Macbooks Tuesday, May 9?

[AidenShaw]

No way the MacBooks are going to go Merom...

Would *you* buy a Yonah in October? Especially after Apple announces at WWDC that 10.5 will be true 64-bit on all Intel systems *except Yonah*....

As McCoy said to Kirk - "They're dead, Jim."

Actually, they'll be dead in August.... That's when the "9 months of Yonah" will end.

 

[ImAlwaysRight]

Would *you* buy a Yonah in October?

As McCoy said to Kirk - "They're dead, Jim."

Actually, they'll be dead in August....

No, I'm going to buy one in May.

Several people have posted in this MacBook rumors thread they just bought a G4 iBook, so do you really think Apple is going to have a problem selling Yonah MacBooks in October?

Average Consumer doesn't know Yonah from Merom. All they'll see is the low end Mac laptop costs $1099 and the bigger, faster ones cost $1999 and up, so they'll be satisfied with the $1099 one.

Merom iBooks in 5 months is as dreamy as a 13.3" MacBook with 15.4" MBP specs for $1399. But the reality of it is that the Yonah processors will cost Apple much less than Merom, so you can be certain they will remain in the MacBook well into 2007.

 

[4God]

O.K., you guys can go ahead and start your flames, but I was just on the E3 site and something struck me kinda funny. I'm not so sure I should speculate on exactly what, but I think we will see more than new MacBooks on Tuesday.

I just got a funny feeling that Steve has something else up his sleeve. Wouldn't it be a real surprise if there were Intel game ready towers released?
You know, the replacements for the PowerMacs?

*ducks behind counter before the tomatoes fly*

 

[yac_moda]

Would *you* buy a Yonah in October? Especially after Apple announces at WWDC that 10.5 will be true 64-bit on all Intel systems *except Yonah*....

As McCoy said to Kirk - "They're dead, Jim."

Actually, they'll be dead in August.... That's when the "9 months of Yonah" will end.

Why bother with 64 bit, WHY NOT JUST JUMP DIRECTLY TO 128

AND remind EVERYONE how UTTERLY HATED the job of DOING WINDOWS ONCE WAS

 

[generik]

Is there a way I can contact apple and let them know that if they don't make a 13.3 inch MBP it'll be the biggest mistake in corporate history?

Or maybe the Macbook won't EOL the 12" PB after all? For all we know the Powerbook may still remain on Apple's site come the 9th... alongside with the MBP and MB

 

[QCassidy352]

Or maybe the Macbook won't EOL the 12" PB after all? For all we know the Powerbook may still remain on Apple's site come the 9th... alongside with the MBP and MB

the 12" PB is at about 15 months without a revision. It might be the longest lasting un-updated product apple has ever had.

(at some point the combo model was dropped making the SD model "standard," but any 12" PB you can buy today, you coulda bought feb. '05)

 

[macgeek2005]

Or maybe the Macbook won't EOL the 12" PB after all? For all we know the Powerbook may still remain on Apple's site come the 9th... alongside with the MBP and MB

And THAT could mean that they'll make a 12.1 INCH MACBOOK PRO!!! YAYYYY

I would buy one before you could say "Steve is a GOD!"

 

[h00ligan]

IBM is so over you don't want to be stuck with 2-4 hours of battery life do you?
I like intel better. And I don't think Lenovo/IBM will continue to make PPC ANYMORE. The intels are faster than powerpc okay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

just to clarify, Lenovo doesn't have **** to do with making chips. Nor are they the same company a IBM.

 

[JRM PowerPod]

the 12" PB is at about 15 months without a revision. It might be the longest lasting un-updated product apple has ever had.

(at some point the combo model was dropped making the SD model "standard," but any 12" PB you can buy today, you coulda bought feb. '05)

I did.

 

[h00ligan]

Thanks. Was that a yes or a no to my question though? Will I be able to find the macbook in all the downloaded files?

no and obviously you don't know that much about tat there intarweb.. but hey, way to waste time on a school night.

 

[teme]

No way the MacBooks are going to go Merom 5 months after they started shipping with Yonah. You gotta remember MacBooks are consumer machines and Apple will save the better (read: more expensive) processor for the "Pro" machines. Yonah is going well into 2007 for the MacBooks. It will be a way to distinguish "pro" from "consumer" portables and actually justify the MacBook Pro's price a little more. When the G4 processor came out and started shipping in Powerbooks, the G3 processor remained in the iBooks for quite some time. You'll see a similar thing with the MacBooks.

Yeah, but this time it's different, because the processors of Apple laptops can be compared to HP, Acer etc. So, this time Apple can't do as they want, they have to follow the markets and see what other manufacturers do.

 

[prism_emf]

I'd guess they'd be 1280x800 if they were indeed 13.3". Much like the Sony series of laptops

Yep, my bad. 1280x800 is 16:10 and that's what they will be. A 1280x720 computer display doesn't even exist.

 

[Moria]

Not sure if this has been discussed already but the pre-E3 Press Conferences are on May 9th. Apple console of some sort? Apple do have a stall there....

 

[iEdd]

Can anyone here say that if they owned an apple store and had mysterious "don't open until May 9" packages, they would actually leave them for days without even peeling a corner and having a peak?
As for RHCP iPods, it's possible, but I think at the moment no-one cares. Apple fans aren't too interested as they bought their iPod videos ages ago. I can't see a game console from Apple any time soon either...

 

[generik]

It's quite a shame there wouldn't be a MBP 13.3" though, I can just visualise it and it is going to be so slick

 

[gregorsamsa]

I'm more curious than excited

Have read lots of interesting comments & speculation about anticipated Macbook announcement. Frankly, for those of us more than satisfied with our G4 iBooks, the rumoured 13.3 Macbook specs (perhaps combo drives, in 2006!) are more of an academic curiosity than presenting any real temptation. What I'm really hoping for is the choice of a 15.4 inch, somewhat beefier, sub-£1,000 Macbook model (announced for maybe a later release to the 13.3 model). The 15.4 Macbook pro is beyond my financial reach.

If no 15.4 inch Macbook, I'll be sticking with my 12" iBook for most tasks until at least the release of Leopard OS. As for Intel & running Windows on the new Macs ... must agree with a few of the earlier comments about those 15.4" Acer laptops at £760 being quite appealing, if only purely as something secondary to my current Mac. The bottom line for me: the 13.3 Macbook should be good, but for the thousands of satisfied iBook owners out there, the extras don't appear to justify an immediate purchase.

 

[50548]

Would *you* buy a Yonah in October? Especially after Apple announces at WWDC that 10.5 will be true 64-bit on all Intel systems *except Yonah*....

As McCoy said to Kirk - "They're dead, Jim."

Actually, they'll be dead in August.... That's when the "9 months of Yonah" will end.

Apart from your funny Star Trek quote, you're dead wrong about your Merom predictions...you keep thinking that once a chip is out, the company MUST upgrade all its machines.

It's not how it works, Aiden, and you know that...a company like Apple has extensive product lines, and it cannot afford to kill one line after another just to get the newest chips (Mac IIvx and IIvi fiascos anyone?).

UNLESS Merom is FULLY plug-compatible with existing MOBOs and at the SAME price level of Yonah, Apple (and anyone else, for that matter) will not just stick new machines down our throats. Even the poor iBook G4 still sells, and the average consumer couldn't care less about Leopard's 64-bit readiness (well, I couldn't either, my iMac G5 has only 1Gb of RAM)...

Meroms will be adopted, in the earliest possible scenario, by holiday season...and more reasonably by early March 2007. The Yonah notebooks are more than powerful for 99% of all users, and nobody will care about a 25% performance increase for now; sorry to burst your bubble again.

 

[MIDI_EVIL]

Has noone speculated that Apple might be simply showing off the iMac and 17'' MBP running Windows and some hot games at E3?

I think this is a strong possibility as now Apple can appeal to gamers and gamers who want to switch.

Or...


Could they be releasing the PowerMac Intel??? Hahaha.

Rich.

 

[jaxstate]

If they plan on replacing the 12" powerbook, which was very very popular, then it better have some impressive specs. I'm sure it will be priced higher than what people want, but it will be worth it.

 

[gregorsamsa]

If they plan on replacing the 12" powerbook, which was very very popular, then it better have some impressive specs. I'm sure it will be priced higher than what people want, but it will be worth it.

Going by many previous postings re anticipated specs, the Macbook is likely to be UNDERwhelming to some & certainly no substitute for 12" powerbook. For your purposes hopefully a 13.3" Macbook Pro is on the agenda. The Macbook itself should appeal to non-gaming switchers & those on a budget seeking to replace older Macs, particularly pre-G4 iBooks.

 

[AidenShaw]

UNLESS Merom is FULLY plug-compatible with existing MOBOs and at the SAME price level of Yonah...

The first is definitely true - there have been reports of Meroms being dropped into minis and iMacs.

The price for Merom has been quoted - and it is the *same* as the current price for Yonah. Of course, as Yonah gets "Celeron'd" by Merom, Yonah will be cheaper than Merom.

You're also assuming that Intel continues to make Yonah chips after Merom is out.... I wouldn't predict that that will continue well into '07.

...couldn't care less about Leopard's 64-bit readiness (well, I couldn't either, my iMac G5 has only 1Gb of RAM)...

Could you care about a new generation of 64-bit application quickening the obsolescence of your new purchase?

The Yonah notebooks are more than powerful for 99% of all users, and nobody will care about a 25% performance increase for now...

<sarcasm>Then why shouldn't Apple put a Celeron M with GMA900 into the new iBooks? Those are also powerful enough for most people, and would increase Apple's profit margin!

It would definitely be good to put out a computer that's much less powerful than the competition, but costs the same....</sarcasm>

Edit: Re: dogcowabunga's comments below - I agree with you, I've added <sarcasm> tags to make it clear that I'm poking a hole in Mr. Lawyer's argument that nobody would want 25% better performance.

 

[dogcowabunga]

why shouldn't Apple put a Celeron M with GMA900 into the new iBooks? Those are also powerful enough for most people, and would increase Apple's profit margin!

It would definitely be good to put out a computer that's much less powerful than the competition....

BootCamp changes the equation. Why would a "switcher" buy an underpowered MacBook when an Acer notebok computer could give him better Windows performance for far less money?

Apple needs to release computers that run Windows AS WELL AS or BETTER THAN their competitors. This will make it easy for switchers to come to Apple for uncompromised Windows performance... after which they will spend more and more time in MacOS X once they experience its advantages over Windows.

Apple should not release a computer that costs the same as a Windows box, but that runs Windows more slowly. Instead, Apple should release a computer that runs Windows as quickly as the competition, but that costs a little bit more because it adds the capability to run MacOS X.

If Apple handles the Intel transition well, it can ironically become the "high performance" computer choice for Windows users, can maintain its profit margins, AND can draw some market share over to MacOS X.

A "too-expensive" but fast and full-featured MacBook might make some Apple fans grumble, but would in the long run do Apple's market share far more good than a computer that competes on price with Windows boxes, but that doesn't compete on Windows performance.

 

[50548]

BootCamp changes the equation. Why would a "switcher" buy an underpowered MacBook when an Acer notebok computer could give him better Windows performance for far less money?

Apple needs to release computers that run Windows AS WELL AS or BETTER THAN their competitors. This will make it easy for switchers to come to Apple for uncompromised Windows performance... after which they will spend more and more time in MacOS X once they experience its advantages over Windows.

Apple should not release a computer that costs the same as a Windows box, but that runs Windows more slowly. Instead, Apple should release a computer that runs Windows as quickly as the competition, but that costs a little bit more because it adds the capability to run MacOS X.

If Apple handles the Intel transition well, it can ironically become the "high performance" computer choice for Windows users, can maintain its profit margins, AND can draw some market share over to MacOS X.

A "too-expensive" but fast and full-featured MacBook might make some Apple fans grumble, but would in the long run do Apple's market share far more good than a computer that competes on price with Windows boxes, but that doesn't compete on Windows performance.

Sorry, but that's bogus...you seem like changing the "burden of proof" against Apple...its crown jewel IS the OS X, never Windows...the capacity to run Windows is just a switcher bonus, nothing else, made possible with the migration to Intel. Apple does NOT sell Macs to run Windows, it sells Macs to run OS X.

If you want a great Windows machine, just buy a PC...that's what people have always done for a thousand years, and it is NOT Apple's goal to reverse that equation.

The advantage with Apple now is that people ARE able to run Windows well enough as a mid-range/top-range PC...but not necessarily the most powerful, because Apple's goal is to expand OS X. With boot camp you can have a great Windows machine, and no wannabe switcher needs more than that.

 

[MrCrowbar]

Apple should not release a computer that costs the same as a Windows box, but that runs Windows more slowly. Instead, Apple should release a computer that runs Windows as quickly as the competition, but that costs a little bit more because it adds the capability to run MacOS X.

I like having a Computer that is well built. The iBooks are great in terms of durability. I know some people who still work on a G3 iBook and don't have any display hinge issues or whatever. You don't get that quality that often on cheaper brands. And believe it or not, but people are willing to pay more just to have a product more expensive than others have. Plus Macs have "the sex"

 

[Project]

Its 2006. Apple should not be shipping any new products with a combo drive. Its ridiculous.