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The next refresh a big one?

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whitedragon101

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Sep 11, 2008
1,349
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I always try to buy on a big refresh like when the unibody came out : new screen, trackpad, case, everything.

I recall reading that perhaps after the next 150 or so days the next Macbook Pro refresh may be a big one with a new case design (at least internally for better thermal venting etc).

Any idea if this may be true and what we might expect hardware wise from the next refresh?
 
The biggest update in performance will happen in early 2011 when Sandy Bridge is out. Redesign may happen along with any update
 
They need to redesign 13" unibody macbook pro, because of the space inside. They cannot fit dedicated GPU with combination of the current generation Intel processors (even Sandy Bridge). They still need three chips, one for CPU(with integrated GPU) and second for ICH southbridge, third for the GPU. Nvidia+C2D platform needs only two chips for that, because north bridge and southbridge is integrated inside one chip (including GPU). They cant make battery smaller, because it would affect battery life, they cant remove optical drive and they cant make 2,5". Its still consumer or semi-pro model, so you cant make it macbook air or a different class notebook (fatter chasis, 14" display etc).

Possibilities? take the optical drive to the front and change the shape of the battery. but im not sure if they can do that in some sensible way.
 
cubiczech said:
They need to redesign 13" unibody macbook pro, because of the space inside. They cannot fit dedicated GPU with combination of the current generation Intel processors (even Sandy Bridge). They still need three chips, one for CPU(with integrated GPU) and second for ICH southbridge, third for the GPU. Nvidia+C2D platform needs only two chips for that, because north bridge and southbridge is integrated inside one chip (including GPU). They cant make battery smaller, because it would affect battery life, they cant remove optical drive and they cant make 2,5". Its still consumer or semi-pro model, so you cant make it macbook air or a different class notebook (fatter chasis, 14" display etc).

Possibilities? take the optical drive to the front and change the shape of the battery. but im not sure if they can do that in some sensible way.
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They will have to drop the optical drive or do a integrated gpu/south bridge combination.
 
That may be a problem, because apple never released next generation with slower performance than the previous one and also lack of optical drive will make it a different class computer (like macbook air) and that new computer will canibalize on MBA sales...
 
cubiczech said:
That may be a problem, because apple never released next generation with slower performance than the previous one and also lack of optical drive will make it a different class computer (like macbook air) and that new computer will canibalize on MBA sales...
Click to expand...

not that MBA sales are strong anyway...
 
It's unclear when the next refresh will be... I.e. does Apple do one more bump before Sandybridge. If they do, it will be a minor "bump", although I'm not quite sure if Sandrybridge brings case updates. Also remember, the 15" usually gets updated first and the 17" (and 13") happen later - that's if history tells us anything.
 
I hate to speculate because it's such hit and miss but...

My hope is that the next update is a big one. The current one was just a processor bump and a few mouse gestures.

In the near future we have USB3, Lightpeak being made available to us and the talk of removing optical drives is getting louder. Steve jobs mentioned the lack of optical drives from some of their machines at D3 (mac mini and MBA) so its on their minds no doubt. Importantly, IPS technology has yet to find its way in the Laptops, its the last product line to get them.

I'm waiting for the IPS and next generation connectivity options because it will be a long term purchase. New processors are a given, it's the other bells and whistles that make me think the next update will be big.
 
Abyssgh0st said:
They sell 20,000 units per week. I'd say that's pretty good for a product that hasn't been updated in ages.
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BFD............... the ipad is selling 40K+ units per day!

With the success of the 13" MBP, the MBA is barely an afterthought right now.

cheers
JohnG
 
the problem with MBA is, that is targeted for specific customers, who wants a really portable but powerful computer, enough for office and multimedia tasks, but it cant replace MBP 13", many people still uses optical drive, for dvd movies (not every country has iTunes store), sure, you can share dvd drive, but.... MBP, even 13" is smaller desktop replacement and it has got more things that you may need, like SD card reader, optical drive, 2 USB ports, FW800. So you cant just remove one of them and expect masses to buy it, like what is about that Apple ads 6 years back about multimedia experience on the plane? you will need DVD drive at least. Its sad, but its true, even today when everybody downloads multimedia files online, companies still sell physical media (you can convert them to another format, but what about the time spent on doing that?). Sure, you can remove it in computer like MBP, but not in 15, 17 or even 13" inch MBP. So i still think, that they need to redesign new MBP, since we are nearly the redesing cycle (2011-2012), maybe on october next year... maybe just slight changes like moving ports or optical drive to a different spot.
 
Good to know... I have an early 07 black Macbook and want to upgrade myself before I graduate from Grad school next year. But mine is still fine now except for a screen flicker that appears occasionally... I'll just keep on trucking until the next update, or until my screen gives up! I want a 15" i5 with a high res screen... I keep clicking through the store, $2700 ha. But if the next update is a big one, I'm gonna wait!
 
Depends what you think is "big" since technically the last update was pretty major. This is the first revision to the cpu architecture since introduction of MBP. You've got the memory controller onboard the cpu package now, removing a major bottleneck. Also have hyperthreading, a smaller lithography process.... not much else to ask for short of sandy bridge.
 
Inside_line said:
Depends what you think is "big" since technically the last update was pretty major. This is the first revision to the cpu architecture since introduction of MBP. You've got the memory controller onboard the cpu package now, removing a major bottleneck. Also have hyperthreading, a smaller lithography process.... not much else to ask for short of sandy bridge.
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yeah but thats all from Intel not Apple :/
 
Just wondering, is the difference between IPS displays and OLED displays noticeable?
 
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