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It's no surprise that apple had to discontinue the white macbook. i too loved it as an everyday use computer but the core 2 duos were phased out by the time sandy bridge came along, and sales were increasing on the macbook air and slowly decreasing the macbook, because of outdated technology. the macbook was once the computer of it's time because of it's price point for an apple mac and with some decent technology that made it usable compared to the macbook airs back in 2010.

Well, Apple probably made the white MacBook outdated on purpose. You should remember that the white MacBook was redesigned in late 2009, and it got a polycarbonate unibody, one year after the release of the aluminium unibody. A new design.

The last version of the white MacBook had a Core 2 Duo processor, which was already outdated at the time. But, at that time, the aluminium 13-inch Pros also had a Core 2 Duo processor. The reason behind it was that Apple wanted to (or had to, due to contractual obligations) use NVIDIA integrated graphics solutions (the 9400M and the 320M), which were far more powerful than Intel's integrated graphics cards. However, Intel sued NVIDIA to prevent it from developing those integrated cards for the Nehalem processors. Therefore, to continue using NVIDIA solutions, Apple had to stuck with Core 2 Duo processors in all the laptops that used integrated graphics cards. This is why the Core 2 Duo processors were used in both 13-inch MacBooks and MacBook Pros until 2010.

Apple updated the MacBook Pro line to get Nehalem in early 2011 (dropping the NVIDIA integrated card), and it could have updated the white MacBook too. Instead, it chose to discontinue the MacBook line in favor of the MacBook Air. It was not due to technical restrictions. It was a business decision.

maybe the same thing will happen with macbook pros in the shift to retina? more sales on that over the classic MBP will move apple forward to include as standard in two years?

I don't think Apple will keep three lines of 13-inch laptops (the 13-inch MacBook Air, the 13-inch MacBook Pro and the 13-inch MacBook Pro with retina display).

In the next refresh, it may (i) merge the 13-inch MacBook Pro and the 13-inch MacBook Air, keeping just one 13-inch laptop; or (ii) keep the current 13-inch MacBook Air and releasing a redesigned 13-inch Macbook Pro with retina display. In any case, IMHO, the current 13-inch MacBook Pro will be gone. There is no sense in keeping it.

Apple are doing this right now. why do you think that apple named one macbook the 'pro' and one the 'air'? i agree with you that both should have different price points because of the differenciality between them, with the macbook airs being reduced a bit more in price in the near future.

I agree with you that Apple diferentiates the products at some point. The MacBook Air is marketed towards consumers, and the Pros towards professionals, prosumers or whatever.

I also agree with you that the price point should be different.

I wish that Apple would reduce the price of the MacBook Air. But, you know, that's Apple. Apple may well choose to raise the price of the MacBook Pro instead.

I agree with you in a sense that this has already happened before, with the macbook airs soon replacing the old poly macbook. but it not being an experiment? I don't think so IMHO. the macbook air, when it was released back in 2008, would have been an experiment to see the markets movement on computers, and look what a success it turned out to be. And I generally think the same with the retina macbook pro because it is a first in apple's mac line, in which i see the design of it becoming standard across all macbook pros in a couple of years time. sorry to keep banging on about the future of the retina macbook pros here, saying that retina will be standard in a couple of years and all that, but that is the way i see apple are headed for in the future, as competition rises for displays and prices for quality.

I see the new design becoming stardard very soon. Next year probably. Retina displays should be cheap enough to put in all Apple laptops. A 1280x800 display costs almost nothing these days, and the retina displays, although much more expensive, are not prohibitive. SSDs, however, are still very expensive.

Note that Apple has products for all price points, and usually it has only one product of a given segment for that price point. The exception here are 13-inch Pros and Airs, which occupy the same price point. There may be (and there is, for sure) some degree of cannibalization between them. Please see if these price points make sense for you in the next generation of laptops:

MacBook Air 11" low end: US$ 999
MacBook Air 11" high end: US$ 1,099
MacBook Air 13" low end: US$ 1,199
MacBook Air 13" high end: US$ 1,399

MacBook Pro 13" (retina) low end: US$ 1,499
MacBook Pro 13" (retina) high end: US$ 1,799
MacBook Pro 15" (retina) low end: US$ 2,199
MacBook Pro 15" (retina) high end: US$ 2,699

apple may want to take advantage of Intel's lowest-end in their macbook airs, but i don't see it happening in their macbook pros. yes, we might see a voltage reduction in the MBPs, but not one with a voltage as low as that of the ones speculated for macbook airs.

The low-voltage processors are not necessarily low-end. They are just low-voltage, but they may be high-end. In general, these processors may be slower than standard-voltage processors, but there are always trade-offs: they have a better battery life. Apple may choose to continue using low-voltage processors in the Airs to make them even thinner and lighter.

I seriously doubt there is a voltage reduction in the Pros. Intel has not made any custom chips for Apple for a while. Haswell low-voltage processors will have a TDP of 10W. Standard-voltage laptop processors will have 37W. No in-between announced so far.

how would it put it in different segments?

Price. Apple once had 12" iBooks and 12" PowerBooks. iBooks were much cheaper than PowerBooks. Simple as that.

i see where you are coming from, but looking at apples iPerspective :)D), would they want their machines being a different design to other apple macs? do they really want to sacrifice their perfect recipe of formal and great to use in their already existing products for the sake of lightness? i honestly think right now that the macbook airs are light enough as it is, and the same with the macbook pro.

I agree with you. But Sony and other companies are already making carbon fiber laptops. Apple once had the thinnest and lightest laptop in the world. Now it doesn't. And what if everybody else turns to carbon fiber? I don't know if Apple will adopt carbon fiber in the future, but it has to investigate this possibility. Apple wants the lightest products in the world - the iPhone 5 is announced as the lightest and thinnest iPhone ever. Look at this: https://www.macrumors.com/2012/09/26/apple-sourcing-carbon-fiber-components-for-upcoming-product/
 
I am going to buy this as soon as it is released. But it there are no rumors within the next month, I may have to go with the air. Hopefully there will be no ghosting issues.
 
I am going to buy this as soon as it is released. But it there are no rumors within the next month, I may have to go with the air. Hopefully there will be no ghosting issues.

There are rumors about a release next month. However, the iPhone 5 has just been released, and it's Apple's flagship product; and the whole MacBook line was refreshed just three months ago. So, it may be a little bit early for Apple to release the retina 13-inch MacBook right now.
 
There are rumors about a release next month. However, the iPhone 5 has just been released, and it's Apple's flagship product; and the whole MacBook line was refreshed just three months ago. So, it may be a little bit early for Apple to release the retina 13-inch MacBook right now.

yeah that's the same feeling I get. I wish some of the iPhone 5 fervor would die down. My guess is iPad mini will be next and macbook not till after that.
 
I start losing hopes for an October release. I think they'll release it next year during the usual macbook refresh.
I really need a new laptop to replace my darn old BTO notebook, but it still works so I can wait a little while longer.
 
I think the sensible time for it is after the release of Haswell.
If it does come out before then, i will want for the second gen so as to make sure Haswell in there.
Ivybridge is very very good, but haswell beats it in both performance and efficiency.
A 13" Ivy bridge rMBP will feel a bit chuggy in a short (relative assumptions) time frame.

I have nothing against them launching with Ivy bridge, but i would not buy it. (i don't thnk :rolleyes: )
 
13" Retina is going to be an end of year release, along with the iMac refresh and iPad 3 re-release.
 
There hasn't been a retina rumor since Sept 10, does that make October release less likely?
 
There hasn't been a retina rumor since Sept 10, does that make October release less likely?

Not because of that. Everybody is talking about iPhone 5 since the beginning of September. People (and even Apple) don't really care that much about Macs anymore as iOS devices seem to rule the world now. Remember that there were no part leaks of the 15-inch MacBook Pro with a retina display, but there were several part leaks of the new iPad and of iPhone 5.

To sum it up, the 13-inch MacBook Pro with a retina display may or may not be released in October, but the fact that the rumors have stopped don't make it more likely or not.
 
yeah that's the same feeling I get. I wish some of the iPhone 5 fervor would die down. My guess is iPad mini will be next and macbook not till after that.

My guess is a little bit different.

I don't know if it makes sense for Apple to release an iPad mini right now. I don't even know if Apple is ever going to release an iPad mini. All we have seen right now are photos of mock-ups, but they could be fake. According to these photos, the iPad mini and the iPad would have different form factors, and this doesn't make sense for Apple products, considering their consistency in design (look at how consistent the designs of the MacBooks are).

Anyway, if an iPad mini is ever going to be released, it will be released together with the iPad 4 (or whatever the next iPad is going to be called). Since its launch, the iPad gets a refresh early in the year (March/April), and that would be the appropriate time for an iPad mini release. In addition, we have not yet seen part leaks (or at least real part leaks) of the iPad mini, and this leads me to the conclusion that a release is not imminent. Please note that iOS devices are becoming so popular that part leaks are often available right before the launch. That happened with the new iPad and with iPhone 5, and it should also happen with a hot product such as an iPad mini. I wouldn't count on an iPad mini, at least not for now.

That said, I also don't think Apple will release a new MacBook Pro until the end of the year. The only contradictory information that I see in this regard is that: (i) 13-inch displays with 2560x1600 resolution were already available in the market back in April/May, (ii) mass production of 13-inch 2560x1600 displays for the MacBook Pro had begun as of late August/beginning of September and (iii) Samsung presented a prototype ultrabook with a 2560x1440 resolution in a 13-inch screen (which means that the technology is there). Shipments of such displays in late August/beginning of September may point to an October release.

However, I have some doubts on that. I don't know if it would make sense for Apple to release such laptops in October, or if it would be good for business. Don't get me wrong, I would just love to see such laptops get a release in October, but I wouldn't bet on it. And here are the reasons why:

1. It has become uncommon for Apple to release a MacBook Pro model without refreshing the whole line of MacBook Pros.

2. MacBooks were last updated in June, 109 days ago. An update in October would mean that these MacBooks would be refreshed within about 120-140 days, which is too early considering past releases (the average time would be 267 days, according to the Buyer's Guide section). The last time the MacBook Pro was refreshed in October was in 2009, and the next refresh was in April 2010.

3. iPhone 5 has just been released. Apple doesn't want to steal the shine of its flagship product, nor it would want the release of the 13-inch retina to be obfuscated by the iPhone 5.

4. Windows 8 will be released in late October. As the first release in the last three years of the world's most popular OS, all media attention will be turned to Windows 8. In addition, despite being a competitor, Microsoft is also a partner of Apple, and Apple wouldn't want to compete with the launch of Windows 8. That would be unnecessary.

5. Intel Haswell will be released around March-June 2013. That seems a proper time for the release of a refreshed MacBook Pro. In addition, Haswell will have a much faster integrated video card, which will be more appropriate to handle retina resolutions.

I may be wrong (and I hope I am!), but that seems reasonable to me.
 
Having seen the iPhone 5 mockups and how accurate they turned out to be... the recent iPad mini mock ups and hints from various analysts... no doubt they are ready to roll out a mini version.

In past years, October/Nov have been the time of the Macs... 'Back to Mac' events. I don't see why this year would be different. They usually have a financial call to discuss previous quarter results, im guessing any new products will be announced after this call.
 
Having seen the iPhone 5 mockups and how accurate they turned out to be... the recent iPad mini mock ups and hints from various analysts... no doubt they are ready to roll out a mini version.

I have my doubt on that.

First, I really doubt the opinion of several analysts... many of them seem to base their opinions on exactly the same news we read here or on similar websites, and call themselves analysts. I would expect analysts to compile every bit of information that arises on the products, to compare with patterns observed in the past and also to have some sort of reliable information coming from fonts that we mere mortals have no access to. But several analysts don't seem to do that.

Said that, Apple may release an iPad mini. I am not sure it will, but it may do that. The thing is, sometimes I have a feeling that the iPad mini lives in the minds of people who really want it to be released, and that such people may fool themselves into fabricating news that lead them to actually believe that the iPad mini has an imminent release. And sometimes I get the same feeling about the always-soon-to-be-released Apple TV. But it's just me. The iPad mini is perhaps a real product that is just waiting to be released - but, if this is the case, I think it will be released together with the next-generation iPad, in early 2013, and not in late 2012.

In past years, October/Nov have been the time of the Macs... 'Back to Mac' events. I don't see why this year would be different. They usually have a financial call to discuss previous quarter results, im guessing any new products will be announced after this call.

If it is time for a Mac event, then Apple could refresh the iMac and the Mac Mini, both of which have not had new releases in over a year. MacBooks have just been refreshed.

Again, convince me that I am wrong. I want a 13-inch MacBook Pro with a retina display in October!
 

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In my view and opinion i dont see the need of the retina display 15in. I think it was a stupid move but to each there own. The hardware is being pushed and struggling as is on the retina 15 with a dedicated graphics card. The phones the ipad and the touch i can see being retina as they are small screens and to keep your eyes from straining so much but with anything the size of the 13 and above screen size its silly in my opinion
 
The mini has a purpose. For reading and games I would say, holding the device is definitely superior. Try a Nexus 7 and you'll see.
 
In my view and opinion i dont see the need of the retina display 15in. I think it was a stupid move but to each there own. The hardware is being pushed and struggling as is on the retina 15 with a dedicated graphics card. The phones the ipad and the touch i can see being retina as they are small screens and to keep your eyes from straining so much but with anything the size of the 13 and above screen size its silly in my opinion

Definitely not a stupid movie, at least in my opinion. Text on the screen of my Mac looks blurry and that really annoys me. Fonts look much sharper on Windows than on OS X (although distorted), due to the sub-pixel rendering technology. The only way OS X could have sharp text on the screen without distorting the fonts would be a massive increase in screen resolution. And that's what Apple has accomplished with the retina display.

Now that Apple has released the MacBook with the retina display, I can't even think of buying a laptop without it. Not having a retina display has become a deal breaker for me... but the problem is, there is only one laptop so far with a retina display.

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The mini has a purpose. For reading and games I would say, holding the device is definitely superior. Try a Nexus 7 and you'll see.

It certainly has a purpose. It is much more comfortable to write and read text on a larger screen. And an iPad mini would have the advantage of being smaller than an iPad. But Apple has a limited number of products, and they are not intended to please everybody out there. Although an iPad mini would be welcome, Apple could well live without it.
 
like i said it was my opinion plus i was looking at a new ipad with retina and i had my ipad 2 with me and could not tell a difference in the screen at all with text or icons to me the non retina icons looked better but i do have really bad eye sight so that maybe the issue with me and retina anyway
 
like i said it was my opinion plus i was looking at a new ipad with retina and i had my ipad 2 with me and could not tell a difference in the screen at all with text or icons to me the non retina icons looked better but i do have really bad eye sight so that maybe the issue with me and retina anyway

iPad does not have sub-pixel rendering, so the difference between the iPad 3 and iPad 2 is indeed not that large...

But on the MacBook Pro, it makes a huge difference because of sub-pixel rendering. Texts on the Retina Display looks ultra sharp and super smooth. Smoother than on a printed magazine, even. So it's a huge difference compared to the old screen.

If nothing else, at least you can adjust effective desktop size to gain more real estate so it's a sizable upgrade either way.

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Anyhow, if there is no news of another Apple event by the end of next week, then it's a safe bet that Apple won't be announcing anything in October at all. Not the iPad Mini, nor the 13" rMBP. Usually they prepare for an event about 2 weeks before it goes live.
 
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