Ultra-Thin 15" Mac Notebook Getting Closer to Production

[heisetax]

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.

HP make a multi drive 19" model that at the time was the only laptop that actually displayed 16+million colors. All others just made us think that they did, Macs included. But as the 17" models tend to have smaller sales, the 19"+ models were even smaller. Just like the probably never to be made mid priced Mac tower some of us like me will always wish.

But Apple has shown that they do not want a numeric keypad on any of their computers. I'm surprised that they still make one wired extended keyboard. They sell as many of their iMacs without a numeric keypad as they can. Some of us still need to use numbers to make a living.

It's hard for me to use my 17" laptop after using my Mac Pro with 3 30" displays as well as a 28" & 47" models. Bigger laptops means we can see more at one time plus have more room inside to be able to do more things with our Macs. My only computers that I have ever purchased that will boot natively into Windows are my Intel Macs. Mac User since 1984.

 

[435713]

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.

I as well, will never get it. Its this kind of support that prevents having really good specs and actually killer boxes from Apple. I guess even the Air will be too thick eventually and need to trim down. I went from being angered at some of the responses here about Apple stuff, to shocked, to now finally just not feeling anything or caring about it. Any chance for awesome diverse lines is gone.

All the other manufacturers stay in business and make profit on computers and have deep product lines. Apple is the worst at choice and gets applauded for it. Truly disgusting, and I would love to see a study of the psychological impact Apple has over a few of its users and or defenders.

 

[Yr Blues]

Unless they plan on making new economy laptops, they should ditch the Air name and go by MacBook and MacBook Pro. Streamline the brand.

 

[wiz329]

Bad news for me, or anyone else who uses their laptop for more than web browsing and notetaking.

Non-user upgradeable RAM and virtually no drive options? 256 SSD from apple is over priced and offers too little storage. I like being able to put my own HDD in for storage (at about half the price apple charges), and install my own SSD for speed in the optical slot.

 

[hobo.hopkins]

I'd buy one in an instant. Sounds like a fantastic machine, as long as the battery life is still amazing.

 

[mozumder]

Pretty sure they'll keep a separate Pro line

It goes with the philosophy of Steve Jobs that consumers and pros need separate products due to differing needs.

I'm sure it'll keep the Ethernet ports, probably the firewire port (still lots of media devices use firewire), a card slot. They can safely get rid of the DVD drive bay at this point, but my guess is that they'll replace that with a much bigger battery pack. (field technician work, which is pretty much the pro laptop market, generally need much bigger batteries).

They'll keep a Mac Pro line as well.

 

[Wordsmithmac]

Solid I will just get an older MacBook pro from apple when they go on sale. I'm not a fan of ultralight machines like this.

 

[blunderboy]

This looks pretty cool, but I hope to god they don't replace the Pros with Airs. Some people (that is, people who do more than surfing the internet or checking email) actually need the specs the Pro provides, and replacing them all with Airs would be a terrible move right now. There's just not enough computer in an Air, at least for me.

 

[KillerTree]

Why do people assume thin design = no dedicated GPU?

 

[marcusj0015]

As long as the screen is AT LEAST 1920x1080 and it has at least a 64GB NAND, with a seperate hdd for documents, i'd be happy.

 

[JAT]

The way I see it, there's NO WAY a next gen "MacBook Air 15" would have a GPU.
Heat constraints much? Also, lack of ports that I frequently use (major one being FW800)?

Is it ok if someone else would use such a model? Maybe...drink a different brand of scotch than you?

 

[AppleNewton]

I love my 2011 MBP 15" but in conjunction with an iMac its wasted hardware unfortunately and is nice to have no doubt, but an Air would do wonders.
If they have enough room to through in a second SSD option or some sort of secondary storage would be great wether in two individual drives or RAID just to beef up some extra storage capacity.

I'm definitely sold and will sell my MBP for one

 

[bigpics]

Well you'll definitely have that, since the 13" MBAs have a 1440x900 screen.

So the 15 would obviously have to have more to have a reason for existing and costing more and weighing more....

What's Apple's next existing bump? 1680x1200, right? Something like that.

If there's going to two machines of the same screen size in Apple's next line-up, it'll be a 15" air and a 15" pro, i.e., I agree with many that the MB Pro 13 is the most endangered Mac Notebook in the next go round). So the pro would have be be either full 1920x1280 HD - OR -if that begins to make objects too small, whatever it takes to make the pro more "Retinoid" - i.e., same size objects just seen with greater ppi as on the newer iPhones.

So with a "full Air line" (so to speak) and a 2-3 model pro line and the iPad and iMac, Apple's got the range covered - 9.7, 11.6, 13.3 (x1 or 2), 15.4 (x2) and 17. or more simply- 10, 11, 13, 15, 17, 21.5, and 27 - with a wonderfully differentiated yet still easy to grasp line.

Their failure to release new models with every passing speedbump of any major component used to frustrate the hell out of me (and to not always include the latest possible tech when it's immature, e.g., no LTE in the iPhone 4S) - but I've come to appreciate the economy of their limited number of optimized SKU's as one of their greatest strengths (a fact which trolls will never understand).

Still, the above does, hmmm, leave kind of a gap or two between 3.5 and 9.7" - that's a lot of niche to be left to other companies - the relative success of the Kindle Fire will be a good marker for the viability of its chosen form factor, e.g.

So I would not be surprised to see an 8" (not 7) iPad (as rumored somewhere recently based on screens ordered), a 4" phone (we don't all have the same size palms and thumbs, and we're still only talking two nearly identical models in their #1 selling line of business) - and a 5 or 6" iPod super gaming or super camera device. And the iPod line needs some excitement or evolution if it's to return to being a growth sector for Apple. So some of the above, if not in '012, then '013.

 

[blankyash]

Awesome Apple

it is very awesome that apple is doing stuff like this.. if the pro gets this small then god knows it will cruelly kill off its enemy!

 

[adder7712]

Hopefully, it'll be a 15" MacBook Air.

What I want from a MacBook Pro is a 1080p screen. Omit the DVD drive and add a boot SSD a and beefier GPU. That's what I call a MacBook Pro.

 

[ISKOTB]

I agree!!!

Bad news for me, or anyone else who uses their laptop for more than web browsing and notetaking.

Non-user upgradeable RAM and virtually no drive options? 256 SSD from apple is over priced and offers too little storage. I like being able to put my own HDD in for storage (at about half the price apple charges), and install my own SSD for speed in the optical slot.

 

[Chiefjop]

What I want from a MacBook Pro is a 1080p screen. Omit the DVD drive and add a boot SSD a and beefier GPU. That's what I call a MacBook Pro.

Totally agree with that. I would love a machine with the design en weight like the Air but the power of the Pro.

2012 buylist:
Macbook pro 13"
iPad 3 (only if full retina)
iTV in Q4..?

I better start saving

 

[Judas1]

Are they going for just SSD, or dual SSD and HDD? I would love both. One for the OS and apps, and the other for media storage. That would be a great way to distinguish it from the mba.

 

[spacie]

Credit card ready

I've been waiting for a loooong time to update my macbook 13" but when i was all set to do so apple had ditched the macbook. air wasn't satisfactory enough and pro was still too bulky, this will hit the spot like a charm

2012 will be a great apple year for me, waiting to update to:
macbook
ipad 3
iphone 5

 

[chaosbunny]

These are going to be expensive. 1700 bucks for the notebook PLUS 300 bucks for all the required adaptors.

 

[marcusj0015]

wth is "1920x1280"

You're combining 720P and 1080P res brah...

 

[grahamnp]

This is great. I will never buy one but now the people who want a thinner MBP can have one and everybody else can use something similar to what we have now.

The only problem I foresee is when people complain after realising what Apple had to cut out to shave it down to MBA thickness levels.

 

[Barna Biro]

Although in theory it sounds nice, but in practice, if the integrated GPU will not be able to handle my stuff the way I want it ( because I do play games occasionally and I also develop some in my free time - being a Software Engineer, I don't just check mails, chat and watch YouTube on my devices all day long, so the processing power is always welcome ), then I for one will not be touching the new model... I do not bother carrying around a slightly heavier notebook as long as it gets the job done in the manner / rapidity I want.

 

[Exhale]

Why do people assume thin design = no dedicated GPU?

Dedicated GPUs require quite a bit of power, therefore generating quite a bit of heat. Thin machines can't move heat that well. The thermal capabilities in laptops is extremely tight, and it takes only a few watts to change from a 'cool' machine to an overheating one.

The GPU capabilities are rarely used with Mac OS (and Apple does appear aware of this) - so its one of the most sensible components to scale back first. It saves production costs, and makes the machine easier to build.

 

[khollister]

The Airs are great laptops and my wife loves hers, but I am not ready to give up the glass higher quality display, firewire port, GigE port, RAM expansion, etc that is part of the Pro. I can certainly live without the optical drive, and could even deal without being able to add a 2nd drive in its place, but I am not prepared to have to accept the rest of the Air compromises.

As Ivy Bridge and the projected redesign get closer, I will need to decide if I want to purchase a current 15" ahead of only being able to buy MBA-like laptops.