How about a thicker rMBP?

[pgiguere1]

In that case... then why is the classic old MBP thick?

Because it has an optical drive and 2.5" hard rive, whereas the rMBP has no optical drive and flash memory.

Look at this picture inside the classic MBP. Those two parts are on the left. The optical drive is the rectangle in the top left corner and the hard drive is the one in the bottom left corner. Look how much space they take. The fact that Apple removed them in the rMBP is mainly what let them make it so thin.

 

[NewbieCanada]

In that case... then why is the classic old MBP thick?

Because it has an optical drive taking up space.

 

[DTKblaster]

yea and bring the battery life down to 1 1/2hr.. I'm not sure even if it was bigger what performance things they are losing out on. Besides a HD for more storage and optical drive which I don't care for.

The battery life is already 1 1/2 hours when gaming, so that would actually be best case scenario. A bigger battery would actually mean more time on non-GPU intensive stuff like web browsing and document writing seeing as it would still use the same iGPU.

But as someone else mentioned, the processor for a laptop doesn't really get much better. With the GTX 680M having around double the performance (it has 3.5x as many cores running at 720mhz), gaming comfortably at retina resolution might become a reality.

 

[chrisfromalbany]

The battery life is already 1 1/2 hours when gaming, so that would actually be best case scenario. A bigger battery would actually mean more time on non-GPU intensive stuff like web browsing and document writing seeing as it would still use the same iGPU.

But as someone else mentioned, the processor for a laptop doesn't really get much better. With the GTX 680M having around double the performance (it has 3.5x as many cores running at 720mhz), gaming comfortably at retina resolution might become a reality.

yea w/o power cord Diablo 3 isn't lasting too long come to think of it.. lol.

 

[Rocky244]

yea w/o power cord Diablo 3 isn't lasting too long come to think of it.. lol.

Yea, I haven't been that impressed with the battery, but coming from my 4 year old battery, just being able to use it for any period of time was a huge benefit.

 

[grahamnp]

I don't mind it being slightly thicker if you squeeze slightly more in. Maybe an extra SSD for RAID or a slightly bigger battery or more cooling so they can put something slightly better in or manage the thermals better. Maybe all of those. It's not like an extra 0.1 or 0.2 inches is going to make it too thick for your laptop bag.

 

[terraphantm]

I would be willing to accept a slight increase in thickness to get an onboard ethernet port, upgradeable memory, and a standard form factor SSD (maybe the 1.8" standard since they're still plenty small)

 

[AZREOSpecialist]

It's a Pro computer. It doesn't have to be thin. I bet if it was as thick as an ordinary MBP, it would have more power. But if Apple was to make it thicker, would you agree with that decision and have more power or stay with thin?

I am at a complete loss as to the point you're trying to make. The product you seek already exists - it's called the non-Retina MacBook Pro.

 

[sofianito]

It's not just about it's thickness. It's about the performance too.

What about something like this

 

[psykick5]

If it can be a bit thicker and fit more battery/better video I'd do it

 

[sofianito]

Because it has an optical drive taking up space.

No, it is not the optical drive, it is the ethernet port who takes a lot of space...

 

[derbothaus]

A cMBP with retina is all that would be required if that is what you want (it's what I want). Thicker does not net you more power as Intel has no chips more powerful to use right now. 2.7GHz i7 is the top unless you want to burn yourself and suffer terrible battery life due to increased tdp. And even then with all that hassle you get maybe 5-10% faster. It would look like a desktop replacement laptop from 2004. Or the pick above
If you want the most powerful laptop components available get a PC. They'll sell you whatever you think you need. They'll let you enjoy a 30 min battery life monster that still gets it's ass handed to it by an iMac.

 

[sofianito]

A cMBP with retina is all that would be required if that is what you want. Thicker does not net you more power as Intel has no chips more powerful to use right now. 2.7GHz i7 is the top unless you want to burn yourself and suffer terrible battery life due to increased tdp. And even then with all that hassle you get maybe 5-10% faster. It would look like a desktop replacement laptop from 2004. Or the pick above

That's why I hope next rMBP is renamed MBA and next retina display rev would be added to cMBP. For me the cMBP is already thin. It looks a bit thick only if you compare it to rMBP, but rMBP also looks thick if you compare it to MBA...

Good design sells by itself, but for the bucks they spend on a mac laptop, people should really pay more attention to performance, capabilities, extensibility, and of course durability... think green ...

 

[King Shady]

If being thicker meant having a better gpu and bigger battery, then yes (though the GT650M is quite a workhorse!), but only slightly thicker. I love the design of my rMBP.

 

[AZREOSpecialist]

Guys… I just got word of a radical re-design of the MacBook Pro that we've all been waiting for. According to Tim Cook, the design is such a bold departure from anything we've seen before that it will take Apple until late 2013 to introduce the new model. This new design is based upon focus group feedback from people who want more expansion options and a bigger case.

Fortunately my third cousin twice removed is a dog walker for Jonathan Ive who asked Mr. Ive's upstairs maid to take the following photo of Ive's top secret project…

 

[NewbieCanada]

I would be willing to accept a slight increase in thickness to get an onboard ethernet port, upgradeable memory, and a standard form factor SSD (maybe the 1.8" standard since they're still plenty small)

You would, Apple wouldn't. Guess who wins this fight?

 

[derbothaus]

You would, Apple wouldn't. Guess who wins this fight?

Apparently super fan-boi.

 

[NewbieCanada]

Apparently super fan-boi.

Just being realistic. They made the decision to build it a certain way when they could have taken the existing body. They chose not to and have been rewarded with sales beyond their expectations. They're not likely to backtrack.

People like their screens big and their keyboards full-sized. Aside from that, most people want their laptops as thin and light as possible.

 

[derbothaus]

They chose not to and have been rewarded with sales beyond their expectations. They're not likely to backtrack.

Seems to be the order of the day. Lust and no foresight. I am bemused by this trend that everything they do is "wildly successful". It shouldn't be. It is restrictive and may spell a depressing future for e-waste and proper ownership.

 

[icewing]

I really miss the down-vote button.

 

[NewbieCanada]

Seems to be the order of the day. Lust and no foresight. I am bemused by this trend that everything they do is "wildly successful". It shouldn't be. It is restrictive and may spell a depressing future for e-waste and proper ownership.

Ah, I see. They should make things that you want and other people don't.

 

[derbothaus]

Ah, I see. They should make things that you want and other people don't.

Yes. Exactly.

 

[AZREOSpecialist]

Seems to be the order of the day. Lust and no foresight. I am bemused by this trend that everything they do is "wildly successful". It shouldn't be. It is restrictive and may spell a depressing future for e-waste and proper ownership.

With this type of thinking, we never would have progressed from dial phones. Why do we need a touch dial pad on our iPhones when a rotary dial from 50 years ago works just as well? The iPhone is less serviceable than a phone back from the Ma Bell days, so I guess the iPhone and all cellular phones were probably a bad idea, huh?

The technology that goes into an iPhone, as an example, would have taken up an entire floor of a building not that many years ago. If everyone thought this way, our computers would still be room-sized boxes with vacuum tubes because they are more serviceable.

Technology has always moved towards lighter and thinner. Fortunately, Apple isn't forcing this decision on anyone because they have the regular, upgradeable MacBook Pro on sale alongside the Retina model. So nobody really has to make this sacrifice.

 

[dmccloud]

OP makes no sense in this thread. He/she seems to claim that making the rMPB thicker would somehow increase performance, but it already outperforms anything in the cMBP line. The fact of the matter is that there really isn't anything that could be added to the rMPB at this time to increase performance. Adding an optical drive would do nothing to increase performance, and would mean less space for the battery, therefore less battery life.

 

[Krazy Bill]

You'll always get the same amount of time until you die.

And this thread is 5 minutes of my life I'll never get back.

I'm cutting my losses and making a hasty exit. Carry on.