Apple notebook overhaul rumored for mid-October

[AppleInsider]

Apple may be planning to hold its final media gathering of the year a little over a month from now to usher in much anticipated overhauls to its MacBook line of notebook computers, according to a new report.

In his write-up of Apple's music announcements this week, Daring Fireball's John Gruber said sources "familiar with Apple’s hardware plans" have informed him that the company's new line of Mac notebooks will arrive on Tuesday, October 14th.

While Gruber is not a traditional source of Apple rumors, his predictions do fall in line with a recent hardware roadmap published by AppleInsider, which suggested that redesigned MacBook and MacBook Pros would come weeks after the company's iPod announcements.

Beyond that, Apple also holds a refresh to its iMac line of all-in-one desktop computers that have been described to AppleInsider as more of a series of speed bumps than major design overhauls.

Apple has in recent years used smaller gatherings on its Cupertino-based campus -- specifically the Apple Town Hall auditorium -- to set a more intimate setting for its Mac-related announcements.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[MacNub]

Ugh....

[teckstud]

...will arrive on Tuesday, October 14th.

Calling Jack Skellington.

[dm3]

Mini ???

[teckstud]

Option a blu-ray drive to the iMac already.

[markroder]

Any news of the Mini? The story that never was!

Thanks.

[SpamSandwich]

Like the iPod event, don't expect too much and be wary of analysts bearing overoptimistic estimates.

[Squirrel_Monkey]

Hopefully Steve Jobs will have figured out immortality by then, prompting all these hedge funds to clean up their short positions.

[mrpiddly]

Any speculation of what gpu they would use in the next macbook pro taking into consideration form factor, heat, and battery life?

[solipsism]

— Will this be a complete redesign or just a refresh to Montevina?
— Will the notebooks be getting the SFF package of the typical package size?
— Will the iMacs be getting a desktop grade Montevina/Penryn now that the TPD is lowered?
— Will the Mac Mini be refreshed, retired or redesigned?
— Will the Mac Pro be refreshed or redesigned?
— Will the dynamic feedback trackpad come to fruition?
— Will the MB get a backlit keyboard?
— Will the optical drive be made external (included with purchase, of course)?
— Will Apple offer an SSD option for the MBP?
— Will Apple offer SSD boot disk option for the Mac Pro and Xserve?
— Will Intel's X-25 SSDs be ready available by next month?

[Tony1]

Mmm good, a big fat bowl of speculation ... enjoy.

[DimMok]

Finally some decent computer news....you all know Apple started as a computer company? Right?

[shanmugam]

rumor rumor and more rumor... tiring...

if everyone agreed sep going to be music (ipod) event, there will be less speculation, less rumor, less stress

[EyeNsteinNo]

Prices on all the above.

But can't get too aggressive, Steve's not ready yet to put Michael out of business.

[merdhead]

My predictions:

- Chipset bump
- Price drops across the board
- Unified styling in Aluminium, new style keyboards
- Another machine in the Air range, possibly a smaller one or a faster one
- Enhancements at the top end like > 4GB memory, possibly Quad core
- bigger touch pads with gestures ala AIr

Things we are not going to see:

- 3G laptops
- Tablets
- Midi Mac Pro

Maybe:

- GPS

[McHuman]

what ever happened to the september production transition that will introduce "revolutionary new products at a pricepoint competetors can't match that will result in substantially lower margins and quarterly earnings"???

[merdhead]

Originally Posted by McHuman

what ever happened to the september production transition that will introduce "revolutionary new products at a pricepoint competetors can't match that will result in substantially lower margins and quarterly earnings"???

Obviously they're taking a bath on the new iPods, or were they referring to the next quarter?

[iVlad]

Originally Posted by shanmugam

rumor rumor and more rumor... tiring...

if everyone agreed sep going to be music (ipod) event, there will be less speculation, less rumor, less stress

Umm you are on a Rumor site. LOL

[McHuman]

Originally Posted by merdhead

Obviously they're taking a bath on the new iPods, or were they referring to the next quarter?

There is nothing about the new iPods that changes their margins. In fact, Wu today said the new iPods won't be a hit to their margins.

If you calculate the numbers Apple said about their guidance, the margin impact would have to be HUGE and impact huge volumes of some product. Not just a few weeks of iPod sales.

[merdhead]

Originally Posted by McHuman

There is nothing about the new iPods that changes their margins. In fact, Wu today said the new iPods won't be a hit to their margins.

If you calculate the numbers Apple said about their guidance, the margin impact would have to be HUGE and impact huge volumes of some product. Not just a few weeks of iPod sales.

Well then either our rumour monger is full of shit, or they changed their mind about September and moved it to October. It wouldn't affect this quarter that much anyway.

I'm a little shakey on the timing anyway, care to help us out here? You seem well informed.

[Mr. H]

Originally Posted by solipsism

— Will this be a complete redesign or just a refresh to Montevina?

It better be the former or I'm going to be pissed

Originally Posted by solipsism

— Will the notebooks be getting the SFF package [or] the typical package size?

Normal

Originally Posted by solipsism

— Will the iMacs be getting a desktop grade Montevina/Penryn now that the TPD is lowered?

Maybe. Although quite a few "desktop" Intels already have TDPs equal to or lower than the G5 and Apple doesn't use them.

Originally Posted by solipsism

— Will the Mac Mini be refreshed, retired or redesigned?

xMac, xMac, xMac! Only joking! Probably a silent refresh at some point.

Originally Posted by solipsism

— Will the Mac Pro be refreshed or redesigned?

Refreshed.

Originally Posted by solipsism

— Will the dynamic feedback trackpad come to fruition?

You what?

Originally Posted by solipsism

— Will the MB get a backlit keyboard?

No

Originally Posted by solipsism

— Will the optical drive be made external (included with purchase, of course)?

No

Originally Posted by solipsism

— Will Apple offer an SSD option for the MBP?

Maybe

Originally Posted by solipsism

— Will Apple offer SSD boot disk option for the Mac Pro and Xserve?

Doubtful

Originally Posted by solipsism

— Will Intel's X-25 SSDs be ready available by next month?

Dunno.

[mbmcavoy]

Originally Posted by merdhead

Obviously they're taking a bath on the new iPods, or were they referring to the next quarter?

If new Macs are coming out next month, wouldn't they already be in production, getting ready to hit the shelves on opening day? Even if they aren't being built yet, there could be a lot of expenses getting prepared.

Either way, that transition could be costing Apple big time now, without the consumer seeing a thing.

[Galley]

External Blu-ray SuperDrive for $200, with movie playback support for my 24" iMac please!

[McHuman]

Originally Posted by merdhead

Well then either our rumour monger is full of shit, or they changed their mind about September and moved it to October. It wouldn't affect this quarter that much anyway.

Exactly, and yet their very low earnings guidance for this quarter was repeatedly justified by a september production transition that will have big affects on margin. For those of you not investors, that means that if the iPods were the new product, and the margin turns out to be not impacted, then investors could see a huge earnings surprise. Or, it means Apple was sandbagging some other issue.

Anyway, you can go to Apple's investors website and listen to the 3Q2008 conference call quicktime to hear details.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by Mr. H

You what?

[Mr. H]

Originally Posted by mbmcavoy

If new Macs are coming out next month, wouldn't they already be in production, getting ready to hit the shelves on opening day? Even if they aren't being built yet, there could be a lot of expenses getting prepared.

Either way, that transition could be costing Apple big time now, without the consumer seeing a thing.

The financial conference call talked about lowering gross profit margins. What you are talking about here would affect operating margin but not gross margin.

It would seem that the expected lowering of gross margins for the current quarter must have been due to the student iPod rebate program, but the reductions going forward will be due to the forthcoming Mac updates.

[merdhead]

Originally Posted by McHuman

Exactly, and yet their very low earnings guidance for this quarter was repeatedly justified by a september production transition that will have big affects on margin. For those of you not investors, that means that if the iPods were the new product, and the margin turns out to be not impacted, then investors could see a huge earnings surprise. Or, it means Apple was sandbagging some other issue.

Anyway, you can go to Apple's investors website and listen to the 3Q2008 conference call quicktime to hear details.

Well if I wanted to do that I wouldn't have asked you, would I?

I think it's probably tied in with some timing issue anyway, or the Touch is costing them a fortune (relatively). We'll have to wait and see what happens with the MacBooks, but that is where the greatest scope for change is and the greatest competition. Maybe they'll do something huge.

[Ireland]

Originally Posted by teckstud

Option a blu-ray drive to the iMac already.

Why?.

[Zab The Fab]

has EVERYONE completely FORGOTTEN Apple's OWN words: "....by the end of September Apple will have gone THROUGH a significante product transition" ?????

Are rumor sites now "guessing" AGAINST Apple's own (and very rare) announcement?????

[aplnub]

Originally Posted by Zab The Fab

has EVERYONE completely FORGOTTEN Apple's OWN words: "....by the end of September Apple will have gone THROUGH a significante product transition" ?????

Are rumor sites now "guessing" AGAINST Apple's own (and very rare) announcement?????

With less than 20 days left for an announcement, and beginning to wonder if Apple is just crying wolf on this stuff. I have yet to see anything significant in the way of a product transition with the Music family. So I am guessing that Steve will deliver some big news by the 30th. After all, didn't PO deliver those words you quoted? Seems unusual for him to make such a statement without big confidence from where I am sitting.

I agree that Oct. 14th looks out of the question for an announcement since this would have to happen before the 30th. More like a release date or just a bad date all together to find a leak.

[Ireland]

Originally Posted by Zab The Fab

has EVERYONE completely FORGOTTEN Apple's OWN words: "....by the end of September Apple will have gone THROUGH a significante product transition" ??

I know I haven't. I mentioned it twice already since this event.

Where's this supposed transition Apple? Hello!??

[Abster2core]

Originally Posted by Zab The Fab

has EVERYONE completely FORGOTTEN Apple's OWN words: "....by the end of September Apple will have gone THROUGH a significante product transition" ?????

Are rumor sites now "guessing" AGAINST Apple's own (and very rare) announcement?????

Could you supply the reference to your quote?

I have a copy of the 3rdQ 2008 conference call and nobody from Apple said anything like that.

[sflocal]

Originally Posted by solipsism

— Will this be a complete redesign or just a refresh to Montevina?
— Will the notebooks be getting the SFF package of the typical package size?
— Will the iMacs be getting a desktop grade Montevina/Penryn now that the TPD is lowered?
— Will the Mac Mini be refreshed, retired or redesigned?
— Will the Mac Pro be refreshed or redesigned?
— Will the dynamic feedback trackpad come to fruition?
— Will the MB get a backlit keyboard?
— Will the optical drive be made external (included with purchase, of course)?
— Will Apple offer an SSD option for the MBP?
— Will Apple offer SSD boot disk option for the Mac Pro and Xserve?
— Will Intel's X-25 SSDs be ready available by next month?

Be honest... tell me what you really want to know.

[joelsalt]

I don't think they will abandon the internal cd/dvd drive yet, but i would really love to see that happen.

The main gripes anyone has about removing the cd drive is
a) ripping music/movies
b) installing software
c) burning optical media

All of these things aren't really done "spur of the moment" and could easily be done at home where your superdrive is.

I think that might happen in the next year or two, not right away (maybe usb 3.0 would facilitate this, esp. BR?). thoughts?

[Ireland]

Originally Posted by joelsalt

I don't think they will abandon the internal cd/dvd drive yet, but i would really love to see that happen.

Why?.

[MacNub]

Originally Posted by mrpiddly

Any speculation of what gpu they would use in the next macbook pro taking into consideration form factor, heat, and battery life?

Yes what he said... all I really want to know is what GPU is likely as that is my real descision maker...

[cmf2]

Originally Posted by joelsalt

I don't think they will abandon the internal cd/dvd drive yet, but i would really love to see that happen.

The main gripes anyone has about removing the cd drive is
a) ripping music/movies
b) installing software
c) burning optical media

All of these things aren't really done "spur of the moment" and could easily be done at home where your superdrive is.

I think that might happen in the next year or two, not right away (maybe usb 3.0 would facilitate this, esp. BR?). thoughts?

I use the dvd drive to play dvd's in motel rooms, I don't want to pack around an external drive to do that. With bigger hard drives, an optical drive does become less important. I don't think we are at the stage where we should shed it though. I also don't like the idea of having peripherals scattered everywhere on my desk to supplement my computer.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by Ireland

Why?.

• The majority of consumers don't seem to use it often.
• HDD and flash are faster mediums that hold considerably more data.

DVDs will survive an EMP, but that isn't a real concern with most people.

[joelsalt]

Originally Posted by cmf2

I use the dvd drive to play dvd's in motel rooms, I don't want to pack around an external drive to do that. With bigger hard drives, an optical drive does become less important. I don't think we are at the stage where we should shed it though. I also don't like the idea of having peripherals scattered everywhere on my desk to supplement my computer.

While this is a good point, using a flash drive to store the movies and playing them on the computer could usurp this necessity. Since flash drives are easier to cart around than a bunch of discs. Again, i'm thinking in a few years (for the chips to become cheaper and bigger to hold several HD movies)

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by cmf2

I use the dvd drive to play dvd's in motel rooms, I don't want to pack around an external drive to do that. With bigger hard drives, an optical drive does become less important. I don't think we are at the stage where we should shed it though. I also don't like the idea of having peripherals scattered everywhere on my desk to supplement my computer.

Volume wise, a 2.5" external drive takes up as much space as single DVD case. Notebook capacities have grown to a point that even copying the entire Video_TS file to the HDD to watch later shouldn't be a problem. There was a point when DVDs held more than your average notebook HDD. and if you are on a plane running from the HDD, instead of an optical drive, means you save precious battery juice.

There is no question that some consumers use their optical drives often and prefer them; the question is: Are there enough people that don't use them to make the switch, like Apple did with the floppy drive?