Apple's thinner 13- & 15-inch MacBook Pros expected in April 'at the soonest'

Posted:
in Future Apple Hardware edited January 2014


New 13- and 15-inch MacBook Pros with a thinner and lighter design are expected to launch in April "at the soonest," with an initial shipment of just under a million units.



Sources in Apple's upstream supply chain indicated to DigiTimes that Apple will launch upgraded MacBook Pros as early as April, with about 900,000 units expected to be shipped . A redesigned version of the 17-inch MacBook Pro is apparently not expected at launch, as it was not mentioned in Wednesday's report.



That's consistent with what AppleInsider detailed earlier this month, revealing that Apple will launch a larger 17-inch model later than the 15-inch model the company is said to be prioritizing. Apple employed the same approach when it redesigned its MacBook Pro lineup in 2008, as the lower-volume 17-inch model became available a few months later.



Apple's upgraded MacBook Pro lineup along with new MacBook Airs and the forthcoming OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion Mac operating system upgrade are expected in the industry to pose a "significant threat" to notebooks designed to Intel's thin-and-light Ultrabook specification.



"Since Intel is delaying the mass supply of its Ivy Bridge CPUs from April to June, notebook vendors are concerned about... the postponed launch schedules of their ultrabooks, as it may give Apple advantages in terms of time-to-market," the report said.



Earlier this week, an Intel executive indicated that the company's next-generation Ivy Bridge chips are expected to debut eight to 10 weeks later than previously planned. That would push the launch of those chips from April until June.











But it's possible that Apple could still launch new notebooks powered by Ivy Bridge as early as April, if Intel were to give the Mac maker early access to its first run of processors. In the past, Apple has been given early availability of Intel's latest technology before other PC makers.



As Apple gears up to revamp its MacBook Pro lineup and borrow design cues from its successful MacBook Air, PC makers are still hoping to capitalize on the Ultrabook specification being pushed by Intel. Ultrabooks are intended to be less than 21 millimeters thick, weigh no more than 3.1 pounds, use flash-based solid-state drives, and offer 5 to 8 hours of battery life.



But initial Ultrabooks from Windows-based PC makers struggled to compete with Apple on price, as the entry-level 11.6-inch MacBook Air carries a $999 cost. And they also felt the squeeze from Apple on components, as PC makers struggled to obtain unibody metal notebook chassis for their products.



[ View article on AppleInsider ]

«1345

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 81
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    Thinner 13" MacBook Pros? Air?



    I believe they should rebrand the whole lineup with one name, and drop the 17" version entirely.



    The best I could come up with with 7 seconds to think about it is:



    AirBook



    11, 13, 15
  • Reply 2 of 81
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Ireland View Post


    Thinner 13" MacBook Pros? Air?



    I believe they should rebrand the whole lineup with one name, and drop the 17" version entirely.



    The best I could come up with with 7 seconds to think about it is:



    AirBook



    11, 13, 15



    Uh, what? Drop the 17"? Drop the 13.



    One name: MacBook.

    Four sizes: 11", 13", 15", 17"
  • Reply 3 of 81
    boredumbboredumb Posts: 1,418member
    How about, "MacPrayer"?
  • Reply 4 of 81
    Yeah really...drop the 13" and adopt the "AirBook" name. Sweet!
  • Reply 5 of 81
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Ireland View Post


    Thinner 13" MacBook Pros? Air?



    I believe they should rebrand the whole lineup with one name, and drop the 17" version entirely.



    The best I could come up with with 7 seconds to think about it is:



    AirBook



    11, 13, 15



    Yeah... screw pro users. All the developers I work with that have 17" MBP's that switched to mac over the last 5 years... who needs 'em!
  • Reply 6 of 81
    reganregan Posts: 474member
    I would assume that the 13" they allude to is an update to the current 13" Macbook Air. I seriously doubt that Apple will have an 13" Macbook Air AND a redesigned optical driveless 13" Macbook Pro. Doesn't make sense. My hunch is that Apple will rebrand the entire line as Macbook Airs or Macbook Pros and have an 11", 13", 15" & 17" versions.



    Simpler.



    But hey...guess we will find out soon enough. :-)
  • Reply 7 of 81
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    The whole point in having a Pro line up is to have features not available in the run of the mill line up. That means a considerable increase in performance, a high performance GPU, ports and at battery life. Apple changing everything over to AIRs would be likened to shooting ones self in the foot.



    Both of you seem to want to ruin the laptop line in the same way Apple has borked its desktop lineup. That is to eliminate choice in such a way that people go else where. People make a rational choice to buy the PROs because they offer something they need in a laptop that one can't get from an AIR. That might be a better screen or larger disk storage or maybe a better battery. Whatever it is the frame of the AIRs will never offer it up.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Ireland View Post


    Thinner 13" MacBook Pros? Air?



    I believe they should rebrand the whole lineup with one name, and drop the 17" version entirely.



    The best I could come up with with 7 seconds to think about it is:



    AirBook



    11, 13, 15



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


    Uh, what? Drop the 17"? Drop the 13.



    One name: MacBook.

    Four sizes: 11", 13", 15", 17"



  • Reply 8 of 81
    Anyone know/care to guess what will change in this version? To be thinner, they probably have to remove the CD drive, and might go with a encased SSD drive? Any ideas?
  • Reply 9 of 81
    Call it whatever they want.



    11" and 13" integrated graphics

    15" and 17" discreet graphics

    All SSD

    No optical drives



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    Apple's upgraded MacBook Pro lineup along with new MacBook Airs and the forthcoming OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion Mac operating system upgrade are expected in the industry to pose a "significant threat" to notebooks designed to Intel's thin-and-light Ultrabook specification.



    And I get sick of those Ultrabook commercials saying the design of the computer was inspired by Intel. BS. Just say it was inspired by the success of the MacBook Air. When the MBA first came out, people laughed because of the price and the niche market. Then the price got better. Then they redesigned and added the 11" model. Then the MBA started selling like hot cakes. The only thing that was sort-of similar in the early days of the MBA that I know of was the VAIO. But nothing saw really big sales until the redesign of the MBA. All I'm saying is give props where props are due. /rant
  • Reply 10 of 81
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by wizard69 View Post


    The whole point in having a Pro line up is to have features not available in the run of the mill line up.



    So who says there needs to be that differentiation?



    Quote:

    That means a considerable increase in performance, a high performance GPU, ports and at battery life.



    And why would that change in my setup?



    Quote:

    Both of you seem to want to ruin the laptop line in the same way Apple has borked its desktop lineup.



    Again, where in the world are you getting this from me?



    Quote:

    People make a rational choice to buy the PROs because they offer something they need in a laptop that one can't get from an AIR. That might be a better screen or larger disk storage or maybe a better battery.



    Again, who says this would change? The 11" and 13" would keep the same ULV chips they have now. The 15" and 17" would keep chips of the same power draw as they have now. They'd also have dedicated graphics and 2.5" hard drives. With the cases being designed the same, there's just no sense in calling the line two different things.



    Quote:

    Whatever it is the frame of the AIRs will never offer it up.



    So tell that to Apple, because that's what they're doing, it seems.
  • Reply 11 of 81
    My humble opinion on this is that the MacBook Air just becomes the MacBook (as it's now Apple's only consumer notebook), while the 13" - 17" MacBook Pros keep their name.



    I don't think they'll ditch the 17" MBP. While Apple does kill off features and product lines all the time, I think they still like to have leading-edge hardware, especially in the portable world, and won't kill it off unless they have a fitting replacement. ie, they still sell the iPod classic (probably because it has capacity no other iPod has... yet).



    The Mac Pro has more to worry about, as Apple seems to think Thunderbolt's expansion possibilities on MacBook Pros and iMacs renders it unnecessary. God I hope not. Alas, that's another thread, sorry.
  • Reply 12 of 81
    Again people ragging on the MBP 13". I just don't get it. Many people want a full featured laptop in a smaller form factor.



    The 13" MBP has over the 13" Air:



    - Much faster processor options

    - Much larger RAM capacity - Up to 16gb RAM (Air is 4gb max).

    - Much larger Storage capacity - to 1tb of storage or even more with optibay. (256gb max on Air)

    - Firewire

    - Security Slot

    - Optical Drive (or additional bay for another drive if preferred).

    - GB Ethernet

    - Separate audio in/out

    - Higher quality although lower resolution screen



    Bottom line - it is nice to have options. Not sure why anyone would want fewer options.
  • Reply 13 of 81
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by regan View Post


    I would assume that the 13" they allude to is an update to the current 13" Macbook Air. I seriously doubt that Apple will have an 13" Macbook Air AND a redesigned optical driveless 13" Macbook Pro.



    Many like the 13" class machines but can not deal with AIRs short comings. Pull the optical out of the 13"MBP and you gain room for a GPU, a bigger battery, possibly a disk bay to supplement the blade drive. Not to mention a much faster processor.



    Really this isn't hard to grasp, even if Apple doubled the flash SSD's in the AIRs they still wouldn't have the storage capacity of a 13" MBP.

    Quote:

    Doesn't make sense. My hunch is that Apple will rebrand the entire line as Macbook Airs or Macbook Pros and have an 11", 13", 15" & 17" versions.



    Simpler.



    It is very possible to end up too simple. The AIRs are find for the simpletons but for many real work requires a vastly more capable machine. Anybody that seriously thinks that one line of laptops would be acceptable to all users should look at why people buy PRO's in the first place.

    Quote:

    But hey...guess we will find out soon enough. :-)



    Yep! It will be most interesting to see how things develope.
  • Reply 14 of 81
    29922992 Posts: 202member
    paperthin macbooooooks!!!
  • Reply 15 of 81
    I don't know how Apple reconciles the Pro line's larger storage capacity if the company trends everything to the Air's profile.



    I doubt that Apple would leave a conventional hard drive in. With the price of SSDs right now, is it feasible for the new Macbooks to top off at 512 GB, or is that still too crazy expensive?



    I would love a 13" laptop with the form factor of the MBA but with lots of storage.
  • Reply 16 of 81
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by wizard69 View Post


    Both of you seem to want to ruin the laptop line in the same way Apple has borked its desktop lineup. That is to eliminate choice in such a way that people go else where.



    Yeah... I mean... just look at how the Mac market share has been destroyed because of this. Sigh...



    The Mac Pro is gone. Eliminated by the pure power available in iMacs now (I know... I've got a Quad i7 iMac with 16GB.) Eliminated by the simplicity of the iMac. Eliminated by the infinite expandability of Thunderbolt.



    The market disagrees with you... so do I.
  • Reply 17 of 81
    herbapouherbapou Posts: 2,228member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by azentropy View Post


    Again people ragging on the MBP 13". I just don't get it. Many people want a full featured laptop in a smaller form factor.



    The 13" MBP has over the 13" Air:



    - Much faster processor options

    - Much larger RAM capacity - Up to 16gb RAM (Air is 4gb max).

    - Much larger Storage capacity - to 1tb of storage or even more with optibay. (256gb max on Air)

    - Firewire

    - Security Slot

    - Optical Drive (or additional bay for another drive if preferred).

    - GB Ethernet

    - Separate audio in/out

    - Higher quality although lower resolution screen



    Bottom line - it is nice to have options. Not sure why anyone would want fewer options.



    I think they should keep 2 lines of laptop too. But the 13" pro could be drop in favor the air.



    If it was me making the decisions I would build the Air in 3 models: 10,13,15. And the Pro would be 15" and 17". They need to have models with the more powerfull CPU's line, so they need to keep the pro line.
  • Reply 18 of 81
    More likely:

    AirBook - 11", 13", 15" or just maybe 11", 14" instead

    AirBook Pro - 13", 15", 17"
  • Reply 19 of 81
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bluefish86 View Post


    More likely:

    AirBook - 11", 13", 15" or just maybe 11", 14" instead

    AirBook Pro - 13", 15", 17"



    AirBook sounds like something Dell or Lenovo would come up with
  • Reply 20 of 81
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by azentropy View Post


    Again people ragging on the MBP 13". I just don't get it. Many people want a full featured laptop in a smaller form factor.



    The 13" MBP has over the 13" Air:



    - Much faster processor options

    - Much larger RAM capacity - Up to 16gb RAM (Air is 4gb max).

    - Much larger Storage capacity - to 1tb of storage or even more with optibay. (256gb max on Air)

    - Firewire

    - Security Slot

    - Optical Drive (or additional bay for another drive if preferred).

    - GB Ethernet

    - Separate audio in/out

    - Higher quality although lower resolution screen



    Bottom line - it is nice to have options. Not sure why anyone would want fewer options.



    I agree. I don't see the MacBook pro going anywhere soon. I do expect that it will take some design cues from the MBA, though.



    The only thing I wonder about is the optical drive. I wouldn't be surprised if the optical drive gets dropped from the 15" on the theory that most people who need to carry a drive with them will choose the high end, anyway.



    It would even be possible to drop the optical drive entirely and go to an external - the number of people who would be negatively impacted is relatively small. I don't see it going there, but I wouldn't be shocked if it did.



    However, I have to wonder why AI is still quoting Digitimes who hasn't gotten anything right for ages.
Sign In or Register to comment.