Apple's next MacBook Pro lineup will feature a new case design - report

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  • Reply 61 of 72
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by zoetmb View Post


    If you kill the optical drive, then what's the difference between the MBP and the MBA?



    I, for one, need the optical drive if only to load CDs onto iTunes. I also have a standalone CD-R (not connected to a computer) where I do editing and mastering. I then burn those files to CD for xfer to the computer. I suppose I could "live" with an external optical drive, but as far as I'm concerned, that's a step backwards, even though it would slightly reduce size and weight.



    Different product lines need differentiation. I see no diferentiation if you take functionality out of the MBP and make it more like a MBA. Different strokes for different folks - I'd like Apple to keep both.



    1) Do you really think having a CD-R for editing and mastering is commonplace for consumer and prosumer machines?



    2) You really can?t tell the difference between an MBA and MBP except for the ODD? How about the storage capacity? How about the CPU performance? How about the GPU performance? How about the ports? How about the size? Most don?t want a ultra-portable with a CULV CPU and almost no internal storage, they want more power and more capacity, and they want to get rid of that unused, slow and power hungry ODD taking up 25% of their internal space to to get mrore power and capacity.
  • Reply 62 of 72
    shaun, ukshaun, uk Posts: 1,050member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by tipoo View Post






    An all black slimline MBP would be awesome.
  • Reply 63 of 72
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    For what reason do you need such a slow drive on a regular basis that can?t be covered by flash/SD or LAN/WAN transfer?



    Ripping CDs to iTunes

    Burning CDs and DVDs for friends or to play in my car





    Keep in mind that for many people, laptops are now their main computer. It's no longer like it was 10 years ago when most laptop users also had a desktop as their main machine.



    I could see making the optical drive optional, but I don't think it's time to completely eliminate them.
  • Reply 64 of 72
    mjteixmjteix Posts: 563member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post


    I could see making the optical drive optional, but I don't think it's time to completely eliminate them.



    I don't think making it optional is that much a good idea since the design would still have to take it into account and no other storage device has the same size. But an external drive would be OK for many users, I believe. Also, Apple could support the (current) external ODD on the Airport Extreme and Time capsule USB port as a shared device with a firmware update or whatever.
  • Reply 65 of 72
    marvfoxmarvfox Posts: 2,275member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by cwfrederick View Post


    NICE! this is exactly what i was imagining/hoping for with the last round of MBP rumors, and i never saw a mockup as good as this. the liquid metal makes a lot of sense for a lot of reasons if it is doable. and to all the people calling for a tapered body.. that is NOT a good idea. the MBP is supposed to be powerful, giving it a taper will take away from that, not to mention the needless homogenization of the macbook aesthetic. the squared off frame is where it gets all it's sense of power, and with a darker tone it will look awesome!



    The optical drive I like because you don't have to schlep around an external hard drive to watch movies. It is portable and convenient to use.Black to me is to business like and to formal.
  • Reply 66 of 72
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by romandoc View Post


    How about a friggin IPS screen, totally appropriate in a $2k+ laptop, so I won't get an instant headache and eyestrain when looking at the screen.



    Agreed. If they can manage to go IPS and keep the overall price the same, I hope they do. I don't get headaches so much, but it's really hard to do photo/graphics work if the colors shift every time I change my viewing angle.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by NeilM View Post


    A modest capacity SSD boot/app drive, say 128GB, would give great speed benefits yet not be too expensive. Then a regular rotating platter HD would take care of mass storage needs. Best of both worlds at a reasonable price!



    We have a MacPro workstation set up this way and it's great. Boot and app launch times are 3-4 times faster.



    I'd be happy to outboard my MacBook Pro's optical drive, something I find myself using maybe once every two or three months.



    Now that 512 GB SSD drives are a viable option, how about doubling that? And eschew the HDD altogether. HDDs were so yesterday. Two 512 GB SSDs in the space once taking up by the ODD, plus 128 or 256 GB Boot drive. I would like to see the next iteration of MBPs have no moving parts other than the screen hinge. I like the idea of never again having to worry about the drive head touching a spinning platter. Also, solid state components don't suffer from physical wear and tear, and use less battery juice than mechanical parts. In other words, going all solid state would reduce weight and power consumption, and be more durable.



    I would not be surprised if Apple sets "10-hour battery life" as their goal for the entire portable line in either this coming iteration, or the next. I think that's feasible if they go all solid state.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by cwfrederick View Post


    NICE! this is exactly what i was imagining/hoping for with the last round of MBP rumors, and i never saw a mockup as good as this. the liquid metal makes a lot of sense for a lot of reasons if it is doable. and to all the people calling for a tapered body.. that is NOT a good idea. the MBP is supposed to be powerful, giving it a taper will take away from that, not to mention the needless homogenization of the macbook aesthetic. the squared off frame is where it gets all it's sense of power, and with a darker tone it will look awesome!



    Erm. I'm fine with color options on Apple's "consumer" line, but not for the "pro" line. The last thing Apple needs is another "White iPhone" debacle. Also the aluminum grey is a good neutral color for pros who need to do a lot of photo/graphics work.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Scaramanga89 View Post


    He has a very valid point, which you are choosing to ignore. He got a crap machine. I realise Apple are selling a higher volume of machines than they used to, but their QA standards have gone down in recent years, there's no doubting it.



    So many issues with so many items. Take a look at the new MBP, there are a litany of issues with it. I went back to a Mac mini server from a 2011 MBP because it was doing my head in. Weak wifi, overheating, huge graphical problems when I switched between profiles, the list goes on. And I wasn't alone, there are huge threads on all of those on the support forums. I know, I was on them since purchase in March.



    This thing of seeing a lot of people at the Genius Bar and/or service desk is representative of a subset of Apple customers: those who have problems with their machines. You're not going to have very many people making appointments at the Genius Bar just to talk about how happy they are with their Macs and how they don't have any problems. Most likely the only people you'll see there are people with problems. It's tautological.

    My point is, unless you know what the people in the customer service line represent as a percentage of Apple's overall customer base, you can't make a good judgment about Apple's standards of quality. Of course, when you're the one with the problem, the last thing you want is to be dismissed as a statistical anomaly.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by cnocbui View Post


    How exactly does liquid metal makes sense?



    Its both very heavy and many times more costly than aluminium. Liquid metal makes sense for small highly stressed components like screen hinges.



    It was my understanding that LiquidMetal was a lighter yet stronger alloy than steel or aluminum*; the downside being that it's very expensive, so not conducive to building a complete shell out of it. Most likely, it will be used for parts/components that take advantage of its durability (hinges, substructure).



    *plus, if you shoot bullets at it, it will heal itself.



    Quote:

    For shells, carbon fiber makes a lot more sense IMO.



    I think aluminum is still prettier than carbon fiber.



    Quote:

    I think the screen on the MBP is piss-poor given what they cost. I wish Apple would offer the matte high res option screen on the i3" and not just the 15"



    I mostly agree. While the glossy screens look clean and pretty, that layer of glass between the actual display and your eye refracts the light coming out, which will affect the colours. It's annoying when I can't tell what are the real colors when I'm looking at my 13" MB's screen--they change according to the tilt angle of the screen. \



    Quote:

    I've got a far better screen on my phone than my MBP, which is a ridiculous state of affairs.



    Well, my guess is that the cost of high-quality displays goes up exponentially with size, i.e. a "retina display" for an iPhone/iPod touch is much cheaper per square inch than scaling that same pixel density up to a 17" display.



    Quote:

    And for all those calling for dumping the optical drive - could you please tell me how you run software that requires the original disc to be present in the drive in order to run?



    Um. The MBA puts the OS install on a USB stick. Problem solved.
  • Reply 67 of 72
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post


    I could see making the optical drive optional, but I don't think it's time to completely eliminate them.



    Because the slot for the drive is actually cut into the case itself, making the optical drive "optional" is not really cost-effective, as it would require making two separate cases.
  • Reply 68 of 72
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by marvfox View Post


    The optical drive I like because you don't have to schlep around an external hard drive to watch movies. It is portable and convenient to use.Black to me is to business like and to formal.



    You still have to schlep around the DVDs themselves, which if you take more than a couple at a time, will take up more space in your luggage than a 500 GB external HDD. And you run the risk of dropping them, scratching them, etc.
  • Reply 69 of 72
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bdkennedy1 View Post


    Bye bye optical drive.



    Can't believe the guys that find no need for an optical drive. I guess these are people who use their computers just for fun. Any of us who use the for work will use that drive almost daily. I had to produce three MASTER CDs just today. I often need to do this on site on the road. The last thing I want to do is carry around an external drive.
  • Reply 70 of 72
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dale W View Post


    Can't believe the guys that find no need for an optical drive. I guess these are people who use their computers just for fun. Any of us who use the for work will use that drive almost daily. I had to produce three MASTER CDs just today. I often need to do this on site on the road. The last thing I want to do is carry around an external drive.



    1) Master CDs, eh? For what?



    2) What basis do you have to think that all serious work on computers requires the frequent use of the optical drive?
  • Reply 71 of 72
    banchobancho Posts: 1,517member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dale W View Post


    Can't believe the guys that find no need for an optical drive. I guess these are people who use their computers just for fun. Any of us who use the for work will use that drive almost daily. I had to produce three MASTER CDs just today. I often need to do this on site on the road. The last thing I want to do is carry around an external drive.



    You seem to have an extremely narrow view of what constitutes "real" work.
  • Reply 72 of 72
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,310moderator
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dale W View Post


    Can't believe the guys that find no need for an optical drive. I guess these are people who use their computers just for fun. Any of us who use the for work will use that drive almost daily.



    It clearly depends on what your line of work is. If your job is to master audio CDs remotely then I guess it would be important to have one internally but how many people have that job? Apple build products for a large number of people so they should't hamper the design of a product for a small amount of people.



    One design I had considered was having the optical drive arm alone mounting the discs externally to the machine:







    This gives you the full use of an optical drive when it is needed but uses up much less space when it isn't. To cover the disc while it is spinning, they could have a fan-style cover that goes right round the disc and stored in the arm or even an external cover that you have to carry to clip over it that resembles a CD carrying case and could even double as a carrying case for blank discs.



    Still, I feel it would be over-engineering a solution to satisfy an ever-shrinking market.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dale W View Post


    I had to produce three MASTER CDs just today. I often need to do this on site on the road. The last thing I want to do is carry around an external drive.



    External drives can be a pain but the laptop would be thinner and lighter without it so if it goes in a bag, you'd just dump the external optical in there and leave it in the bag without thinking about it.
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