on a regular basis...Not to mention I remotely control 3-5 edit suites over a gigabit connection. Wifi would make it far more difficult.
Uhm. Have you not been reading the statistics that Mac computers have increased by, I don't even remember how much? Which is why hackers has been focusing more on Macs - confirmed by Apple's decision to bring in Kaspersky as consultant on OS X security.
So no, PC is definitely not driving Apple out of the market.
A lot of offices still use Ethernet for desktop connections. The wiring is already there. That said, for most people, a docking station (which might be an Apple Thunderbolt Display), or an adapter would work just fine.
Macs I've owned:
2001 - PowerBook G4 TiBook
2006 - PowerBook G4 1.67 Ghz
2007 - MacBook Pro 8600M GT
2010 - MacBook Pro Unibody Core i7 2.66
I use the DVD burner almost every day on my computer. At my store we burn memory cards to disc for travelers. I refuse to carry around an external DVD for this purpose.
I use Ethernet infrequently -- several times per year -- but those few times when I need to use it are CRITICAL, such as reconfiguring a WiFi router at my business.
If they can shave 2 pounds from the weight, or even 1 pound, that is excellent. I am sure that the kind of nerds who come to this forum and who work at Apple rarely (if ever) use DVD or ethernet. Great.
However many of us in the real world (most of whom have never heard of macrumors.com and are too busy working to waste time on forums) rely upon technologies that are established, ubiquitous standards like DVD and ethernet because everyone has them.
The usefulness of a portable computer, to me, is contingent upon its ability to be a Swiss Army Knife of sorts. It needs to be able to interact with any situations that I might be confronted with as a professional photographer, as a small business owner, as a retail store manager, as an IT consultant, etc.
I am aware that external optical drives are now available that are compact and run off the USB bus. However that's one more THING to carry around, get broken, etc. I would prefer to have it "all-in-one" -- to me that's the point of a "desktop replacement" such as MacBook Pro.
Perhaps they will also have a thunderbolt-to-ethernet adapter or USB-to-ethernet adapter... one more THING to keep track of, which if you accidentally leave it at home, and the job calls for you to need it, now you are SCREWED.
Client wants all the photos burned to DVD. Oops, forgot DVD burner at home, or it's broken from floating around in my bag, etc. SCREWED.
Client needs Linksys WiFi router reconfigured. Oops, forgot ethernet dongle adapter. SCREWED.
I tell client, "Get with the times. You are so 2007." Never hear from client again. SCREWED.
I tell client, "Apple is a forward-thinking company, and your reliance on DVD and ethernet is quaint and laughable." Never hear from client again. Get bad review from client on Google. SCREWED.
Please, Apple, continue to offer the MacBook Pro in a DVD+ethernet configuration. I don't care if you also offer a MacBook Air Pro... fine, whatever... just don't screw over your long-time customers who need a professional tool that has these core, ubiquitous, standard technologies built-in.
Thank you.
2001 - PowerBook G4 TiBook
2006 - PowerBook G4 1.67 Ghz
2007 - MacBook Pro 8600M GT
2010 - MacBook Pro Unibody Core i7 2.66
I use the DVD burner almost every day on my computer. At my store we burn memory cards to disc for travelers. I refuse to carry around an external DVD for this purpose.
I use Ethernet infrequently -- several times per year -- but those few times when I need to use it are CRITICAL, such as reconfiguring a WiFi router at my business.
If they can shave 2 pounds from the weight, or even 1 pound, that is excellent. I am sure that the kind of nerds who come to this forum and who work at Apple rarely (if ever) use DVD or ethernet. Great.
However many of us in the real world (most of whom have never heard of macrumors.com and are too busy working to waste time on forums) rely upon technologies that are established, ubiquitous standards like DVD and ethernet because everyone has them.
The usefulness of a portable computer, to me, is contingent upon its ability to be a Swiss Army Knife of sorts. It needs to be able to interact with any situations that I might be confronted with as a professional photographer, as a small business owner, as a retail store manager, as an IT consultant, etc.
I am aware that external optical drives are now available that are compact and run off the USB bus. However that's one more THING to carry around, get broken, etc. I would prefer to have it "all-in-one" -- to me that's the point of a "desktop replacement" such as MacBook Pro.
Perhaps they will also have a thunderbolt-to-ethernet adapter or USB-to-ethernet adapter... one more THING to keep track of, which if you accidentally leave it at home, and the job calls for you to need it, now you are SCREWED.
Client wants all the photos burned to DVD. Oops, forgot DVD burner at home, or it's broken from floating around in my bag, etc. SCREWED.
Client needs Linksys WiFi router reconfigured. Oops, forgot ethernet dongle adapter. SCREWED.
I tell client, "Get with the times. You are so 2007." Never hear from client again. SCREWED.
I tell client, "Apple is a forward-thinking company, and your reliance on DVD and ethernet is quaint and laughable." Never hear from client again. Get bad review from client on Google. SCREWED.
Please, Apple, continue to offer the MacBook Pro in a DVD+ethernet configuration. I don't care if you also offer a MacBook Air Pro... fine, whatever... just don't screw over your long-time customers who need a professional tool that has these core, ubiquitous, standard technologies built-in.
Thank you.
Um....no. They won't. Get an external superdrive and a USB to ethernet adapter if you want to live in the past. I'm a pro, and I haven't used a superdrive in over a year...but that's me.
Actually if you lug your laptop around all day in a backpack or shoulder bag, then scuttle around from meeting to meeting with it all work day, then, yes, it is indeed a bulky laptop.
Cyclists spend an extra $1000 to shave a few pounds off the frame. If you're a freelancer in the city and run around everywhere with your laptop you'd do the same. Every pound taken off is a relief.
I so badly want to make my Air my primary computer, but it's not powerful enough. This news is music to my ears.
Why has nobody asked the question: when will we redesign the ethernet connector? It's huge and has been around since the 1970's. A redesign of that big $0.02 piece of plastic is long overdue.
Screw that! I'm not financing your need to have a bunch of crap stuffed into a computer. You need it...you pay for it.
So amazingly freaking awesome? There arebunch of thunderbolt accessories already out and some really amazing ones coming out this summer. I have 2 drives, a HDMI capture box and, 2 things preordered from BlackMagic already.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?is=REG&sku=857480&Q=&O=productlist&A=details
Shut up and take my money!
I need the ethernet.
For example, at my health care system, wireless access is limited to people who already have the credentialing and user information set up. If you don't, you have to use the ethernet to tap into the network in order to access the intranet and applications.
For me, I like the simplicity of a wired connection. If I want to turn things off, I don't have to navigate through menues and stuff, I can just physically disconnect the hard-line to my computer.
I also feel it's more secure. Whenever I can, I keep my wi-fi turned off because I don't want people tracking or accessing my computer wirelessly. So I do my internet browsing (which occasionally consists of sensitive things like accessing money) and all that through the closed, wired connection. It's also a little faster and in my experience more consistent than wi-fi.
I still use wi-fi, of course, but for them to take away such a useful feature just for a few millimeters of space seems ridiculous. If I want a laptop without ethernet, I'll buy a high-end Macbook Air.
Exactly, we already carry a handful of them. I don't want more. And yes, $50-100 is not much money to almost anyone, pro or not. The point is, its silly to spend this money on such a feature, or lack there of. And a lack of FW800 only complicates it.
What's happening is that we're getting pushed into buying these expensive TB docks. Yeah, again ~$500 (I'm thinking for those multiple feature TB docks here) for a someone using the machine to make money isn't a huge obstacle, but its also not totally trivial. Think if you're a small business and you need to buy 10 or 50 of these things. I'm sure you can think of a lot of things your business needs and paying maybe $10,000 just to get your business adequately set up to transfer data, when it used to cost nearly zero, doesn't sound like a pittance.
The retina display will be nice, and ultimately I'd certainly rather have a Macbook Pro w/out Ethernet than it competitors, but that won't exactly make me happy about the lack of Ethernet should I need to buy a new MBP.