Do you think the MacBook Pro's need a design update?

[snaky69]

No.

The previous, non-unibody design was with us from the powerbook days. That is, from 2000 through 2008. That's 8 years for the mathematically challenged. The unibody design was introduced only 3 years ago, in 2008.

Apple changed their manufacturing plants completely to be able to actually make the unibodies. I doubt they'll spend the billions necessary to change them up again after only 3 years use.

 

[Apple OC]

I think the MBP look will stay the same ... it is a great looking laptop.

 

[greytmom]

Confession: I hate the black keyboard.

 

[zodqyv]

Core 2 Duo forever!

 

[milbournosphere]

In this day and age, you only need on-board ethernet if you are a server or if you are on a fiber backbone OC connection where Wireless-n speeds are not fast enough. I have a Mac Pro and I never even use the Ethernet (I have two ports). I use an Airport Express Base station for my whole house. WiFi will get you more connectivity anywhere and very few places use wired connections anymore. Ethernet was a nice thing to have in the 1990s, before WiFi existed, because you could transfer files over your network at 10baseT speeds, which was a way to share files between computers, and connect to the internet much faster than 56k. But who really has Ethernet now that doesn't have access to some sort of Wireless station, they are very cheap now. I don't think Ethernet is really a necessity, but Apple may still keep it on their Pro models just to be "Pro."

Have you ever worked in a large corporate environment? I work for a company that has multiple buildings, and even though the deployed laptops have WiFi and the buildings are wired with repeaters that have good coverage, the WiFi connection is incredibly slow. This isn't just unique to my company. I know plenty of other people in the same boat in other companies, and it was also true at my university. Like it or not, Wireless N just isn't rolling out all that quickly, and even then, the WiFi strategy most corporate enterprises are using really doesn't scale all that well. Ethernet continues to be an easier, cheaper, and faster and more secure solution. You can have my Ethernet port out of my mbp when you pry it from my cold dead hands.

 

[Pooki]

"You can have my Ethernet port out of my mbp when you pry it from my cold dead hands."

Haha I couldn't have said it better!

 

[PurdueGuy]

In this day and age, you only need on-board ethernet if you are a server or if you are on a fiber backbone OC connection where Wireless-n speeds are not fast enough. I have a Mac Pro and I never even use the Ethernet (I have two ports). I use an Airport Express Base station for my whole house. WiFi will get you more connectivity anywhere and very few places use wired connections anymore. Ethernet was a nice thing to have in the 1990s, before WiFi existed, because you could transfer files over your network at 10baseT speeds, which was a way to share files between computers, and connect to the internet much faster than 56k. But who really has Ethernet now that doesn't have access to some sort of Wireless station, they are very cheap now. I don't think Ethernet is really a necessity, but Apple may still keep it on their Pro models just to be "Pro."

Have you forgotten about work locations with no WiFi? Or developers accessing a non-public secure LAN? Or hotels that only offer ethernet connections?

Getting rid of the ethernet port would be insane.

 

[8000rpm]

Yeaaa, my Al MBP from 2006 is starting to look dated, but at least it's not as ugly as the UB-MBP's... Maybe Apple should consider making a MBP without that hideous black on it.

LOLOLOLOL FUNNIEST post of the day !!!! The older model is a silver briefcase with keys!! I would have NEVER even considered a Mac until Unibody and I know I speak for thousands. Unibody put pc to shame and it took them 3 years to try and come close to what apple has done (hp envy samsung 9 series etc). When you go to your local best buy you will probably notice even kids flocking to the apple area. They just look so futuristic and awesome. even my mother said wow look at that think laptop last when she saw the air. It hasn't been the os alone turning people it's been the design.

Never judge a book by it's cover. So they say. Go to a bar an everyone goes for the hot girl. Looks Aren't everything but they are the first thing !

 

[PurdueGuy]

LOLOLOLOL FUNNIEST post of the day !!!! The older model is a silver briefcase with keys!! I would have NEVER even considered a Mac until Unibody and I know I speak for thousands. Unibody put pc to shame and it took them 3 years to try and come close to what apple has done (hp envy samsung 9 series etc). When you go to your local best buy you will probably notice even kids flocking to the apple area. They just look so futuristic and awesome. even my mother said wow look at that think laptop last when she saw the air. It hasn't been the os alone turning people it's been the design.

Never judge a book by it's cover. So they say. Go to a bar an everyone goes for the hot girl. Looks Aren't everything but they are the first thing !

So you like the new one, lots of people like the old one. I bet I can "speak for thousands" that don't want the black keys. Keys on their other keyboards are white, why not on the laptops? The wired keyboard I have is silver and white keys....and then the newer MacBook Pros don't match.

 

[milbournosphere]

I like both. I own a 2006 mbp, and it still looks pretty smart compared to some of the stuff sold at best buy. The new one looks great as well. The only gripe I have about the newer models is the glossy screen, but I'm not going to start that fire here.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

No.

The previous, non-unibody design was with us from the powerbook days. That is, from 2000 through 2008. That's 8 years for the mathematically challenged. The unibody design was introduced only 3 years ago, in 2008.

Apple changed their manufacturing plants completely to be able to actually make the unibodies. I doubt they'll spend the billions necessary to change them up again after only 3 years use.

The 12" and 17" G4 Aluminium PowerBooks have been introduced in January 2003, the 15" followed in September.
The G4 Titanium PB was released in January 2001.
In the year 2000 the Pismo was available.

Therefore, the Aluminium design, despite some alterations, stayed with us for "only" five and a half years, which is still long, but consider the Power Mac G5, which was introduced in June 2003 and the outer design is still around.

 

[Sneakz]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8B117 Safari/6531.22.7)

I can't believe people would even suggest getting rid of the Ethernet port over FW800. If anything, FW800 should go. Its probably used by very few of Apple customers who use the port. Ethernet is not only faster than FW800, but many still use it. Business still use as opposed to WLAN and I know in universities that dont allow wireless routers in their residences provide 100Mbps Ethernet instead.

 

[torbjoern]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8B117 Safari/6531.22.7)

I can't believe people would even suggest getting rid of the Ethernet port over FW800. If anything, FW100 should go. Its probably used by very few of Apple customers who use the port. Ethernet is not only faster than FW800, but many still use it. Business still use as opposed to WLAN and I know in universities that dont allow wireless routers in their residences provide 100Mbps Ethernet instead.

There are USB adapters.

Sent from my iPhone

 

[acfusion29]

i think they should ditch the black as well, unless they plan on making the whole computer black. 2-tone doesn't look that nice anymore once those other companies started to copy. i'll never get sick of looking at a blackbook, or old mbp

 

[simsaladimbamba]

There are USB adapters.

Sent from my iPhone

Yep. And those adapters are rarely capable of providing Gigabit Ethernet speeds anyway, so why bother with those. Just accept, that wireless is only a tenth as fast as Gigabit and deal with it. No need to save time when copying MBs of data anyway, or are there still people out there who need to handle hundreds of GBs of data? Haven't they heard of AVCHD or ZIP yet?

 

[DudeMartin]

No - the unibody looks great!

 

[Funkymonk]

Hell yeah. Change it up completely!

 

[diehldun]

I'm glad I'm not the only one that is nostalgic of the old pre-unibody MBP design. That is still one gorgeous design- exceptionally clean, no-fussy lines and aesthetics. When I put my 15" unibody MBP next to an old 15"pre-unibody MBP, I can't help but notice the noticeable (larger) footprint difference, and it feels even bigger when you open it up and put them side by side. The wider black bezel just ruins it.

I only wish Apple had incorporated the pre-unibody MBP design, but getting rid of those seams and latch mechanism with unibody construction. My goodness that would have been beautiful.

 

[joeshaw92]

Right, as for this talk about dropping the ethernet port, honestly it is CRUCIAL that it remains! I rarely used it (note, it was used from time to time) until i came to university, and now I use it all the time, as I'm provided with wired ethernet for the internet and nothing else. The same goes for all other residences and other universities Ive visited. Considering student populations are ONE of the biggest sectors that buy apples (I know 4 people with the new MBP alone), they would effectively be comitting suicide.

Yes, I know you can use an adaptor, but having to bring an extra cable/equipment with me everywhere, I'd rather the laptop was slightly bigger and not having to carry round extra stuff, which will effectively make it bigger and heavier when carrying around.

As for firewire, not once have I EVER seen a device that uses it, that's the one port on my dell thats never been used, and I know theres stuff out there that needs it, but seriously?

 

[simsaladimbamba]

As for firewire, not once have I EVER seen a device that uses it, that's the one port on my dell thats never been used, and I know theres stuff out there that needs it, but seriously?

It is still the fastest port on the current Macs to transfer to external HDDs, as it is twice as fast as USB 2.0. I still prefer it and besides that, one can use it for Target Disk Mode to troubleshoot an non-booting Mac.
But I guess that most people can live with USB 2.0 and don't even know what FW is for, but the same can be said for Ethernet.

Anyway, how much thinner should the MBP get anyway, it is already thinner than my G4 iBook's body without the display.

 

[Mabyboi]

I do really like the current look of the MBP, maybe if they slimmed it out a bit it would be Amazing, but anything more and it looks like the Air.

 

[mulo]

what no poll?

 

[wordoflife]

Are we serious? take out the Ethernet port?
We dont need to remove anything. It makes me think people are just posting for the hell of it.

I don't think we need design changes. I expect Apple to keep it for a few more years.

 

[mulo]

nah, what we need is a larger battery, no superdrive, and an a lot more powerful gpu, add an extra fan to that. - in the 17" that is.

 

[AlphaDogg]

nah, what we need is a larger battery, no superdrive, and an a lot more powerful gpu, add an extra fan to that. - in the 17" that is.

Nah lets have three GPUs in the 13" MBP, a hexacore Intel Xeon processor, and 3 fans. How is that?