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MacBook refresh 2009 predictions?
- Thread starter Ryuukumori
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What if I want to run several virtual machines in my computer, and one of them needs to have 3GB RAM, the other one 2GB and the other one... say, 1GB? I am a software developer and I really would want to have all my development environment [and test envs] ready in my laptop.
Am I exagerating? maybe TODAY yes, but I want my laptop to be fully usable in the next two or three years.
lol I didn't expect this to show up.
Anyways, my predictions are...
Snow Leopard too. I am hopeful for illuminated keyboards on both models too.
Or they could have a 3rd model, not sure.
Very hopeful for an update in April, but I think it can wait for as long as June after WWDC.
No matter, I plan on buying the cheapest backlit keyboard option available, with the edu discount, promo, and printer combo.
Anyways, my predictions are...
- Removal of the white MacBook
- Price decreases of both
- Upgraded processors to 2.2 GHZ and 2.66 GHZ
- Hard Drives to 320GB standard, 500GB upgradeable
- 2GB RAM in first model, 4 GB high end. Kept the same
Snow Leopard too. I am hopeful for illuminated keyboards on both models too.
Or they could have a 3rd model, not sure.
Very hopeful for an update in April, but I think it can wait for as long as June after WWDC.
No matter, I plan on buying the cheapest backlit keyboard option available, with the edu discount, promo, and printer combo.
not too sure if they would remove the white macbook since it was just updated in january. so i would expect a modest price drop and modest speed/hd/ram bumps across the line if they update them this spring. if they wait until september/october to update the macbook line, i could easily see them discontinuing the white macbook, or moving it to the edu store, but i can't see them waiting an entire year for a refresh.
i'm just going to go ahead and guess April 7th or April 14th... i think something is coming for sure as that iPod Shuffle on their front page of apple.com has been there for 3 weeks now and it's pretty non-front-page worthy IMO. it could be the new XServe that is rumored sometime within the next few weeks, but i have a hard time imaging XServe being on the front page for very long either if it's released by itself.
if anything else supports my date guess it would be that it's been 6 months since the last macbooks were updated, which has been quite consistent with the only exception of the phase-out/switch from PPC to Intel (iBook to MacBook) back in '06... every update before and after that time has been Spring & Fall updates.
i'm just going to go ahead and guess April 7th or April 14th... i think something is coming for sure as that iPod Shuffle on their front page of apple.com has been there for 3 weeks now and it's pretty non-front-page worthy IMO. it could be the new XServe that is rumored sometime within the next few weeks, but i have a hard time imaging XServe being on the front page for very long either if it's released by itself.
if anything else supports my date guess it would be that it's been 6 months since the last macbooks were updated, which has been quite consistent with the only exception of the phase-out/switch from PPC to Intel (iBook to MacBook) back in '06... every update before and after that time has been Spring & Fall updates.
I'm hoping for:
...but I doubt all of it will happen, especially 500 GB Hard Drives in notebooks.
- Discontinuing of White MacBook
- 500 GB Hard Drives
- Improved Battery Life (Doubt it'd happen, but it'd be sweet)
- Memory Upgrades
- Display Upgrades
- Speed Upgrades
...but I doubt all of it will happen, especially 500 GB Hard Drives in notebooks.
I think there will be price decreases across the board. I realize the 13' macbook compares favorably to other 13' computers from other makes, but a 15' laptop starting at 2K is RIDICULOUS! an extra graphics card and a bigger screen hardly makes it 2K worthy IMHO.
Anyway, possible changes coming soon.
-Small price drop, perhaps $100 off both models. I realize that Apple has that whole $300 difference deal, but come on, seriously, even if we were not in a recession, 15' laptops for 2K is crazy, the macbooks and pros should be brought down a bit, even if the specs stay the same.
-Perhaps make the screen better in the macbook, more on par with the Air or something. At least not as blatantly sucky with better blacks.
-I see a processor upgrade as a 2.16 and a 2.5 or something personally, if it comes. I think they should knock it over 2.0 myself. Even 2.16 sounds so much higher then 2.0. Might be just me though.
-While I could see a HDD bump, its more likely a 200GB and 320GB kinda thing, which would be welcome. Meh, I kinda want to go SSD in 6 months or a year, so I can hold off on a huge hard disk.
-While I personally think 4GB ram on the high end is brilliant, i means you gotta bump up the pro's memory on the low end unless the low end pro had the SAME price as the high end macbook. Honestly, most people dont use more then 2GB, but RAM prices are dirt cheap now, and Apple could install 4GB of RAM in every computer for under $50 cost to them.
-I feel Snow Leopard is a September or October release, even if he shows it off in June.
Personally, I feel the Mac line is too narrow and it forces people to make tough decisions. I want a 15' MacBook with a 9400M. But I have to go 13' for budget sake.
In a perfect world, I would re-align everything. High end and low end 13's and high end and low end 15's, but have the low end 15 be a decent fracking price. I think the 17' is a luxury, but how in gods name is it worth charging $2700 or whatever it is for a 17' laptop? Explain who would buy that? The internal guts don't cost anywhere near thath to make. Seriously, that should be a $2200 or $2000 laptop tops.
If customers had more options at prices that are still higher then pc's, but cheaper then over 2K, then you could see people buying quality hardware from Apple, Apples marketshare would go up considerably, and their profit margins would also allow more people to become dedicated Mac fanboys.
I would love a 15' Macbook. I dont need two graphics cards, but I would pay $1500 for it, not 2K.
However, Steve Jobs would prefer less consumer options and make higher profit margins. Honestly, they own OS X, more hardware options under their quality control would help them, not hurt them.
Low End 13'
$1200 - 2.16Ghz C2D 2GB RAM 200GB HDD Reg Keyboard
High End 13'
$1500 - 2.5Ghz C2D 4GB RAM 320GB HDD Illuminated Keyboard
Low End 15'
$1500 - 2.4Ghz C2D 2GB RAM 200GB HDD Reg Keyboard (honestly, even specwise, this is a bit of a rip-off, haha)
High End 15'
$1800 - 2.66Ghz C2D 4GB RAM 320GB HDD Illuminated Keyboard
17'
$2200 - 2.66Ghz C2D 4GB RAM 320GB HDD Illuminated Keyboard
call me crazy, but 2K to get a 15' screen is ludicrous.
I'll let the CEO's know not to wait up for you then, they will be gutted, they were really relying on your purchase as well
anyone else notice that the macrumor's buyer's guide was staying "updates soon - buy only if you need it" but has since been downgraded and now says "mid product cycle"?
Maybe I'm just a half-wit goon, but I've really not had too much of an issue with my screen. To OP: if the screen is what you're holding out for on the update then dont hold your breath, go and try it out for yourself before you decide it's no good. There's mixed opinion on it obviously.
This to me sounds the most like a very likely situation, and one I would like to see. I'm hoping to see a price drop and possible addition of a third model. If I had to make my predictions this is how I would see the MacBook lineup:
*Either no white MacBook or possibly a price drop to ~$950 (though I bet they'd rather drop it altogether than reduce the price any more)
$1099 - 2.0GHz P7350 (maybe 2.13GHz P7450), 2 GB RAM, 160GB HDD (maybe 250GB), no backlit keyboard
$1299 - 2.26GHz P8400 (maybe 2.4GHz P8600), 2 GB RAM, 250GB HDD, backlit keyboard possible
$1599 (maybe $1499) - 2.53GHz P8700 (maybe new 2.67GHz P8800), 2 GB RAM, 250GB HDD (possibly 320), backlit keyboard
These seem pretty reasonable to me though if Apple drops the price of the high end model to $1499 I think we might not see a proc speed bump up from 2.4GHz. Of course if the high end model goes up to 2.53GHz then the Pro's would have to start at at least 2.53GHz with the P9500 (1066 FSB, 6MB L2-cache) and go up from there.
All of these processors are currently out on the market and are in line with current MacBook processors (1066 FSB, 3MB L2-cache) except for the P8800 which is likely due out this spring. I'd love to see backlit keyboards become standard, but I highly doubt it'll happen, and I also doubt we'll see a bump to 4 GB RAM until it becomes standard across the Pro line.
EDIT: On a side note, with regard to the mobile Intel Nehalem processors, which I would guess we won't see in MacBooks until next year, don't expect those until the legal battle right now between Nvidia and Intel over Nvidia's chipsets is resolved. Until Nvidia is cleared to sell chipsets for the new Nehalem processors we won't see them in the MacBooks (unless of course Apple goes back to Intel for chipsets, and that would really suck; say bye-bye to decent integrated graphics).
There are many MANY uses for 8GB (and/or much MUCH more) RAM. It comes in handy anytime one wants to work with 8GB (or more) of files all at the same time. One use is for the mapping of Earth. Say one has super high resolution photos for each square foot on the surface of the Earth and wants to assemble them into a 3-D globe. Then viewing that globe in a visualization program with good user interaction response requires enormous amounts of memory. That is only one application; there are endless more.
Very true, and so far this has been restricted mainly to desktop computers. It would be good in a laptop.
I completely agree with this. I know so many people that will not switch because a 13" is too small for their preference and they will not or cannot dish out that kind of money for a 15" model. It's really my only complaint with Apple. Now that the MB's and MBP's look very similar, they could have easily revamped their line-up and it's a shame they did not. I will also add, there should be low end and high end 11" models. More variety would definitely help grow the notebook market even more. And imagine all the people who would sell their 13" MacBooks to upgrade to a reasonably priced 15" MacBook. While my initial plan was to keep my MacBook for about 5 years, I would seriously consider selling mine.
In regards to other posts, I doubt the WhiteBook will be discontinued as that is their cheapest model. The only way, which is very unlikely, is if they are able to take the low end Unibody model and knock it down to $999. But I highly doubt that will happen.
I think that the $1599 Macbook should come with a 128GB SSD standard, with a no-charge option for a 250 or 320GB conventional HD.
Dell is now making SSDs standard equipment on many of their notebooks, their $1299 XPS 13 includes an LED display, Nvidia graphics, 4GB of ram and a 128GB SSD all standard. Apple needs to step up, if they keep the same specs through to the fall they'll really start falling behind.
Dell is now making SSDs standard equipment on many of their notebooks, their $1299 XPS 13 includes an LED display, Nvidia graphics, 4GB of ram and a 128GB SSD all standard. Apple needs to step up, if they keep the same specs through to the fall they'll really start falling behind.
The thing I hate about the whole macbook line and the possibility of dropping the white macbooks is that then there will only be two ways to have a computer with a firewire port. 1. Buy a macbook pro or 2. ebay a second hand last gen machine. Both options suck if you want a new computer but your on a tight budget. Firewire is very important for some uses and a 13" screen is really great for portability.
My wish would be they include a FW equipped macbook somehow, a "high end"
macbook or something. I just hate having to think about looking for a second hand computer or pay a lot more money for a pro which I don't need. Just a normal macbook which can have a FW audio device plugged in.
Sorry for the rant.
My wish would be they include a FW equipped macbook somehow, a "high end"
macbook or something. I just hate having to think about looking for a second hand computer or pay a lot more money for a pro which I don't need. Just a normal macbook which can have a FW audio device plugged in.
Sorry for the rant.
I think apple will discontinue the white macbook in place for a netbook.
It will be made of the same plastic, have a 9-10" screen, recieve reduced power from the the alu macbooks (to create a gap). Apple will call it the macbook mini and it will be the answer to people who complain macs are too expensive. It will cost around $750 making it a direct competitor to the high end netbooks, however instead of running xp or linux, it will run OS X (of cource)
It will be made of the same plastic, have a 9-10" screen, recieve reduced power from the the alu macbooks (to create a gap). Apple will call it the macbook mini and it will be the answer to people who complain macs are too expensive. It will cost around $750 making it a direct competitor to the high end netbooks, however instead of running xp or linux, it will run OS X (of cource)
I was having problem with my Aluminum macbook pro and wanted to buy the new unibody Macbook only but when i found out that there is no firewire, I was really shocked. Firewire is very important and I don't want to spend the same amount of money I spent for my old Macbook pro.
Please tell me there is a new Macbook/netbook coming with Firewire this year.
Please tell me there is a new Macbook/netbook coming with Firewire this year.
Anyone want to make last minute predictions? Having been a long time reader of macrumors, and seen about 3 macworlds go by, I'm guessing there will be no updates to the macbooks until end of summer, and it won't be via an apple event. This years macworld will be all about the iPhone, (and the flux capacitor).
Anyone else want to chime in?
Anyone else want to chime in?