Future of MBP's

[BeachChair]

The few people who still need an optical drive are on the left tail of the Bell curve. They luckily have the opportunity to use external drives even though it's inconvenient.

Apple are always one step ahead and shedding the optical drive should've been done to the main product line years ago.

 

[jagger27]

I have a hard time believing that you guys use your optical drives more than a handful of times per month. On my desktop, I recovered a bootloader twice (after installing Linux over USB) and installed a single game. The rest of my games are downloaded through Steam.

Guess what? It's a desktop. My internet bandwidth cap is only 65GB over 10Mbit. Am I a low end user with my quad core, multi-GPU, SSD setup? Do I seem like someone who would be completely satisfied by the Air? Why hasn't Apple adopted Blu-ray yet? Were they planning ahead? Why would Apple push the idea of the MacBook Air if they won't follow it through? (future of computers)

We won't be seeing optical drives next major hardware revision. Waiting another 2 years to take out the optical drive doesn't give Apple the edge over other manufacturers to start a new trend.

 

[The Samurai]

1) Dont want an optical drive
2) Another battery would be nice
3) Flash storage
4) Happy with the 320m for what I do but guess if they could put a better one in, won't complain.

Doubt they would make it any thinner and lighter come the next revision. It would be stepping on the MBA's toes.

 

[tigress666]

I still like mine because I watch plenty of DVDs on my laptop. An external drive would't be that nice because it then hangs on the left or right of my lap as I like to have the laptop there. Anyway - in the end I am ok with buying an external one. Not sure if I would get the one from Apple or buy one that can burn in addition Bluray.

Exactly. Or even more so cause I use it to watch DVDs on the plane. Also getting music on my computer from my CDs. Sims I know requires me to have the CD to play it.

And honestly, I don't want to have to plug in another external device for functionality. My ports are already all spoken for. Plus that's more things to have to plug in or take out everytime I want to take my computer somewhere or put it back as my desktop.

 

[jagger27]

Ideally you won't have to use optical media anymore. An external drive is merely a stopgap to help you transition.

Here's what Apple thinks:
-movie rentals/purchases are covered
-music is covered
-app installation is covered

By the way, you can remove your DVD from your drive after you launch the game. When EA needs to, they will ditch the optical DRM from their games and switch to a system like Steam's.

No one is forcing you to agree with Apple's decisions. There's an entire PC industry waiting for you with plenty of optical drives to go around.

 

[Dumbledorelives]

Exactly. Or even more so cause I use it to watch DVDs on the plane. Also getting music on my computer from my CDs. Sims I know requires me to have the CD to play it.

And honestly, I don't want to have to plug in another external device for functionality. My ports are already all spoken for. Plus that's more things to have to plug in or take out everytime I want to take my computer somewhere or put it back as my desktop.

First of all - chances are, apple, being the geniuses they are, would probably forded this problem and add at least one more USB port for external drive use. How many CDs to you really get anyway? Burn em to your computer and t. hen keep them for backup. If you get more than two CDs a week, you are a very lucky man. Sims - there are tons of programs that allow you to boot without the disk

 

[lostforwords]

I kinda hope they don't remove the optical drive. I use it daily for playing The Sims 3, as will most gamers will do with their games. I also have about 100 cds I'd like to have on my laptop, and my friends have more which I'd like to rip onto my iTunes too. That means carrying it over to their houses in a case, and I'd prefer not to have to lug around a CD drive too. It's way easier for it to already be in my laptop rather than have to plug it in all the time. I also use a mouse and my iPod is usually plugged in, as is my phone. I need the USB ports.

I totally understand the need to remove it, though. It'd just suck for gamers and everyone I know hasn't really moved into the digital age yet. Everyone's still buying CDs and DVDs, even pirating a movie still means buying a dodgy DVD off someone. No-one downloads anything, so it'd suck for me.

As for the next MBPs, I'm really hoping for a higher resolution. Everything else I don't really care about (as long as it works and is enough for it to be still be called a 'Pro'), but the 11 inch MBAs having a higher res than the 13 inch MBPs bugs me.

 

[10THzMac]

Well, not that I think I will get it, but ideally I would like Blu-Ray support (probably need Jobs to quit first) and a PROPER i7 mobile with quad core support (740,840,940 etc. as a BTO option), not the pointless i7-620 they only go up to now. Don't care at all about battery life (I plug in), how many bits of aluminium it's made out of (why does Apple think it matters?) or most of the other things currently influencing MBP design.

What is it about Apple and Blu-Ray? I would like to watch HD movies on the move, and to view the discs I have bought for use also on my home system. Most of the planet just does not have the web bandwidth for HD download to be serious....

 

[arcite]

Blueray is never going to happen.

I agree they should make the optical bay extra space for storage/discrete graphics/battery ect...

 

[TheNewDude]

The Optical drive is become more useless by the day.

I also think with the new App Store opening, it's going to become even more useless. Apple can give you an option of purchasing an external drive. That would make sense.

The current MBP has a 10 hour battery life which i totally love. If they can make that 12-14 hours without the drive and give me a more powerful graphics card and hi-res screen, I'd be sold.

BUT

PLEASE DON'T CHANGE ANYTHING ELSE!

 

[gpcovenant]

As for the next MBPs, I'm really hoping for a higher resolution. Everything else I don't really care about (as long as it works and is enough for it to be still be called a 'Pro'), but the 11 inch MBAs having a higher res than the 13 inch MBPs bugs me.

I have got to believe the 13 inch will be moving to the new 14x9 screen in the 13 inch Mac Book Air. If for no other reason then economy of scale for apple in its pricing. In fact its the only thing that held me back from upgrading the last time so I am praying they do it this time.

The Optical drive is become more useless by the day.

I also think with the new App Store opening, it's going to become even more useless. Apple can give you an option of purchasing an external drive. That would make sense.

The current MBP has a 10 hour battery life which i totally love. If they can make that 12-14 hours without the drive and give me a more powerful graphics card and hi-res screen, I'd be sold.

As for the optical drive, I only realized recently that i have not used it in like 6 months and realized the benefits that could be added by ditching it. I do everything via the net. Add another vote for ditching it at least on the 13 inch models.

They could also give a 30 day discount coupon in the box for a superdrive to help out those that still do need it.

Finally I would not be surprised to see some SSD storage on the board for the operating system. I dont believe for a second they will ditch the HD yet but I can see them putting like 64gb on the board.

 

[omenatarhuri]

The high resolution 1440x900 in the Air is very inviting. Almost enough to beat all the traits the MBPs got. I multitask with lots of windows all the time and like to see my photos in good color so it is one of the key features in laptops for me. The point above is also valid, taking an optical drive out and replacing it with more powerful graphics is not really how a computer is designed hardware-wise.

 

[mrsir2009]

If Apple does ditch the optical drive next refreash they will have to ship a USB stick with Lion/Snow Leopard on it The installing will be MUCH faster I'd imagine.

 

[Dumbledorelives]

If Apple does ditch the optical drive next refreash they will have to ship a USB stick with Lion/Snow Leopard on it The installing will be MUCH faster I'd imagine.

See, there's another bonus!

 

[xpcker]

I think that apple could give a try to a very specific group of people with the bucks (in wich im on)

1. Gamers
2. Professional editors, databases, engineering, etc.

For that we need:

a. Last tech on video card... for working 330m is enough but for gaming... dude... i would love to have a 470m or 460m with optimus. it can be done adding a better cooling system.
b. Taking out the god damm optical drive.. thats a loooooooot of space!!!! imagine the battery life with a 460m it could achive the 8-10 hrs!!!!

thats my oppinion

 

[DanMacApple]

I still feel it is years away before the optical drive will be removed.

 

[Eddyisgreat]

b. Taking out the god damm optical drive.. thats a loooooooot of space!!!! imagine the battery life with a 460m it could achive the 8-10 hrs!!!!

And herein lies the problem. Trying to figure out whats going to happen if Apple does remove the optical drive.

 

[grahamnp]

Yes it would only be justified if they make good use of the space. I think everyone would be less than impressed if all they did was increase battery life by 50% even if that did mean 15 hour battery life.

I'm not sure why they haven't done it already, seems to be in line with interests. None of their core businesses rely on optical media, it is in fact the reverse.

 

[Eddyisgreat]

Yes it would only be justified if they make good use of the space. I think everyone would be less than impressed if all they did was increase battery life by 50% even if that did mean 15 hour battery life.

Which is the point. The DVD drive takes up some space, no doubt, but it isn't enough space to make the 13" (or 15-17") MBPs a suitable replacement for something like a mac pro. Removal of the DVD drive *could* give us lots of things:
longer battery life
slimmer designs
newer, faster GPU/CPU combos
dual HDD configurations as standard
internal expandability via daughtercard (haha yeah right).

But it won't comprise all of the above. One, maybe two features like the above, but not all of them, not all at once.

 

[grahamnp]

The current MBP could have had a better GPU with no heat or power consumption penalty so I'm assuming that spacial constraints are not the reason why Apple went with the 330m. The optical drive is not a very expensive component, I just hope that if it does go through, Apple uses it for some of the reasons you mentioned above instead of using it as an opportunity to further widen their margins.

I'd like the heat issue to be solved.

 

[10THzMac]

The new SONY F13 series has i7-740 (proper quad), a GTX 425m GPU, Blu-Ray read and read/write options in the top two models, an HD 16+ in screen, and still costs less than many of the MBPs. Specialist mnfrs will do 460m, 480m GPUs and still faster i7. Apple is SO far behind on anything except style and battery life it's becoming embarrassing. Having owned just about every other Mac since 1984 it's not just embarrassing but infuriating.

 

[rawCpoppa]

The new SONY F13 series has i7-740 (proper quad), a GTX 425m GPU, Blu-Ray read and read/write options in the top two models, an HD 16+ in screen, and still costs less than many of the MBPs. Specialist mnfrs will do 460m, 480m GPUs and still faster i7. Apple is SO far behind on anything except style and battery life it's becoming embarrassing. Having owned just about every other Mac since 1984 it's not just embarrassing but infuriating.

The battery life with light usage is about 2.5 hours
You can't even watch an entire movie on the blueray player without a wall socket nearby. This isn't a laptop but more of a desktop replacement. An ugly one at that. There is no embarrassment in wanting style and great battery life together with decent processors to make a well rounded notebook.

Yes MBPs should get an update but to just tout every single other laptop with faster processors as automatically greater than the sum of the parts of the MBP is a mistake in my opinion.

 

[arcite]

The battery life with light usage is about 2.5 hours
You can't even watch an entire movie on the blueray player without a wall socket nearby. This isn't a laptop but more of a desktop replacement. An ugly one at that. There is no embarrassment in wanting style and great battery life together with decent processors to make a well rounded notebook.

Yes MBPs should get an update but to just tout every single other laptop with faster processors as automatically greater than the sum of the parts of the MBP is a mistake in my opinion.

Not to mention the fan noise will make you feel like you're in an airplane.

 

[grahamnp]

Uhm.. when my MBP is running at 94C, it makes quite a lot of noise too.

 

[c.dub]

I think that IF Apple decides to ditch the optical drive in the MacBook Pro, it will be a similar setup to the Mac Mini.

- Base model with BTO options for CPU, HDD/SSD, RAM.
- Upper model with no optical drive (ala Mac Mini Server).

I think this would only be on the 13" model.

Does anyone have any opinions or educated guesses on when Apple will (hopefully) adopt the Intel Sandy Bridge chipsets?

I am hoping for a CPU refresh by the new year. My sister needs a new laptop, so it's a perfect opportunity to sell her my current MBP and upgrade to a new one.