Redesigned MacBook Pro, iMac may come in first half of 2011 - Page 4

Assuming Seagate gets/got all of the bugs out of the momentus XT hybrid then you could have the equivalent of a SSD with a larger cap HDD in the place of an older HDD in 2011.

The first assumption is that Seagate or this model will be around long enough to get the bugs out.

The second assumption is the idea that Apple is stuck with the mechanical format of old rotating drives. That is an especially bad assumption in light of the new AIRs.

I suspect that Apple will transition to the SSD Blade storage modules in the coming machines. Due to the rectangular format they could easily add multiple slots to the Pro laptops to support large storage needs. An easy number would be three slots for blade storage but they could easily go beyound that in the larger machines. If they delete the optical they could also add a slot for a low profile conventional HD.

Others have recently said in this thread that they expect a major overhaul of the laptop line up. I agree here 100%. The approach to storage will be a big factor in the overhaul but im expecting far more. The farther off into 2011 that the overhaul appears the more interesting the update will be. By the way things could be just as interesting at the low end with Mac Book being refactored into a laptop with a far lower price.

Of course I have to temper this a bit in light of the fact that I expected a major Mac Pro update and we got nill.

I reckon all the next MacBook Pros will have the Apple custom blade-style flash storage. Something roughly like:

MBP 13" Good - 128GB ... Option: 256GB, 512GB
MBP 13" Better - 256GB ... Option: 512GB
MBP 15" Good - 256GB ... Option: 512GB
MBP 15" Better - 256GB ... Option: 512GB
MBP 17" Good - 256GB ... Option: 512GB
MBP 17" Better - 512GB

No optical drive, external SuperDrive as option. USB3 ports, no LightPeak, Sandy Bridge across the line.
Sleeker and tapered triangularly like the MacBook Airs.
Apple announces upgradeability of storage blades through Apple Stores, Apple Service Providers, etc.

White MacBook remains bumped up Core 2, 2GB RAM still, 320M, bigger hard drive, ODD.

LOL This is the first time I heard that.

I hardly ever use my optical drive on my 17-inch, but I'm really hoping Apple doesn't ditch the optical drive yet. The idea of needing to carry an external drive is very unappealing to me; it seems to go against the whole idea of buying a portable. (Plus, as others have pointed out, bandwidth is still an issue in many corners of the world; hard to believe the optical drive has truly become obsolete.)

In any event, I'm also hoping the MBPs are refreshed ASAP and that we'll get our answer on this sooner rather than later.

Samsung is apparently sampling MLC Flash at 30nm right now. This could lead to very economical Flash for the new laptops.

For me expandability is the important thing. If it is all blade storage then we need at least three slots.

I'm still holding out for some AMD based Macs in Apples future.

Actually, in my opinion you only need 150ppi to be considered "Retina" on a 15.4" laptop, since normally you would hold a laptop that size about twice the distance from your face as you would an iPhone.
WUXGA 1920x1200 in the 15.4" would provide a nice "Retina" display (~150ppi), and could be (at least) offered as a CTO option.

Imagine something like:
* MacBook Pro 15-inch Glossy Widescreen Display
* MacBook Pro 15-inch Hi-Res Glossy Widescreen Display [Add $100.00]
* MacBook Pro 15-inch Hi-Res Antiglare Widescreen Display [Add $150.00]
* MacBook Pro 15-inch Glossy Widescreen Retina Display [Add $200.00]
* MacBook Pro 15-inch Antiglare Widescreen Retina Display [Add $250.00]

If they went 16:9 they'd need 2048x1152 (QWXGA) in 15.6" to reach 150ppi. If so, then I'd happily order just the display panel, and replace the 1920x1080 display in my Dell E6510 :3
(assuming it uses the same connector, places the connector in the same position on the back of the panel, and is LED-backlit)
(btw QWXGA != WQXGA. There are a few ~23" monitors with the QWXGA resolution)

As for the 17" MacBook Pro, unless they use WQXGA 2560x1600@177ppi (which is highly unlikely), they would probably have to "invent" a new resolution between WUXGA and WQXGA such as 2160x1350 or 2176x1360 (which is also unlikely)

The text shouldn't be too small, because I have an old Thinkpad T42p with a 15.0" 2048x1536 display (mod) @171ppi and I love it.
....and if an old 2005 ATI FireGL T2 GPU can sucessfully power that display, and the laptop battery lasts a good solid 4 hours at the same time, I see no problem implementing ultra-high-resolution displays in the next macbook pros.