MacBook Pro 2011 predictions

[aCondor]

I think that there will be dual screens on the outside of the Mac. That way... maybe... there has to be some reason why...

After ten pages... how many possible valid "predictions" can there be?

With all the hype, the new Macs will be similar to the current model. One or two small changes. Cosmetic.

The hype that is preceding the Q1 release seems to be building upon itself. Snowball>Snowball>Snowball>Snowball>Snowball

 

[fyrefly]

13" is a goner. You have the standard plastic MacBook and MBA in that size. No need for a "Pro" 13".

We've had the standard MB and MBA since *before* the 13" MBP was invented. Not a goner, imho. Current rumours say they're gonna use Intel's SB IGP (which is apparently decent for an IGP) on the 13" Models.

Also the 13" MBP Entry Level is supposedly Apple's best selling model. I'd almost think they'll do away with the Plastic MB and drop the 13" Alu model to $999 USD before they get rid of the 13" Alu Model. (Even if they end up dropping the "Pro" Moniker and going back to 13" Alu MacBooks...)

15" -

- Removal of the optical drive. I've had my current MBP since Nov. of last year and have the optical drive . . . . once. Its finished.
- Dual 2.5" HDD bays. Configured differently, entry level will have 1 HDD.
- SB
- Higher Res Display
- USB 3.0
- New massive battery. Expect 18 hours out of a single charge.
- 10.7
- Expect air intake to come from one of the sides of the laptop (probably right) and a water tight keyboard.

Just opinion and speculation.

For sure opinion and speculation. This is *all* Op-Ed's basically.

But I do think you're getting ahead of yourself. Possibly dropping the optical drive. 10.7 won't be out till the summer, and I'm sure the MBP will be refreshed before then.

USB 3.0 isn't supported in Intel chipsets yet, so that's not gonna happen till a late 2011 rev at the *earliest*.

18 hour battery is a little optimistic. I could see bumping the battery to 10 hours tops on only SB Graphics (with whatever discrete card they put in (ATI?) turned off).

Water tight keyboard would be awesome, but again, I feel like it's not in the cards.

All I'd bet on is:
- SB
- Integrated SB Graphics for 13" MB/MBP/MBA/Mini
- Some sort of ATI (Or NVidia? but Probably ATI) in the 15"/17" models.
- Higher Rez for 13". Standard "high Rez" in 15" (the one that costs more $$ now).

Some 50/50 bets I'd say are:
- Possibly a BTO option to replace optical with second drive.
- Better Battery life

The one thing I *wish* for is a matte screen option for the 13" Models.

 

[Yin]

I realize this thread is old, my predictions.

13" is a goner. You have the standard plastic MacBook and MBA in that size. No need for a "Pro" 13".

15" -

- Removal of the optical drive. I've had my current MBP since Nov. of last year and have the optical drive . . . . once. Its finished.
- Dual 2.5" HDD bays. Configured differently, entry level will have 1 HDD.
- SB
- Higher Res Display
- USB 3.0
- New massive battery. Expect 18 hours out of a single charge.
- 10.7
- Expect air intake to come from one of the sides of the laptop (probably right) and a water tight keyboard.

Just opinion and speculation.

i really cannot see the slightest amount of a good speculation here... most of the points are just unrealistical, and one is even physically impossible.

 

[K42]

i really cannot see the slightest amount of a good speculation here... most of the points are just unrealistical, and one is even physically impossible.

well _you_ said that linux was a better alternative (to windows)

indeed: 10.7 is physically impossible for the next update.

The rest: well they did come up with the cube didn't they.

 

[zodqyv]

Blu-ray or nothing

Apple should either offer Blu-ray or eliminate the internal optical drive. Having a DVD "SuperDrive" as the only option just does not feel very super anymore.

 

[jvmxtra]

Hey op, can you please put back the word "official" to the title?

Liked it much better~~

All I want is:

a)better resolution for 13 inch
b)bit thinner and lighter(possibly get dvd drive out)
c)ssd option
d)Sandy bridge(does anyone have any data on how much less heat this will produce?)

I cannot waitttttt

 

[bensnowden]

i really cannot see the slightest amount of a good speculation here... most of the points are just unrealistical, and one is even physically impossible.

Which bit is? I'm a mac newbie and wondered which is impossible.

 

[amoergosum]

What are your predictions regarding USB 3.0 ?

 

[Nein01]

Apple should either offer Blu-ray or eliminate the internal optical drive. Having a DVD "SuperDrive" as the only option just does not feel very super anymore.

not gonna happen. disc media will not last much longer, and that includes blu-ray. apple knows this, so they are trying to move forward. i will applaud them if there is no optical drive in the next update. if you want blu-ray, just buy an external drive.

What are your predictions regarding USB 3.0 ?

light peak or bust

 

[dime21]

What are your predictions regarding USB 3.0 ?

Dead-end technology. I don't want it. I'd rather see Firewire 3200 or something new like Lightpeak. USB is junk, good for keyboards and mice and that's about it.

 

[dime21]

All I want is:

b)bit thinner and lighter(possibly get dvd drive out)

They already did that. It's called Macbook Air. The Pro is supposed to be a mobile version of the Mac Pro. Big and powerful. For content creators. Thin and light should not even be part of the equation.

Make the PRO thicker and heavier so we can actually have a decent GPU for once (ATI please) instead of the mid-range blah GPU's they're using today. Thicker/heavier would also enable the use of 45w TDP processors, like the mobile quad-cores. I would love to see these in the next MBP.

Please Apple, make the next MBP a powerful beast of a machine, instead of another disappointing thin-n-light hope-n-change toy.

 

[bossmanjunior]

^^agreed

PLEASE put a quad core processor into a machine? seriously, i feel like im shopping online 2 years ago when i see the tech specs on mbp's

the 2630 would be perfect

 

[Yin]

well _you_ said that linux was a better alternative (to windows)

indeed: 10.7 is physically impossible for the next update.

The rest: well they did come up with the cube didn't they.

why should windows be better?

Which bit is? I'm a mac newbie and wondered which is impossible.

18 hours battery time.

 

[K42]

why should windows be better?

That is not what I meant.

I meant: there is no such thing as a better platform or bad speculation.

18 hours battery time.

That is unrealistic, but not impossible.

 

[K42]

What are your predictions regarding USB 3.0 ?

As others have already indicated: USB 3.0 is a dead end, now that light peak is around the corner.

If Apple manages to get light peak in the next MBP release, there is no need for USB 3.0. Technologically, incorporating USB 3.0 means adding an additional controller, which makes it even less attractive.

We do need a path to our existing peripherals however. I expect that the new machines will be featuring at least one USB 2 port for the time being. Maybe firewire will also survive, but I would not be surprised if Apple drops it and starts selling adapters.

In the end, it makes sense to plug in everything via a single light peak connector (screen, ethernet, external drives, etc.), but at the moment, it is not clear to me whether it is fast enough to replace the display port.

Speaking for myself: I would not mind if the next MBP does not have any USB ports, nor ethernet, nor display port. I'd even like my laptop to get power over this single connector.

If Apple does not manage to get light peak in the next MBP, I guess that I am going to wait a little longer.

 

[miata]

As others have already indicated: USB 3.0 is a dead end, now that light peak is around the corner.

If Apple manages to get light peak in the next MBP release, there is no need for USB 3.0. Technologically, incorporating USB 3.0 means adding an additional controller, which makes it even less attractive.

We do need a path to our existing peripherals however. I expect that the new machines will be featuring at least one USB 2 port for the time being. Maybe firewire will also survive, but I would not be surprised if Apple drops it and starts selling adapters.

In the end, it makes sense to plug in everything via a single light peak connector (screen, ethernet, external drives, etc.).

Speaking for myself: I would not mind if the next MBP does not have any USB ports, nor ethernet, nor display port. I'd even like my laptop to get power over this single connector.

If Apple does not manage to get leak peak in the next MBP, I guess that I am going to wait a little longer.

Regardless of what Apple does with LP I sure hope that they include USB, SD slot and ethernet ports. It is a real PITA to have to carry around a VGA dongle for overhead projectors as it is.

 

[Erasmus]

Speaking for myself: I would not mind if the next MBP does not have any USB ports, nor ethernet, nor display port. I'd even like my laptop to get power over this single connector.

...
I think you're pretty much the only Mac user who can happily live without USB.

As others have already indicated: USB 3.0 is a dead end, now that light peak is around the corner.

Light Peak and USB 3 are not aimed at the same devices. USB 3 is a high speed, short range connection perfect for external hard disks, and super-fast thumb sticks. Light Peak is a very high speed, medium range connection more for connecting displays, USB ports and controls to a computer in another room, and a replacement for ethernet.

It would be far better for Apple to implement both in a MBP, or for Intel to create a hybrid LP/USB3 port. The new platform has sufficient bandwidth to support both.

 

[dime21]

Maybe firewire will also survive, but I would not be surprised if Apple drops it and starts selling adapters.

What do you mean 'adapters'? I highly doubt Apple would drop Firewire, as pretty much all professional audio / video equipment uses it. USB is for cheap consumer-grade crap.

And you cannot make any sort of 'adapter' to run a firewire device off of some other peripheral bus, because then you'd lose one of the main reasons for using firewire: isochronous transfers. Real-time audio video editing requires isochronous transfers, and that's something you simply can't achieve with USB. (Maybe light-peak will have it, I haven't read the spec so I can't say).

 

[apolloa]

...
I think you're pretty much the only Mac user who can happily live without USB.

Yeap, I personally enjoy charging and syncing my iPod, iPhone with my Mac. I would find it just a tad hypocritical if Apple decided to stop you using it's products with one another.......

As fr lightpeak, doubt it but you never know, USB3 will be included as it's a massive standard but not till the end of the year, you could have one lightpeak port and one USB 3 port.

 

[jvmxtra]

They already did that. It's called Macbook Air. The Pro is supposed to be a mobile version of the Mac Pro. Big and powerful. For content creators. Thin and light should not even be part of the equation.

Make the PRO thicker and heavier so we can actually have a decent GPU for once (ATI please) instead of the mid-range blah GPU's they're using today. Thicker/heavier would also enable the use of 45w TDP processors, like the mobile quad-cores. I would love to see these in the next MBP.

Please Apple, make the next MBP a powerful beast of a machine, instead of another disappointing thin-n-light hope-n-change toy.

I agreed with on "make the next MBP a powerful beast of a machine".

But I wouldn't mind 13 inch get bit thinner and powerful at the sametime.

Bottom line I think it's all same for us here: mbp ASAP(I am getting 2 iphone, one mbp and one ipad 2 and I wish mbp is here before anything else LIKE FEB!!!!)

PLEASEEEE god STEVE

 

[Yin]

That is unrealistic, but not impossible.

Have you seen pictures of the current models and do you understand the capabilities of the current batteries? You cannot create almost twice as much the duration just by adding more batteries. And there was no big leap between the technology last year which made the batteries much more efficient or the components more energy-saving.

And why should there not be a good speculation? Some guesses are really good around here and some contradict what Steve said in keynotes. Do you really think that Apple will release a product which Steve condemned just a few month ago (usb3, bluray, etc.)? This is extremely unlikely.

 

[K42]

Have you seen pictures of the current models and do you understand the capabilities of the current batteries? You cannot create almost twice as much the duration just by adding more batteries. And there was no big leap between the technology last year which made the batteries much more efficient or the components more energy-saving.

And why should there not be a good speculation? Some guesses are really good around here and some contradict what Steve said in keynotes. Do you really think that Apple will release a product which Steve condemned just a few month ago (usb3, bluray, etc.)? This is extremely unlikely.

I guess that what you call _physically_ impossible, I call unrealistic. I usually reserve the term "physically impossible" for things like "faster than light".

I did _not_ pop up the term "good speculation". You did. I said that there is no bad speculation.

Why not: because Steve may perfectly well contradict himself, and Apple has done weirder things in the past than what we are talking about now. Most of the items listed by "ggg05a" are not that unrealistic. I would rather like to hear what he/she has to say than have it be bogged down as no "good" speculation. Otherwise we might just as well close down this whole thread.

And that is the last thing that I am going to say about this, as this is off-topic.

 

[K42]

...
I think you're pretty much the only Mac user who can happily live without USB.

Apparently. It seems now that "speaking for myself" should be taken very literally indeed.

I do recognize that at least a single USB 2 port is useful for USB sticks and the like (ipods etc). It will not be dropped now. But personally, I do not require it.

As to the ipod syncing argument: having just another "light peak" sync cable might not be an option now. I do not know how klunky that would get. But eventually, I would like a high speed connection for that too.

What do you mean 'adapters'? I highly doubt Apple would drop Firewire, as pretty much all professional audio / video equipment uses it. USB is for cheap consumer-grade crap.

As I understand it, light peak supports multiple protocols over a single wire. Apple is always reducing things to their core, so if light peak supports real time video transfers, the firewire port (not the protocol) will get dropped at some point. Well, maybe not in 2011 already.

Regardless of what Apple does with LP I sure hope that they include USB, SD slot and ethernet ports. It is a real PITA to have to carry around a VGA dongle for overhead projectors as it is.

For displays, the situation is already bad with all the different connectors. With respect to ethernet: I have never used the ethernet port on my laptop. Wifi is so ubiquitous now. USB: see above.

The SD slot remains interesting, because it will be taking over the functionality of the optical drive (next to USB sticks?). Actually, SD is a "cleaner" solution than USB I think.

 

[apolloa]

Apparently. It seems now that "speaking for myself" should be taken very literally indeed.

I do recognize that at least a single USB 2 port is useful for USB sticks and the like (ipods etc). It will not be dropped now. But personally, I do not require it.

As to the ipod syncing argument: having just another "light peak" sync cable might not be an option now. I do not know how klunky that would get. But eventually, I would like a high speed connection for that too.

As I understand it, light peak supports multiple protocols over a single wire. Apple is always reducing things to their core, so if light peak supports real time video transfers, the firewire port (not the protocol) will get dropped at some point. Well, maybe not in 2011 already.

For displays, the situation is already bad with all the different connectors. With respect to ethernet: I have never used the ethernet port on my laptop. Wifi is so ubiquitous now. USB: see above.

The SD slot remains interesting, because it will be taking over the functionality of the optical drive (next to USB sticks?). Actually, SD is a "cleaner" solution than USB I think.

All spoken like a true CONSUMER with NO thoughts for business or PROSUMER users what so ever. And back to your USB argument, you can say it's in your opinion as much as you like but I will pretty much guarantee Apple will never get rid of a cheap and good interface used by THOUSANDS of devices including their own! And since when can you 'easily' connect an iPhone from today with light peak to a Mac? Or will we all need to buy a $40 adapter just to do this so Apple can ditch USB?

 

[aeboi]

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-20025559-64.html?tag=cnetRiver

interesting read