Next Macbook Pro Update (13 inch pro)

[DVD9]

I'd rather they give us Pro hardware for slightly higher prices then crap hardware at moderate prices. Of course, if there was Pro hardware at moderate prices then no one would be complaining.

$1,200 is a "higher price".

$800 is a "moderate price".
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[Perdification]

I doubt they'll "risk" selling a laptop without an ODD. It's not like I don't like the idea: I do. The superdrive doesn't read Blu-Ray anyway, and there are some nice readers at a reasonable price already. Furthermore, it'd give them the option for iX + dedicated GPU, without the extra size and weight of a Sony Vaio Z.

Now my reasons: Most laptops have ODDs and it may be regarded publicly as a "fail" on Apple's part not to include it. While I don't agree with this, the general public would hardly understand what's at stake here, performance-wise. Also, I don't see them distributing OS X on a SD Card.

To finish, Sandy Bridge's article on Anandtech.com mentioned Sandy Bridge's price will be quite attractive. I do not like the idea of an Intel IGP (even with its promising early results), but the cheaper price also might counter your idea of non-ODD-laptops being more profiteable. Thus, I think the ODD will be present for some more releases.





Lightpeak will be out only in 2012, and USB 3.0 won't be a standard with Sandy Bridge. Unfortunately, I believe the chances of seeing these new ports will be small in the next release.




I kind of doubt #3. The Unibody model is the result of a severe and detailed optimization process. In addition, it seems Apple's "tradition" of refresh consist on longer periods of time.

I am hoping for #2, to be honest. Either that, or Sandy Bridge in case it does correspond to Anandtech's article (and ONLY if it does). It'd be a reasonable CPU update (C2D to i3/i5), and a minor GPU update: in the article, it scores above ATI 5450, a graphics card that is below the 320M; however, considering it was running at lower MHz and with beta drivers, the general idea is that it'd be superior to the NVIDIA 320M.




Hey, it's not like I thought it was a big update. Apple tends to alternate between Big and Minor updates, and according to that tradition, that one would have been a "Big" one (and C2D to iX on the 15'' and 17''s can be considered big, to be honest). But if you read my post attentively, you'll see I actually equationed the possibility of the 13'' update having been actually a small one.

Well, apple failed to provide ODD drives together in the box with the MBA, and they may fail to provide it with the next MBP too. Furthermore, the MBA costs much more than the MBP, and thus, it would not be as big a failure not to provide the ODD for MBP since its already cheaper, and apple has the excuse to do so. Well, they might distribute OSX on a DVD, and we can always go about reinstalling MBA style. Either an external drive or link it to another computer.

 

[Perdification]

$1,200 is a "higher price".

$800 is a "moderate price".
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I like the idea of a lower price, I don't deny that, and i'm sure all of us do. The thing is apple stuff won't come that cheap usually, and its kind of expected pricing.

 

[applefanDrew]

In light of the new MacBook Air's flash storage and the "all macbooks are headed this way" comment by Jobs....I think it will have the i3 and dedicated graphics. The HDD will be replaced with flash ssd and the optical drive will be taken out.

 

[dacapo]

In light of the new MacBook Air's flash storage and the "all macbooks are headed this way" comment by Jobs....I think it will have the i3 and dedicated graphics. The HDD will be replaced with flash ssd and the optical drive will be taken out.

If this is true, then the next MBP 13 will have more than enough room for i5 & dedicated graphics card like its 15 and 17 siblings!

It wouldn't even have to be both HDD and ODD that disappear. Getting rid of just one of these would likely yield the interior space necessary for a better CPU/GPU card combo.

 

[LoganT]

I think the only way that IX is going to come to the 13" MBP is if they remove the optical drive which would give them more space. But I think if they removed the optical drive they would just want to put another battery in it.

 

[arcite]

Frankly I don't think I have seen any notebook from any manufacture that wasn't crap that was sold under $1000. I would be very leery of any apple 'pro' notebook sold for less than $1000, too many corners would be cut - including the Airs'. Guaranteed, the new pro models will be the same price points as the current models.