After reading this I started thinking about the which way Apple will take their entire laptop line.
The white plastic MB I say should be killed off, because for 200 US more you can pick up a MBP in metal, with brand new internals.
But WHEN Apple rips out the optical drive from the line up, there will be a major over lap between the Airs and Pros. So my thinking was, Apple should rename the current Airs to just Macbooks. And should come in their 11 and 13. They should come with thunderbolt, 2x USB, SD Card reader (if space to squeeze into 11 inch) LAN and audio ports.
Whereas the pros, should start at 15 and 17 inches. The main difference will be ports and internals. All of the ports I listed above for the MB but also FW800, another USB port and possible an expresscard slot. Due to more space in a 15 inch and 17 inch case, I would expect decent dedicated cards, maybe dual HDD config (one SSD and one HDD) and some quad core goodness. But I would not want apple to use that space for battery, the battery of my current MBP is great and to me battery life is most important in anything under 13 inches as those machines will be carried around more often than a 15 inch will. I know some people will disagree and say they want a super long battery life in a 15 inch, but I cannot see why a 15 inch laptop has to compete with a ultra portable laptop using a ultralow voltage chipset.
After reading this I started thinking about the which way Apple will take their entire laptop line.
The white plastic MB I say should be killed off, because for 200 US more you can pick up a MBP in metal, with brand new internals.
I wonder what the sales are for that machine. At my local Apple Store the table closest to the door, a table against the wall, is 4 white MacBooks. The other wall table opposite the MacBooks are iPads. It's the 2nd and 3rd set of tables that have the other products.
So does being first and having so many units that are the same indicate an item they are trying to get rid of or a big seller?
Bull. Compared to every single imitation MBA that the craptastic manufacturers like Dell and Sony shovel out onto the market, the MBA is extremely durable.
Exactly.
And if the hard drive is such a problem, it's not like you can't replace it with an SSD.
After reading this I started thinking about the which way Apple will take their entire laptop line.
The current lineup is a little bit confusing to some, and come in 3 different cases. I think they should kill all (6) current models and come out with 4 MBA models. Make them in 11, 13, 15 & 17" The 2 largest ones with SSD + BTO SSD or HDD. Thunderbolt & SD card for all models. Various SSD sizes, possibly a 512GB option.
The fact that the 11.6-inch MacBook Air has outsold the 13.3-inch model is revealing. If Apple made an even lighter and smaller MacBook Air, it would outsell the other models as well. Because many people want a full Mac but as mobile as possible. And here the iPad cannot deliver, because it is not a Mac.
The fact that the 11.6-inch MacBook Air has outsold the 13.3-inch model is revealing. If Apple made an even lighter and smaller MacBook Air, it would outsell the other models as well.
I'd guess it's to do with price more than size though. If the 13" was offered at that price, it would sell very well too.
Once the MB is discontinued and the MBA gets the Sandy Bridge chips and doubles in performance, it will probably be a very popular item especially with students.
The fact that the 11.6-inch MacBook Air has outsold the 13.3-inch model is revealing. If Apple made an even lighter and smaller MacBook Air, it would outsell the other models as well. Because many people want a full Mac but as mobile as possible. And here the iPad cannot deliver, because it is not a Mac.
It is important that the features that make the unit a "full Mac" are maintained, both regarding a large enough (and such a good, not cramped) keyboard and a decent screen size. But these features CAN be maintained also in an even smaller footprint. And I agree that the iPad cannot deliver in this repect, but an iPad with a keyboard case (though NOT with for instance Logitec's and most others brands' cramped and bad keyboards) is coming a way close to what I want.
I will suggest a small model Air with a 9-10 inches screen, and perhaps also make one with a 6-7 inches screen. Of course this will challenge the possibilities of having a good and large eniugh keyboard (and this must be somewhat sacrified on the smallest units that I imagine). But the portability, mobility and even pocketability advantages will be great, and there are a lot of us that hope that Apple will use its creativity also in this area, with this formfactor.
Also: Perhaps making a clamshell iPhone with a physical keyboard can be a good idea. In our society now with so few people smoking, this can be designed like an elegant cigar case (with a size that could contain about 5 cigars). Especially in the business market segment this is a type of unit that I think a large number of persons will appreciate and buy. Just look around at different forums, and you will see that this is a need. (Nokia, and Psion before them, once upon a time had an excellent opportunity to develop such a device, but of reasons not understandable this idea was not developed, but cancelled with the S80 platform.
I think Apple can do real good business if they will begin to consider these ideas.
Click to Flash. Problem solved. Don't blame Apple just because Adobe is lazy.
Not a chance at 10 hours or anything remotely close. I use Click to Flash and rarely open flash content, 4 hours. Started at 5, lasted a few months then down to 4.
Yeah, and in the 1900's, a faster horse is what most people would rather have. But Apple skates to where the puck is going to be, not where "most people" want it to be.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nht
tekstud?
Are you implying that this guy is some sort of troll? Since this is an Apple biased forum and he is saying what Apple fans like to hear, I don't see what the problem is. I figured you guys would appreciate it.
15" MBA would be awesome. I'd even buy a 17" MBA to match my 17" MBP.
Based on the popularity of the machines I think they could use that marketing for pushing a larger MBA. That doesn't mean it can't also have additional storage from a 2.5" HDD/SSDfor additional storage in that larger chassis. A 7mm HDD with one less platter than the 9.5mm HDDs/SSDs in the current MBPs could still offer additional storage, a 10 second boot time and up to 400GB total storage.
Based on the popularity of the machines I think they could use that marketing for pushing a larger MBA.
I reckon with the ULV Ivy Bridge chips, the Macbook Pros will simply get thinner. They are already very fast, they just need to last longer on battery and run cooler.
Quote:
Originally Posted by John.B
MR is saying the MBA refresh hits Wednesday
There are also rumours about the Mini and Mac Pro:
Mr.X is usually quite reliable for info, he normally leaves a post with product codes before an update here on AI.
Given that Lion is due to drop next month, it makes perfect sense to have the entire lineup revamped. If the Mac Pro will indeed be redesigned, I expect it to have the same specs but possibly a lower price.
I wonder if Apple will be using the newer SSDs from Toshiba after all. They said no mass production until July. If they still have 64GB in the entry model, that puts a damper on it replacing the MB this time round.
Mr.X is usually quite reliable for info, he normally leaves a post with product codes before an update here on AI.
Given that Lion is due to drop next month, it makes perfect sense to have the entire lineup revamped. If the Mac Pro will indeed be redesigned, I expect it to have the same specs but possibly a lower price.
Hopefully new Airport and Time Capsules, too. Just installed a 1TB HDD into my MBP with my SSD in the OptiBay and need a larger than 1TB external drive for my Time Machine backups. The downside of this setup (which is why I was sticking with my 500GB HDD) is that the SDD now has to sit in the OptiBay drive which has slowed down the speed measurably due to the OptiBay circuitry. However, it's still considerably faster than no SSD and gains me much needed internal storage.
Quote:
I wonder if Apple will be using the newer SSDs from Toshiba after all. They said no mass production until July. If they still have 64GB in the entry model, that puts a damper on it replacing the MB this time round.
I'm not sure they will replace the MacBook. My local Apple Store has the first table when you walk in the door with 4 MacBooks. The other two tables at the front of the store are all iPads. You don't get to any other Macs until the second and third set of tables. Has Apple ever prominently displayed a HW product it was planning to remove?
I'm not sure they will replace the MacBook. My local Apple Store has the first table when you walk in the door with 4 MacBooks. The other two tables at the front of the store are all iPads. You don't get to any other Macs until the second and third set of tables. Has Apple ever prominently displayed a HW product it was planning to remove?
There's a limit to how thin they can make the plastic shell. The unibody plastic design is stronger than the previous one but Unibody metal is the way to go as plastic still cracks:
The base also gets dirty fairly easily. I certainly don't think it can outlast an Ivy Bridge MBA but it depends on how much value they put on internal storage.
Right now, a 500GB MB is $1099 and a 256GB MBA will hopefully be $1199 so a downgrade in capacity and $100 more but vastly improved storage performance and a much lighter and stronger machine.
A big thing for students is being able to shut the lid and dump it in your bag without worrying about knocks affecting the HDD. You can treat the SSD MBA like an iPad.
There's a limit to how thin they can make the plastic shell. The unibody plastic design is stronger than the previous one but Unibody metal is the way to go as plastic still cracks:
The base also gets dirty fairly easily. I certainly don't think it can outlast an Ivy Bridge MBA but it depends on how much value they put on internal storage.
Right now, a 500GB MB is $1099 and a 256GB MBA will hopefully be $1199 so a downgrade in capacity and $100 more but vastly improved storage performance and a much lighter and stronger machine.
A big thing for students is being able to shut the lid and dump it in your bag without worrying about knocks affecting the HDD. You can treat the SSD MBA like an iPad.
Especially once the Thunderbolt drives start showing up and you can add and remove fast storage capacity as needed.
I'll be disappointed if these aren't on sale by this Wednesday...
Comments
The white plastic MB I say should be killed off, because for 200 US more you can pick up a MBP in metal, with brand new internals.
But WHEN Apple rips out the optical drive from the line up, there will be a major over lap between the Airs and Pros. So my thinking was, Apple should rename the current Airs to just Macbooks. And should come in their 11 and 13. They should come with thunderbolt, 2x USB, SD Card reader (if space to squeeze into 11 inch) LAN and audio ports.
Whereas the pros, should start at 15 and 17 inches. The main difference will be ports and internals. All of the ports I listed above for the MB but also FW800, another USB port and possible an expresscard slot. Due to more space in a 15 inch and 17 inch case, I would expect decent dedicated cards, maybe dual HDD config (one SSD and one HDD) and some quad core goodness. But I would not want apple to use that space for battery, the battery of my current MBP is great and to me battery life is most important in anything under 13 inches as those machines will be carried around more often than a 15 inch will. I know some people will disagree and say they want a super long battery life in a 15 inch, but I cannot see why a 15 inch laptop has to compete with a ultra portable laptop using a ultralow voltage chipset.
What does everyone else think?
After reading this I started thinking about the which way Apple will take their entire laptop line.
The white plastic MB I say should be killed off, because for 200 US more you can pick up a MBP in metal, with brand new internals.
I wonder what the sales are for that machine. At my local Apple Store the table closest to the door, a table against the wall, is 4 white MacBooks. The other wall table opposite the MacBooks are iPads. It's the 2nd and 3rd set of tables that have the other products.
So does being first and having so many units that are the same indicate an item they are trying to get rid of or a big seller?
Bull. Compared to every single imitation MBA that the craptastic manufacturers like Dell and Sony shovel out onto the market, the MBA is extremely durable.
Exactly.
And if the hard drive is such a problem, it's not like you can't replace it with an SSD.
The darn thing's aren't hermetically sealed
After reading this I started thinking about the which way Apple will take their entire laptop line.
The current lineup is a little bit confusing to some, and come in 3 different cases. I think they should kill all (6) current models and come out with 4 MBA models. Make them in 11, 13, 15 & 17" The 2 largest ones with SSD + BTO SSD or HDD. Thunderbolt & SD card for all models. Various SSD sizes, possibly a 512GB option.
What do you think?
Cheers,
PhilBoogie
The fact that the 11.6-inch MacBook Air has outsold the 13.3-inch model is revealing. If Apple made an even lighter and smaller MacBook Air, it would outsell the other models as well.
I'd guess it's to do with price more than size though. If the 13" was offered at that price, it would sell very well too.
Once the MB is discontinued and the MBA gets the Sandy Bridge chips and doubles in performance, it will probably be a very popular item especially with students.
The fact that the 11.6-inch MacBook Air has outsold the 13.3-inch model is revealing. If Apple made an even lighter and smaller MacBook Air, it would outsell the other models as well. Because many people want a full Mac but as mobile as possible. And here the iPad cannot deliver, because it is not a Mac.
It is important that the features that make the unit a "full Mac" are maintained, both regarding a large enough (and such a good, not cramped) keyboard and a decent screen size. But these features CAN be maintained also in an even smaller footprint. And I agree that the iPad cannot deliver in this repect, but an iPad with a keyboard case (though NOT with for instance Logitec's and most others brands' cramped and bad keyboards) is coming a way close to what I want.
I will suggest a small model Air with a 9-10 inches screen, and perhaps also make one with a 6-7 inches screen. Of course this will challenge the possibilities of having a good and large eniugh keyboard (and this must be somewhat sacrified on the smallest units that I imagine). But the portability, mobility and even pocketability advantages will be great, and there are a lot of us that hope that Apple will use its creativity also in this area, with this formfactor.
Also: Perhaps making a clamshell iPhone with a physical keyboard can be a good idea. In our society now with so few people smoking, this can be designed like an elegant cigar case (with a size that could contain about 5 cigars). Especially in the business market segment this is a type of unit that I think a large number of persons will appreciate and buy. Just look around at different forums, and you will see that this is a need. (Nokia, and Psion before them, once upon a time had an excellent opportunity to develop such a device, but of reasons not understandable this idea was not developed, but cancelled with the S80 platform.
I think Apple can do real good business if they will begin to consider these ideas.
Click to Flash. Problem solved. Don't blame Apple just because Adobe is lazy.
Not a chance at 10 hours or anything remotely close. I use Click to Flash and rarely open flash content, 4 hours. Started at 5, lasted a few months then down to 4.
Originally Posted by Joseph L
Yeah, and in the 1900's, a faster horse is what most people would rather have. But Apple skates to where the puck is going to be, not where "most people" want it to be.
tekstud?
Are you implying that this guy is some sort of troll? Since this is an Apple biased forum and he is saying what Apple fans like to hear, I don't see what the problem is. I figured you guys would appreciate it.
No, Apple should make 15" MBA with gorgeous screen.
15" MBA would be awesome. I'd even buy a 17" MBA to match my 17" MBP.
15" MBA would be awesome. I'd even buy a 17" MBA to match my 17" MBP.
Based on the popularity of the machines I think they could use that marketing for pushing a larger MBA. That doesn't mean it can't also have additional storage from a 2.5" HDD/SSDfor additional storage in that larger chassis. A 7mm HDD with one less platter than the 9.5mm HDDs/SSDs in the current MBPs could still offer additional storage, a 10 second boot time and up to 400GB total storage.
http://www.macrumors.com/2011/06/11/...his-wednesday/
I hope they are right.
Based on the popularity of the machines I think they could use that marketing for pushing a larger MBA.
I reckon with the ULV Ivy Bridge chips, the Macbook Pros will simply get thinner. They are already very fast, they just need to last longer on battery and run cooler.
MR is saying the MBA refresh hits Wednesday
There are also rumours about the Mini and Mac Pro:
http://www.9to5mac.com/71495/apple-u...ies-constrain/
http://www.9to5mac.com/63107/prototy...ble-stackable/
and store display arranging:
http://www.9to5mac.com/71691/apple-u...-on-wednesday/
Mr.X is usually quite reliable for info, he normally leaves a post with product codes before an update here on AI.
Given that Lion is due to drop next month, it makes perfect sense to have the entire lineup revamped. If the Mac Pro will indeed be redesigned, I expect it to have the same specs but possibly a lower price.
I wonder if Apple will be using the newer SSDs from Toshiba after all. They said no mass production until July. If they still have 64GB in the entry model, that puts a damper on it replacing the MB this time round.
There are also rumours about the Mini and Mac Pro:
http://www.9to5mac.com/71495/apple-u...ies-constrain/
http://www.9to5mac.com/63107/prototy...ble-stackable/
and store display arranging:
http://www.9to5mac.com/71691/apple-u...-on-wednesday/
Mr.X is usually quite reliable for info, he normally leaves a post with product codes before an update here on AI.
Given that Lion is due to drop next month, it makes perfect sense to have the entire lineup revamped. If the Mac Pro will indeed be redesigned, I expect it to have the same specs but possibly a lower price.
Hopefully new Airport and Time Capsules, too. Just installed a 1TB HDD into my MBP with my SSD in the OptiBay and need a larger than 1TB external drive for my Time Machine backups. The downside of this setup (which is why I was sticking with my 500GB HDD) is that the SDD now has to sit in the OptiBay drive which has slowed down the speed measurably due to the OptiBay circuitry. However, it's still considerably faster than no SSD and gains me much needed internal storage.
I wonder if Apple will be using the newer SSDs from Toshiba after all. They said no mass production until July. If they still have 64GB in the entry model, that puts a damper on it replacing the MB this time round.
I'm not sure they will replace the MacBook. My local Apple Store has the first table when you walk in the door with 4 MacBooks. The other two tables at the front of the store are all iPads. You don't get to any other Macs until the second and third set of tables. Has Apple ever prominently displayed a HW product it was planning to remove?
I'm not sure they will replace the MacBook. My local Apple Store has the first table when you walk in the door with 4 MacBooks. The other two tables at the front of the store are all iPads. You don't get to any other Macs until the second and third set of tables. Has Apple ever prominently displayed a HW product it was planning to remove?
There's a limit to how thin they can make the plastic shell. The unibody plastic design is stronger than the previous one but Unibody metal is the way to go as plastic still cracks:
http://i39.tinypic.com/11hzyts.jpg
The base also gets dirty fairly easily. I certainly don't think it can outlast an Ivy Bridge MBA but it depends on how much value they put on internal storage.
Right now, a 500GB MB is $1099 and a 256GB MBA will hopefully be $1199 so a downgrade in capacity and $100 more but vastly improved storage performance and a much lighter and stronger machine.
A big thing for students is being able to shut the lid and dump it in your bag without worrying about knocks affecting the HDD. You can treat the SSD MBA like an iPad.
…installed a 1TB HDD into my MBP with my SSD in the OptiBay…
…SDD now has to sit in the OptiBay drive which has slowed down the speed measurably…
The OptiBay will take a 1TB HDD, why did you not leave the SSD in the main drive spot…?
There's a limit to how thin they can make the plastic shell. The unibody plastic design is stronger than the previous one but Unibody metal is the way to go as plastic still cracks:
http://i39.tinypic.com/11hzyts.jpg
The base also gets dirty fairly easily. I certainly don't think it can outlast an Ivy Bridge MBA but it depends on how much value they put on internal storage.
Right now, a 500GB MB is $1099 and a 256GB MBA will hopefully be $1199 so a downgrade in capacity and $100 more but vastly improved storage performance and a much lighter and stronger machine.
A big thing for students is being able to shut the lid and dump it in your bag without worrying about knocks affecting the HDD. You can treat the SSD MBA like an iPad.
Especially once the Thunderbolt drives start showing up and you can add and remove fast storage capacity as needed.
I'll be disappointed if these aren't on sale by this Wednesday...
The OptiBay will take a 1TB HDD, why did you not leave the SSD in the main drive spot??
Because it didn't fit. The fact that MCE doesn't even sell a 1TB drive option for the unibody is a clue.