MPB refresh

I'm just curious to see what everyone's opinion on the refresh date and feature list will be.

I realize there's already rampant speculation, but I'm curious to see opinions. Some say end of August, some Sept/Oct.

I'm guessing September, when the back to school "clear out the inventory" is done and that it'll be a mild clock boost to 2.6/2.8 respectively.

Also wanted to guage everyone's reaction as to the possibility of DDR3 replacing DDR2. Seeing as the chipsets are there and DDR3 has become quite affordable now.

In terms of GPU, whether you can see them going with the 9600GT or the stronger 4850 Mobility?

Not of any particular concern, just wanted to see casual opinions relating to it.

 

Definitely agree on the DDR3 1066. That's my guess too. Even with the loose timings on the current DDR3, it'll still be faster than the DDR2-667 that they currently use.

On the HDD side, I wouldn't be surprised if they offer up an SSD option, considering how much prices have fallen.

When it comes to the video card, I can't imagine them choosing the 3850, when the 4850 has already been demoed. At least I really hope they'd choose the 4850 over the 3850. That and it blows all the current Nvidia offerings out of the water.

The CPUs are 2.4/2.5, 2.5/2.6 and 2.5/2.6 I can see it bumped to 2.5/2.6, 2.6/2.8 and 2.6/2.8

 

As an extended partnership with AT&T? Yea I could see that.

 

Yea but I'd imagine people wouldn't buy it with GSM only. It'd have to have 3G data, as most of the laptops with built in modems today do.

The problem with that is you're locked into one carrier. I think most people would rather stick to using the ExpressCard slot for a connection.

But if you mean GSM SIM card to use as a phone with your laptop. I dunno. Not sure how many people would find it all that useful. And it would take sales away from the iPhone, which I doubt Apple would want. They'd rather have you buy a Macbook Pro AND an iPhone.

 

If you mean in general, it's already out on the desktop side. I have one.

If you mean laptop side (which I assume), the 4850 Mobility has already been demoed. And Apple is notorious for getting early access to hardware.

I'm not saying that it's likely they'll use the 4850. I'm just saying it's not beyond the realm of possibility. It is an option for them. I just really hope they don't use the 3850 cards, since those are on the way out the door. The 4850 Mobility would blow the 9600M out of the water, which is why I'm really hoping they wait a month or so to get ahold of it.