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How would YOU improve a MBP in the absence of a DVD tray?

The DVD tray is not the only issue with MacBook Pro or Apple products in general.

First of all, if they want to consider these "Pro" user laptops... they need IPS Displays. It's great that they finally added it to the iMac line but what about everything else?

They need to stop being so cheap about HDD sizes and Memory standards. If you look at the price differences between the HDD and RAM they give you... the next steps up are really not that expensive. All MacBook Pro's should be standard 4GB of RAM and standard 320GB HDD. A full featured laptop with 2GB of RAM which is aimed at people wanting to do Photoshop work and Video Editing is a joke. 160GB HDD standard is also ridiculous, look at any laptop in that price range from other companies they all come with anywhere from 250GB-320GB standard. I don't mind paying the extra money for Apple's flawless designs... but give us what we pay for, don't be cheap about it.

Lastly, if they ever want Apple to be competitive as a gaming laptop... they need to start shipping nVidia 100 and 200 series graphics chips in the laptops. Give the 13" a 100 series chip, and the 15" and 17" a 200 series chip. These chips not only benefit gamers, most modern Photo, 3D Design, and Video editing all take advantage of graphics chip GPU's now. Using a chip that's over 2 years old just screams... let's see how cheap of a chip we can get away with but make people think we're finally getting serious about gaming.

This is the same reason I will never buy a Mac Pro, because for $2,500... I should be getting 6GB of tripple channel ram, standard. And for that money I should also be getting a 2TB HDD. None of this nickel and dimming customers to death with $100 here and another $100 there for upgrades that should have been standard in the first place.
 
I'd rather make the computer smaller or at least thinner if that is possible without affecting battery size and thus life. I also wouldn't mind a return to 4:3 displays because 16:9 and 16:10 is generally only useful for video since most programs use vertical space more than horizontal.
 
realmike15 said:
This is the same reason I will never buy a Mac Pro, because for $2,500... I should be getting 6GB of tripple channel ram, standard. And for that money I should also be getting a 2TB HDD. None of this nickel and dimming customers to death with $100 here and another $100 there for upgrades that should have been standard in the first place.
Click to expand...

I agree 100%. I was granted a 3.000 budget to build a workstation at work. And since I've been using a macbook for a while I checked out the Mac Pro. The built-like-a-tank tower really attracted me.

Still for the same money I decided to go with a dual socket Linux workstation with 3times the ram hardware raid, an SSD and much more storage.
 
Space for a big heatsink to better cool a quad core processor and a better GPU (260M....?)

Then release an add on DVD Drive and extended battery to fit under the MBP, aswell as letting the MBP work with the External Superdrive.
 
There are only 3 ways to improve MBP:
more battery, better graphics, faster cpu

So one of those :D
 
Internal Power Supply!

A bigger battery or second HDD sounds nice, but wouldn't it be very Apple-like to fill that space with an internal power supply so that there doesn't have to be a big clunky white box in the middle of your power cord? They do it for desktops; why not for laptops? Plug in one end to the wall and the other to the Macbook.
 
ryankhart said:
A bigger battery or second HDD sounds nice, but wouldn't it be very Apple-like to fill that space with an internal power supply so that there doesn't have to be a big clunky white box in the middle of your power cord? They do it for desktops; why not for laptops? Plug in one end to the wall and the other to the Macbook.
Click to expand...

ever touched the apple PSUs when they are charging?

now run your computer at 100% CPU for 20mins, then touch the charger again. feel how hot it gets, then i hope you retract your statement ;)

not against what you said, it would be SUCH a great idea! but its just not feasible with:
a) the amount of heat already in mac laptops and
b) the amount of added heat there would be which leads to
c) the need for more fans which means
d) more space is needed physically to fit it all in.

:(
 
DoFoT9 said:
ever touched the apple PSUs when they are charging?

now run your computer at 100% CPU for 20mins, then touch the charger again. feel how hot it gets, then i hope you retract your statement ;)

not against what you said, it would be SUCH a great idea! but its just not feasible with:
a) the amount of heat already in mac laptops and
b) the amount of added heat there would be which leads to
c) the need for more fans which means
d) more space is needed physically to fit it all in.

:(
Click to expand...

Yes, you are so right. I'm aware there would be a heat problem the way things currently are. What I wrote above was merely a quick, short idea, assuming that Apple would somehow figure out how to do it right.
 
ryankhart said:
Yes, you are so right. I'm aware there would be a heat problem the way things currently are. What I wrote above was merely a quick, short idea, assuming that Apple would somehow figure out how to do it right.
Click to expand...

yea totally, and i think you have hit quite a revolutionary area to diversify into! apple is quite good at those sorts of areas, and they probably could pull it off somehow - maybe heat can be redirected or something.

it sure wouldnt be called a laptop though, they might have to rename it to the iBurn or something.
 
DoFoT9 said:
a) the amount of heat already in mac laptops and
b) the amount of added heat there would be which leads to
c) the need for more fans which means
d) more space is needed physically to fit it all in.
Click to expand...

e) added unnecessary weight.

Why would I want to lug around a PSU if I have no intention of plugging it in?
 
Morrile said:
I disagree with removing the player completely; how would we install software? whereas if it was a removable device we could have the option of a removable hard drive or battery; that would please everyone :D
Click to expand...

I like that idea! People who need it can buy one and people who don't can put whatever they want int (hdd).
 
Either better cooling so that i can have a more powerful CPU+GPU (is that even possible?)
Or a SSD.
 
More battery that can drive a hotter CPU & GPU combination. Add in the process to get rid of that heat and an SSD.
 
Well considering how pathetically unreliable the Superdrives are, and considering that, imo, cd/dvd technology needs to disappear in the interest of better storage and software delivery methods, I would agree with others in dedicating that area with a bigger battery, and/or an ssd specifically dedicated for the OS, and/or the new Lightpeak/USB3.
 
DoFoT9 said:
well i know when i take my laptop anywhere i take my charger, may aswell have them in one cool package
Click to expand...

I never do, the battery life is great and I rather just have a bigger battery then a PSU in my laptop.


Well if they removed the optical drive I would hope they could make the 13in MBPs bezel (and footprint) smaller, give it a dedicated GPU, and throw some ports on the right side (eSATA, LightPeak, HDMI, another USB port, and express card).
 
hey how about this:
have a small (like 16 gb, maybe even just a memory stick), fast SSD for the OS and a few apps that the user can choose, so it will boot in like five seconds and launch your most frequent programs in the blink of an eye. another user suggested this a while back on (i think) the first arrandale thread, and i think that its a great idea.

of course there would probably be some space left over, and they could hopefully boost the battery to like ten hours of light work or web browsing.
 
- Slightly faster graphics chip (nVidia 350M or ATI 5830 with 1GB GDDR5)
- Second hard-drive slot
- Increased battery size to compensate for the additional power draw
 
If I had my choice, I'd want them to use the space for a combination of more battery and space(heatsink, cooling) for a more powerful CPU/GPU. Then just make the MBP able to use the Air's external Superdrive, since the Mini now can. That way I still have a DVD drive when and only when I need it.
 
anytime soon?

is this happening any time soon?

do you think apple would do this without first offering os x in a usb stick?

even hp envy ditch the optical - plz apple do same (but right)....
 
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