Will there ever be a 15-in Macbook or iBook again?

[No Nickname]

The 13 inch is just way too small, and I don't want to pay the high cost for a 15 inch MBP since this is for my wife, and all she uses it for is internet, iTunes, and iPhoto.

I've heard rumors of a 15 inch MacBook Air, but I have no idea how expensive that would be.

 

[NewMacbookPlz]

The iBook was 14"... 4:3 ratio screen as opposed to the 16:10 ratio widescreens now.

And chances are no. They need to differentiate between the MB and MBP lines. Apple hasn't made a 14.1" widescreen notebook, ever. 13.3 is VERY close to 14.1 dimension-wise, and carries the same panel resolution that virtually all the 14.1" and even the budget 15.4" models do, so screen real estate in terms of pixels is exactly the same.

 

[MedHead]

Just my €0.02 but I came from a 17inch Dell lump of crap to a 13inch unibody and I really dont miss the real estate. Like I use mine for internet itunes and movies and its really not a problem at all. Like you'll be pleasantly suprised!

 

[seb-opp]

the 13" gives you the same resolution of the majority of 15" windows based laptops in the same price range. For what your wife will do, the 1280X800 resolution of the MB is enough.

 

[secondfox]

Again? When did they do it the first time?

Sounds to me that if 13.3 inches is too small, and the MBP is too expensive, then Dell is calling your name. Get a cheap PC and run Ubuntu on it. That or buy a Mac Mini with a monstrous external monitor.

 

[Aegelward]

Personally with all the rumors flying around i think a 15 macbook is possible.

They are likely going to kill off the 2.0 Alu, and rebrand the 2.4 as a Pro,

And they might just introduce a 15" notebook in the same price range as the 2.0 Alu... Something like

• 2.1-2.4 Duo
• 9400 GPU/256/512 memory
• 2gig/4gig ram
• 250gig hdd

They might kill off the low end MPB and replace it with the 13" pro too.

Then the ranges will more or less be equal to the old iBook/Powerbook range.

 

[Unprocessed1]

Personally with all the rumors flying around i think a 15 macbook is possible.

They are likely going to kill off the 2.0 Alu, and rebrand the 2.4 as a Pro,

And they might just introduce a 15" notebook in the same price range as the 2.0 Alu... Something like

• 2.1-2.4 Duo
• 9400 GPU/256/512 memory
• 2gig/4gig ram
• 250gig hdd

They might kill off the low end MPB and replace it with the 13" pro too.

Then the ranges will more or less be equal to the old iBook/Powerbook range.

A 13 inch pro would be amazing.

 

[Richard1028]

Just my €0.02 but I came from a 17inch Dell lump of crap to a 13inch unibody and I really dont miss the real estate.

It's not the real estate that's the problem with a 13" screen... for me it was the tiny icons and fonts. My failing eyesight requires that I run my resolution at 800x500 which is perfect for me. (I came from dual Dell 22" monitors though ).

OSX won't allow you to boot into this display format (the smallest is 800 x 600 I think) so I had to write a script that does this for me which runs automatically at log in.

 

[NewMacbookPlz]

It's not the real estate that's the problem with a 13" screen... for me it was the tiny icons and fonts. My failing eyesight requires that I run my resolution at 800x500 which is perfect for me. (I came from dual Dell 22" monitors though ).

OSX won't allow you to boot into this display format (the smallest is 800 x 600 I think) so I had to write a script that does this for me which runs automatically at log in.

Turning the system font size up and the icon size up wouldn't work well enough?

 

[Richard1028]

Turning the system font size up and the icon size up wouldn't work well enough?

Yes, this worked for the desktop but I got mixed results when using different applications.

 

[paolo-]

Personally with all the rumors flying around i think a 15 macbook is possible.

They are likely going to kill off the 2.0 Alu, and rebrand the 2.4 as a Pro,

And they might just introduce a 15" notebook in the same price range as the 2.0 Alu... Something like

• 2.1-2.4 Duo
• 9400 GPU/256/512 memory
• 2gig/4gig ram
• 250gig hdd

They might kill off the low end MPB and replace it with the 13" pro too.

Then the ranges will more or less be equal to the old iBook/Powerbook range.

I have a similar feeling. I was thinking about it and here are my conclusions. It's all hypothetical on apple releasing a tablet, witch I have doubts of.

tabletbook becomes the new air, small light cool machines for people with money to spare.

macbook looses the optical drive, air-ish form factor only, a little thicker to enable what is currently in the macbook, C2D processor, not downclocked graphics, just as much ports as on the current unimacbook. Lower price point. Not sure what happens to white macbook, possibly still around at the same price as the aluminium drive-less macbook.

current macbook gets some small changes on the internals becomes 13" mbp, firewire, the screen that is currently in the air, maybe 2.53ghz, yadiya.

Minimal investment to change to these new lines. The case for the 13" mbp already exists. The new macbook would inherit most of the air's, just a redesign of the bottom piece to accommodate the larger components and a good airflow.

Keeps up with apple's direction, stepping away from hard media, for one. You get a nice dilemma between the white macbook and the unibody non pro macbook. One that still does it all at an affordable price and one a bit more advanced and cooler. A good reason to step up to the 13" pro. And still an ultraportable that is niched and marketed in a way that it can sell for a ridiculous amount of money and evokes apple's true technological greatness (refering to a tablet here).

 

[tayloralmond]

I sincerely doubt they're going to make a 15 inch MacBook. That's one of the main reasons that people opt for the Pro. Here lately, Apple has done a good job at keeping a very simple product line. Adding multiple sizes of both notebooks goes against that in my opinion. As for an iBook, it's never going to come back. Steve Jobs specifically said that he wants to have the word "Mac" in every product.

 

[tj53]

I also highly doubt we will ever see bigger than a 13.3in screen in the MB line. Apple is also competing somewhat with the smaller netbooks with MacBooks (price aside, I'm talking portability). But screen size is one huge differentiator of the MB/MBP lines, so unless something else comes in to differentiate, I'd say definitely not.

 

[Skeletal-dæmon]

I was thinking along other lines.

What if they just threw in the towel and dropped the Pro?

No, not the machine, the label.

Think about it. The high range MB and low range MBP are virtually identical. The low end iMac had begun using an integrated GPU just like the MB and MBA. So; just as there is only one line of iMac, maybe they'll relabel the notebooks as MacBooks.

'The MacBook Family. From 13" to 17" there is a MacBook to suit your needs.' That has Apple written all over it!

Though that does leave the Air in a tight spot. But I don't personally like the Air, I think it was a pretty idea but in practice it costs too much and should make like a Cube and EOL. Either that or hover there uncomfortably, almost like the Mini. The computer that just... doesn't seem to fit. It should be bigger, have better specs, and be cheaper, but it isn't.

 

[tayloralmond]

I was thinking along other lines.

What if they just threw in the towel and dropped the Pro?

No, not the machine, the label.

Think about it. The high range MB and low range MBP are virtually identical. The low end iMac had begun using an integrated GPU just like the MB and MBA. So; just as there is only one line of iMac, maybe they'll relabel the notebooks as MacBooks.

'The MacBook Family. From 13" to 17" there is a MacBook to suit your needs.' That has Apple written all over it!

Though that does leave the Air in a tight spot. But I don't personally like the Air, I think it was a pretty idea but in practice it costs too much and should make like a Cube and EOL. Either that or hover there uncomfortably, almost like the Mini. The computer that just... doesn't seem to fit. It should be bigger, have better specs, and be cheaper, but it isn't.

That's a pretty good thought. Although, I don't think Apple would do that because most people (I assume) who buy the MacBook Pro like the idea that they have a computer that is "a cut above the rest." I know when I was debating on what MacBook to get, I almost splurged on a MacBook Pro just because I wanted the "Pro." Also, I think some people would feel like taking the word "Pro" away means that the "Pro" specs disappeared, even if that's not true. It's amazing how much power a word can have.