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mbp not going to be redesigned?

T

threezero

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 22, 2008
381
1
So i have a 5 year old mbp and have been holding out on upgrading because of the rumor of a mbp redesign in 2012. So now that a revise mbp line has come out does that mean that there won't be a redesign anytime soon? I know nobody knows for sure but I hate to have spent the money for the very last version of a design that is going to be outdated in 1 year. I would rather hold on to my already dated 5 year old model.

does apple have a redesign schedule for the mbp like mercedes where they do a complete facelift every 8 yr on each model and minor upgrade in between?
 
miles01110 said:
They do, but they don't tell anyone. Nobody outside Apple knows if/when the MBP will be redesigned.
Click to expand...

i mean iphone is getting kind of predictable, facelift every 2 year. perhaps there is/will be some kind of pattern for the mbp too?
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacBook_Pro

you can probably find all sorts of patterns there.

introduction: january 2006
unibody redesign: october 2008
next redesign: early 2011 - failed

non-unibody design: introduction + 5 updates
unibody design: introduction + currently 5 updates

There is a quite regular pattern with two updates per year, one early (january-march) and one late (october). This was violated a few times however, i.e. 2007 where the early release was only in june, and more importantly 2009/2010, the late 2009 coming in june, the early 2010 late in april and the late 2010 was skipped.

Intel chipset vs MBP release:

sandy bridge: january 9 vs. february 24
arrandale: january 7 vs. april 13
penryn: january 6 vs. feb 26
meron: july 26 vs. october 24

Finally the shortest time period between updates is about 3-4 month. Also, the redesign did not line up with a change in processor architecture.

It seems likely that we see something early next year, but it's completely unclear what it is going to be.
 
thundersteele said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacBook_Pro

you can probably find all sorts of patterns there.

introduction: january 2006
unibody redesign: october 2008
next redesign: early 2011 - failed

non-unibody design: introduction + 5 updates
unibody design: introduction + currently 5 updates

There is a quite regular pattern with two updates per year, one early (january-march) and one late (october). This was violated a few times however, i.e. 2007 where the early release was only in june, and more importantly 2009/2010, the late 2009 coming in june, the early 2010 late in april and the late 2010 was skipped.

Intel chipset vs MBP release:

sandy bridge: january 9 vs. february 24
arrandale: january 7 vs. april 13
penryn: january 6 vs. feb 26
meron: july 26 vs. october 24

Finally the shortest time period between updates is about 3-4 month. Also, the redesign did not line up with a change in processor architecture.

It seems likely that we see something early next year, but it's completely unclear what it is going to be.
Click to expand...


Wow. Nice update summary. The other part of it is that the rumors are rarely correct. The current rumor is a new case due to the new ivy bridge micro-architecture. We will see if that is correct next spring.

Glenn
 
It a rumoured redesign, and it might not necessarily do what you want when it does comes out.

If the current machine (which got a speed bump a couple of weeks ago) does all you need then buy it now. No point waiting for a mythical redesign that may or may not appear sometime between six and twelve months into the future. You might as well go looking for Unicorns!
 
I haven't owned a mac notebook since iBook times. I just ordered a base 13". I think the models look awesome as now and even if there is an update I'm still going to love my new notebook. It's going to do everything I want it to do for the next 3-5 years.
 
i'm in the exact same spot. If a mbp is bought now, what'll the trade in rate be? like half? i know i'd love any mac i got now, but if i could push this ol 06 macbook just a bit longer. well my ODD just died, so at least i can get a MBA test run lol. my battery life is already about 30 minutes and my charger doesn't always charge so maybe it's time. GAH WHY IS IT BREAKING NOW.
 
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If it helps, I ordered a 15" MBP last week. Currently in Kazakhstan of all places....

Macs hold their value well compared to PC laptops. I had to sell my original MBP after about 6 months and it went at a £300 loss (£1100 vs £1450 UK RRP) for a quick sale. I actually bought it in the US, so in reality only lost £50.

I buy them to keep for 3 years minimum so short term fluctuations in value don't really concern me greatly. I'd rather get 6 months usage and lose another £50 long term for it being a slightly older generation.
 
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MagicBoy said:
If it helps, I ordered a 15 MBP last week. Currently in Kazakstan of all places....

Macs hold their value well compared to PC laptops. I had to sell my original MBP after about 6 months and it went at a £300 loss (£1100 vs £1450 UK RRP) for a quick sale. I actually bought in in the US, so in reality only lost £50!

I buy them to keep for 3 years minimum so short term fluctuations in value don't really concern me greatly. I'd rather get 6 months usage and lose another £50 long term for it being a slightly older generation.
Click to expand...

they have apple stuff in kazastan/?
 
randomrazr said:
they have apple stuff in kazastan/?
Click to expand...

BoratSuccess2.jpg
 
MagicBoy said:
I guess it's passing through. UPS know what they're doing...

China -> Korea - > Kazakhstan -> Germany -> UK I think. Why they don't just stick it on a China to Germany or UK flight I dunno.
Click to expand...

Very strange. That is super inefficient. They usually just do direct given the China-Europe route should be extremely busy.

Back to the topic. I really wish Apple updates the design before April. I own the early 2009 17" and it's starting to change color. Lol. I was assuming that Apple was going to have a major revision back in April this year and no it didn't happen.
 
I've just ordered a MacBook pro. If they change the design next year, mine will still work just as well!

Actually, the talk of making them thinner worries me. I need room for an ssd and a hd.
 
i am not even sure they can redesign the laptop. i mean it is a laptop, cant be lot thinner than it is already. Display is almost without any border... all they might change is the material but the current crop is pretty good...

i am waiting as well. Have the late 2006 macbook pro model...
 
I agree that a total redesign is not necessary. I like my aluminum MacBook Pro, and wouldn't mind upgrading to the unibody. I just want them to drop the DVD drive, make for a bigger battery, a second HD maybe, a couple of more ports and 16GB of RAM.
 
steveca said:
i am not even sure they can redesign the laptop. i mean it is a laptop, cant be lot thinner than it is already. Display is almost without any border... all they might change is the material but the current crop is pretty good...
Click to expand...

If they drop the optical drive (which they probably will) and use the new Ivy Bridge technology (which runs cooler), then a thinner design (not necessarily as thin as the Macbook Air), is certainly possible, even more so if they use Macbook Air-style blade SSDs instead of HDDs (or 9.5mm HDD form factor SSD), though in the case of the latter, I hope not, as it will reduce upgrade potential. Another thing I hope they don't do with the new MBP is to get rid of user-upgradeable RAM or drop the Firewire port - both needed for a "Pro" machine IMHO.

I like the design of the current MBP personally, would be happy if they just made it a little bit thinner and used some of the space saved from removing the optical drive for a longer-lasting battery and perhaps space for a second SSD or HDD.
 
I personally hope that they never remove the drive. For me a pro machine needs to have all the features you might need to use... I agree it is not something we use all the time and with app store less and less but there will be those moments that you would need the drive and not finding it there would be a bad experience over all.

And honestly I find all modern laptops to be thin enough... Do we need them to be thinner?
 
steveca said:
I personally hope that they never remove the drive. For me a pro machine needs to have all the features you might need to use...
Click to expand...

Same argument could have been made about the floppy drive. But nowadays you can get an external USB DVD drive that weighs nothing for cheap and when you think you'll need it when traveling around, bring it along.
 
lighthouse_man said:
Same argument could have been made about the floppy drive. But nowadays you can get an external USB DVD drive that weighs nothing for cheap and when you think you'll need it when traveling around, bring it along.
Click to expand...

I think it's a different story... Floppies stored 1.44MB when CDs managed over 600, and back in the day it was a change from one standard removable medium to another. I would never argue against setting in a blu ray drive in the new MBP but removing the SD leaves no proper way of getting stuff out or other stuff in.

I am a lecturer and sometimes students want to show me some work they have. Without a DVD drive I would need them to upload over the internet and that is not ideal, at least not always...

----------
ericrwalker said:
Yes, I have a USB drive, that in the rare chance that I might actually need it...I will have it.
Click to expand...

I still prefer having everything together and a couple of mms thicker. It is like having a phone and a PDA, merging them made a lot of sense
 
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