The Next MacBook Pro Update

[colto]

Hey guys, I was just wondering what you all thought was going to be in the next MacBook Pro update? After quite a bit of reading lately it seems that there are a lot of people that feel we will have a "before the holidays" refresh. There also seems to be a good deal of people shooting for a January/February release. What I want to ask is: What technologies do you think will be included in the next update(or do you expect a different date than those mentioned?)? Penryn, Montevina, and possibly a new G90(release rumors slated for November) or an 8800 have been mentioned. Heck, maybe even that elusive 13" MBP?

Personally I am waiting until Leopard gets released and then keeping my ear perked for rumors. I am really hoping for a Penryn/Montevina MBP. I don't really care about a G90 card as the 15" screen isn't large enough to really need it(for those that game on their MBP), the 17" however may with that monstrous resolution. I really doubt the 13" will be made available.

Sound off with your opinions...

 

[flopticalcube]

Montevina along with Penryn not until 2H 2008. 8800m has been postponed. 8700m is as fast as nVidia will go this year. 13" is possible before 2008 but the MacBooks may get the updates first.

 

[colto]

Montevina along with Penryn not until 2H 2008. 8800m has been postponed. 8700m is as fast as nVidia will go this year. 13" is possible before 2008 but the MacBooks may get the updates first.

All the articles I have been reading lately are slating (mobile)penryn/montevina for Q1 or "early 2008". I will see if I can find some articles to back that up though. The 8700m bit I believe will stay true, and honestly that's just fine with me.

Edit: I will look for more sources but I did just find this: http://www.computerworld.com/action...leBasic&articleId=9034638&intsrc=news_ts_head

"Intel is holding off on the release of mobile Penryn chips until early next year, when the company plans to update its Centrino platform for notebooks."

 

[grosbide]

I am hoping to see a blu ray drive option when leopard comes out as the new DVD player will support hd media. I am also hoping for a 8700m chip for the 17" and an led screen if the technology is available in october. These are the kind of upgrades we could see in october, otherwise i think the major updates are going to be next year.

 

[colto]

I am hoping to see a blu ray drive option when leopard comes out as the new DVD player will support hd media. I am also hoping for a 8700m chip for the 17" and an led screen if the technology is available in October. These are the kind of upgrades we could see in October, otherwise i think the major updates are going to be next year.

Yeah I see your point. However I don't see Apple jumping to a Bluray player until the price comes down significantly. Also the whole format war we have going on(or should I say format stalemate). I completely forgot to add the led screen. That's is definitely a viable option.

 

[matt l]

nothing drastic is gonna come any time soon, one issue with new cpu's is that there getting faster but also ruinning hotter, the sr mbp's run quite hot as it is, if you stick a faster cpu and gfx card in there your gonna have to do somthing about the extra heat, so i would think apple will be looking at these heat issues right now.

where not gonna see a leap like we did going from g4 to core and then core 2 for a long while, what we will see is incremental speed bumps. prehaps the next big shift will be to solid state disks, although i cant see this happening for at least a good 8 months yet.

Yeah I see your point. However I don't see Apple jumping to a Bluray player until the price comes down significantly. Also the whole format war we have going on(or should I say format stalemate). I completely forgot to add the led screen. That's is definitely a viable option.

not quite sure why you would want a blu ray player on a laptop anyway? whats wrong with dvd?

 

[flopticalcube]

All the articles I have been reading lately are slating (mobile)penryn/montevina for Q1 or "early 2008". I will see if I can find some articles to back that up though. The 8700m bit I believe will stay true, and honestly that's just fine with me.

Edit: I will look for more sources but I did just find this: http://www.computerworld.com/action...leBasic&articleId=9034638&intsrc=news_ts_head

"Intel is holding off on the release of mobile Penryn chips until early next year, when the company plans to update its Centrino platform for notebooks."

I'm just feeling pessimistic today. Maybe Q2 '08.

BD in the Mac Pro first, once Apple makes its collective mind up.

 

[grosbide]

for people that want to be watching movies in hd on their beutifull 17" hd monitor, for people that are editors or movie makers that create hd content, or even families that have an hd camcorder and do the editong on their mac, and for people that want a descent backup alternative to dvd. Do not forget that dell and many other laptop makers are already proposing or will propose bluray players on their machines. Also I see this offer as an OPTION, not a DVD replacement, people who for their own reasons do not want a blu ray players can skip it!.

 

[CalBoy]

not quite sure why you would want a blu ray player on a laptop anyway? whats wrong with dvd?

Well at some point, Apple is going to have to choose one of the two contending formats. However, I doubt that it's going to be Blue Ray. The article a few weeks ago about Paramount dropping Blue Ray and going for HD only represents the way studios feel about Sony: the same way they felt 30 years ago with the Betamax.

 

[yetanotherdave]

Technically, well we always like larger HDD's more RAM etc.
Screens, 17" to go LED, higher res options on the 15"
Basically an incremental upgrade, the processors will get a slight speed bump.

I think they need to add the premium options that are on the macbook, like the magnetic hinge, ability to change the HDD yourself, and the keyboard (ducks and hides from flames, but it looks like it's going that way, the MBP is now the ONLY mac to not have the macbook style keyboard)

 

[BritCornflake]

What if... the trackpad was gone and replaced with a rectangular multi-touch screen like the iPhone??!?! That would be pretty amazing, i think.... Then it could change with whatever app you were using, scroll, pinch-resize, etc, as well as function as a mouse..... interesting!

 

[colto]

nothing drastic is gonna come any time soon, one issue with new cpu's is that there getting faster but also ruinning hotter, the sr mbp's run quite hot as it is, if you stick a faster cpu and gfx card in there your gonna have to do somthing about the extra heat, so i would think apple will be looking at these heat issues right now.

where not gonna see a leap like we did going from g4 to core and then core 2 for a long while, what we will see is incremental speed bumps. prehaps the next big shift will be to solid state disks, although i cant see this happening for at least a good 8 months yet.

not quite sure why you would want a blu ray player on a laptop anyway? whats wrong with dvd?

Penryn introduces a die shrink from 65nm to 45nm. This creates both power savings and heat reduction. I agree with you on the solid state though. We all know how much Apple loves solid state memory. And I do feel that Bluray drive OPTIONS will be available within the next couple updates.

 

[colto]

What if... the trackpad was gone and replaced with a rectangular multi-touch screen like the iPhone??!?! That would be pretty amazing, i think.... Then it could change with whatever app you were using, scroll, pinch-resize, etc, as well as function as a mouse..... interesting!

That would be nice and probably will be coming eventually, but I don't see it surfacing anytime soon. When questioned about the possibility of a multi-touch Mac, Jobs replied that it "doesn't make a lot of sense right now on the Mac" and they'd classify it as a "research project". However Apple has filed patents for some type of backlit touchpad so maybe we will see it pop up sometime within the next couple of updates as well.

 

[Taylor C]

In my personal opinion, solid state memory isn't ready for the mainstream notebook market and won't be for at least four or five years. It's limitations and price compared to hard drives just don't pan out currently. It's not quite there yet.

 

[aswitcher]

What if... the trackpad was gone and replaced with a rectangular multi-touch screen like the iPhone??!?! That would be pretty amazing, i think.... Then it could change with whatever app you were using, scroll, pinch-resize, etc, as well as function as a mouse..... interesting!

Yeah, they have a patent that basically has the whole bottom half under the keyboard as a series of track pads. It would be a pretty amazing outcome if they did add a touch screen. It would really bring a revolution to the laptop world.

Other advances "may" include:

> Flash and HDD for storage. Put the OS on a 4/8/16 GB flashdrive, and have Apps install there, and put most everything but a GB of the latest working docs on the HDD. That way instant boot. Faster processing. Better battery life.

> GPS. It will happen one day. A portable unit for use with all Apple BT enabled devices (iPhone) would be pretty popular with Google Map users.

> HDMI out replaces DVI out. Pretty much going to happen if Bluray is enabled.

> Dedicated H264 processor. To take the heavy lifting off the CPUs for video.

> Small external screen - for widgets, reminders etc when sleeping.

> Even higher screen resolution 1920x1080 for 15" screens with the coming of Leopard and screen independence.

> New keyboard along the lines of the MB. Still backlit.

> Better battery life.

> Lighter

> 10-12" model - superlight model

> 512MB graphics card option

> New magnetic or re-engineered lid clasp

> iMac like high gloss and tougher glass screen

 

[colto]

Yeah, they have a patent that basically has the whole bottom half under the keyboard as a series of track pads. It would be a pretty amazing outcome if they did add a touch screen. It would really bring a revolution to the laptop world.

Other advances "may" include:

> Flash and HDD for storage. Put the OS on a 4/8/16 GB flashdrive, and have Apps install there, and put most everything but a GB of the latest working docs on the HDD. That way instant boot. Faster processing. Better battery life.

> GPS. It will happen one day. A portable unit for use with all Apple BT enabled devices (iPhone) would be pretty popular with Google Map users.

> HDMI out replaces DVI out. Pretty much going to happen if Bluray is enabled.

> Dedicated H264 processor. To take the heavy lifting off the CPUs for video.

> Small external screen - for widgets, reminders etc when sleeping.

> Even higher screen resolution 1920x1080 for 15" screens with the coming of Leopard and screen independence.

> New keyboard along the lines of the MB. Still backlit.

> Better battery life.

> Lighter

> 10-12" model - superlight model

> 512MB graphics card option

> New magnetic or re-engineered lid clasp

> iMac like high gloss and tougher glass screen

Nice post! I hope that the new keyboard doesn't get used but I have a feeling it will. I love the flash/hard drive combo idea. HDMI would be amazing as would a smaller MBP. I doubt the smaller external screen(I'm assuming you are suggesting a Windows Sideshow type screen). 512mb graphics card, better battery, etc. are bound to happen some time or another. I really hope the magnetic clasp gets added though!

 

[flopticalcube]

Yeah, they have a patent that basically has the whole bottom half under the keyboard as a series of track pads. It would be a pretty amazing outcome if they did add a touch screen. It would really bring a revolution to the laptop world.

Other advances "may" include:

> Flash and HDD for storage. Put the OS on a 4/8/16 GB flashdrive, and have Apps install there, and put most everything but a GB of the latest working docs on the HDD. That way instant boot. Faster processing. Better battery life.

Possible.

> GPS. It will happen one day. A portable unit for use with all Apple BT enabled devices (iPhone) would be pretty popular with Google Map users.

Doubtful. Same logic as why there is no card reader.

> HDMI out replaces DVI out. Pretty much going to happen if Bluray is enabled.

Replaces? No. Additional, maybe.

> Dedicated H264 processor. To take the heavy lifting off the CPUs for video.

Probably.

> Small external screen - for widgets, reminders etc when sleeping.

Possible.

> Even higher screen resolution 1920x1080 for 15" screens with the coming of Leopard and screen independence.

Possible.

> New keyboard along the lines of the MB. Still backlit.

Probable.

> Better battery life.

> Lighter

> 10-12" model - superlight model

All possible.

> 512MB graphics card option

Unnecessary, given the memory sharing capabilities of new cards and the extra power required for the VRAM.

> New magnetic or re-engineered lid clasp

> iMac like high gloss and tougher glass screen

Both possible.

 

[Taylor C]

I don't know about anyone else, but I don't want an external screen making the back of my beautiful MacBook Pro look like some ugly lolWindows machine. I may be okay with it if it was fitted behind the Apple logo, but that would be (functionally) very strange.

 

[future macnerd]

Hey guys, I was just wondering what you all thought was going to be in the next MacBook Pro update? After quite a bit of reading lately it seems that there are a lot of people that feel we will have a "before the holidays" refresh. There also seems to be a good deal of people shooting for a January/February release. What I want to ask is: What technologies do you think will be included in the next update(or do you expect a different date than those mentioned?)? Penryn, Montevina, and possibly a new G90(release rumors slated for November) or an 8800 have been mentioned. Heck, maybe even that elusive 13" MBP?

Personally I am waiting until Leopard gets released and then keeping my ear perked for rumors. I am really hoping for a Penryn/Montevina MBP. I don't really care about a G90 card as the 15" screen isn't large enough to really need it(for those that game on their MBP), the 17" however may with that monstrous resolution. I really doubt the 13" will be made available.

Sound off with your opinions...

Montevina along with Penryn not until 2H 2008. 8800m has been postponed. 8700m is as fast as nVidia will go this year. 13" is possible before 2008 but the MacBooks may get the updates first.

will somebody please explain to me what mentevina, penryn, 8800m, and solid state memory is or means? (I feel like such a n00b right now) thanks

edit: also what's this about an external screen? I don't think I quite understand

 

[Taylor C]

Penryn, etc. are processor codenames for up-and-coming Intel microprocessors. For instance, the Xeons in the Mac Pro are "Woodcrest" processors. An external screen would be a display on the exterior of the MBP (most likely on the back of the screen) that would display basic information--much like the exterior display on a flip cell phone.

As for solid state memory, most (excluding a very small minority of ultra-portable notebooks) notebooks use hard disk drives, much like any other computer today, to store data on. These are magnetic discs that a mechanical head reads/writes data from/to. There are moving parts, obviously, which cause higher energy consumption. Solid state (also referred to as NAND and Flash) memory is something we've been using in digital cameras, some MP3 players (such as the Nano and Shuffle, and now the Touch) for several years now, but it still severely lags behind HDDs in storage, price, and availability.

The main problem I see with flash memory is that it currently wears out quicker than a hard disk does. It literally fails after a certain number of reads/writes, where a hard drive might continue 'trucking along' so to speak and give more distinct notice that it's about to fail before it actually does so. It's not ready for mass adoption in the case of portable computers for that reason, imho.

 

[CalBoy]

The main problem I see with flash memory is that it currently wears out quicker than a hard disk does. It literally fails after a certain number of reads/writes, where a hard drive might continue 'trucking along' so to speak and give more distinct notice that it's about to fail before it actually does so. It's not ready for mass adoption in the case of portable computers for that reason, imho.

True, but there are ways we could still use Flash effectively. For example, bootup data and the OS could be written on Flash. This would reduce energy consumption and reduce the risk of losing those data because the risk of HD failure increases with each "spin" whereas the number of write cycles is what affects Flash's durability. In addition to all of this, lab testing has shown that most HDs last about as long as a comparable amount of Flash would last. The solution may be to create a Flash drive which has more data capacity than is displayed to the user. EG, a 120GB Flash drive for a laptop might have 160GB of actual Flash in order to rotate more cells for the write cycles. Just my guess though

 

[colto]

True, but there are ways we could still use Flash effectively. For example, bootup data and the OS could be written on Flash. This would reduce energy consumption and reduce the risk of losing those data because the risk of HD failure increases with each "spin" whereas the number of write cycles is what affects Flash's durability. In addition to all of this, lab testing has shown that most HDs last about as long as a comparable amount of Flash would last. The solution may be to create a Flash drive which has more data capacity than is displayed to the user. EG, a 120GB Flash drive for a laptop might have 160GB of actual Flash in order to rotate more cells for the write cycles. Just my guess though

Woah! Like progressive fragmenting. Cool idea.

 

[CalBoy]

Woah! Like progressive fragmenting. Cool idea.

Well, it's just my half-baked hypothesis. Wait about 18 more months, and the future of notebook storage will be a bit clearer.

 

[macjay]

I think they need to add the premium options that are on the macbook, like the... keyboard (ducks and hides from flames, but it looks like it's going that way, the MBP is now the ONLY mac to not have the macbook style keyboard)

Actually the Mac Pro still ships with the older keyboard.

 

[evilspoons]

The solution may be to create a Flash drive which has more data capacity than is displayed to the user. EG, a 120GB Flash drive for a laptop might have 160GB of actual Flash in order to rotate more cells for the write cycles. Just my guess though

This is how most NAND flash devices work already, as I understand it. I can't find the place where I read this recently, but I'm pretty sure that, say, an old 32 MB CF card is actually something like 36 MB for redundancy's sake.