Apple's 15" Ultra-Thin Notebook Due in March 2012

[MacRumors]

MacBook Air​

Digitimes is reporting that small numbers of components for a 15" ultra-thin notebook from Apple will start shipping this month with mass shipments of the notebook beginning in March.

Upstream suppliers of Apple have recently started shipping a small volume of components for a 15-inch ultra-thin notebook model from Apple in November and the device could be either MacBook Air or just a thinner MacBook Pro. The new MacBook is expected to appear as early as the second quarter of 2012, according to sources from the upstream supply chain.

Digitimes is unclear if the parts are intended for a 15" MacBook Air or a thinner 15" MacBook Pro. In July, we reported that Apple was finishing up work on a new ultrathin 15" notebook, and at the end of October, it was rumored that new machine was nearing production.

It seems likely that a thin 15" MacBook would use a SSD rather than HDD, similar to current MacBook Air models, and would forego an optical drive. The MacBook Pro line was refreshed earlier this fall with minor processor, graphics and storage upgrades.

Article Link: Apple's 15" Ultra-Thin Notebook Due in March 2012

 

[Consultant]

MBA are tempting but I'll stick with my 17" MBP for now.

 

[ciTiger]

I want one!

 

[ECUpirate44]

So excited! The future of Apple notebooks as Jobs said. 2012 Apple kills the optical disk.

Hoping these features standard with the option to customise:
Ivy Bridge i5/i7
256 GB SSD
4GB Ram
1680 X 1050
A decent dedicated GPU
5-7 hour battery life

 

[designgeek]

I'm interested to experience what this thing feels like, my 11" air feels perfect and sturdy but a 15 is much larger... Super excited though.

 

[Cougarcat]

I wonder what kind of graphics card they will be able to fit in there.

 

[AppleScruff1]

And it will be Ivy Bridge too!!

 

[DisMyMac]

Sandy or Ivy?

(Ivy = USB3)

 

[ciTiger]

Just give me the 15MBP High Res option on it and I'm sold!

 

[wordoflife]

This would look amazing. It always stuns me how beautiful the 15" MBP looks (since I'm used to my 13" MBP), so I'm guessing that a slimmer 15" MBP would just be even more beautiful.

 

[adcx64]

Can't wait to snatch one up!

 

[AppleScruff1]

Just give me the 15MBP High Res option on it and I'm sold!

I wish I could get new eyes so I could deal with the high res screen.

 

[hoing]

Umm..no thanks. Id take windows 8 reasonably priced laptop over this garbage. Tim Cook, you are the beginning of the end! Watch out for Wild Bill. I cant wait to see windows 8 own this, completely. This will be I bet 2 grand! Rip apple, 2k7-2k11

 

[B Gallagher]

Since SSD prices are still very high, and Apple is aware that pros want high storage capacity (500-750 GB), why not use a HDD/(blade) SSD combo, as they do in the iMac and Mac mini? Seems like the best of both worlds to me.

 

[ciTiger]

I wish I could get new eyes so I could deal with the high res screen.

Having XCode 4.2 on the 13 MBP is so bad... I regret the day I chose the 13 over the 15 over weight thinking I would only develop at home =X

 

[JasonDawg18]

Forgive my ignorance, but what is more difficult about doing this vs. doing a 11 or 13" model? Wouldn't there be more room for the internal components?

 

[beebler]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/9A405)

Probably the Pro, which is supposed to be thin with all SSD.

A 15" Air plan was canned when the current Air design was being made.

 

[GLS]

Umm..no thanks. Id take windows 8 reasonably priced laptop over this garbage. Tim Cook, you are the beginning of the end! Watch out for Wild Bill. I cant wait to see windows 8 own this, completely. This will be I bet 2 grand! Rip apple, 2k7-2k11

Meth does a body good.

 

[komodrone]

Liquid metal baby

 

[sporadicMotion]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone 4: 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)

Stoked. A 15" that is easy to carry at round all day. I called this months ago

I hope it really happens

 

[Akzel]

I'd love a thinner MBP, mine is basically a desktop now, I carry the Air everywhere...

But I remember when they released the first "Unibody" Macbook Pro, everybody was very excited about how easy it was to replace the battery and the HDD, and with the advent of the "Air" line it seems like the "user replaceable parts" days are numbered. It feels... sad.

 

[accidental]

If this comes out in March (big "if"), I doubt it'll be named a MacBook Pro. There's no way they can improve the capabilities of the current MBP and fit it in the Air form factor. They can't go backwards on the capabilities of their Pro line.

 

[AppleScruff1]

Liquid metal baby

Or brushed black aluminum.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Assuming it true (big assumption) this either has to be an extension of the Air line or if it's a revamped MBP it must be no compromises and boast a full array of ports, not just TB and USB. I don't care about optical or HDD, but I need the ports and to be dongle-free or it's not "pro."

 

[lighthouse_man]

No no, this can't be the Pro, unless Apple is reviewing the meaning of "pro" in its products as was evidenced by Final Cut Pro X.