Apple's thinner 13- & 15-inch MacBook Pros expected in April 'at the soonest' - Page 2

By this reasoning they would use "MacBook Air" & "MacBook Air Pro," unless they actually merge the lines into one.

I'm not convinced. If they use the "Air" moniker on *all* their laptops it becomes redundant. It would be like putting "laptop" after each name even though they are all laptops. Anything could happen though and it's all speculation at this point.

That is a logical fallacy unless you think the last major revision of the MBP that made them unibody (which followed the original MBA's milled unibody chassis), thinner and lighter also meant they should have been called MBAs back in 2008.

As for the ODD that has simply overstayed its welcome though many still think they need it because of something I dubbed Teckholm Syndrome despite most being able to count how many times they've used this 140mmx140mmx12.5mm, power hungry and prone to break component in the last 2 years on one hand.

The future of the MBP will be Pro because they have 35/45W CPUs, not 17W CPUs. They will have an option for dGPUs, not just the iGPU. They will have user-removable RAM, not RAM soldered onto the mobo. They will more ports do to their larger size. They will have more storage capacity, but hopefully still design for fast boot/wake with an SD card plus 2.5" HDD/SSD or a hybrid 2.5" drive Apple patented. On top of that they should be the first candidates for the HiDPI displays although this tech will clearly be able to trickle down to the MBAs.

Why not two grades now that MacBooks are out?

11" 13" 15" MacBook Air with ULV processors and probably 5-7-9 hours of battery life

and then

15" 17" MacBook Pro without optical drive but keep the rest (HDD) and double the battery size for a comfortable 10 hour life. Or since you're already top of line, drop the HDD, slim the case a bit (but don't lose too many ports and cooling power and put in a huge SSD. It's already pricey, real pros won't flicnh for 200$ more if they have their 512GB SSD. Anyways most pros have apps on MBP and data on FW800 or eSATA (ExpressCard) / TB drives.

As the market share grows, it is inevitable that the offer will also grow. Macs are no longer a niche product. They are leading the pack and what was once PC-only field is seriously compromised. Having more offer so that someone wanting the screen estate of a 15incher but not the weight of a full blown MBP makes sense and so does the other way around (15" MBP) too.

After all my 13" MBA has the same graphics power and double the CPU power as the late 2007 17" MBP I just sold. I am more than happy!

The 13" MacBook Pro is by far the most popular choice and the MacBook Pros lead their OS-X sales.

I know a lot of Pros scoff at the 13" but predicting Apple would drop it is like predicting they will drop one of their most polar and best selling products ever.

I guess AI missed Intel's clarification on the supposed 8 week delay:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-57...ge-chip-delay/

My $0.02 on the size debate: I went from a 17" MBP to the 13" (with cinema display) and that setup makes much more sense in most scenarios (not all, but most). The 17" is not a big seller compared to the 13/15, and Apple is in no hurry with them. Wouldn't at all be surprised to see it discontinued altogether. I am a developer and there is not much difference between hunching over a 13" or hunching over a 17". Get a real display for serious work and pair it with the smallest and most powerful machine you can get.

Also I would imagine all dates Intel has mentioned are for general OEM availability... Apple could well have a special agreement with them to get chips early (as they have in the past). Maybe that's why the new MacBook rumours have also been pushed back - they're suffering the same delay, but will still get the chips before other OEMs. After all Apple has to be Intel's best ULV chip client...

Sorry, not obvious to me.

So Apple is going to get a head-start on the competition without the Ivy Bridge chips? Or are you assuming that somehow Apple will get them in quantity before the rest of the laptop manufacturers? I wouldn't count on that. Especially after Intel dumped so much money and effort into creating that new UltraBook standard. They want PCs to catch up to the MacBook Air. I can't see them giving any advantages to Apple.

The clarification seems to state that the mobile chipsets still won't be available until June. Desktop chipsets will be available in May. Neither will be available in April. I don't expect new MacBooks in April.

I never thought I'd read "...and PC makers are also struggling with the MacBook Air's low price tag of only $999."

I work with over 100 developers and that's exactly what we do at work. You need to be mobile in case you have to check something on the fly.

At least once in the past, Apple had chipsets and CPUs before the rest of the market. It is not impossible for that to happen again.

General availability - June
Apple availability - April

I'm not saying that it WILL happen, but there is some precedent for it.

I must be getting old. Thought my knowledge of americanisms was pretty good. Evidently not. Only ever heard "at the earliest" which ever side of the pond I've been on. Whatever it is lets hope its quick -my blackbook is struggling but refusing to die despite toddlers trying to destroy it.

Is 'soonest' even a word in the English language? It sounds like something my 5 year old would say.

Of course it is. It's just completely wrong within the context of the title sentence.

other rumours have suggested dropping the Mac name from OSX, and with rounding to the nearest integer, it could be called the ... wait for it..


OS Air X 11 (for the 11 inch-er running 10.8)

Sure. It's a superlative of soon. Being uncommon or sounding weird doesn't affect its correctitude.

That word is so meta, even the definition is meta.

I am firmly in the "please don't downsize the macbook pro" camp. Since I purchased my iPad 2, I know longer take it on vacations and never out to starbucks. With iCloud, it allows me to do everything I have to do. What I need at home is a large hard drive and power. As iPads get better and better, there is less need for macbook air computers , because when mobile we will just take our Ipads. I still want a lap though as it takes up less space and there are times I need to move it to another location. I do not want to sacrifice power and storage or lightness. If I can have both fantastic!

Ok. Just to clarify; next time i'm stateside will I be "down with the kids" if I say "at the soonest". Or will I just sound like a cock?

Probably about the same as saying "down with the kids."

here, here. thanks to apple others are being forced to make laptops thinner and sleeker. lazy f***wad companies. while i will berate Apple as run by nazis it pisses me off that the other companies just make sh*t till they are forced to copy apple. then they make thinner,lighter sh*t.

I want a Macbook Nair. Super light and fast and removes unsightly hair from your lap and surrounding areas. 11, 13, 15 and Yeti.

The only problem here is that I (like I'm sure many of you) just received today, an advertising email from Apple touting the "MacBook Air" - "Still light years ahead" (of the competition).
I have NEVER received an email like this from Apple unless it was for a brand new released product announcement. Never for a last generation laptop. This tells me they are saying "Hey, don't wait around for a new Air anytime in the near future, dude. It's gonna be a little while longer than we expected. So get out there and buy the existing Macbook Air today!!"
Again; I've never gotten an email from Apple advertising an 8 month old product.

That's cleared that up then. 13" MacCock it is. Unless Proview have nabbed that one too.

On the subject of language, this one is a pet peeve of mine: why do people have such difficulty saying "hear, hear"?!

Or, they're advertising to help clear out the channel inventory.....

you got me. i goofed. get over it.

Yeah, maybe... But they've never done this before. This would suggest to me their having an awfully large chunk of excess inventory. On the MacBook Air (?!) I don't think so. I think they, pretty much, sell 'em as fast as they make 'em. We'll see.

I have nothing to get over. I am cool. You just happened to be a handy, apropos example. Thanks!

How about MacGyver, mullets optional.

The iMac is barely holding on? There's not enough head shaking available to express my feelings about the above statement...

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles..._pc_sales.html

We're in a world where EVERYBODY is shifting away from desktops to laptops. AIO's are the only place of strength left in the desktop world... and Apple is destroying everybody else in that market.

All the facts we have in front of us go directly against the things you are saying. I'm not sure where you are getting any facts that back up "the iMac is barely holding on"... because that is a ridiculous statement.

The future of desktop computing is AIO. There is very little need for a "pro" machine without display anymore. Trust me... I'm a power user and wouldn't have even considered anything BUT an iMac.

Apple knows this... I know this. Most of the rest of us know this.

I like the Pro machines being Pro, but I also am a bit jealous of the ease with which an Air or iPad user can whip out their device in situations where I wouldn't bother carrying or opening my 15" MBP, and I've been leaning toward getting an iPad 3 for this reason. However, what I really want is a computer that's very portable, and if the 15" MBP attained essentially the form factor of the MBA, that would be my ideal device and I wouldn't need a tablet.

I'm just not convinced that they can make it that small without it being underpowered. They've never been able to do it with the MBA before, but there's always a first time when they wow us with how small they can make things. When the first iPod came out, who could have imagined today's nano being so much more feature-packed in that form factor? I hope we're about to see a similar unprecedented display of miniaturization and power, but until we see it, I'm not getting my hopes up. More likely, I think we'll see them get halfway: it will be more powerful than any other MBA, but not quite as good as a top-of-the-line MBP.

Sometimes... when people speak with such knowledge and authority... I guess they think people won't check facts.

http://www.tuaw.com/2012/01/25/lesse...ngs-statement/

Desktops
Unit sales up 16 percent
Revenue up 15 percent

Remember... industry wide, desktop sales are getting crushed. Apple is growing desktop sales fairly significantly even in this environment, despite your "facts." Apple has made the RIGHT move shifting desktop users to the iMac... all the actual facts show it, regardless of your opinion.

I think the MBA and MBP are different categories and that Apple will keep both lines going. I had a 15" '08 MBP for years and then replaced it last year with the 13" MBA. Since I travel on business nearly half the time the MBA has been a real back saver.

At home I hook up the MBA to the Thunderbolt Display and it's like working on a whole different desktop workstation with all the connections and peripherals I need. So, personally, I want the laptop as light as possible for the road but a 15" version that doesn't weigh over 3 pounds would be the perfect MBA a few years down the line for me.

Still, I see that a lot of people use the MBP as their only computer without external monitors and they want the 15" or 17" screen, a lot of RAM and storage space, extra connectors and the optical drive. But I do think the MBA is closing the gap and that most people would be fine with it connected to an external monitor like the 27" Thunderbolt Display.

Eventually, I do believe that the MBA and MBP lines will be merged with four different screen sizes.

Your welcome! and thanks for being a handy, perfect example of the usual Apple douchebag!

Absolutely. I don't understand this anal-compulsive need by users to eliminate the line they don't necessarily care about. You prefer a small-screen Air with a lesser processor? Fine...buy that. I prefer a fully-featured 15" or 17" pro. And although it's pretty obvious they're going to eliminate the optical drive in the Pro, I think that is a very bad move. I still need and want that drive for a variety of reasons. And I also still need a very high capacity hard disk in my laptop (I just put a 750MB drive in my MBP 2008) that cannot be replicated in a solid state drive for anywhere near the cost.

So I sincerely hope the pundits and posters are wrong and Apple maintains both lines.

Personally, I see the Airs as more of a "consume content" device and the Pros as "working" device. They're both great lines that serve different markets and they both should be maintained. One thing that would make sense to me (although based on this announcement, they don't seem to be doing) is that I could see the 13" only being an Air and not a Pro. It seems to me that anyone who wants the portability of the 13" would want it in the smallest, lightest package available and that would be the Air, not the Pro.

So the 11" and 13.3" would be the Air (small case, solid state drives) and the 15" and 17" would be the Pro (hard drives with solid state option, larger battery, better graphics, more connectivity and IMO, still with optical drive, at least as an option). If Apple eliminates the equivalent of the Pro line, I could see a lot of pro users, people who do intense work in video, Photoshop, Illustrator, Office, etc., reluctantly leaving Apple.

What people seem to be missing is that the chips suitable for the AIR have been pushed out even farther. A new AIR rev won't likely come till July or later. The info was clear that the AIR type chips have been pushed out even further.

The problem with Apple ad though is this. People in the know will realize that the AIR will benefit greatly from Ivy Bridge so they will wait. Hell AIR could benefit from Fusion. Sadly their isn't much to bump AIR with unless they adjust SSD size mid cycle. So the current machines could be around another 4 months.

That is one year, sort of makes you wonder if Apple has convinced Intel to deliver chips on their schedule.

Cherry picking a few cute numbers doesn't support your point upon inspection.


First; those numbers don't represent US sales, further if you dig deeper you will find that the only positive there is the iMac. My point remains, iMac desktop sales suck.

Did you read that entire article for content. It was stated clearly that Mac desktop sales are flat. In fact the entire coverage was pretty negative. If you dig deeper you will find that the only desktop Mac selling well is the iMac.

That is garbage, Apple has effectively kept many off the platform due to the lack of a respectable desktop. Likewise it has forced many to leave the platform. If you call that the right move I'd have to say your business sense is off. What you have left is many that are forced to the iMac even if it is a terrible deal for their needs. Again forcing customers into bad deals isn't in your business best interest. Again if you read for content you will find that things isn't going well at all in Apple desktop land.

There are many ways to interpret data but I think you are excessively optimistic about Apples sales.

Now he's clearly just doing it for the lulz

Whatever any enthusiast thinks or we here wish, Apple's mantra is clearly to move into high volume/rapidly expanding markets - wherever they find or create them (e.g., after beginning as spectacular consumer successes, the iPad and iPhone are also becoming the wedges into the Enterprise market Apple's long hoped for, and reasserting Apple's primacy in education.

That's why they could dump their server hardware (nice stuff from what I know) and made the server OS an add-on to the regular one so that any Mac could be converted to a small-net server. And I remember commentors here and pundits alike bemoaning how this marked Apple's "giving up for good" on big corps. My own reaction was "not so fast!" (not that I foresaw what's happening right now).

They will keep manufacturing a product that's not hurting them for awhile in its middle-age, and operate slightly lower margin businesses to fill out their burgeoning "ecosystem," but while I hope and expect to see a TB-equipped Mac Pro with a burnin' CPU and graphics card, it could be the last. As others have pointed out, a TB-connected maxed out iMac can now do what likely 98% of users need.

But even iMacs - while the case will get a nice re-design or two - are more likely to enter a period marked more by refinement and incremental improvement than revolutionary make-over.

And yes, even notebooks - after the 2012 roll-outs - are not immune to a time when they'll be receiving a lesser proportion of HQ love.

Bottom line, if desktops are "trucks," Pro notebooks are SUV's and Airs are Cross-overs.

While iOS devices are becoming the mass volume cars and bikes.

And next up looks like Apple might well be turning its next big thing resources toward the Living Room.


I played with this in my my mind for awhile and read the other comments. Not bad, but haven't we taken the Mac name off enough things already this year?


What I said. And I fully expect a re-architected 17" notebook - but, while it will be tweakable in later iterations, the form factor it takes could be the last for a good while at least.


The first part of your comment is simple to devine: Apple's answer is three-pronged. 1. iCloud, 2. Thunderbolt. 3. The declining price/increasing capacity of SSD's (and follow-on tech) over the next year or three or five.

They're calculating that total notebook local storage on the road will matter less to most users over time, even while the current speed/size benefits of SSD add enough value to the total computing experience to hold onto most of the storage hungry until SSD price/size ratios become more favorable.

People will have any needed files in the Cloud and that big honkin' cost-effective HDD (for now) will be on the other side of their TB connection - that one wire to a set of peripherals for when they need any of these at home, ideally hooked to a 27" TB monitor that will accomplish things for both Apple and users.

For us: We can upgrade the whole motherboard (do they still call them this?) of our 27" systems without buying a new screen (which iterates more slowly and lasts longer), or other new accessories for that matter. So we'll upgrade our notebooks every 1-3 years and have systems that stay leading edge by only replacing one component.

For Apple: They get to sell mega tons of thousand dollar monitors as ADD-ONS to notebooks. Ka-ching!


If there's still a slimmed down but separate Pro line after this July, it might have a volume proportionally similar to this machine for whatever screen size - except nicer, more tapered and ditching the ODD. I also seem to recall reading about a newish slim form single platter HDD with up to maybe 320-500 GB of storage that might be suitable to a still distinct if Airish Pro line (and pairable with a 64-128 GB SSD, tho' the hybrid route doesn't feel quite Appleish).

But the 13" Pro is endangered for other possible reasons. A pro level processor generates more heat and the slim form leaves less space to dissipate it, and the form factor begins to limit a "pro" port complement (about which Apple, granted, might say (as it has in the past), hey, you got TB, so quit yer bitchin' about FW or GB ENet, etc.). Battery space also becomes an issue at a certain point.

Meanwhile, a 15" Air with an upgraded processor and an overall volume/weight still less than today's 13" MBP could grab some of the sales that go to these machines today.


Feel free to correct me, but my impression was that Ivy Bridge is going to deliver a notably higher amount of processing power per watt, allowing improved performance with less heat - with the ratio naturally changing as you go from the bottom to the top of the line. So Pros - with the noted possible exception of the 13" - could be quite slim and no hotter than today with still quite a boost. Yes/no??

(I know that the next generation is touted to improve the power/watt equation by a much larger amount, but still have a sense that Ivy Bridge's improvements will still be considerable.)


But as noted, maybe in a slightly fatter hybrid drive Pro.


I'll stand by my answer above to all of these points, except, I guess, GPU's. I'm just not conversant enough.


Even if I'm wrong about being skeptical that this is still true (about the MBP 13 in particular) in the last quarter or two, the growth rate of Air sales is far faster than Pro sales, and Pro sales are increasing faster than iMac sales. People just don't seem to give enough weight here to the fact that Apple's eye is never on where the ball has been, rather on where they think it's going to be next.