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New clues that may point to Macbook pros refresh

Here's an article where the source says he has always thought that Macs wouldn't be updated with SB until June:

"Apple is also thought to be using Sandy Bridge for some upgrades, but Reitzes has believed Apple's new Macs incorporating this technology would always start to ship in the June quarter. As a result, Reitzes sees little to no meaningful impact on Apple from the delay and noted that PC's only account for about 14 percent of HP's EBIT."

Will Intel Miscue Impact...
 
greytmom said:
Here's an article where the source says he has always thought that Macs wouldn't be updated with SB until June:

"Apple is also thought to be using Sandy Bridge for some upgrades, but Reitzes has believed Apple's new Macs incorporating this technology would always start to ship in the June quarter. As a result, Reitzes sees little to no meaningful impact on Apple from the delay and noted that PC's only account for about 14 percent of HP's EBIT."

Will Intel Miscue Impact...
Click to expand...

this is terrible news, i am waiting to buy my first mac and it seems like it will never get here...:(
 
I'm also waiting for my first Mac.. I think I'm just going to buy the 15" i5 2.4GHz.. I think I will be happy just to have OS X either way ^^
 
i've been waiting to buy my first mac as well. the current model will do everything i need and more.
i am pulling the trigger tonight and ordering my new 15" MBP, i7, high res display
 
I can't describe how much I'm looking forward! The day it comes, I'm going to walk down to Humac in this town, and buy it in the shop! I've waited ages for this update, I am not going to wait 24h for it to be shipped! xD
 
i have a pc that gets me through the day, so i will wait, but it really sucks having to wait so long, it makes it even worse that 95% of the news is about ipad or the iphone, and nothing (good) about mbp!
 
greytmom said:
Here's an article where the source says he has always thought that Macs wouldn't be updated with SB until June:

"Apple is also thought to be using Sandy Bridge for some upgrades, but Reitzes has believed Apple's new Macs incorporating this technology would always start to ship in the June quarter. As a result, Reitzes sees little to no meaningful impact on Apple from the delay and noted that PC's only account for about 14 percent of HP's EBIT."

Will Intel Miscue Impact...
Click to expand...

I think Mr. Reitzes is wrong. Why exactly would Apple have waited until June to implement Sandy Bridge? I want some of what he's smoking.

Arrendale was released in January last year and Apple had it in the MBP in April. There's no reason Apple wouldn't have put Sandy Bridge in by April this year or sooner since Apple is way over the time for the average update cycle. Unfortunately, with this 6 series chipset ordeal, things may have changed for Apple, but I don't think by much.
 
let's not forget that Arrandale MBPs only took until April to show up because of the chip shortages (due to certain PC makers' orders being fulfilled before Apple's). Sandy Bridge production is supposed to very high, so even with this chipset problem, we should still see the new MBPs by April. This is all assuming the problems even make a difference to Apple, since it's doubtful Apple would use more than 2 SATA ports in a notebook computer.
 
I'm not even sure why we're assuming that we'll even see SB in the next refresh, since as we all know that Apple is traditionally slow in adopting new technology. Personally I think that we won't see SB in the upcoming MBP refresh, rather they will pop in SSDs them as their main selling point. For the next iMacs I could expect SB, and perhaps later during this year there will be a spec bump of the MBPs, much like last years autumn bump.

All in all I believe the MBPs will be here within a month maybe, with SSD, but no SB. Because really, the average Apple consumer don't give a **** about SB, or even know what it is.
 
Doneaux said:
I'm not even sure why we're assuming that we'll even see SB in the next refresh, since as we all know that Apple are traditionally slow in adopting new technology. Personally I think that we won't see SB in the upcoming MBP refresh, rather they will pop in SSDs them as their main selling point. For the next iMacs I could expect SB, and perhaps later during this year there will be a spec bump of the MBPs, much like last years autumn bump.

All in all I believe the MBPs will be here within a month maybe, with SSD, but no SB. Because really, the average Apple consumer don't give a **** about SB, or even know what it is.
Click to expand...

There was no spec bump last fall. The only thing that changed was the addition of a BTO option on the high-end 15" and 17". Apple might be slow, but they're not that slow. Usually when Intel has launched a new architecture or die shrink, Apple has had them in the MBP within 2-3 months.

Intel's Merom released on August 28, 2006.
MBP refreshed on October 24, 2006.

Intel's Penryn released on January 6, 2008.
MBP refreshed on February 26, 2008.

Intel's Arrendale released on January 7, 2010.
MBP refreshed on April 13, 2010.
 
vipergts2207 said:
There was no spec bump last fall. The only thing that changed was the addition of a BTO option on the high-end 15" and 17". Apple might be slow, but they're not that slow. Usually when Intel has launched a new architecture or die shrink, Apple has had them in the MBP within 2-3 months.

Intel's Merom released on August 28, 2006.
MBP refreshed on October 24, 2006.

Intel's Penryn released on January 6, 2008.
MBP refreshed on February 26, 2008.

Intel's Arrendale released on January 7, 2010.
MBP refreshed on April 13, 2010.
Click to expand...

I agree that Apple probably will not take more than a year to upgrade the MBPs but I wonder if they will have any QC issues related to the chipset stuff? I still can't get a clear answer on how this truly affects MBPs. Something about which SATA ports are used?
 
Alright, I stand corrected. I failed to notice that only was a BTO that was offered...
 
Doneaux said:
I'm not even sure why we're assuming that we'll even see SB in the next refresh, since as we all know that Apple is traditionally slow in adopting new technology. Personally I think that we won't see SB in the upcoming MBP refresh, rather they will pop in SSDs them as their main selling point. For the next iMacs I could expect SB, and perhaps later during this year there will be a spec bump of the MBPs, much like last years autumn bump.

All in all I believe the MBPs will be here within a month maybe, with SSD, but no SB. Because really, the average Apple consumer don't give a **** about SB, or even know what it is.
Click to expand...

Typically, if it's feasible and usable (TDP, graphics solutions) in Apple's design, Apple uses the newest processors. Apple jumped on the Arrandale chips fairly quickly (would've been quicker if the chips hadn't been all snatched up by Acer), and I see Apple doing that again for Sandy Bridge. The C2Ds have had several updates themselves over the years (not all C2Ds are the same, obviously). As the 15 and 17 MBPs have discrete graphics, and the current Arrandale integrated graphics are way worse than what Sandy Bridge has to offer (Sandy Bridge also runs cooler and uses less power in general), I can definitely see Apple updating to SB (esp since processor pricing typically stays fairly constant (it's not really much cheaper to use a C2D; the C2D is currently only being used because it allows NVidia graphics)).

Ultimately, it would be stupid to do an update to the MBPs at all if they don't plan on using SB processors.
 
murdercitydevil said:
I agree that Apple probably will not take more than a year to upgrade the MBPs but I wonder if they will have any QC issues related to the chipset stuff? I still can't get a clear answer on how this truly affects MBPs. Something about which SATA ports are used?
Click to expand...

Ports 0 and 1 are SATA III ports which operate at 6Gb/s. These ports are unaffected in the faulty chipsets.

Ports 2-5 are SATA II ports which operate at only 3Gb/s. These ports are the ones that are affected and subject to degradation over time.

Luckily for us and Apple, the MBP only uses 2 SATA ports, one for the HDD/SSD and one for the optical drive. Apple could theoretically ship these faulty chipsets in the MBP without any negative impact on them or the consumer.
 
murdercitydevil said:
I agree that Apple probably will not take more than a year to upgrade the MBPs but I wonder if they will have any QC issues related to the chipset stuff? I still can't get a clear answer on how this truly affects MBPs. Something about which SATA ports are used?
Click to expand...

Cougar Point has 6 SATA connections, 2 SATA III and 4 SATA II. The chipset problem only affects the 4 SATA II ports. This means that if Apple uses only 2 SATA ports anyway, the faulty design makes absolutely no difference to Apple. Of course, there's always the chance that Apple and Intel will be perfectionists about this, and simply refuse to ship faulty chipsets even though they will never affect users.
 
vipergts2207 said:
Ports 0 and 1 are SATA III ports which operate at 6Gb/s. These ports are unaffected in the faulty chipsets.

Ports 2-5 are SATA II ports which operate at only 3Gb/s. These ports are the ones that are affected and subject to degradation over time.

Luckily for us and Apple, the MBP only uses 2 SATA ports. Apple could theoretically ship these faulty chipsets in the MBP without any negative impact on them or the consumer.
Click to expand...

This is exactly what I'm hoping. This may even allow Apple to snatch up these faulty but completely usable chipsets at a discount, which may or may not benefit the consumer. Doubtful though..
 
axu539 said:
Cougar Point has 6 SATA connections, 2 SATA III and 4 SATA II. The chipset problem only affects the 4 SATA II ports. This means that if Apple uses only 2 SATA ports anyway, the faulty design makes absolutely no difference to Apple. Of course, there's always the chance that Apple and Intel will be perfectionists about this, and simply refuse to ship faulty chipsets even though they will never affect users.
Click to expand...

Yeah...I guess all we can do is wonder whether or not they will. I think they will wait personally.
 
Just because they always updated a couple of months after the new chips came out in the past, doesn't mean they always will.

Not saying I think they'll wait until summer, but I don't think it's impossible that they will wait.
 
greytmom said:
Just because they always updated a couple of months after the new chips came out in the past, doesn't mean they always will.

Not saying I think they'll wait until summer, but I don't think it's impossible that they will wait.
Click to expand...

Yes, nothing is ever 100%, but given Apple's past actions, odds heavily favor an update in the spring rather than summer or fall. All we're really doing when speculating is weighting each variable's effect on the odds of one outcome compared to another.
 
It's pretty safe to guess that Apple will update before summer. I'm sure Apple wouldn't want to miss out on Lion sales if every student ends up getting a MBP already loaded with Lion. Even offering a cheaper Lion upgrade for recent MBP buyers over summer would work out better for them.
 
Kevinfx4 said:
i've been waiting to buy my first mac as well. the current model will do everything i need and more.
i am pulling the trigger tonight and ordering my new 15" MBP, i7, high res display
Click to expand...

Yay! :D
I'm probably buying one tomorrow, FINALLY!
We'll be "first-mac-mates"! :p Lord, can I sound anymore cheesy?!
 
One person says June, everybody says June. It's the way of the internet.

If I owned a hardware review site, and I said "MBPs will be discontinued and replaced with pink, fluffy Playboy edition Macbook Airs" so would everyone else.

I would like to think that I would be able to get a new quad Sandy Bridge MBP by the end of March (so I can get a free iPod) but I'm starting to feel that's unlikely (hopefully I'm wrong). However I doubt whether the wait will push longer than April. June prediction is just stupid. Then again, I have said an April prediction was stupid in the past :eek:
 
I can't wait till the new MBP's come out so I'll stop seeing so many "when to buy macbook pro" threads. We all know it's coming out. Most likely in 2 months or less. It will be an overall more powerful machine. If you need the MBP now, go buy it now. Simple as that.
 
Eh, I think all predictions are probably equal in stupidity. Bottom line, we won't know until we know.

Just a way to while away the hours...
 
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