Waiting for Skylake MBP thread

[2457248]

given previous records, i would say that the new macbook pros won't get the full speed USB-C 3.1 (10gb/s).
i'm quite confident with thunderbolt, but standard usb devices won't run full speed.
this because they were never willing to use extra controller for usb, but always waited for intel to support the new protocols within the PCH (or whatever's called now).
i'm typing from a 2010 mbp which indeed doesn't have usb 3.0 for this same reason, while the 2011 does.

also, this thunderbolt/usb shared connector/different protocols, is quite confusing for people who don't follow technology as much as we do in this forum (unless ALL TB3 peripherals will backward support usb).

 

[dtsisdead]

Well, Apple had better release updated rMBPs at WWDC... I can't even get 1.5hrs on battery at work at the moment. I used to be able to get 4 hours (projecting and image/video with Outlook, Mail, Chrome and Firefox running in the background), but since the start of this school year, the time varies from around 45 mins to 75 mins.
So I need to replace the machine (one that doesn't suck extra juice with a dGPU would probably be good) as replacing the battery seems silly when I have the cash to replace the machine for something that is just 'better'.

 

[JohnHardkiss]

I get that one of the designs Apple is testing out now is a non-dGPU version with only 1 fan (but more space for battery). However, a more traditional (more expensive) version would include a dGPU but maintain the 2-fan system as we know it now and have improved battery capacity through efficiency improvements, much like the new MB. There are more designs they play with, but just sharing this so you know that even AAPL doesn't know what to go for right at the moment.

Cheers, John

 

[lcseds]

Do you guys think that we might have an update for rMBP's before WWDC ?

If Apple had an event for watchbands and not Macbook Pro updates/redesigns, then I know where all this is heading.......

 

[JFante]

I fear for what will come at WWDC. Because... you remember the time before Steve Jobs came back and revolutionize Apple together with Johny? Before that time Apple had fragmented products all over the place for different markets. It's getting right there again. I think Apple should refocus razor sharp like it once was... if I had a say in product lineups and placement it'd be the following:

Phones
there should just be "the iPhone" with no number, it would be referred to the same as the macs, "late 2012" or "early 2015". That way people just buy "the iPhone" and always get the latest that's currently available. The update-circle is predictable so people can wait to upgrade if they prefer to.
The revised iPhones (now the S) I would call the PRO. Always. So there's the 2016 iPhone and later the 2016 PRO. The normal iPhone is the smaller 4,7 inch form factor with a friendly entrance fee and friggin 32 GB memory to begin with. No Phablet Plus (I'll come to that later). Colours should be: silver, white, space grey, gold, rose gold and maybe for the heck of it galaxy blue or something. In the larger PRO variants I'd offer DUAL SIM support for pro-business users. Charge them big time for more internal memory or an extra-extra premium for an micro SD slot for further memory expansion. If they want to do something fancy with an iPhone once in a while (maybe underwater iPhone or whatever) call it "iPhone SE".

Tablets
there should be just the "iPad" and the "iPad Pro", same naming conventions and colours like the iPhones. They are both the same size. Difference is that the iPad Pro in addition to being more powerful and probably having more accessoires like the pencil and keyboard also feature one thunderbolt/usb-c connector for "pro" accessoires AND the ability to upgrade your memory via micro SD AND use not one, but two sims in there (for calls/data or for business/private) thus eliminating the ugly "phablet" form factor. If Apple wants to do something fancy here and there with their tablet, call it "iPad SE".

portable Macs
Here as well I'd have just the normal one's, PRO one's and if I want something fancy (like what I would categorize the current rMB in) call it SE. Have all the same colours again. Have a nice entrylevel (below 1000 bucks) macbook offering. Make it 13" only, no dGPU, give it options to upgrade and a good amount of ports, could maybe have a similar formfactor to the current 13" air. Then have the PRO machines, 13" and 15" (maybe even 17") similar to current rMBP with all the ports you could need and NO intention of going thinner just for the sake of it, rather use free'd up space by smaller components for more battery or stronger components. Offer WITH and WITHOUT dGPU depending on use case, all PRO machines features thunderbolt and eGPU support. No sacrfice of power for thinness.

Macs
iMacs: same naming conventions, same colours. Let's have 21" (or what the current form factor is) and 24" iMac as the consumer-grade standalone all in one desktop. Give it fair amount of ports, dGPU option in the bigger model as well as eGPU support, price the smaller model as entry level-friendly as possible. User-upgradeable RAM at least.

Mac mini: same form factor and bring back the glory of old days, quad core CPU, user-upgradeable, nice selection of ports, 3 variants, starting with a 400,- dualcore version for entry level buyers.

Mac pro: ditch the trashcan, go back to modular design with upgrade options and give users the ability to use "mac certified" hardware off the shelf. Be a player in the PRO field again. Use multidice server architecture for wild rendering and cpu performance, dGPUs for different setups (technical drawing VS rendering VS movie editing etc...) ALSO have additional eGPU support.

Thoughts?

You're trying to recommend what a one trillion dollar company should do when you don't have the information, expertise or vision required. How can you advise on a product range without customer statistics, market trends, knowledge of long-term future releases, current R&D, the costs and revenues, etc.? Most people don't know what eGPU support is or Skylake or even thunderbolt speeds! Apple aren't going thinner "for the sake of it", they are analysing average customer and market trends and supplying the majority's demand. You are a minority - you don't become a $1tn company by catering to the minority.

 

[IndigoDesign]

You're trying to recommend what a one trillion dollar company should do when you don't have the information, expertise or vision required. How can you advise on a product range without customer statistics, market trends, knowledge of long-term future releases, current R&D, the costs and revenues, etc.? Most people don't know what eGPU support is or Skylake or even thunderbolt speeds! Apple aren't going thinner "for the sake of it", they are analysing average customer and market trends and supplying the majority's demand. You are a minority - you don't become a $1tn company by catering to the minority.

Wow! Great Post.
First off, I was just stating wishful thinking, I never said I'm some kind of expert. Like many others on this forum I'm stating my opinion and want to reflect on other people's views to kill time while we wait for those darn MBPs.

That said, it is a fact though that market saturation has reached a peak and sales in the smartphone and tablet sector are declining. Coming from an marketing education (though not as high tier as the apple experts you're referring to would have) it's easy to come to the conclusion that fragmenting a declining market is not a good idea. It's basically common knowledge.

Also your argument that most users don't know about skylake or thunderbolt etc... you're right. That's why I said it would be wise to have a clear distinction between consumer and pro products. Saving all the technical bells and whistles for the pro models because a) those customers are mostly aware of what they are buying and b) those are also those (i.e. professionals, whose work is dependent on the hardware) willing to shell out extra for those features that they will actually use.

This also was the very reason I suggested doing away with unnecessary complicated naming schemes. Common users and hipster teens just go and buy the latest "iPhone" regardless of "number" and professionals and business go for the Pro model, knowing they can expect pro features like dual sim and expandable memory or USB/C.

Speaking about trends, looking at the stockmarket you can clearly see that "enthusiasm towards Apple" has been better in later years. Not to say they are not doing well, they rock. No worries there. Just me being me and being old enough remembering the Apple BEFORE Jobs returned I see similarities. Back then they tried to rescue a sinking ship by delving into many many markets and having many many products for all kinds of audiences. Kinda like Sony did before they had to sell off Vaio and most of their TV business to refocus on things they actually do well. Same with Samsung and many other examples. "spreading one too thin" is a dangerous thing to do nowadays. It's proven numerous times if you follow economic news that almost regardless of "field of business" that FOCUS is almost always a better model to pursue than "wide target audience" with a "plethora of fragmented products".

Seeing these "signs" with iPhone 6, 6S, 6S Plus, SE and a Macbook thats clearly "airier" than an actual Air (they could have just rebranded it, or maybe they're phasing out the airs completely but for profit they keep it alive like the zombie rMBP). I'm just saying that I personally strongly believe that a focused company with a pinpointly placed product lineup will do better in the long run than a company that spreads itself too thin. But actually... maybe that's what Apple is planning to do - make everything thinner!

If I somehow stepped on your toes by stating my personal opinion - with no claim whatsoever onto complete-ness or accuracy or even knowledge - then I'm sorry. But I shouldn't be because you could have guess that in the first place!

Besides all that, what I REALLY wanted to know is how do YOU think about the current/possible future lineup and product placement of Apple?

 

[cmChimera]

Phones
there should just be "the iPhone" with no number, it would be referred to the same as the macs, "late 2012" or "early 2015". That way people just buy "the iPhone" and always get the latest that's currently available. The update-circle is predictable so people can wait to upgrade if they prefer to.
The revised iPhones (now the S) I would call the PRO. Always. So there's the 2016 iPhone and later the 2016 PRO. The normal iPhone is the smaller 4,7 inch form factor with a friendly entrance fee and friggin 32 GB memory to begin with. No Phablet Plus (I'll come to that later). Colours should be: silver, white, space grey, gold, rose gold and maybe for the heck of it galaxy blue or something. In the larger PRO variants I'd offer DUAL SIM support for pro-business users. Charge them big time for more internal memory or an extra-extra premium for an micro SD slot for further memory expansion. If they want to do something fancy with an iPhone once in a while (maybe underwater iPhone or whatever) call it "iPhone SE".

So your pitch to simplify the iPhone lineup is to add an entirely new line of iPhones and then, within that line, have variants with microSD card slots? Seems counterintuitive, and too much like Android manufacturers.

Tablets
there should be just the "iPad" and the "iPad Pro", same naming conventions and colours like the iPhones. They are both the same size. Difference is that the iPad Pro in addition to being more powerful and probably having more accessoires like the pencil and keyboard also feature one thunderbolt/usb-c connector for "pro" accessoires AND the ability to upgrade your memory via micro SD AND use not one, but two sims in there (for calls/data or for business/private) thus eliminating the ugly "phablet" form factor. If Apple wants to do something fancy here and there with their tablet, call it "iPad SE".

So get rid of size options, and again add micro sd slots? You don't think they'd lose a lot of their potential market in this situation?

portable Macs
Here as well I'd have just the normal one's, PRO one's and if I want something fancy (like what I would categorize the current rMB in) call it SE. Have all the same colours again. Have a nice entrylevel (below 1000 bucks) macbook offering. Make it 13" only, no dGPU, give it options to upgrade and a good amount of ports, could maybe have a similar formfactor to the current 13" air. Then have the PRO machines, 13" and 15" (maybe even 17") similar to current rMBP with all the ports you could need and NO intention of going thinner just for the sake of it, rather use free'd up space by smaller components for more battery or stronger components. Offer WITH and WITHOUT dGPU depending on use case, all PRO machines features thunderbolt and eGPU support. No sacrfice of power for thinness.

So to simplify the 3 lines of Mac (which we all can see is about to become 2), you want to have 3 lines of Mac, with more size options, and total stagnation on design progression.

Macs
iMacs: same naming conventions, same colours. Let's have 21" (or what the current form factor is) and 24" iMac as the consumer-grade standalone all in one desktop. Give it fair amount of ports, dGPU option in the bigger model as well as eGPU support, price the smaller model as entry level-friendly as possible. User-upgradeable RAM at least.

So you want to get rid of the 27"? Or are you not aware that there is a 27"?

 

[IndigoDesign]

So your pitch to simplify the iPhone lineup is to add an entirely new line of iPhones and then, within that line, have variants with microSD card slots? Seems counterintuitive, and too much like Android manufacturers.

So get rid of size options, and again add micro sd slots? You don't think they'd lose a lot of their potential market in this situation?

So to simplify the 3 lines of Mac (which we all can see is about to become 2), you want to have 3 lines of Mac, with more size options, and total stagnation on design progression.

So you want to get rid of the 27"? Or are you not aware that there is a 27"?

Still you fail to give me your opinion but continue to bash me. Fine. And yes I forgot about the 27" iMac.
Most of your responses don't even make sense. I guess from the way you seem to be upset by someone clearly having another view on things than yourself, that you're perfectly happy with how things are. Good for you!

 

[shareef777]

given previous records, i would say that the new macbook pros won't get the full speed USB-C 3.1 (10gb/s).
i'm quite confident with thunderbolt, but standard usb devices won't run full speed.
this because they were never willing to use extra controller for usb, but always waited for intel to support the new protocols within the PCH (or whatever's called now).
i'm typing from a 2010 mbp which indeed doesn't have usb 3.0 for this same reason, while the 2011 does.

also, this thunderbolt/usb shared connector/different protocols, is quite confusing for people who don't follow technology as much as we do in this forum (unless ALL TB3 peripherals will backward support usb).

Yep, it's going to be all sorts of a mess when people buy TB3 devices and plug them into USBC ports that are not TB3 compatible. On the other-hand, if they make all TB3 devices compatible with USBC protocol, then this shouldn't be a problem. Those that need the extra bandwidth of a TB3 device would be more tech savvy and know wether or not their system has TB3.

 

[unobtainium]

There should just be a "mini", an "Air" and a "Pro" for each product lineup.

 

[JFante]

If I somehow stepped on your toes by stating my personal opinion - with no claim whatsoever onto complete-ness or accuracy or even knowledge - then I'm sorry. But I shouldn't be because you could have guess that in the first place!

Besides all that, what I REALLY wanted to know is how do YOU think about the current/possible future lineup and product placement of Apple?

Not at all, it was a well thought out post - I was merely pointing out the aysmmetery of knowledge/information that, in my opinion, renders those types of posts redundant regardless of their merit.

Ignore me, I will be grumpy until June and then either elated or suicidal (I jest of course)







I hope

 

[Exile714]

There should just be a "mini", an "Air" and a "Pro" for each product lineup.

Isn't "mini" kind of the same as "air"?

Though I think some product lines are maybe a little confusingly arranged and priced (I'm looking at the iPad line, specifically), I don't get all the worry about it.

People understand what they are buying when they go to Apple. And even if the general public is confused, why should anyone here care? This is a forum for "pro" users who understand the difference between a Skylake processor using a 45W TDP and one using 15W. If anyone knows how to understand what they want from a lineup of computers, it's us.

I think the worry about complex product lines is that it will hurt sales. I don't see Apple sales hurting now versus the rest of the market, so who cares?

As for the MacBook lineup, it looks pretty straightforward now. You can buy a weakling MacBook or a powerful MacBook Pro (which is in dire need of a refresh/redesign, but that's another issue altogether). Meanwhile the legacy MacBook Pro (non-retina) and Air (non-retina) are being phased out but are still available for those with a limited budget.

 

[cmChimera]

Still you fail to give me your opinion but continue to bash me. Fine. And yes I forgot about the 27" iMac.
Most of your responses don't even make sense. I guess from the way you seem to be upset by someone clearly having another view on things than yourself, that you're perfectly happy with how things are. Good for you!

I'm not bashing you, just pointing out things that I believe to be flawed in your post. You asked for thoughts, don't get upset when you get them.


I think the iPhone line is fine the way it is

Tablets need significant software updates in my opinion

Macbooks should be the 12" with more BTO options as they become available, and the redesigned Macbook Pro.

iMac seems fine the way it is, but needs either a redesign, or an updating of ports. EDIT: Actually, get rid of the non-4 or 5k models as soon as possible. Also, NO MORE HDDs

Mac Pro should be updated with new chips and ports, but not redesigned

 

[bigjnyc]

If Apple had an event for watchbands and not Macbook Pro updates/redesigns, then I know where all this is heading.......

It's been heading that way for a while..... And its not just Apple either.

 

[Serban]

It is clear making a macbook with 2 usb-c 720p would make a ruff decision for normal user what to choose from mb and mbp. In this case if you want a normal laptop without any external conections a true casual portable and beauty mac.
Imac mac mini and mbp will get thunderbolt 3 and remove usb 3 ports. We get ddr 4 ram, we get the new dgpu especially for 27' imac

 

[gadgetfreaky]

You're trying to recommend what a one trillion dollar company should do when you don't have the information, expertise or vision required. How can you advise on a product range without customer statistics, market trends, knowledge of long-term future releases, current R&D, the costs and revenues, etc.? Most people don't know what eGPU support is or Skylake or even thunderbolt speeds! Apple aren't going thinner "for the sake of it", they are analysing average customer and market trends and supplying the majority's demand. You are a minority - you don't become a $1tn company by catering to the minority.

Woah- First of all people buying Macbook Pros are already a minority and a shrinking one as the overall demand for PCs shrinks.

It's still an important market tho- and I think folks caring less about already thin light laptops and wanting more bettery life have legit concerns. Many people don't buy PC laptops because of battery life.

 

[wakka]

Hello all. I have come to MacRumors for time to time for years - recently I've been checking thist thread daily for some godforsaken reason.

Officially joining the ranks of the waiting - and currently running a late 2008 15" as my daily driver for work. Truly a test of patience!

Regarding the whole thinner / less battery life and thicker / more battery life debate, this doesn't really concern me at all. Apple won't compromise on battery life, but the machine will still be thinner - I'm not suggesting they're magicians or anything, but there's no way that they will make a laptop in 2016 that they can't claim has an 'all day' battery life (minimum 9 hours).

I just wish they would release it already. Roll on June 13th!

 

[killawat]

We get ddr 4 ram, we get the new dgpu especially for 27' imac

This may be the generation that we get 32 Gb options. It wont be standard but since they bumped up the Macbook Air, one can dream.

 

[Gendy55]

Usually image files either run automatically or place a folder on your desktop when you "mount" them (double click/open then).
-think of image files as virtual discs or USB memory sticks.

So it should simply be a matter of double clicking the image file.
-and potentially open the executable update file within.

Usually image files either run automatically or place a folder on your desktop when you "mount" them (double click/open then).
-think of image files as virtual discs or USB memory sticks.

So it should simply be a matter of double clicking the image file.
-and potentially open the executable update file within.

Just when i double click on the combo image and start extracting bar stops and give me this error ? Is there a way to fix or just a bad image file ?

 

[harync]

Officially joining the ranks of the waiting - and currently running a late 2008 15" as my daily driver for work. Truly a test of patience!

There are a lot of 2008-2009 brethren here. I have a late 2008 13" that my wife curses with every passing day: "When is this stupid new mac supposed to come out?!"

 

[MMPascal]

We are almost there guys ... almost!

 

[WRONG]

I get that one of the designs Apple is testing out now is a non-dGPU version with only 1 fan (but more space for battery). However, a more traditional (more expensive) version would include a dGPU but maintain the 2-fan system as we know it now and have improved battery capacity through efficiency improvements, much like the new MB. There are more designs they play with, but just sharing this so you know that even AAPL doesn't know what to go for right at the moment.

Cheers, John

Underrated post.

 

[IceBreakerG]

Just when i double click on the combo image and start extracting bar stops and give me this error ? Is there a way to fix or just a bad image file ?

Looks like your download was either corrupted or incomplete. The fix would be to download the image again, which I understand would be difficult for you at the moment.

 

[Gendy55]

Looks like your download was either corrupted or incomplete. The fix would be to download the image again, which I understand would be difficult for you at the moment.

I have been searching and i have something about the checksum fix that can be fixed through something called SHA and hen i found some SHA code for all osx versions but still not sure trying to find how to check if my checksum is correct and the image is corrupted or i can change the checksum

 

[Ovedius]

Just when i double click on the combo image and start extracting bar stops and give me this error ? Is there a way to fix or just a bad image file ?

Sorry but I'm pretty sure the file is corrupted.
You'll probably have to download again.
[doublepost=1461177150][/doublepost]

I have been searching and i have something about the checksum fix that can be fixed through something called SHA and hen i found some SHA code for all osx versions but still not sure trying to find how to check if my checksum is correct and the image is corrupted or i can change the checksum

I'd definitely try redownloading instead.
Don't start fiddling with OS updates unless you either know what you're doing or you're desperate.