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Ultra-Thin 15" Mac Notebook Getting Closer to Production
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21" MBP? Do any mainstream companies make a laptop bigger than 18"? I know that Dell made a 21" or 21" a few years ago, but it was a flop.
Why does everyone want to get rid of ethernet. Some things just run faster with gigabit rather than 802.11n. Built-in keeps our laptops a little more portable, eliminating then requiring us to get an external adapter makes for many junky looking cables. Thus no longer simple.
I've always been curious why Mac users seem thrilled to have wonder-ports that then require dongles to turn into an actual useful port. Why not just have the ports you need on the machine itself?
Because I don't see the need to have a whole bunch of ports that I never use. Windows PCs often still have VGA, DVI or HDMI ports, modem ports and other legacy devices that often go unused. I'd much rather make use of USB and/or Thunderbolt.
if
decided to have the same exact line as Dell the people here would jizz on themselves.
I think it's finally time for the ODD to go and be replaced by an external option - might finally convince me to get a BluRay drive. When Haswell comes out Intel have predicted what is now a 35 W chip will use just 10-12 W so I think the days of 45/55 W mobile chips is numbered and a 35 W chip will probably be top of the line and should fit a MBA chassis. Whether or not GPU power usage shrinks that much too is an unknown. However, don't dismiss a mobile graphics solution - look at the PowerVR technology - already dual core and quad core likely to feature in the A6 chip so you just don't know what Intel graphics will be like in 18 months or so when Haswell appears.
This leaves the proposed Ivy Bridge redesign - either it won't happen and will be saved for Haswell or it'll just be a loss of the ODD and slight slimming for the MBP and intro of MBA15.
This leaves the proposed Ivy Bridge redesign - either it won't happen and will be saved for Haswell or it'll just be a loss of the ODD and slight slimming for the MBP and intro of MBA15.
Spoken like a true mac fanboy ... Most Macbooks only have 2 USB ports, while most Windows PC's have 3 standard.
How many projectors in an office building have DVI, HDMI or DisplayPort/Mini DisplayPort?
How many of them are in use?
It's bad enough that I have to use a dongle whenever I want to use a projector, but paying $30 for said dongle is a bit too much. They should include one dongle for free...
Practically 1 because you can't plug in anything once you got an average size flash drive plugged in.
I think you are forgetting to factor in the iCloud. Why carry around a drive when you can just snatch the data out of the cloud. I'm still toting around a 2006 MBP and doing just fine...except for my developing hernia.
It sounds like you better go on a physical fitness program. I used to carry a 50-60 pound Mac set up including the 15" ViewSonic LCD screen. And I'm only 5' 4" tall & not a muscle boy. So if these very light MBPs are too heavy for you it is not the MBP's fault.
Also how long does it take to work with a 2+ GB file online. But then that is usually many more than one multiple GB file. Also how does the iCloud work if you are in an area with no internet service. That is usually the way it is when I have my laptop in use.
What is your answer for many multi GB files & no internet service?
No. While there will be a "battery only" mode were both power and frequency is chopped down to run at a lower TDP many will still crank up to 35-40W TDP when plugged in. Apple isn't going to require you to change cases/fans/etc when it is plugged in versus on battery. So the "TDP while plugged in" will need to be the design constraint for the laptop.
That why it would be a dubious move by Apple to extremely dump thicknesss on the Mac Pro line. They would basically have to move to less powerful processors ( just as the MBA do).
For the 15". Not really. Again if you put the guts of a MBA 13" into a 15" case then somewhat. However, you have gutted the performance. And 15" of glass isn't exactly light. Not sure dramatically really saving any weight.
It is volume, not surface area, that is going to help get better heat dissipation properties. Pumping the heat into the Aluminum case so it gets scalding hot is a "fail". The case shouldn't be a the primary heat sink.
if too thin then the RAM slots go. Soldering RAM to the motherboard actually scrafices surface area rather than saves it. Cranked toooo thin and the SO-DIMM slots are too tall. Again yet another good reason not going Anorexia on a MBP design update.
That seems doubtful for much of 2012 since most of the vendors are grumbling about hitting the sub $999 price point with the current set of ports. Adding TB is only going to drive costs up. Sure they can swap the discrete USB 3.0 that most are currently including for a limited TB one, but
that feature will likely show up on larger laptops first.
If just swap HDD for the ODD there is plenty of room in the current design. The 1.8" capacities are not substantively larger than SSD storage sizes. They tend to cap out at 320GB whereas there is optional, yet expensive, 256GB drive for current MBA. In contrast, the 500GB standard drive in current MBPs is close to double in size. Few folks are going to want to slide backwards in storage capacity if the MBP is there primary computer.
If can push the HDD price down close to what the ODD price was and swap it for the ODD then would make more sense to run a hybrid system were use a 60-100 GB SSD (DIMM format perhaps ) as 'cache' and the HDD as the larger persistent store. Once the cache is large enough could spin the HDD much of time.
Or even just operate the small SSD and HDD independently. Put the "recue partition' on the HDD and the user just has to manage to put all of the "bulk" data onto the HDD.
At which point essentially have the current MBP 15" case. The current MBP isn't exactly bloated.
ExpressCard is about as dead as DVD drives. Thunderbolt (TB) obviates that interface. Once there is a relatively cheap TB-ExpressCard dongle, it is likely toast even on the 17" model. Two TB ports on a 17" MBP would be more widely useful than keeping that Card slot once the TB peripherals reach mainstream.
In our campus with 5000 employees - zero have DP or HDMI.
The solution is obvious:
- bring your Think Pad
- bring your Latitude
- or bring your Apple and your man-purse full of dongles
Seeing how Lion came out on USB drive for the non-internet connected bunch (me included), and I remember Apple was the first company to ship a computer without the floppy drive just over a decade ago, I could see them ditching the DVD player. Either add battery life or just lighten/thin the laptop. I also wouldn't be surprised if Apple got rid of spinning hard drives in the next few years from their models.
I still love my 17" MBP with SSD.
But, I am glad I didn't have to choose between a 15" MBA with touchpad and my 17" MBP.
I still love my 17" MBP with SSD.
But, I am glad I didn't have to choose between a 15" MBA with touchpad and my 17" MBP.
Errr.... as currently implemented, iCloud dumps large amounts of data onto your Mac (e.g., picture stream ) . There is an implied assumption that the Mac has copious amounts of spare disk space to archive data for the long term. While pictures are also pumped to the iOS devices they are deleted over time also (so the max space consumed stays constant). The Macs (and the Cloud ) are where data is kept long term. In that context, limiting yourself to range of storage that is cost effective on a SSD drive is dubious.
When it comes to cheaply storing data ... a HDD in your computer whips "the cloud" pretty bad. That activity also pushes SSD into corner cases where they are not as effective as HDD (storing and archiving bulk data).
You two just reminded me what an awesome setup that would be.
Quad-Thunderbolt Display mega-workstation!!
Apple could at least sell their adapters by a more affordable price. Here in Brazil a MiniDP-to-VGA adapter costs around US$60,00.
Only two USB ports in a Macbook White is annoying too. I use external mouse, keyboard and monitor at work and a third port for other peripheral would be nice. USB 2.0 hubs are not common since most computers come plenty of USB ports these days.
Also I have a MacMini that came with an HDMI-to-DVI adapter bundled, a totally nonsense choice. It could be used in other Macs if it was a MiniDP-to-DVI one.
If Apple offered adapters with affordable prices, I wouldn't mind having just one or two extension ports.
ExpressCard devices are dongles that reside paritally inside the box. It isn't changing anything. You have to pay to buy ExpressCards to put into the slot.
To make TB devices cheaper the lowest costs dongles are only going to have one TB connect and not be able to pass on any data "downstream". They are going to be TB chain terminators. Once you need to hook a "terminator" and also use a chain of devices it is more convenient to have two sockets. Just as it was when there were two FW ports. Never mind the failed early MBA experiement with a solitary USB socket.
The TB sockets are 8 times as fast as ExpressCard. Dropping a legacy slow socket for a modern fast one usually has greater utility.
Erm, a lot of us still use those three video ports (though hardly any laptops have DVI). VGA is extremely useful as a baseline to use projectors and just about any display to guarantee compatibility. DP/MDP is nice on occasion but far from common. HDMI is great for going out to TVs. If I had DP/MDP on any of my machines it would be a dead port.
USB is great, but the phenomenon I'm referring to is Apple users on here being against having USB3 ports on Macs, bragging that if they want USB3 they can... use a Tbolt-USB3 dongle, which will be really fun every time you want to use a mouse.
I would, to be fair, not miss the modem on my laptop, but it doesn't bother me sitting on the side. I'd much rather have it and USB, FW, eSATA, audio, VGA, HDMI, and ethernet than have a Tbolt port that I need to carry around a wad of dongles for if I ever want to actually plug something in.
The number of displays (and DP bandwidth) is not per physical external chain it is by TB controller and originating GPU. You're still stuck at 2 DP displays with with two connectors.
This is like FW implementations where only one controller, but multiple sockets. You don't double, triple the FW througput by putting more external connectors on the box.
Most projectors are VGA or DVI. The adapters are pretty small, and there are plenty of 3rd party options available. I'd rather lug an adapter when necessary than have a bulky VGA port all the time, even when I don't need it.
Of course, there's a chicken and egg thing going on. Projector manufacturers still adhere to the ancient VGA standard since most Windows notebooks still put the ports on there. If not for Apple forcing everyone's hand back in 1998, we might well still have RS-232 and parallel ports on Windows notebooks.
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We'll get USB 3.0 when it become part of Ivy Bridge next year. I'm not anti-USB 3.0, but I also don't want a bunch of ports on my computers, either. I'm open to the argument that Apple should include some of the adapters for what we pay for the MacBook Airs (ASUS includes the HDMI and VGA adapters with the UX21 and UX31), but I don't want the Air getting any thicker just to accommodate a port.
Perhaps I'm a bit different since I bought my first MacBook Air back in February 2008 shortly after it first came out. However, I agree with the philosophy that good design is often about what you leave out, rather than what you leave in. It's a bit like packing for travel. More experienced travelers often travel with small bags even for longer trips. Less experienced travelers often travel with large bags filled to the gills with everything that they think they might need.
I didn't say you were against USB3, but the thread about it potentially getting added to the Mac Pro ahead of Ivy Bridge had a number of people hoping against it. I dunno, I don't really get the obsession with maximal thinness. HDMI is not a thick port, and frankly, a laptop just thick enough to hold a VGA port is find for me. Personally, I'd rather not have to have a wad of dongles to keep track of, carry, worry about having when I need, or anything else. I'm interested in an Ivy Bridge ultrabook, actually, but mostly as a netbook that doesn't suck.