More Claims of MacBook Pro Adopting MacBook Air Form Factor in 2012 Redesign

[righteye]

The MB Pro as of today could be the last easily upgradeable laptop from Apple.
I will buy Sandy and fill it with OWC goodies and that should keep me going if these predictions come to fruition.
Edit:I can also see the end of the express card slot which for me would be a disaster having invested in high performance esata external HD which can be also be connected to my Mac Pro.
Edit:Yes iam aware of TB express card adapters etc but this not such an elegant solution for mobile use but is great for a more desktop based situation.

 

[Robert Mizen]

The optical drive needs to be dropped. It's nothing but dead weight for most. There will be tons of howls by the vocal minority when Apple does this, I am sure. I vividly recall when Apple dropped the internal modem in the very first MacBook Pro. Same thing happened. Luddites exist, even among Apple users.

That said...

I do expect any new "pro" laptop to continue to have a full array of internal ports. I undersand TB is an all-in-wonder, but TB's potential has yet to be fully realized by peripheral companies. Also dongles are evil. They take up space -- and even 1sq in is valuable to a road warrior, and are something else to keep up with. Bleech.

So it will be interesting to see what happens here. Also I know video pros are gonna demand discrete graphics. Apple understands this, so not selling a 15" laptop w/ discrete graphics will be a ginormous clue as to where Apple is truly headed.

Agree with the graphics statement.

If they drop Discrete Graphics then they will really piss off a lot of users who rely and use the Macbook Pro for 3d, CAD, Architecture, Gaming and other 3D intensive uses.

I certainly can not do without a discrete graphics card. And I'm certainly not interested in buying a external dock/thunderbolt system to carry my graphics card in. Cables and messy. Plus would look ridiculous...

Having to plug in my graphics card every time i want to do something more then surf web and listen to music and watch movies would just be madness... specially if its for the purpose to make the MBP look like the MBA...

I would however put up with that if by doing so somehow cured world poverty and hunger.

On a important note, Apple really better go to SSD manufactures and get prices dropped much lower. They bung in a 128 or 256gb SSD and expect me to pay the prices they charge for upgrades then its a no go.

What concerns me, is pro users right now have great machines, but if they end up dropping those machines, specially with the Mac Pro's, even though those things are still beefy and will last a long time. It just kinda says to Pro users "Well thanks guys for sticking with us during the hard times, but now we have billions in the bank and millions of sheepsumers to prey to us"

And this comes from a very avid mac fan here.

 

[nagromme]

There are real disadvantages to making the DVD drive optional and external. But they’re small ones, and rare, and affect very few people.

The advantages are real too, and more useful to more people.

I never needed anything more than (zero-cost) Remote Disc with my Air, in four years! I do play discs sometimes, but always at home. No desire to lug them with me to get scratched/broken/lost.

 

[ArcaneDevice]

I do think it's about time for the DVD drive to go. I've had my MacBook Pro for 30 months now and I think I've used the DVD drive fewer than 10 times.

On that basis I've never used my ethernet connection or Firewire port in three years so we should drop those too.

Come to think of it Apple should redesign OSX and remove all the menu commands as well. I use keyboard shortcuts all the time so why create clutter just for those who don't know the shortcuts?

 

[Mr. Gates]

Another sad part of the optical drive going away it that now we can no longer modify it and swap out the optical drive for a secondary internal hard drive.

There are many nice kits to do this and they come with a USB enclosure to make your optical drive external.

 

[ipedro]

A Pro size MacBookAir will have plenty of room for a 2.5" HDD. If an 11" MacBookAir can fit all its internals in such a small form factor, a 15" and 17" will not need to dedicate all the extra space to battery. They'll come with blade SSD's + the option for a 2.5" HDD for storage.

Thunderbolt port(s) will give pros enough room for expansion: Firewire hubs, DVD and BluRay drives, multiple large displays, etc.

As a photographer, I'm looking for portability in the field and power at home. A 17" MacBookAir would be a dream in the field. Dual 27" displays at home with HDDs and a firewire hub plugged into the back of the display's Thunderbolt port.

 

[Tadros]

You have clients ? Want to be a bit more professional ?

Try using these.... Price:$3.79 each. I would hope you are making enough from your client to afford that ! The price of a small Latte'


Image

http://www.buy.com/pr/product.aspx?sku=217290822&sellerid=23962916#


And its classy in Leather ! My advise , buy in bulk. Like 40 at a time.

As I stated earlier, Musicians want to hear their music on CD. CD hasn't been replaced. It's not like when Vinyl was replaced by CD's. CD is still the current media, just like DVD and BluRay are the current media for movies. If you guys want to play dumb and say you don't need a DVD Burner, then play dumb and get a MacBook Air. But when i spend $2700 on a computer, I expect it to have the current media capabilities, aka A DVD BURNER! Actually! I would expect a BLURAY BURNER! It's called the MacBook "Pro," as i said before if you're not going to have profession functionality in your machines, then you should either drop the prices or drop the name.

Also, the DVD Burner isn't my only grip with this! Those Air's barely have USB Ports. It's bad enough that the 15inch lost the express card slot, we don't need all the "Pro" machines losing FireWire, the extra USB ports, Ethernet, and the Express Port. If anything they should be adding USB 3.0 since TB still doesn't have anything affordable.

And SSD's aren't a good option for people that need space for how much they cost! And if you don't have a dedicated graphics card? It seems like you all are willing to throw your money away just cause it has an Apple logo on it! I'm not going so sped $2700 on a thin laptop that is labeled "Pro" but lost everything that made it a "Pro" laptop.

 

[lhotka]

Well, if they drop the discrete graphics card and ability to have a real hard disk (>500GB) in the machine, then it's no longer a 'pro' is it? I'm also really worried that they'll drop the anti-glare screen again.

SSD's are great, but simply are not big enough. Thunderbolt external drives aren't cheap enough (or even available) to bridge the gap.

Discrete graphics is the only thing that makes using it for graphics and video editing possible. If they drop that, then they really are telling pros to go back and use Windows (which is what Final Cut X appears to be).

I understand they're focused on consumers, but they're losing the high end of the market, and those are the folks who set the trends. Win8 is likely to suck, but if it's the only way to get decent portable performance, that's what we'll have to do.

It does make me very glad I got a top end one late last year. Maybe I can bridge the gap until the new ones catch up.

----------

A Pro size MacBookAir will have plenty of room for a 2.5" HDD. If an 11" MacBookAir can fit all its internals in such a small form factor, a 15" and 17" will not need to dedicate all the extra space to battery. They'll come with blade SSD's + the option for a 2.5" HDD for storage.

Thunderbolt port(s) will give pros enough room for expansion: Firewire hubs, DVD and BluRay drives, multiple large displays, etc.

As a photographer, I'm looking for portability in the field and power at home. A 17" MacBookAir would be a dream in the field. Dual 27" displays at home with HDDs and a firewire hub plugged into the back of the display's Thunderbolt port.

A big air won't be thick enough for a drive. Thunderbolt is a great idea, but nothing is out yet. And you won't run dual displays on integrated graphics.

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

Note that the reports so far have said that the new MBP models will feature MacBook Air-like design cues. All this suggests is that form will be inspired by the MBA's tapered chassis - not that the 15" and 17" models must automatically be the same thickness. Big difference...

If the earlier reports are true that Apple could adopt a new primary construction material for these models, then the chances are that they will keep the 'Pro' branding in order to justify those changes and of course the bump in spec.

 

[benspratling]

Hope so

Assuming it has the processor, RAM and as much storage space as a MBP, I'd love a 15" MBP. Otherwise, it's not worth the price to upgrade from my two year old 13" MBP.

 

[Robert Mizen]

Well, if they drop the discrete graphics card and ability to have a real hard disk (>500GB) in the machine, then it's no longer a 'pro' is it? I'm also really worried that they'll drop the anti-glare screen again.

SSD's are great, but simply are not big enough. Thunderbolt external drives aren't cheap enough (or even available) to bridge the gap.

Discrete graphics is the only thing that makes using it for graphics and video editing possible. If they drop that, then they really are telling pros to go back and use Windows (which is what Final Cut X appears to be).

I understand they're focused on consumers, but they're losing the high end of the market, and those are the folks who set the trends. Win8 is likely to suck, but if it's the only way to get decent portable performance, that's what we'll have to do.

It does make me very glad I got a top end one late last year. Maybe I can bridge the gap until the new ones catch up.

----------



A big air won't be thick enough for a drive. Thunderbolt is a great idea, but nothing is out yet. And you won't run dual displays on integrated graphics.

With Apples cash hoard, you would expect them to cater to all their customers.

The impression i get now is, well you bought the computer/hardware now so we don't care anymore. Thanks for your money.

Apple need to realize they have customers other then the hordes of sheepsumers who buy Apple products because of the "brand status", when us pro users and lot of early users bought because we just believed it was better and Apple had great advances with Laptops, All in ones, and great design and best OS and great software. All of it just being dumbed down and axed...

I have been seriously thinking about ditching various things in favor of Windows or Linux replacements. I may end up getting a Laptop with decent discrete graphics and hacking OSX onto it.

If they do indeed drop the discrete graphics, then they can't have my money. The limited HDD space i COULD live with, but wouldn't be happy, but could upgrade it or have a external drive connected to it.

 

[RichardBeer]

Won't the tighter space mean less CPU and GPU power? If so then I find it unacceptable to move to the design of the air. What about hear issues when running under heavy loads?

 

[WestonHarvey1]

Umm. Why, yes I do.

I'll sell you my MiniDisc player.

 

[435713]

I personally hope its not all Air like form factors. The teardrop shape and you lose more ports where it is already thin there. Dedicated GPU's arent happening in those cases. Well see, but if its all Air style then F em. They have offered just enough choice for me to use their lappies since I feel no one does them better, but if this is true, then I will pick my own hardware and Hackintosh it if I really need to run OSX.

0 reason we cant have more diversity in the laptop line. For the negative votes I will receive, know this: If apple had a line as deep as Dell or HP etc... and kept their quality, then you would sing their praises, its a fact.

ADD: Optical is fine to get rid of. SSD is awesome, but lacks space for users with higher demands. 2 drives, one standard and one SSD would be sweet.

ADD again: This thinness is marketing jargon. It gimps, but has its place for people that are in the market for Airs. People liked Macs for ease of use, a lot less worry about malware, and eye candy. When they started rising in popularity it wasn't the Air that did it, it was the White Macbook and 13" MBP that sold easily the most of all the portables (obviously because of price) but they were solid PC's. In all the glowing reviews I read on those Macs not once can I recall a person loving how thin it was.

Anyone want to bet that if Apple made something like a XPS 15 (good reviewed PC) a little thick, but sold it for the price Dell asks that it would not fly off shelves??? Dont kid yourself.

 

[Fandongo]

What about USB? If you mean buy an external DVD Rom, and run it through USB, I will say it again. Why is it "Pro" if it doesn't come with a simple DVD Drive? And if you mean USB flash drives and whatever, that doesn't help when I have clients who want their songs on a CD. We aren't talking about Vinyl here, every new car still comes with a damn CD player!

My car has a tape deck... which is good, it makes the cassette to mp3 adapter work.

That being said, I did just purchase a bunch of CDs for the first time in 6 years... The physical CDs were cheaper than the MP3s.

My mp3 player and my phone are PRO audio devices.
I tried to cram the CDs into my phone but it didn't work.

Listen, I get it... I need to burn DVDs.
But also note the failure rate among MBP drives.
And the fact that DVD burning is damn near 1x.
Externals are the way to go.

I assume you haven't used any cloud services...
I set up my Amazon cloud storage, so simply opening the App on my phone OR laptop, will auto DOWNLOAD any newly added music to said device.
One of a million reasons we don't need physical media anymore.
Though, the DRM for software needs serious revision.


P.S. CDs ARE Vinyl just as DVDs are Laserdisc...just miniaturized. You realize that no children born at this moment in time will be able to comprehend the monotonous stupidity that is ALL physical media.

 

[nick_elt]

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Ever heard of usb?

Who wants to carry around a USB drive? Try putting your Itunes movies on USB. People buy pros for making music, Movies or editing images, USB would not work for that.
I got my Pro do develop for iOS and would not want a small drive.

Surely it beats carrying around cds no?????? A usb stick is smaller and can hold more so i dont see your point at all. With internet recovery, itunes match and the app store apple doesnt want you to have cds anymore. Have a look at the mini. All im saying they will not include a superdrive. For those that want to use a cd they will tell you to buy a portable cd drive. Like it or not thts they way of the future as thinness is more desiarable for most.

 

[nick_elt]

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I do think it's about time for the DVD drive to go. I've had my MacBook Pro for 30 months now and I think I've used the DVD drive fewer than 10 times.

On that basis I've never used my ethernet connection or Firewire port in three years so we should drop those too.

Come to think of it Apple should redesign OSX and remove all the menu commands as well. I use keyboard shortcuts all the time so why create clutter just for those who don't know the shortcuts?

Ethernet will prob aswell. Look at the air. You can get an adapter if u want it

 

[Robert Mizen]

I personally hope its not all Air like form factors. The teardrop shape and you lose more ports where it is already thin there. Dedicated GPU's arent happening in those cases. Well see, but if its all Air style then F em. They have offered just enough choice for me to use their lappies since I feel no one does them better, but if this is true, then I will pick my own hardware and Hackintosh it if I really need to run OSX.

0 reason we cant have more diversity in the laptop line. For the negative votes I will receive, know this: If apple had a line as deep as Dell or HP etc... and kept their quality, then you would sing their praises, its a fact.

Agree with you mate. I have been bashed few times for taking a stance against Apples recent moves.

Apple need to understand that little choice is nice. The graphics thing really does concern me.

I become to accustomed to OSX, i could never move back to Windows. Its been getting worse with every new release. It will end up staying that way until Microsoft really change their whole approach to design. Plus Balmer has to go.

I could happily hack OSX onto another laptop with options and proper decent specs if they drop Macbook Pro graphics and HDD space and ports.

 

[madmaxmedia]

I think the timing of getting rid of optical drive now, is sort of like when they tossed the floppy drive in the original iMac- slightly ahead of the curve perhaps, but otherwise inevitable.

I am guessing that right now, only about 7 or 8 out of 100 users won't be better served with a lighter thinner MBP and an external optical for when they need it. I'm not saying those users don't exist, but they are greatly in the minority at this point.

More important than optical drive IMO are some other differences between MBA and MBP (expandable RAM, storage space, ports). But with the larger footprints, they can probably maintain some of the MBP features.

They may retain the MBP name for 15" and 17", but end up cutting the 13" MBP (leaving the 11" and 13" MBA for those screen sizes.)

 

[jackrv]

The MB Pro as of today could be the last easily upgradeable laptop from Apple.
I will buy Sandy and fill it with OWC goodies and that should keep me going if these predictions come to fruition.
I can also see the end of the express card slot which for me would be a disaster having invested in high performance esata external HD which can be also be connected to my Mac Pro.

The Expresscard slot should be functionally replaced by thunderbolt. A few vendors already sell (or plan to soon) external PCIe boxes connected via TB. Not quite as elegant as a simple eSata Expresscard, but you'd have an external box that can hold an eSata PCIe card (or multiple drives even if more than one port).

 

[GenesisST]

Rip the DVDs.

End of discussion.

I guess you could always go external. Are there any BR external players for the Mac?

I stream most things from Netflix or iTMS via an Apple TV. But for some movies, BR still has the best image. I haven't seen any iTMS or NetFlix movies that don't have compression artifacts, sadly. I might be cursed for that...

 

[gnasher729]

Apple's answer to both. iTunes and iTunes Match. Put your music library on an external drive, do iTunes match, stream when you are remote so you don't fillup your wickedly fast SSD drive.

Now if Apple did a small redesign of the software to make this easy...

 

[joecool99]

certainly NOT.

MBA is a weak. Different group of users.
Cannot compete with power packed MacBook Pro where you need multiple ports etc.

 

[sweetbrat]

This makes me glad that I got an early 2011 15" MBP. Thinner is great and all, but not when you have to make huge sacrifices. Losing the optical drive wouldn't really bother me. Losing the ability to have two HDDs or an SSD and an HDD would really be a huge sacrifice, as far as I'm concerned. SSDs are not cheap enough in high storage capacities, and personally I wouldn't want to have to plug in to an external drive all the time. And if the RAM isn't upgradable...that would be it for me.

At this point it's only speculation, but I don't see how they can get the form factor that's being talked about without huge sacrifices. If you lose the ability to upgrade drives and RAM, plus possibly lose the option of integrated and dedicated GPUs, it's no longer a "pro" machine. And yes, Apple has been focusing more on "average consumers" lately, but you can't say that the MBP line has been slow in sales. These rumors concern me a lot. At least I know my current MBP will keep me going for several more years.

 

[daneoni]

Somewhat glad i got a MBP in 2011 now...will cherish it for the next few years.

I hope i'm wrong but i just don't see how they'll transition current Pro level components into a thin tear drop case, which means there'll likely be sacrifices such as; decreased number of ports (buy a Thunderbolt display for ports), i7 CPUs might be CTO upgrades only henceforth, and instead of current standard mid-level GPUs, we might start getting either aggressively underclocked chips or low end-ish ones (a la Mac mini)...or even integrated.

RAM might be soldiered unto the board which means you will likely be paying Apple for every single upgrade out the gate or you're SOL. Also HDD storage might disappear altogether and you then have to resort to external drives for decent storage or buy blade SSD upgrades (like the Air) which adds costs.

*shudders*