My prediction: a replacement for the 15-inch MacBook Pro in MacBook Air format, with SSD, lots of RAM, Thunderbolt, but without USB 3 or optical drives, and a price that is equivalent to the current 15-inch MacBook Pro.
I agree that the optical drive will be gone, but USB 3.0 will be supported by the Ivy Bridge chip set. I also hope there are multiple MacBook Air style SSD's. Two would allow RAID 0, but three would allow for RAID 3 for size and redundancy. Keep the Thunderbolt port, Core i7 processor, and discrete graphics, then add a 802.11ac airport and that would definitely have a "Pro" worthy machine.
Well we could begin by pointing out Thunderbolt was developed by Intel, not proprietary to Apple, and that OS X is a UNIX which can be fiddled with to one's desire,
but then we'd only be feeding and wasting time on an ignorant, misinformed troll, so better to end than to begin.
I would point out that another marginal technology adopted by Apple, Firewire, was developed by a consortium of companies, yet it never became anywhere near as widely used as USB. And Firewire peripherals have remained more expensive, even after all these years.
I would point out that another marginal technology adopted by Apple, Firewire, was developed by a consortium of companies, yet it never became anywhere near as widely used as USB. And Firewire peripherals have remained more expensive, even after all these years.
You're the ignorant one.
No Apple created Firewire and eventually it became an IEEE format (1394x). Firewire failed because Apple was not powerful enough to get it on the motherboard as a standard item and Intel was flogging their own USB creation which they could put on the motherboard for "free"
Intel likes USB because it relies on the CPU for managing I/O whereas Firewire had its own controller chips outside of the CPU. That makes Firewire more expensive but it also means that performance was more stable across varying computers.
It's dawned upon me that the trolls are beginning to set the agenda, so back on focussing on the future MacBook Pros..
I'll be radical and suggest that Apple may work in reverse for the Macbook Pros: keep the MacBook Pros cases similar to their current dimensions but fit bigger batteries together with more powerful graphics and processors.
Lots of space can be freed by ditching the optical drive: it's no longer worth the vast space it occupies.
Surely it's much less cumbersome to walk around with ten small 4GB SD cards than a stack of ten blank DVDs?
If you're in the minority that need the DVD drive you can plug in a portable external drive, it doesn't even have to be an Apple Superdrive.
I would prefer having a much more powerful machine with longer battery life than a machine made heavier by a rarely used part.
I hope if they remove the optical drive in the 13' they use a quad core and (or at least or) a dGPU like its older siblings. That would differentiate it more from the Air, if they removed the drive and left the rest as is it would have nothing but the bigger hard drive over the Air, and for many people that would be a downside over the faster flash memory.
And about time, I'd say. I've had my laptop for two years and used the optical drive a whopping two times in that whole time, once for an OS update.
I feel like we're bound to be disappointed by something or other with the new MBP's though, between the new form factor and the retina-ish display. There's always rumors much crazier than what actually pans out, I don't think I need to cite proof of that, but remember the liquid metal macbook pro?
I hope if they remove the optical drive in the 13' they use a quad core and (or at least or) a dGPU like its older siblings. That would differentiate it more from the Air, if they removed the drive and left the rest as is it would have nothing but the bigger hard drive over the Air, and for many people that would be a downside over the faster flash memory.
And about time, I'd say. I've had my laptop for two years and used the optical drive a whopping two times in that whole time, once for an OS update.
I feel like we're bound to be disappointed by something or other with the new MBP's though, between the new form factor and the retina-ish display. There's always rumors much crazier than what actually pans out, I don't think I need to cite proof of that, but remember the liquid metal macbook pro?
I'm not feeling that design. I think it's tapered all the way, even if it is nearly 1" thick at the very back.
I do expect Ivy Bridge, USB 3.0, HiDPI displays, and the ODD completely removed. I also want other things previously mentioned but those seem less certain.
Hmm, SSD standard like the Airs? I wonder if it would be standard SATA if they have a bit more room to work with, or the proprietary SSD again. Either way, I hope the capacities are higher than the Airs, 64GB or 128 is too small for a main laptop, for me at least. Sure, external hard drives, but that kind of defeats the purpose of such thin and light designs.
Hmm, SSD standard like the Airs? I wonder if it would be standard SATA if they have a bit more room to work with, or the proprietary SSD again. Either way, I hope the capacities are higher than the Airs, 64GB or 128 is too small for a main laptop, for me at least. Sure, external hard drives, but that kind of defeats the purpose of such thin and light designs.
The SSDs in the MBAs are not proprietary. I have no idea how people got this idea when the physical interface is clearly a PCI Express Mini Card though electrically incompatible PCIe because it's designed for the mSATA spec.
mSATA had been in use well before the MBAs popularized them and there are plenty of 3rd-party companies creating the SSD cards for MBAs and other machines as noted by this link to Newegg.com:
Are they going to use SSDs or the flash cards they use in the MBAs? I'm hoping they use both, at least with space enough for a standard SSD thickness which would also allow for a single-platter HDD which would be slower (though not an issue for data) but also cheaper per GB. You'd still get to boot from the flash card in under 10 seconds.
I am betting on integrated SSD, possibly with some secret sauce from Anobit, to give the fastest single disk performance of any notebook in history. That would be a good selling point.
The SSDs in the MBAs are not proprietary. I have no idea how people got this idea when the physical interface is clearly a PCI Express Mini Card though electrically incompatible PCIe because it's designed for the mSATA spec.
I did know that, bad wording on my part, sorry for making you write all that
I just meant a more standard form factor like 2.5" drives. Presumably if they have more processing grunt and thus more battery capacity, they would be bigger and have more room to work with than the Airs, so maybe they could fit a standard SSD in there. You can get mSATA SSD replacements, but those are still more expensive and underperform 2.5" drives. Apple could still customize the firmware from a 2.5 inch drive just the same.
I am betting on integrated SSD, possibly with some secret sauce from Anobit, to give the fastest single disk performance of any notebook in history. That would be a good selling point.
Integrated SSD? I assume you mean the cards because having the SSD integrated into the logic board is not a good idea.
I think it will be either a 2.5" HDD/SSD or the SSD card + 2.5" HDD/SSD. I can't see how it can be just the card unless it's two cards or a really big card, but even then that would be pricey for 500GB.
I am betting on integrated SSD, possibly with some secret sauce from Anobit, to give the fastest single disk performance of any notebook in history. That would be a good selling point.
Somehow I doubt that would happen. Anobit was a recent purchase, for one could they have made the fastest SSD in the world in that time, even if they worked with Apple before the purchase? And two, of course, cost, I think they would go with a middling SSD performance like the Airs anyways.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SolipsismX
Integrated SSD? I assume you mean the cards because having the SSD integrated into the logic board is not a good idea.
I think it will be either a 2.5" HDD/SSD or the SSD card + 2.5" HDD/SSD. I can't see how it can be just the card unless it's two cards or a really big card, but even then that would be pricey for 500GB.
I'm of the same mind, a Momentus XT like implementation with a SSD for most used data and a hard drive for mass storage comes to mind. The separate drives would be invisible to the user and just appear as one at the hard drives capacity, and the OS or controllers would choose which files need a speedup and put them on the SSD.
Integrated SSD? I assume you mean the cards because having the SSD integrated into the logic board is not a good idea.
I think it will be either a 2.5" HDD/SSD or the SSD card + 2.5" HDD/SSD. I can't see how it can be just the card unless it's two cards or a really big card, but even then that would be pricey for 500GB.
Yes, I meant the "Blade" form factor as against the ones that just look like 2.5" HDs. But come to think of it, I wouldn't put it past Apple to put it right on the board.
Yes, I meant the "Blade" form factor as against the ones that just look like 2.5" HDs. But come to think of it, I wouldn't put it past Apple to put it right on the board.
I'd bet against that. It's one thing to put the RAM on the board for a PC I think we're still a long way off from integrating the NAND flash. If they were going to do that I think the MBAs would have gotten it, not MBPs. I would also bet against the RAM being soldered to the board.
I'd bet against that. It's one thing to put the RAM on the board for a PC I think we're still a long way off from integrating the NAND flash. If they were going to do that I think the MBAs would have gotten it, not MBPs. I would also bet against the RAM being soldered to the board.
You're probably right, but I don't think it's *totally* out of the question.
Software and hardware-wise the Mac has been moving closer to the iPad, and here is the iPad motherboard with NAND directly on it:
Comments
My prediction: a replacement for the 15-inch MacBook Pro in MacBook Air format, with SSD, lots of RAM, Thunderbolt, but without USB 3 or optical drives, and a price that is equivalent to the current 15-inch MacBook Pro.
I agree that the optical drive will be gone, but USB 3.0 will be supported by the Ivy Bridge chip set. I also hope there are multiple MacBook Air style SSD's. Two would allow RAID 0, but three would allow for RAID 3 for size and redundancy. Keep the Thunderbolt port, Core i7 processor, and discrete graphics, then add a 802.11ac airport and that would definitely have a "Pro" worthy machine.
Well we could begin by pointing out Thunderbolt was developed by Intel, not proprietary to Apple, and that OS X is a UNIX which can be fiddled with to one's desire,
but then we'd only be feeding and wasting time on an ignorant, misinformed troll, so better to end than to begin.
I would point out that another marginal technology adopted by Apple, Firewire, was developed by a consortium of companies, yet it never became anywhere near as widely used as USB. And Firewire peripherals have remained more expensive, even after all these years.
You're the ignorant one.
I would point out that another marginal technology adopted by Apple, Firewire, was developed by a consortium of companies, yet it never became anywhere near as widely used as USB. And Firewire peripherals have remained more expensive, even after all these years.
You're the ignorant one.
No Apple created Firewire and eventually it became an IEEE format (1394x). Firewire failed because Apple was not powerful enough to get it on the motherboard as a standard item and Intel was flogging their own USB creation which they could put on the motherboard for "free"
Intel likes USB because it relies on the CPU for managing I/O whereas Firewire had its own controller chips outside of the CPU. That makes Firewire more expensive but it also means that performance was more stable across varying computers.
I would point out that another marginal technology adopted by Apple, Firewire...
You're the ignorant one.
I could be like you and point out a million and one facts in computing which are not relevant to the discussion.
As for being ignorant, I'm not the one who made several false assertions in their previous post about Apple.
It took several years for USB to be widely accepted, largely in part to it being incorporated into the first iMac.
It may shock people to know that the iMac wasn't the first computer on sale with USB ports.
Thunderbolt has been available for barely a year, operating at speeds that put USB 3.0 to shame and yet it's coming under such vicious attack.
I'll be radical and suggest that Apple may work in reverse for the Macbook Pros: keep the MacBook Pros cases similar to their current dimensions but fit bigger batteries together with more powerful graphics and processors.
Lots of space can be freed by ditching the optical drive: it's no longer worth the vast space it occupies.
Surely it's much less cumbersome to walk around with ten small 4GB SD cards than a stack of ten blank DVDs?
If you're in the minority that need the DVD drive you can plug in a portable external drive, it doesn't even have to be an Apple Superdrive.
I would prefer having a much more powerful machine with longer battery life than a machine made heavier by a rarely used part.
And about time, I'd say. I've had my laptop for two years and used the optical drive a whopping two times in that whole time, once for an OS update.
I feel like we're bound to be disappointed by something or other with the new MBP's though, between the new form factor and the retina-ish display. There's always rumors much crazier than what actually pans out, I don't think I need to cite proof of that, but remember the liquid metal macbook pro?
Yeah...I still lament how sexy that would be.
I hope if they remove the optical drive in the 13' they use a quad core and (or at least or) a dGPU like its older siblings. That would differentiate it more from the Air, if they removed the drive and left the rest as is it would have nothing but the bigger hard drive over the Air, and for many people that would be a downside over the faster flash memory.
And about time, I'd say. I've had my laptop for two years and used the optical drive a whopping two times in that whole time, once for an OS update.
I feel like we're bound to be disappointed by something or other with the new MBP's though, between the new form factor and the retina-ish display. There's always rumors much crazier than what actually pans out, I don't think I need to cite proof of that, but remember the liquid metal macbook pro?
I'm not feeling that design. I think it's tapered all the way, even if it is nearly 1" thick at the very back.
I do expect Ivy Bridge, USB 3.0, HiDPI displays, and the ODD completely removed. I also want other things previously mentioned but those seem less certain.
Hmm, SSD standard like the Airs? I wonder if it would be standard SATA if they have a bit more room to work with, or the proprietary SSD again. Either way, I hope the capacities are higher than the Airs, 64GB or 128 is too small for a main laptop, for me at least. Sure, external hard drives, but that kind of defeats the purpose of such thin and light designs.
The SSDs in the MBAs are not proprietary. I have no idea how people got this idea when the physical interface is clearly a PCI Express Mini Card though electrically incompatible PCIe because it's designed for the mSATA spec.
mSATA had been in use well before the MBAs popularized them and there are plenty of 3rd-party companies creating the SSD cards for MBAs and other machines as noted by this link to Newegg.com:
- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...=1&srchInDesc=
edit: Here's one specifically for the MBAs:But what about people who need 500 GB storage? or wired ethernet?
heard this before: "What about my floppy disks?"
Are they going to use SSDs or the flash cards they use in the MBAs? I'm hoping they use both, at least with space enough for a standard SSD thickness which would also allow for a single-platter HDD which would be slower (though not an issue for data) but also cheaper per GB. You'd still get to boot from the flash card in under 10 seconds.
I am betting on integrated SSD, possibly with some secret sauce from Anobit, to give the fastest single disk performance of any notebook in history. That would be a good selling point.
The SSDs in the MBAs are not proprietary. I have no idea how people got this idea when the physical interface is clearly a PCI Express Mini Card though electrically incompatible PCIe because it's designed for the mSATA spec.
I did know that, bad wording on my part, sorry for making you write all that
I just meant a more standard form factor like 2.5" drives. Presumably if they have more processing grunt and thus more battery capacity, they would be bigger and have more room to work with than the Airs, so maybe they could fit a standard SSD in there. You can get mSATA SSD replacements, but those are still more expensive and underperform 2.5" drives. Apple could still customize the firmware from a 2.5 inch drive just the same.
I am betting on integrated SSD, possibly with some secret sauce from Anobit, to give the fastest single disk performance of any notebook in history. That would be a good selling point.
Integrated SSD? I assume you mean the cards because having the SSD integrated into the logic board is not a good idea.
I think it will be either a 2.5" HDD/SSD or the SSD card + 2.5" HDD/SSD. I can't see how it can be just the card unless it's two cards or a really big card, but even then that would be pricey for 500GB.
But what about people who need 500 GB storage? or wired ethernet?
I think Apple will continue to sell the HDD-based MacBook Pro. After all, they've continued to sell iPod Classics (and they sell pretty damn well).
I am betting on integrated SSD, possibly with some secret sauce from Anobit, to give the fastest single disk performance of any notebook in history. That would be a good selling point.
Somehow I doubt that would happen. Anobit was a recent purchase, for one could they have made the fastest SSD in the world in that time, even if they worked with Apple before the purchase? And two, of course, cost, I think they would go with a middling SSD performance like the Airs anyways.
Integrated SSD? I assume you mean the cards because having the SSD integrated into the logic board is not a good idea.
I think it will be either a 2.5" HDD/SSD or the SSD card + 2.5" HDD/SSD. I can't see how it can be just the card unless it's two cards or a really big card, but even then that would be pricey for 500GB.
I'm of the same mind, a Momentus XT like implementation with a SSD for most used data and a hard drive for mass storage comes to mind. The separate drives would be invisible to the user and just appear as one at the hard drives capacity, and the OS or controllers would choose which files need a speedup and put them on the SSD.
Integrated SSD? I assume you mean the cards because having the SSD integrated into the logic board is not a good idea.
I think it will be either a 2.5" HDD/SSD or the SSD card + 2.5" HDD/SSD. I can't see how it can be just the card unless it's two cards or a really big card, but even then that would be pricey for 500GB.
Yes, I meant the "Blade" form factor as against the ones that just look like 2.5" HDs. But come to think of it, I wouldn't put it past Apple to put it right on the board.
Yes, I meant the "Blade" form factor as against the ones that just look like 2.5" HDs. But come to think of it, I wouldn't put it past Apple to put it right on the board.
I'd bet against that. It's one thing to put the RAM on the board for a PC I think we're still a long way off from integrating the NAND flash. If they were going to do that I think the MBAs would have gotten it, not MBPs. I would also bet against the RAM being soldered to the board.
I'd bet against that. It's one thing to put the RAM on the board for a PC I think we're still a long way off from integrating the NAND flash. If they were going to do that I think the MBAs would have gotten it, not MBPs. I would also bet against the RAM being soldered to the board.
You're probably right, but I don't think it's *totally* out of the question.
Software and hardware-wise the Mac has been moving closer to the iPad, and here is the iPad motherboard with NAND directly on it:
http://guide-images.ifixit.net/igi/D...UCsnIZZR.large