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I'm kind of wary of a form factor change if the direction is to go smaller. That raises a lot of concerns about the discrete graphics chip, the ability to swap hdd/ssd, and heat distribution. I feel like a Air-like design is going to kill one of those for me, and I'm not down with that.
 
I'm kind of wary of a form factor change if the direction is to go smaller. That raises a lot of concerns about the discrete graphics chip, the ability to swap hdd/ssd, and heat distribution. I feel like a Air-like design is going to kill one of those for me, and I'm not down with that.

You are right... I am honestly thinking about getting a refurb feb 2011 if you cant user upgrade
 
I'm kind of wary of a form factor change if the direction is to go smaller. That raises a lot of concerns about the discrete graphics chip, the ability to swap hdd/ssd, and heat distribution. I feel like a Air-like design is going to kill one of those for me, and I'm not down with that.

You are right... I am honestly thinking about getting a refurb feb 2011 if you cant user upgrade

WHAT!

The next MacBook Pro better be user up-gradable or else I'm going with the Early 2011 MacBook Pro also (Which is a very nice laptop, at least the 15" - 17" are)
 
I don't think user serviceable would be a problem, the problem would lie in the hardware itself. I simply don't see a more powerful GPU/CPU happening if it's Air sizes.
 
No physical hard drive? Not a chance. They keep upping storage and now will go backwards for the sake of thinness and speed? Nah. They will however give the SSD option for those who want it.

They will drop the optical drive (which I am ok with) and put the hard drive in the thickest part of the case.

With the optical drive gone, Apple now has a lot more combinations to play with.

I can't imagine my quad-core i7 mbp being as thin as the Air, that's just EFFING sexy.

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With Netflix moving away from physical media, I would not be surprised the next MBP be without an ODD.

The removal of the ODD achieves the following:

(1) Weight reduction
(2) Thinness (aka case design)
(3) The addition of an a blade SSD (for OS storage only)

The idea of having a dedicated SSD for Lion and a side hard drive for storage in the next MBP, while being as thin as the Air, will make me spend my $.
 
You fail to mention with a smaller chassis, more heat is created, which is the downfall of everything "powerful".
 
...does anyone else here realize the current MBP's are the EXACT thickness needed for an Ethernet port? Any thinner and you're going to lose that, which is a deal killer for me and I'm sure a bunch of others. Unless apple wants to put ports on both sides and taper the design like the MBA, we won't see a case redesign. In fact, I hope we don't. It's perfect as it is now. Just ditch the ODD and fill it with extra battery and/or more performance parts!
 
Not if they go with the tapered MBA look.

Which btw, makes it look kinda dumb imo. The sharp angular aggressive look of MBPs and iPhone 4s are what make them gorgeous looking machines.

PC vendors used the tapered look to hide their thickness, kinda like how fat girls try to fit in jeans that are clearly too small.
 
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