Your next Macbook Pro upgrade?

[wankey]

I've had my early 08 MBP model for over a year now and I still love it. But I'm already thinking about the benchmark which will signal my next upgrade (although that won't happen for another 3-4 years). What will make you replace your current MBP? For me:

A 15inch OLED display with 8 bit color
Non gloss matte screen options (hit)
Enclosed battery (hit)
Better cooling technology (copper grills + fan is so 90's)
Quad core or more
4 gigs of ram or more (hit)
Removal of DVD drive or Bluray burner instead of DVD
If DVD drive is removed, I don't want it for space savings. I want it for other things like much better and near silent cooling (imagine your laptop running at 20C idling, 40C at full)
On die GPU and discrete GPU with how swap option (ie, switches on demand)

 

[Kronie]

my next upgrade may be a mac pro and not a laptop

 

[Flying Dutchman]

A 15inch OLED display with 8 bit color 8 bit color is nice, but OLED would be my selling point
Non gloss matte screen options (hit) Don't care too much, but happy its here
Enclosed battery (hit) Don't care about that either, I care about battery life, which coincidentally happened at the same moment
Better cooling technology (copper grills + fan is so 90's) What kind of cooling is there other than copper grills + fan? And how much difference would this make? (not being sarcastic, I really would like to know )
Quad core or more At this moment, dual core isn't optimized fully (bout 95%) so quad is nice, but in a core i7 kind of way, else you'll just have a slower laptop because you're not using all the cores and do have a lower clock
4 gigs of ram or more (hit) Yeah, thats nice
Removal of DVD drive or Bluray burner instead of DVD Removal Blu Ray is the last disc probably, and I'm just skipping that one, so give me better performance instead of the dvd taking up space, I'll be happy to oblige
If DVD drive is removed, I don't want it for space savings.

I want it for other things like much better and near silent cooling (imagine your laptop running at 20C idling, 40C at full) This isn't really an option with quad core and especially with i7/i5 which will be the cpu's of choice for the next update.
On die GPU and discrete GPU with how swap option (ie, switches on demand)
Good god yes.
If they manage that or like a HybridSLi function, performance would jump incredibly while not having to invest in any kind of new GPU tech. Hell, you could even use 2 9400Ms and you would have the same performance as one 9600M.
This will be better in perfomance but also battery. Since you're not switching every time you use a less perfomance needy app, you're using a lot of unnecessary battery and heat. Win win situation

 

[DivineEvil]

What will make me upgrade... First of all I have the latest 13" MBP with 500GB HDD...

Since I got used to it, I'd like a 13" laptop with those specs...

Dedicated Ati 5870 graphics ... or similar/better in performance. (Will happen in 3-4 years)
USB 3.0/ Firewire 3200 - will happen in 1-2 years
Blu-ray Burner or second drive-bay
Better cooling .
2x2TB SSD disks for $100 each . (3-4 more years )
16Gigs of ram . (3-4 years)
Express card slot... The newest generation...

 

[maflynn]

I'm at a point in my life where I need to think less of upgrading my MBP and more about sticking with what I have until that product fails to fulfill my needs.

I don't see upgrading to a newer model for 3 more years potentially more. With that said, I may be tempted into a newer unit with the introduction of 8bit displays but even then, I can't see me spending 2 - 3k on a machine when my current model works.

I used to buy a new machine every 3 years or so, but now with the performance I'm getting out of my 2.53GHz and the fact that 3k is a lot of money I'll hold off for a very long time.

 

[elcid]

I'm at a point in my life where I need to think less of upgrading my MBP and more about sticking with what I have until that product fails to fulfill my needs.

I don't see upgrading to a newer model for 3 more years potentially more. With that said, I may be tempted into a newer unit with the introduction of 8bit displays but even then, I can't see me spending 2 - 3k on a machine when my current model works.

I used to buy a new machine every 3 years or so, but now with the performance I'm getting out of my 2.53GHz and the fact that 3k is a lot of money I'll hold off for a very long time.

QFT. I have a 2007 MB that I can't make myself upgrade because it is still a great little computer for what I use it for. Apple is really going to have to knock one out of the park with features, because speed is really not a factor anymore for me.

 

[sehnsucht77]

I'm at a point in my life where I need to think less of upgrading my MBP and more about sticking with what I have until that product fails to fulfill my needs.

I don't see upgrading to a newer model for 3 more years potentially more. With that said, I may be tempted into a newer unit with the introduction of 8bit displays but even then, I can't see me spending 2 - 3k on a machine when my current model works.

I used to buy a new machine every 3 years or so, but now with the performance I'm getting out of my 2.53GHz and the fact that 3k is a lot of money I'll hold off for a very long time.

very good point. productivity is key and getting a new machine everytime the "upgrade bug" bites never made much sense to me. i mean, you CAN get the same job done with a good specd laptop for a while.

 

[daneoni]

I'm at a point in my life where I need to think less of upgrading my MBP and more about sticking with what I have until that product fails to fulfill my needs.

I don't see upgrading to a newer model for 3 more years potentially more. With that said, I may be tempted into a newer unit with the introduction of 8bit displays but even then, I can't see me spending 2 - 3k on a machine when my current model works.

I used to buy a new machine every 3 years or so, but now with the performance I'm getting out of my 2.53GHz and the fact that 3k is a lot of money I'll hold off for a very long time.

I think i'm at this phase too. My laptop is very powerful as it is now AND can still be enhanced with more RAM and faster, larger HDD or SSD in the future. I also have the latest OS ready to install when i'm ready. So really no need to upgrade. The specs i'm seeing from the new mobile i7/i5 processors aren't really wowing me. Also the Unibody design is unlikely to change for a few years.

No matter how i want to spin it, there really isn't any reason to upgrade whatsoever

 

[Pagga]

I´m waiting for three things:

1. SSD´s with 500GB or more at reasonable prices.
2. Less reflective screen (without compromizing looks, like the current matte).
3. Even better batteries!

For now, I´m upgrading my 250GB 7200rpm drive with an Intel 25x m 180GB (2. gen). That in combination wth Snow leopard has more than settled my need for speed in my current Mcbook (specs in sig).

P

 

[SpaceKitty]

my next upgrade may be a mac pro and not a laptop

Got rid of the Mac Pro to get a MBP!

 

[tecknical]

whatever is out at the time my current one is dead/too slow to use

 

[Rampant.A.I.]

I'm just hoping nothing far, far nicer comes out. The first Intel MacBook Pro came a little too soon after I bought my Powerbook G4 for my liking!

 

[pellebee]

power is power, but performance is performance. What I mean is that, yes I need some intense renderings from time to time, but I just want a MBP that doesn't get loud or burning hot when only a few apps are running at the same time. So I would love those specs but apple just needs to improve their performance first, cooling systems, graphic cards, etc..!