MacBook refresh 2009 predictions?

[drake]

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.

I don't know, but the screen on my $300 year old Acer looks better than the Macbook screens. Owned a Macbook before the Acer and frankly, wasn't much of a downgrade (did miss OSX though).

 

[iMacmatician]

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?

Updates to all notebooks (except white MacBook) within the next few months, most likely later rather than sooner.

13" MacBook renamed to MacBook Pro (maybe price adjustments?)
133 MHz CPU bumps (except the MacBook Air, which gets 267 MHz)
4 GB on low-end MacBook Pro
Maybe other small updates
GT100 GPUs

 

[BlizzardBomb]

Updates to all notebooks (except white MacBook) within the next few months, most likely later rather than sooner.

13" MacBook renamed to MacBook Pro (maybe price adjustments?)
133 MHz CPU bumps (except the MacBook Air, which gets 267 MHz)
4 GB on low-end MacBook Pro
Maybe other small updates
GT100 GPUs

Spot on. It doesn't exactly cost Apple a lot to start putting in 4 GBs instead of 2 GBs, so on something with "Pro" in its name, it should be standard. I think there needs to be a reworking of Apple's lineup though. The $500 gap between the low-end and high-end 15" MBP makes no sense. Apple has a chance of making a nice even lineup here e.g.:

White/BlackBook (2.13 GHz) - $999
13" MBP (2.53 GHz, 2.66 GHz) - $1399, $1699
15" MBP (2.66 GHz, 2.8 GHz, 3.06 GHz) - $1999, $2299, $2599
17" MBP (2.8 GHz, 3.06 GHz) - $2599, $2899

Of course, this is a dream lineup and unlikely to happen.

 

[opinioncircle]

Spot on. It doesn't exactly cost Apple a lot to start putting in 4 GBs instead of 2 GBs, so on something with "Pro" in its name, it should be standard. I think there needs to be a reworking of Apple's lineup though. The $500 gap between the low-end and high-end 15" MBP makes no sense. Apple has a chance of making a nice even lineup here e.g.:

White/BlackBook (2.13 GHz) - $999
13" MBP (2.53 GHz, 2.66 GHz) - $1399, $1699
15" MBP (2.66 GHz, 2.8 GHz, 3.06 GHz) - $1999, $2299, $2599
17" MBP (2.8 GHz, 3.06 GHz) - $2599, $2899

Of course, this is a dream lineup and unlikely to happen.

Like you said, I also think it's unlikely to happen. Apple will likely update MBs and MBPs by the end of the summer...

 

[jb1280]

Like you said, I also think it's unlikely to happen. Apple will likely update MBs and MBPs by the end of the summer...

I think there is a slightly higher than unlikely chance of this happening.

Since March, Apple has been toting "The new 24" iMac starting at $1499"

They could theoretically then say "The new Macbook Pro starting at $1299 or $1399, etc."

It gives Apple the aura that they are being more competitive on price, while holding their margins.

For the 13", add firewire 800, the upgraded LED display, and some faster processors...

 

[iMacmatician]

I think there is a slightly higher than unlikely chance of this happening.

Since March, Apple has been toting "The new 24" iMac starting at $1499"

They could theoretically then say "The new Macbook Pro starting at $1299 or $1399, etc."

It gives Apple the aura that they are being more competitive on price, while holding their margins.

I definitely agree with you here, those are very good moves for Apple.

For the 13", add firewire 800, the upgraded LED display, and some faster processors...

I don't think the higher-end 13" will get a faster CPU since it's the same speed as the low-end 15". The lower-end 13" can do with a 267 MHz bump though. And add the recent Intel CPU bumps to that…

 

[dacreativeguy]

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.

Apple doesn't compete on price. They compete on features, ease of use, and experience. For the past several years Apple has maintained the same price points, but continue to upgrade the features you get for those prices. I wouldn't expect them to budge on the price.

 

[opinioncircle]

Apple doesn't compete on price. They compete on features, ease of use, and experience. For the past several years Apple has maintained the same price points, but continue to upgrade the features you get for those prices. I wouldn't expect them to budge on the price.

You make a good point, but I think Apple will have to get rid of the white MBs, and I don't see them starting either a new MB line (along uMBs) or having a starting price @ $1,299...

 

[RiCEADDiCTBOY]

Probably this low end model will be the current 2.0, 160GB model and the 2.4 will slide into the $1299 spot. Can you imagine how many of the unibodys at $999 or $1099 will fly off the shelves???

apple updated the white macbook because they said they couldn't find a way to sell a $999 unibody that would be profitable. At least not right now obviously.

 

[RiCEADDiCTBOY]

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.

My screen is ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS. The new updated screens was a sigh of relief when I purchased mine.

 

[Santabean2000]

OpenOffice is your friend.

OpenOffice is absolute rubbish, esp when put onto a large network. It's slow, feature poor and frequently crashes. It won't even Force Quit properly.

Do yourself a favour and buy something that actually works!

 

[sporadicMotion]

Flux capacitor standard on every mac AND a free 8 track machine!!!