Upgrade 13" MBP to 15" or wait?

[Titanium81]

whats noobs

The current design isn't yet 3 years old. The previous, non-unibody design stayed with the powerbook and macbook pros, nearly unchanged, for 7 years. Yeah, that's right, 7 years.

Machining a laptop out of a solid chunk of aluminum requires very expensive equipment, and doing it on a large scale even more so, I can't see Apple who just spent a few million dollars(probably in the hundreds) in R&D for the new process would switch to a "new and thinner design". The machine and R&D don't pay for themselves.

Think about it, it is their Pro laptops, making it thinner would make Apple have to compromise even more hardware wise, which could turn a lot of potential buyers off, it makes no business sense for them to reduce the power of their laptops in exchange for a thinner design, just when they gave us the most powerful macbook pro's to date.

I don't see any new MBP's until early 2012 when Ivy Bridge is out, and I don't believe it won't be much more than a spec bump.

Apple will use the same exact "very expensive machining equipment" that you are talking about, to create the Late 2011 MacBook Pro as well as every other laptop they make out of a solid aluminum block.

All they do is program the "very expensive machining equipment" with a different CAD (Computer-aided design) file.

Simple as that.

There is NO need to invest in anymore new machinery.

Now we have a MacBook Pro

* That is 1/10 of an inch thinner
* Possibly 0.5lb lighter
* And no CD/DVD drive

 

[ladytonya]

I just don't see the MBP losing the ODD, too many pro users need it. Heck, I'm not a pro user really and I need it! I would never buy a machine without an ODD, hence my purchase of my MBP instead of a MBA. You want a thinner, lighter machine without an ODD, get a MBA!

 

[snaky69]

Apple will use the same exact "very expensive machining equipment" that you are talking about, to create the Late 2011 MacBook Pro as well as every other laptop they make out of a solid aluminum block.

All they do is program the "very expensive machining equipment" with a different CAD (Computer-aided design) file.

Simple as that.

There is NO need to invest in anymore new machinery.

Now we have a MacBook Pro

* That is 1/10 of an inch thinner
* Possibly 0.5lb lighter
* And no CD/DVD drive

I'm a mechanical engineering student, I know how CAD and CNCs work, I use both quite often.

There would still be a need for prototyping, testing, prototyping again and so on and so forth to do before Apple would be ready to release anything else. Apple likes to make a ton of prototypes long before anything comes out, as you may have noticed from the prototypes popping up on this website once in a while.

Then again, who says the next revision will be machined? It could be cast, for example, which would still require new and very expensive equipment, as you put it.

Just because you wish to see an update before 2012 rolls in doesn't make it so.

Since you seem to know your stuff quite well, I'd like to see you hop onto Solidworks (or the CAD platform of your choice, I'm not picky) and make us a nice and shiny new MBP that would have all the specs you list and enough room to be as powerful or more powerful than what is currently available. Wish you luck.

 

[Titanium81]

I'm a mechanical engineering student, I know how CAD and CNCs work, I use both quite often.

There would still be a need for prototyping, testing, prototyping again and so on and so forth to do before Apple would be ready to release anything else. Apple likes to make a ton of prototypes long before anything comes out, as you may have noticed from the prototypes popping up on this website once in a while.

Then again, who says the next revision will be machined? It could be cast, for example, which would still require new and very expensive equipment, as you put it.

Just because you wish to see an update before 2012 rolls in doesn't make it so.

Since you seem to know your stuff quite well, I'd like to see you hop onto Solidworks (or the CAD platform of your choice, I'm not picky) and make us a nice and shiny new MBP that would have all the specs you list and enough room to be as powerful or more powerful than what is currently available. Wish you luck.

Maybe IF I was Apple "The Second Most Valuable Company in the World" I would.

Apple Briefly the Most Valuable Company in the World
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/08/09/apple-now-ranks-as-most-valuable-company-in-the-world/

 

[snaky69]

Maybe IF I was Apple "The Second Most Valuable Company in the World" I would.

Apple Briefly the Most Valuable Company in the World
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/08/09/apple-now-ranks-as-most-valuable-company-in-the-world/

That is market value, not the actual money the company has and it has no bearing on this discussion whatsoever.

Edit: Just drop it already, if you are right, you'll be able to go "I told you so, neener neener!" in a few months and make your e-peen bigger. Then we'll all bow down and apologize for not being such forward thinking individuals such as yourself.

 

[Titanium81]

That is market value, not the actual money the company has and it has no bearing on this discussion whatsoever.

Edit: Just drop it already, if you are right, you'll be able to go "I told you so, neener neener!" in a few months and make your e-peen bigger. Then we'll all bow down and apologize for not being such forward thinking individuals such as yourself.

Yes the company doesn't have 340 Billion in cash, that is the total amount invested in the company by investors. Apple does however have 76+ Billion in cash to spend on whatever they want. Which means Apple can basically DO or CREATE whatever they want!

Which is what they DO. They CREATE amazing products and release them often! i.e.(Late 2011 MacBook Pro)

 

[wallysb01]

Wow, this thread has seen its share of nonsensical posts.

I just bought the 15 MBP 2.0 about a month ago and upgraded the ram to 8GB (I finally pulled the trigger because I wanted to make sure I got it with Snow Leopard). This thing is an absolute beast. I do a lot of bioinformatic work, and for the small or mid-sized jobs I run, this 5lb portable machine is faster than the Harpertown 2.8Ghz cluster at my university. That's the kind of power these new machines now bring. They are just 10x more than what casual user needs.

If you even kinda need a new computer, or just plain want one. This machine will not disappoint you, even if a new model comes out by January. And who knows what rumors will come true by then. Personally I highly doubt the "ultrabook" rumors will come true with the next update. I'm even half skeptical Ivy Bridge will make it, and maybe we'll just see a mild CPU boost, maybe an upgrade in the screen resolution.

At the same time, the 2009 C2D is still a fine computer. I survived with much less for a lot longer. If all you're doing is internet browsing, some word/excel work, or light photoshop stuff, you're not really giving anything up by waiting just to see if all these wild rumors are true.

So you probably just have to ask yourself how much you want a new machine now, and how upset you'll be in ~4-6 months when the refresh finally happens.

 

[Vulcan]

I finally have an update for you guys! I ended up buying a brand new 15" 2.0 MacBook Pro today. Why? This deal was far too good to pass up. I ended up getting a 15" MacBook Pro from Amazon for only $1,350, no taxes!!! I figure even if a new one comes out, I'll be able to sell this one and recuperate nearly everything I spent. It will be here tomorrow morning (overnight shipping, only $3.99!). Couldn't be happier with this deal