What's your dream MBP?

A Release date

Other then that ill take a 15" screen and a video card thats not already 5 years old

How about more competitive pricing? I can get all of the above for about $1299 in canada. Get intouch with reality apple.

Nobody mentions a full size keyboard with number pad. How hard is that? Notebooks are replacing desktop machines. I want to be as productive as desktop pcs. The only reason we won't get it is because it offends Steve's sense of aesthetics. It's these minor yet essential things that apple has no clue.

HDMI, as light as an Air with a price tag of MINUS $10,000,000

In a MBP I'd want atleast a 15" wide screen. After all the P stands for pro.

Drop the support of internal optical drives completely. I want a pro machine that supports an array of storage devices. I say array of "devices" because I'd like to see Apple move beyound SATA to PCI-Express connected storage devices. So in this case a laptop would have "slots" for multiple PC cards that plug in as storage devices. What this does is make for very thin laptops with widely configurable storage capacities. Done right a laptop should end up with space for four or five such cards. About the only bad thing here is the current high flash prices and the slow ramp up of competitive processes.

NO INTEL INTEGRATED GPUS!!!!

What ever GPU they do adopt it should support threading in such a way that long running OpenCL kernels don't coop the video system completely.

4GB of RAM ought to be considered minimal these days, pro notebooks should be beyound that.

Lightpeak would be cool. Especially if Apple came out with a disk array / hub / breakout box, to plug your laptop into.

An alternate power input. This to support charging from solar cells and the like. The idea here is that people could adhere a panel to the back of the lid of their MBPs.


Dave

- 13" OLED screen
- 1920x1600 res
- resolution independence
- Bluray
- HDMI
- LightPeak x2
- Nvidia GPU
- matte screen
- Core i7 quad-core (8 threads)
- 16GB RAM
- 512GB SSD
- preferably a price lower than US$ 8,000

I'd prefer a 15" display model cheaper - it's just the weight that has to come down. There's only 1lb between the 13" and 15".

I'd like an IPS matte display
I used to think the higher resolution on the display the better but 1440 x 900 is fine on the 15"
no optical drive, just an option for a second hard drive so you can get a cheap 40GB Intel SSD for the boot drive and a large HDD for files - the optical drive removal drops the weight by about 1lb
4GB RAM default up to 8GB support (reality is it'll have 2 slots)
weight 4.5lbs
NVidia Optimus or low power ATI card - performance would be about 1.5-2x the 9600M GT
3 x USB 3.0 ports, possibly more without the optical, FW800, ethernet, SD slot
processor-wise, probably Core i5, dual CPU, 4 thread. It has the integrated GPU so NVidia Optimus can shut off and use it and would be 35W vs 45W for Core i7 and cheaper.
Core i5 540M 2.53GHz - about 75% of the performance of the most likely Core i7, which can be in more expensive models

As for price, the 13" and 15" with the same spec are separated by $200 and the display cost doesn't seem like it would be that much plus removing the optical should lower the price and all 15" means common inventory so I'd say $1499 for the above spec. They could even make the $1199 a 15" with slightly lower spec even if it's still the old 9400M + low clock Core 2 Duo. Just scrap 13" from the MBP line given that the weight would be the same on the 15".

Leave 13" for the white Macbook.

Also, ensure that the base can be taken off easily to switch the drives

If we're talking about fantasy MBP, I'd say quad 5GHz with 8GB RAM, dual 512GB SSD, NVidia Fermi mobile GPU, wireless peripherals at the speed of USB 3, capacitive touch display, 12 hour battery on full load, $1499. Maybe next year.

After using a matte 15" incher form early 2008 I honestly think that I'd be better off with a glossy.

I see you are real concerned about weight. That is one of the reasons I'd like to se Apple transition to storage on PCI-Express modules. Your storage then becomes nothing more than another PC board in the machine.

Of course another big side effect is a much thinner MBP.

I suspect performance could be better than 2X. More importantly need as much OpenCl goodness as is possible.

I like ports myself but USB 3.0 ups the allowed current that the port can supply. Obviously if the ports are used the potential is there to drain the battery.

Actually Apple should consider building in more RF reception. This would include AM/FM and TV. Wild you say, not really I'd reply as some chips already have FM built in as an extra. TV tuners are now single chip affairs. It is just a way to add more capability in a reliable way. The biggest issue is the antenna solution, which could be un mac like.

Dave

13" with medium end dedicated CPU and 16:9 screen. And a 21.5" ACD to go with it.

They changed the display quality since then though. A 2009 MBP glossy next to a matte are identical - the matte one just has no glare. It's obviously more vulnerable to damage though as there's no glass panel in front of it.


Once SSDs get down to an affordable level and proven to be more reliable, it would be a good idea but they'd really have to push 250GB minimum. It helps cut down the noise too.


If they go with the 5650, it would be great because it's listed at over 360GFlops. The NVidia 230M is only listed at 158GFlops.
9400M is a paltry 54GFlops and 9600M GT 120GFlops. Only the GTS 250M matches it.

Manufacturers already have the 5650 with 1GB VRAM in base models under $1000. Apple seriously needs to get with the program here.


TV would be nice but it would force some people to get a TV license in some countries. Mainly UK students living at university, which is probably quite a lot of people - around 5,000 per university and maybe 1/3 Mac users times about 100 institutions. Not a huge amount relatively but significant.

15" IPS matte screen @ 1680x1050
Core i7
Dedicated GPU with >2x performance of 9600M GT w/ 1 GB of GDDR5 VRAM.
8 GB DDR3 RAM
$1500 Price tag

Would be nice, but IPS screens in laptops weren't cost effective.

I'm on board with the no-optical-drive idea.

Make a tiny external Blu-ray drive.

Put an SSD where the optical drive was but keep the traditional hard drive as well (until such time as 300~500GB SSDs are cheap and have similar MTBF as hard drives).

Appropriate use of the past-tense. You can pick up a 22" IPS for $230 now:

http://accessories.dell.com/sna/prod...1&sku=320-7825

The 32GB iPad is $599 ($359 costs) and the 32GB iPod Touch is $299 ($179 costs) so I reckon worst case is that the 10" IPS is $180. The iPad has a faster CPU, a bigger battery and more casing so the display is probably under $130.

If Dell can ship a 22" IPS for $230 and Apple can put a 10" IPS in the iPad for under $130, I reckon they can find some IPS tech in that price region. It seems very much like this is what the LG deal was about. After it was announced, we get the 21.5" iMac with an IPS, we get an affordable 27" IPS, the iPad has an IPS. Obviously the Cinema display is IPS. All that's left are the mobile devices and laptops and they could benefit from the tech for the viewing angles.

My dream machine is the following:

Core i7 920xm mobile
16 gigs of RAM (2x8GB modules; supposedly these are coming soon to laptops)
2 gig video card (nvidia 340m or something related with power usage not exceeding 21 watts) with low power card that works in both Mac and Windows for light usage needs
2 hard drive slots with external optical drive
1 hard drive would be 512 meg SSD (fastest model possible)
1 hard drive would be 1 TB 5200 RPM
18.4" screen
Numeric keypad
Blu-Ray External drive for the optical drive
4xUSB3 ports
1 FW800 port
802.11N
Bluetooth
4g wireless

price tag not to exceed $3000

+1 to removing optical drive and putting in space for a optional SSD. No built in SSD as I want a Sandforce and not some jMicron crap. More battery life as the normal HDD is usually powered down. Enough storage space for everyone without carrying arround external drives and having to plug them in. If I ever use the optical drive it is to install Linux or something and this I do at home anyway.
Also they should add one or two more battery cells into the remaining space.

Really unnecessary and doubtful to show up is a quad core i7. The unibody MBP are simply not built for such hot Powerhungry CPUs. They would divide the max batterylife by half. Dual Core 32nm is the only reasonable CPU for these Notebooks.

What I really dread is if Apple could make the switch to 16:9. Only idiots prefer this ratio. An 13.3" 16:9 looks like a 12,1" 16:10 but is still as wide and difficult to store as an 13" 16:10. Same goes for 15,6" which is in usability closer to 14" 16:10.
I hope they stick with the current 16:10 unibodies. The 15" is almost perfect. I'd only wish they made the border arround the screen smaller or the screen bigger. I want maximum screensize and define portability by the width * length of the notebook. Thin is nice but not necessary. The bigger the screen the more productive you are and other than that it has to fit in a bag. 13,3" is imo unusable small and only works for minor tasks you can use netbooks for.
I am confident they stick with the current unibodies though as a redesign would have created some rumors (and there are zero) and it also would reduce space for the battery, which they might have shrunken if the new Arrendales would save enough power but they don't.

4G LTE modul would be nice in the 15" and smaller as there is no easy way to add it later. 3G would be okay too.

IPS would be cool and a little more resolution althought the later should be optional but 1440x900 is fine, only for some tasks more is always nice.

Basically mine but with something better than an 8600M GT in it. Preferably a Radeon.

I'd be fine with a 19" macbook pro with a quad-core chip & blu-ray burner. My laptop is plugged-in 99% of the time so I'm not really worried about the battery. I'm looking for a desktop replacement. I wouldn't even mind if they had to bump up the thickness to 1.25 inches either to accommodate it.

Maybe I will take a more indepth look the next time I stop by the Apple store but I seem to remember a huge difference. Especially with respect to crispness and viewability.

In a portable application it appears that SSD are already more reliable. The lack of capacity is a real issue though. My hope is that the use of a PC card that plugs into a socket would lead to lower costs as you get rid of the legacy mechanics. Puls theses days with surface mount devices the cards can be extremely thin.

I know an all solid state machine is pushing it, thus I would not object to a hybrid approach with bulk storage on a magnetic disk. When I make reference to solid state I'm not thinking just about flash either, phase change is coming on strong too. What I think we need from Apple is the conviction or silliness to set a new standard here for solid state storage in portable equipment for the future. It seems to be about the optimal time to do so.

As to reliability and hybrid systems, flash might be less than ideal anyways. If apple implemented a phase change solid state storage device for the boot/applications drive we would likely have even faster machines with even more reliable storage than flash. The problem here of course is density, phase change just isn't competitive at the moment. Putting /bin and the other files required to boot the kernel on such storage might be acceptable though.

While I didn't have the numbers off the top of my head my thinking was that 2X performance increase would have been a piece of cake. Your numbers indicate that those are conservative numbers.

Whatever they choose I want to see a GPU that can run the graphics code and OpenCL programs at the same time. That is independant threads of execution so that long running OpenCL code can happen without impacting the display.

Yes I agree 100%. This is one reason not to buy an Apple laptop right now, because any GPU they go with should be much faster. More so the jump in performance should be much more than what is seen in the CPU. In many ways the CPU upgrade is a non event compared to other considerations.

I've never understood that concept!!!!!!

Then go to college in another country.

In any event let's say we limit the reception to FM radio. It is a big benefit for many service providers that are trying to supply RF networking to portable computers. It could be 3G/4G or something else but the point is there is not enough bandwidth for each and every individual to have his own streaming connection. There never will be either. What having a radio installed does is provide for another way to enjoy broadcast on your PC that simply use an older format. The good thing is that these older formats don't lead to congestion of the airwaves the way trying to support millions of streaming channels do.

I bring this up in the context of laptops because it is common for such platforms to use RF networking of some sort often to stream media. A desktop with a hardwired connection is far less of a problem. The samething applies to the iPhone, here it is not uncommon for people to stream LOCAL radio stations. This is a waste of bandwidth in my mind, especially when FM can be added to the device with little effort.

Dave

That's more like it. If I'm going to Dream ..it's gonna big big.

Really just look at iPad.

With the exception of Lightpeak and the RAM limit, you just described a Sony Vaio Z running OS X spec for spec. That's pretty much exactly what I want too.

DisplayPort 1.2 allowing multiple monitors via single connector

If you don't want a 13" MBP, don't buy one. Why bother suggesting that it shouldn't be a Pro model, other than some misplaced elitism?

Personally, I'll take the cheaper, smaller, lighter 13" MBP. Sorry if you're offended that I'm not "Pro" enough for you.

If I want a huge screen, I'll use my desktop. I want a new notebook for portability.

hdmi check

usb 3.0

firewire

pico projector from the apple logo

sd card slot with osX on it for instant startups

no real keyboard, virtual keyboard touch screen. the whole "keyboard" as touch screen
allows for custom keyboards and application specific keyboards

It's not just aesthetics. It's a useability and major design issue too. To include a numbered key pad you'd have to shift the rest of the keyboard off centre, thereby limiting the space available for palm-rests. This wouldn't work on a 13" or 15" because you'd have small and cramped palm rests that would be difficult to use. Also, Apple utilises the space on either side of the keyboard for air air intake as well as speaker outputs. Where else would you put the air grill and still keep it slim and rugged???

Just buy a USB keypad!!!

JESUS.

Buy an iMac already, if you want a screen that big and want to pay a ton of money for an all-in-one. You'll have better bang for your buck for sure.

Or take the $3k+ that rig would cost you and just buy a Mac Pro. Massive laptops make me all

It would be kind of awkward lugging an iMac to a client's house when I do freelance jobs. And I
don't think I'm the only one who would like even more screen real estate along with the portability
that a macbook pro provides. As for the blu-ray burner, I don't mind if was an option instead of
standard or even external like the macbook air's portable superdrive.

All I can say this should replace HDMI. Besides most new TV's should have a display port on them in the near future since it doesn't cost a fee to have one installed plus Display ports are superior to HDMI.

13" screen
2560x1600 resolution (with Resolution Independence)
LightPeak
8GB RAM and 256GB SSD both integrated on the motherboard
Less than 1kg
Quad-core 32nm CPU with on-die GPU and northbridge
No optical drive

I admit, that's more likely to be a future MacBook Air than MacBook Pro, but it's what I want.

Since CPU and GPU improvements are a given just give me Blu-Ray and HDMI. That's all I want.

I'm of the opinion that a Mac needs a bigger jump than a flash boot drive. Here the thought is that we need to go to the new phase change technogies to put the primary system on. We aren't talking a huge amount of storage just enough to put the kernel and the key software needed. The trick is figuring out how much storage just the base system requires, but 10GB ought to do it.

The idea is fast boot times and an overall improvement in running system code.

Dave

15' 16/10 screen with at least 1680*1050 non glossy
Intel i5
6 GB of RAM
Radeon HD5870 or Geforce GTX280/285
HDD SSD 80GO or a normal 320GB in 7400RPM
Blu-ray/DVD reader
3hr battery life in normal usage
3 USB 3.0 ports
HDMI and VGA output (VGA needed for pro VP connection in data mode)
Unibody aluminium
Correct Webcam

I'd spend 1800 euros in such a machine. For now as Apple seems to struggle releasing the new Macbooks, I may just buy a pc laptop for work and mobility gaming (the new Asus G73JH) and take an iMac in 27' for personal stuffs at home

If iPad takes off I can actually see a shift back to desktop machines with the iPad handling many peoples limited mobile needs. As you note a better bang for the buck. More importantly a much bigger screen which can be a huge productivity boost.

All of that aside a 19" MBP isn't totally unreasonable either. There are a number of crafts that could make use of a large screen portable. The question of course is could Apple sell them.

A massive laptop isn't any worst than a net book. Both have limited utility for the average user. However for specific niches they can be very useful.

The thing Apple needs to keep an eye on is this potential shift back to desktops and iPad combos. You won't see signs this year but possibly next. This due to people gaining experience and saying hey I can get an overall better experience following this path instead of trying to make a laptop do double duty.

A lot of that better experience comes from the larger screen on the desktop with a much more portable device for field work. Add in a new Touch model or two to fill different size needs in October and we will see a dramatic shift in demand. After all if you don't really need that laptop or find that the new devices do a better job would you remain that attached to it?


Dave

Your analysis is interesting and I think Jobs has forseen the same. Point is, I'm monitoring a completly different shift. In my software engineer job I see more and more people abandoning desktop machines for laptops. Works that require computing power and memory are achieved remotely on big VM servers. Sometimes people asks for a 24' monitor on their desk, but some of them aren't even, they just use their 15' pro laptop everywhere for software development, management...
My friends and family members are shifting the same way in their homes. My friend circle is engineer only, I'm the only one to have bought a desktop these 2 last years. My family is doing the same.

I suspect Apple is looking into a better solution for the reflections many seem to have trouble with on glossy screens. Traditional matte screens are not the answer as they compromise the image to much. I bring this up because of the purge of screen protectors - overlays from the Apple stores.

The processor implementation depends very much upon the size of the machine in my mind. The 17" machine should have at the very least the option of an i7 with the extra threads. At the opposite end, in the 13", I'd like to see Apple go for extremely low power and very long battery life.

Certainly as an option in the lowend machine but again standard in the 17" machine. In fact I'm seriously wondering if they will be able to shoehorn in two GPUs in the 17" machine.

Nope!!!!! No internal optical drive at all except for possibly the 17" model. To put it simply they waste power and space for the majority of the users out there. As to secondary storage I'm leaning to either all solid state or a hybrid approach.

In the end the solid state approach leads a lower profile machine with the potential for more storage space. Combined with faster operation and possibly lower power and you have a big win. The only reason to support a hybrid approach is the lower cost per Mega Byte.

Why the regression in battery life? By using modern components they really ought to get better battery life. Certainly as good or better than todays MBPs which do better than three hours.

For many of us web cams are about as useful as those opitical drives. In the end they are an unneeded power draw.

I really wish I knew where in hell all this negative energy comes from. There is no sign at all that Apple is struggling. The reality is very different and if you look at history easy to understand. Long product cycles at Apple are often an indication of a major product overhaul. Considering the potential here this is a very good thing.

Hey whatever works for you. Just don't come crying if the new MBPs come out with some impressive technology.

Dave

At least in my mind it is.

Yes that is very true today. It does not however mean that the crowd has chossen the best path for the future. Even today I could argue that part of the move to laptops is all about status. It certainly isn't about productivity.

I haven't seen a wholesale move in this direction. However if the trend is happening else where it just reinforces the idea that iPad like devices may be useful to many in the field.

Many do around here too. However I'm pretty much convinced that porthole sized laptop screens aren't conducive to growing productivity. Maybe it is OK for management but I'm not so convince for engineering, design or even programming.

Unfortunately what seems to be the mentality is that people simply say screw it, if the company can't do any better than this I'm not going to try any harder. I've seen this first hand when IT policies become so negative that they actually pull the whole corporation down.

I don't disagree with that as I've seen the same thing, that is why I don't think you will see a measurable shift in sales back to desktops this year. I've pretty much have done the same with a purchase of a MBP early in 2008. Some time after that I picked up an iPhone 3G. The reality is that that iPhone greatly reduced my need for a portable. Sure it is to small for many tasks and compromised for others but still portability wins out. It also demonstrates clearly just what features really are important in a portable device. I see iPad slipping into a niche that is partway between an iPhone and a laptop.

The other problem that I see is that desktop machines are going to become far more powerful than laptops in the near future. For us engineering types that will be hard to resist. It is the combination of many core CPUs and very powerful GPUs that will make it difficult for laptops to maintain near parity performance levels. Of course this depends upon where the engineer values things but cost and performance are still important to many.


Dave

A solution
http://www.cinemaview.com/product/cinemaview-duo

Apple makes 3 13" notebooks. There's no reason why the Air can't have CULV processors with an all day battery, the Macbook and Pro can't use i5s and i7s. We've already established that it's possible, for a price.