Macbook Pro Redesign (Do I understand correctly?)

[akm3]

OK, so the current MBP design is gorgeous, but getting a bit long in the tooth.

Nearly the whole Apple line is now Aluminum and Black/Glass. All the current Apple keyboards except the MBP have the new style keyboard, and the MBA has the new style keyboard with the MBP backlit keys.

It makes sense they will want to modernize the MBP to homogenize the line.

The Penryn upgrade, however, shouldn't require new motherboards and thus technically doesn't require a redesign. The Nehalem chip SHOULD require a new motherboard (? Is this accurate?)

So, it is reasonable that the current design will live on for one more refresh to Penryn, and then a fully redesigned MBP will debut with Nehalem in Q3/Q4 of this year.

*Nothing I've said is new, I am just posting the facts as I understand them. Do I understand all this correctly?*

 

[Mac One]

That's my understanding too, but we both might be wrong!

 

[Jiddick ExRex]

Yes. It sounds logical. I wouldn't be surprised though if Apple breaks the logical chain somehow though .

 

[Sun Baked]

Apple may not be thinking logically...

Don't know how far Apple is going to push asking for different CPU package designs now.

Smaller and thinner might be a big push for Apple again.

We will likely get the same silicon, but packaged slightly different from the rest of the industry -- which isn't a problem for surface mounted CPUs.

---

If Apple pushes for changes in the CPU, Chipset, and GPU carrier packages, things could get interesting for the next computer design.

 

[morethanblood]

i personally believe (this is just me, no need to get ur panties in a bunch if you disagree) that with a penryn update they might change the keyboard to the new keyboard (even tho the mbp keyboard is flawless) and maybe throw in the multi touch track pack which from what i understand is a little bit larger than the normal track pads.

 

[Fossie]

I hope there isn't a redesign. I'm after a penryn based mbp and really like the current design. The MBA keyboard is :/

 

[Victor ch]

I honestly believe that the PowerBook/MacBook Pro design is due to major facelift. As I said in another thread, the MacBook Pro might be the next one to incorporate the "new look" in Apple products (E.g new iMac, MacBook Air) and somehow incorporate new goodies Features such as the existing multi-touch trackpad MUST be included, Penryn is another thing I hope they won't omit. LED's for the 17incher I don't know if they're available yet. I just hope that the MacBook Pro has gone through a redesign and 1 update before I buy a 17" (high-res) at the end of this year. Just my thoughts

-Victor

 

[e12a]

i'm sure a future redesign will have aluminum as we've all come to love, but glass i'm not so sure about, as media/video gurus will be vying for matte screens, which would be pointless and ugly to have a glass "trim" around a matte screen.

a multitouch trackpad is a maybe too, but having that in a Macbook Pro would just take away another reason to buy the MBA, which I doubt is going to do really well (as well as the macbook, per say).

 

[Architect4122]

I think thinner would be the route to take with the MBP.

If its not broken, why fix it? The MBP's design has stood well over the years, very well. If you take the geometries of all of Apple's products, the common theme is orthogonal rectangles with rounded corners. This is seen in ALL products: side of ACD, all laptops (from all angles), MacMini, and most noticeably the iMac. Also, the front of the MacPro cases.

I think the tapered side of the MBA is pretty ugly and completely breaks with the rest of the family of products...design wise. I think the MBA is: "we need an ultraportable again...but how to make it [appear] smaller than others on the market." Yeah, its smaller, but at what cost?

All in all, the next iteration of the MBP can either break or make Apple's successful run of product design (i.e. the keyboard on the MBA...ummm...NO)

 

[leechlife]

a multitouch trackpad is a maybe too, but having that in a Macbook Pro would just take away another reason to buy the MBA, which I doubt is going to do really well (as well as the macbook, per say).

I not so sure about that. MBA and MBP are not targeting the same audience. And if someone is buying either or, apple shouldn't care. They still got your money. I guess they're making more win with a single mbp sell at the moment than with single air sell.

I think it makes sense to put the new features into mbp asap. a mbp is supposed to be state of the art, and the best notebook and the market. U don't wanna lose that position.

I don;t think they compromise one line to make an other line sell more. They wanna get more customers not redirect the existing onces. (thats no expansion and won't get u anywhere in a long term)

Mbp, mb and mba are all different. I rather think some people get and mba and a mbp together as they do different things.
Having a lot cranky people looking at an aged mbp is not creating a lot of happy air buyers.

the mbp needs some attention from apple soon, unless they wanna discontinue the line.
As one sale teachers likes to say. A sell is not end of a deal, it's the start of long relationship.
So i'd rather expect some updates to mbp soon, but never to significant. Don't make the recent buyers,who just missed the update, too cranky.

 

[neiltc13]

I really quite resent the direction Apple is going with its products. The iPhone doesn't really look that good at all in my opinion. The new iMac, even though I own one, is the most hideous looking thing the company has devised in a long time and the MacBook Air's black keyboard looks really bad too.

I don't understand why they think this new black accenting is a good idea. I'm just glad that my iMac sits up against a wall so I can hide most of the silly blackness.

It really wouldn't have been that hard for Apple to make the keys on MBA silver just like the Pro (after all, it is a Pro product).

I think the next MBP update will be quite minimal. New processors (and if you're really unlucky, a switch to ATi chips) and the new keyboard layout are what I see coming. I don't think they will move the keyboard to the MacBook style (although if they did, I'd imagine the keys would be squared off at the edges).

 

[m1stake]

I would expect the penryn chips to be dropped in soon-ish.

The actual face lift that it's looking for will most likely come when the Montevina platform is released from Intel. I wouldn't expect Apple to jump on it particularly fast though. Hopefully I'm wrong because I'd like to get one in a few months.