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Reseller Shortages Hint at Forthcoming Update for 15-Inch MacBook Pro

nick_elt said:
I thought the whole problem was that the cpus weren't being released at the same time. The dual core cpu that will most likely used in the 13 wont be ready till june. Also hasnt apple released the newer 17" after the others in the past already.
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Hmm, I think in regards to a total re-design they have updated one model before the other, the 15" first so that was a good point.
But in regards to dual core CPU's, I think Apple would be mad not place quad cores in all models, especially for the price of a Mac. A lot of the other manufacturers have copied the Macs design so the consumer has a lot more choice.
But I'm still not convinced of a retina screen either so we shall see.
 
My Predictions

I'm hoping for a redesign, I like progression from Apple, rather than just under-the-hood improvements. In the years the MacBook Air has been produced, Apple managed to make major unibody improvements, now incorporating the screen into the unibody enclosure.

My predictions for the new MacBook Pro will be overall increase in slimness and decrease in weight. I'm fairly certain Apple will just kill off the internal optical disc drive, as they did with expresscard (less than 10% use). I'm sure the ODD has greater than 10% use by consumers, but Apple is well known for pushing last-decade technologies into obscurity (read: first iMac). It's only logical that Apple will be taking some technologie from the iPad as well, probably a higher-resolution screen (they've figured out a way to do and mass produce it, to not do it would be a waste of engineering) and a higher-capacity battery from space saving and software improvement. I don't see this thing being produced before Ivy Bridge, so perhaps it'll finally get some USB 3.0 love, but perhaps not. Internal storage could go 3 ways in my eyes:

1) Apple just plops in a 2.5" HDD as usual.
2) Apple plops in solid state drives (at lower capacity, higher price, but better performance).
3) Apple creates a proprietary hybrid HDD/SSD that is unlike current ones, in that the end-user can't tell the difference between that and a regular HDD, so no managing what content is where; the OS is on SDD, everything else is on an HDD.

Thunderbolt will be there, I doubt it'll be upgraded to optical, no news of that lately. I'd like to see Apple take more advantage of thunderbolt, but I simply don't see that much happening.

Graphics will probably all be AMD dedicated on 15"+, integraded Intel 3000 on the 13" as it is now.

That's about it, if there is that much change then I foresee a media event upcoming, probably with iMac updates as well and info about Mountain Lion (please more changes; Lion is ****** and Mountain Lion doesn't look much better).

Opinions?
 
I'm really excited about this!

I don't think the Pros and Airs will merge just yet. We're still in a situation where speed/memory have to be sacrificed for thinness, and thinness has to be sacrificed for the sake of speed/memory. People who want thin = air. People who want speed = Pro. Nice and simple :)

PS. Can someone lend me £1500? :D
 
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...and the same date they launch a new mac pro with 30" retina display that I'll fill with all my silly iOs icons
 
neilpryde23 said:
15" MBP was introduced first in 2006 and then the 17" model was added several months later. Then in October 2008, the 15" MBP got the unibody redesign first while they continued to sell the non-unibody 17" MBP til like January (or sometime around then) when the 17" got the unibody design. Finally, they introduced the 13" unibody MBP in June of 2009. In terms of spec updates, however, I feel like they generally update them at the same time.

I'm not saying those past cases dictate what Apple will do and I agree that releasing a 15" MBP redesign in late April/Early May and then a 13" redesign a month later (at WWDC?) would be very close and that it is different than the 15"/17" unibody example since those were released several months apart but I wouldn't be too surprised if the 15" redesigned MBP came out first.
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interesting thanks for the info
 
Liquinn said:
The current Macbook Pro's aren't even 6 months old yet... it just seems a bit early?
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The last update was a speed bump 6 months ago.

This will be a year since the last major refresh which introduced Thunderbolt.
 
Seriously people, this is nothing to get all that excited about. In the month or two prior to a MacBook Pro refresh, one of the models will experience supply shortages at a major retailer. Then at another. Then at another, and so forth. Then at that first retailer some of the other models will start to experience shortages. Then at another. Then at another, and so forth. Then the shipping times will start to slip at international Apple stores. And in the final week and a half before the refresh, you'll see times slip at the US Apple Store, and then you'll see a refresh. The fact that you're only seeing it with the 15" models now means nothing. Two refreshes ago, the 13" was the one with supply constraints first. There's no credible evidence that this is the redesign, nor that anything is happening or not happening with the 13" or 17" models. Same with the 15". It just means that we're getting close which is fair given that it's typically an 8-10 month cycle and we'll be at the end of month 6 at the end of this month. Go, change your pants now, you still have plenty of time.
 
I hope this new crop is significantly lighter but maintains the same ports. USB3 is pretty much mandatory now (welcome to 201X's), so I'd like to see that.

Standard SSD's would be nice. The clock speeds are fine on the processors, it's the mechanical HDDs that are bottlenecking speed at this point.

FWIW I don't like my 17" MBP because the fans are on constantly. Too much stuff in too small a space.
 
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1- Air and Pro can't merge at this time, there's not possibile to make a notebook thin as the Air without sacrificing cpu/gpu power (650MHz GPU vs 350MHz, quad-core 2.6GHz at 35W - MBP13 thermal design - versus dual-core 2.8GHz at 25W - MBA13), storage capacity (optical + 2,5" or SSD blade + 2,5" versus SSD blade alone on the Air), and memory capacity (16GB on actual Pro vs probably 8GB on next Air or 4GB on actual Air).

2- The 13" model can't go away, it's the most selling Pro machine. I think they can't update it now because processors aren't ready until June, it will get a quad-core processor for sure, because now with Ivy Bridge they come at 35W TDP, but the cheaper processor ready on late April, is 378$ (quad-core 2.6GHz) and at this price it's not suitable for a 13" base configuration, but only (maybe) for the high-end configuration. Now the 13" base has a 225$ processor.

3- OSX is fully ready for retina displays now with HiDPI mode, but these displays are still too expensive, so they could come only optional on high-end 15" configurations.
 
SPNarwhal said:
Why is everyone so against the 13" Macbook Pro?
I love the 13" Macbook Pro. I would rather have a 13" Macbook Pro than a 13" Macbook Air. :(

Or a 15" and 17" too for that matter.
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The 13" MacBook Pro is great. They should give it a higher-res display (the one in the 13" MBA is fine), and it's surprising that they haven't (at least as an option, the 15" has an option for higher-res display).
 
lifeguard90 said:
Me too , iMac, high end 27" hope its not mid to late june, aka WWDC
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iMac probably is coming mid June/July like always.

Im looking to buy a MBPro also but I plan on waiting to see what the iMac is going to have (which most likely will also be an announcement on the MacPro).

I can wait a few months from end of April to June to see what the roadmap looks like.
 
Ryth said:
Work in the shade..lol. :)
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Ryth said:
I think for most who buy the 13" MBPro, the 13" Air is a good enough machine for them also. I know a lot of journalism students buy the 13" MBP but it's overkill for most of them...they can get by with a top of the line Air.

I mean really, if you look at the 13" MBPro, it really is the black sheep of the MBPRo line up because it's only dual core. Sure it's got a faster processor then the Air in terms of the dual core, but most I know that use a MBPro are power users and they have the 15" and a monitor at home or the 17" solo. I haven't seen a 13" MBPro in the wild in ages.



They should have an iPad...not a laptop.
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Ryth said:
Turn
Down
Your
Lights
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skoorbevad said:
Solid advice if sitting by a window were

the
only
cause
of
annoying
glare.
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Ryth said:
They are not going to take a MBAir spec level machine and put it in a 15" Mac Book Pro...that kills the whole point of the PRO tag/label.

Don't know why people keep complaining/worrying about this.

It's like worrying about Ford putting a Focus engine in their Shelby Mustang.

It's
Not
Going
To
Happen.
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Wow, ignorance IS bliss :rolleyes:
 
Good, I have the 2010 Macbook Air and it's all good until you want to play games or edit videos.

The Macbook Pro seems too fat and heavy for me now, but the 15" does have a dedicated graphic card.

So I'm hoping for a 15" MBP with Macbook Air form factor or even better, a 13" MBP with not only the Macbook Air form factor but also a REAL graphic card.

----------

And YES, the Macbook Pro 13" IS useless. All the people I have seen with it are sheep who bought overkill, because they know nothing about computers and its their first Mac.

The Macbook Air is good enough, even for Photoshop, unlike you want to do heavy music or video production, or play any video games for which it sucks.
 
Well my personal, somewhat obvious, wishlist:

  • No optical drive, 1TB HDD + SSD available instead. External HDDs are a hassle. I'd even get a bigger HDD but I doubt they are available in the 2.5" format.
  • Retina display with anti-glare.
  • "Air-like" design. I doubt it will be *that* thin, but it can be better than the currently squared design.
  • Getting less warm than the current models. I doubt it will stay any cool, after all I want it to pack a lot of power under the hood, but Ivy Bridge should help a lot in managing the thermal output.
 
I really like my 2011 high res matt 15" MBP. I replaced the optical drive slot with an OWC DataDoubler for the 750GB hard drive and put a 256GB Crucial m4 in the regular hard drive slot, then I put 16 gigs of ram in it.

The new MBP is going to have to be something pretty special to make me want it. This is the best workstation I've ever owned or used. A terabyte of storage and enough ram to run several VMs while mobile. I don't see how "thin" is going to turn my head.
 
Yebubbleman said:
Seriously people, this is nothing to get all that excited about. In the month or two prior to a MacBook Pro refresh, one of the models will experience supply shortages at a major retailer. Then at another. Then at another, and so forth. Then at that first retailer some of the other models will start to experience shortages. Then at another. Then at another, and so forth. Then the shipping times will start to slip at international Apple stores. And in the final week and a half before the refresh, you'll see times slip at the US Apple Store, and then you'll see a refresh. The fact that you're only seeing it with the 15" models now means nothing. Two refreshes ago, the 13" was the one with supply constraints first. There's no credible evidence that this is the redesign, nor that anything is happening or not happening with the 13" or 17" models. Same with the 15". It just means that we're getting close which is fair given that it's typically an 8-10 month cycle and we'll be at the end of month 6 at the end of this month. Go, change your pants now, you still have plenty of time.
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You may want to actually read the article again - it CLEARLY stated that the 13" refresh may be a month of two beyond due to the fact that dual core Ivy Bridge are still a few months out. (As well as a staggered refresh of the 17" model.) So.... a 15" upgrade being first down the line makes perfect sense.... when you actually read the entire article.

I'd say that the timeline and Best Buy having a shortage is a credible evidence of a redesign. Never mind the hundreds of rumors for the past few months about a redesign of the entire line.

At this point I doubt there is anyone who doesn't think a 15" refresh is imminent.... pants or no pants.
 
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