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More Claims of MacBook Pro Adopting MacBook Air Form Factor in 2012 Redesign
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If they do this, they NEED to be able to offer more than 256GB in storage, or they cannot be primary machines for a lot of people. And external TB drives do not solve this problem. Then portability is gone.
If they do this, they NEED to be able to offer more than 256GB in storage, or they cannot be primary machines for a lot of people. And external TB drives do not solve this problem. Then portability is gone.
No way Apple will make the whole line of laptops like the Air, I know to many people that use the 15 inch MacBook Pro as a primary machine, myself included and would go nuts with solid state drives and no optical drive. My music collection alone wouldnt fit on the high end MacBook Air!
I'm interested.
My one hope is that they can still fit 1 SSD + 1 mini SATA drive into a 15". Given the extra width over the 13" machine it may be possible.
If they can do that much then I'm fine with everything else. Take my optical drive. Take all my ports and just give me thunderbolt ports and sell me adapters. Whatever, I'll get by.
But I'm gonna need more than 512 GB inside it if you really, really want me to love it.
My one hope is that they can still fit 1 SSD + 1 mini SATA drive into a 15". Given the extra width over the 13" machine it may be possible.
If they can do that much then I'm fine with everything else. Take my optical drive. Take all my ports and just give me thunderbolt ports and sell me adapters. Whatever, I'll get by.
But I'm gonna need more than 512 GB inside it if you really, really want me to love it.
Like the floppy of yesteryear, optical drives will one day disappear. Apple is always at the beginning of the curve. Even on an optical-driveless MacBook there is always the bus-powered external optical drives. I have a bus-powered LiteOn DVD burner for my Air that cost $25. I rarely use the thing, but it is lightweight and easy to transport in my laptop bag if I want it. Not sure about BluRay support on the Mac, tho.
I can see the POSSIBILITY of Apple merging the the MBP & MBA. As long as at least the 15" and 17" ones keep ethernet, firewire & discrete graphics, I'll be set. No optical bay, I could handle. There are many external DVD/BD drives that are faster than any of Apple's drives. I might be able to do without the ethernet & Firewire as long as there's a TB adaptor for them (but that's a stretch).
And before you flame me, all I said was there's a POSSIBILITY, I'm not certain until Apple officially announces it.
And before you flame me, all I said was there's a POSSIBILITY, I'm not certain until Apple officially announces it.
I have to imagine this is a 15" MacBook Air they're talking about, not a thinner MacBook Pro.
I, for one, would lament any loss of raw power or battery life that would inevitably be needed for a thinner form factor. My MBPro is as fast, or faster, than many desktop computers.
I, for one, would lament any loss of raw power or battery life that would inevitably be needed for a thinner form factor. My MBPro is as fast, or faster, than many desktop computers.
I've been thinking, ever since they cancelled the MacBook line, that Apple was just waiting until they could fit the MacBook Pro into a MacBook Air size case to get rid of Pro and Air from the names and just call all their notebooks MacBooks.
If this is the case, I guess it will finally end the question of whether they'll ever bring Blu-Ray to their line, at least as far as their notebooks go.
If this is the case, I guess it will finally end the question of whether they'll ever bring Blu-Ray to their line, at least as far as their notebooks go.
This sounds really interesting, though I'm sure we won't see 500 GB SSDs in them just yet, unless Apple really figured something out.
They could just call them "MacBooks", which would be convenient given that there is no longer a MacBook at all.
I know many people will miss the optical drive, but mine never worked the way it should so I got used to working around it, and honestly, it's not an issue at all. The weight and size of the machine is a bigger issue, however, since I often find myself not taking my MacBook Pro with me when it comes to walking a lot, or a long day at university. I'd love to just have it with me all the time.
They could just call them "MacBooks", which would be convenient given that there is no longer a MacBook at all.
I know many people will miss the optical drive, but mine never worked the way it should so I got used to working around it, and honestly, it's not an issue at all. The weight and size of the machine is a bigger issue, however, since I often find myself not taking my MacBook Pro with me when it comes to walking a lot, or a long day at university. I'd love to just have it with me all the time.
Blu-Ray is pretty dead in the near future.
I've worked in DVD/BR for the last 15 years (helped even test it and was in the first authoring house on the East Coast).
Most of our DVD/BR clients are now moving to Digital Download services. The cost of authoring a BR disc is so significant that besides major motion pictures, most other movie/content houses cannot afford it. When you add in production costs, replication and shipping/storage, the numbers just don't add up.
Some are not even bothering with BR and just going directly to 1080 i/p Digital Download while still authoring DVDs.
Our one client, who is a TV cable network, has gone from almost 40 titles a year down to 12 while moving everything else to DD. On top of that, they've actually put more content out because encoding a show vs authoring is significantly different and without all the other costs of replication, authoring, shipping and a distributor, they can afford to put out a ton more of content digitally. Vast difference in loading in a tape/uncompressed file and just encoding vs full authoring experience.
Optical drives are DOA now and cannot keep up with the needs of the sector.
Apple was never going to have BR. Apple will not pay the ridiculous licensing fee which the association wants.
Apple saw the future years ago which was the Cloud and digital content like their music service. Digital content is here to stay.
Wait until Apple marketing gets ahold of you. You just wait!
Nah, no reason to buy a MBA-like 17 inch. I like what I have. Apple finally gets more money from me with my first iPad next month
There will be enough room in the 15" and 17" models for ports and a discrete GPU. The 13" Pro will likely be dropped, seeing as it doesn't offer much more than the existing 13" Air besides the ports and slightly faster CPUs. Ivy Bridge will make the lack of a discrete GPU less of an issue in the 11" and 13" models, and with the lower and variable TDPs, it should make it easier for Apple to fit more powerful processors into the thinner cases.
Here are my predictions:
MacBook Pro 13, 15, 17 get dropped.
Macbook Air rebranded MacBook
------------
All Macbooks will have:
128GB SSD minimum
4GB Ram minimum (upgradable to at least 8GB)
Thunderbolt port
USB port(s)
SD card slot (except for 11 inch)
Audio In/Out
HD Facetime Camera
Microphone
Backlit-keyboard
----------
What Macbooks will not have:
Firewire, not even twice as fast as USB 2 and a fraction of Thunderbolt speed
Ethernet Port - the majority don't need them and next generation wireless technology is just around the corner.
Traditional hard drives - SSD is the future, especially for laptops.
Internal DVD super drive - if you need one buy external. If you need it on the go, rip the DVD/movie.
------
For those who think Apple cares about its professional market, think again. Look at the Mac Pro. It's the flagship Apple computer, and it hasn't even gotten thunderbolt - a technology that wast touted as being amazing for video editing and the likes. It hasn't been updated in nearly 18 months and it might never see another update. Remember the first thing Steve Jobs did when he came back to Apple. He cut products, afraid the company would become too fragmented. The Mac Pro no longer first on Apple's business concept. (Plus, they will need more room in the Apple Stores for all those ixxxxxx products and MacBooks.)
MacBook Pro 13, 15, 17 get dropped.
Macbook Air rebranded MacBook
------------
All Macbooks will have:
128GB SSD minimum
4GB Ram minimum (upgradable to at least 8GB)
Thunderbolt port
USB port(s)
SD card slot (except for 11 inch)
Audio In/Out
HD Facetime Camera
Microphone
Backlit-keyboard
----------
What Macbooks will not have:
Firewire, not even twice as fast as USB 2 and a fraction of Thunderbolt speed
Ethernet Port - the majority don't need them and next generation wireless technology is just around the corner.
Traditional hard drives - SSD is the future, especially for laptops.
Internal DVD super drive - if you need one buy external. If you need it on the go, rip the DVD/movie.
------
For those who think Apple cares about its professional market, think again. Look at the Mac Pro. It's the flagship Apple computer, and it hasn't even gotten thunderbolt - a technology that wast touted as being amazing for video editing and the likes. It hasn't been updated in nearly 18 months and it might never see another update. Remember the first thing Steve Jobs did when he came back to Apple. He cut products, afraid the company would become too fragmented. The Mac Pro no longer first on Apple's business concept. (Plus, they will need more room in the Apple Stores for all those ixxxxxx products and MacBooks.)
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I think the writing has been on the wall for awhile regarding the lack of an optical drive in the next line of laptops. When they eliminated it in the Mac Mini (which many, myself included, use as a living room media center), it was obvious they were steering away from optical drives altogether. Like many others have said, I do hope they retain the GPU, as many use MBPs for video editing and other graphics-intensive applications. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see a third-party company release a Thunderbolt-compatible external Blu-Ray/DVD burner. This would be ideal IMO - hook it up when you want/need it but ditch the extra size and weight when you don't. Excited to see what happens!
I think the writing has been on the wall for awhile regarding the lack of an optical drive in the next line of laptops. When they eliminated it in the Mac Mini (which many, myself included, use as a living room media center), it was obvious they were steering away from optical drives altogether. Like many others have said, I do hope they retain the GPU, as many use MBPs for video editing and other graphics-intensive applications. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see a third-party company release a Thunderbolt-compatible external Blu-Ray/DVD burner. This would be ideal IMO - hook it up when you want/need it but ditch the extra size and weight when you don't. Excited to see what happens!
From the article...
With the switcheroo GPU trick added in, then, it might actually be possible. I suspect Apple would only do this if they also designed the "cooling dock" - can't wait to see what that might look like!
It is funny that people still want BluRay. It will never happen. Everything is digital for Apple. Apple doesn't sell DVD/BluRay discs, they sell movies, TV shows, music from iTunes in digital format.
I really want a 15" Air. The only issue for some people is that they have their videos & photos, which take up a lot of space. Hard Drive space will be the main issue. Will there be at least a 500G option for a reasonable price?
I really want a 15" Air. The only issue for some people is that they have their videos & photos, which take up a lot of space. Hard Drive space will be the main issue. Will there be at least a 500G option for a reasonable price?
um, and how many BR DVD rips can you fit on that 256gb SSD?
No thanks.
My MB Pro has a big SATA drive for storage, and a modest boot SSD where the optical used to be. Unbelievably fast. I get by without the optical (still have an external for burning and ripping) but SSD's just aren't where they need to be, price-per-gb to become primary storage for anyone with a lot of video or digital images. Which is um, a large target group of MB Pro users...no?
Oh, and leave the ethernet please. Wired is still inherently superior for devices other than tablets and smartphones.
I mean, how much more portable do you need something than the current lineup? Come on. Give us more speed, power, screen resolution, fine. But a door wedge shape isn't that high on the list.