Apple rumored to be testing new ultrathin 15-inch MacBook

Posted:
in Future Apple Hardware edited January 2014
Apple is allegedly prepared to add a new thin-and-light 15-inch MacBook to its lineup in the near future, with one report claiming the company has finished development of a crucial test component.



Calling the new notebook model an extension of the MacBook Air family, Macotakara reported on Sunday that Apple is finishing up a "test phase" for the new 15-inch ultraportable. Citing an Asian source, the report said Apple has already finished development of an LCD test component for the anticipated notebook.



However, the report also noted that Apple is believed to be developing a next-generation MacBook Pro that will not have a built-in optical disc drive. The new 15-inch MacBook reportedly "seems to fill" the role of a next-generation MacBook Pro.



Whatever name the new portable Mac might take, rumors have suggested the current physical form factor of the MacBook Pro lineup will undergo a drastic redesign in 2012. For some time now it has been said that Apple will redesign its MacBook Pro lineup sometime next year.



Last week, Apple quietly updated its MacBook Pro lineup, adding slightly faster Intel Sandy Bridge processors, as well as improved AMD Radeon graphics. The new notebooks were a minor update ahead of the holiday buying season, believed to be an attempt to keep the MacBook Pro lineup competitive until a major refresh occurs next year.







Apple's future MacBooks are expected to feature Intel's next-generation Ivy Bridge processors, which are slated to arrive at some point in the first half of 2012. Intel confirmed last week that it has begun volume production of its 22nm Ivy Bridge processors, and systems powered by the new CPUs should be available in the spring of 2012.



Currently, Apple's MacBook Pro lineup comes with screen sizes of 13 inches, 15 inches and 17 inches, and all of its professional notebooks feature optical DVD disc drives. The MacBook Air is available with screen sizes of 11.6 inches and 13.3 inches, and all models feature only solid-state hard drives with no optical drive.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 97
    Will this 15 in have any sort of dedicated graphics card?? like the 15 & 17in MBP have?? If it has one then i am all for it
  • Reply 2 of 97
    mr. hmr. h Posts: 4,870member
    I've got my fingers crossed that they will keep the MacBook Pro thick enough to fit a standard 2.5" HDD inside. A 128 GB SSD for OS + apps and a large (500+ GB) HDD for files would be ideal.
  • Reply 3 of 97
    Looking to upgrade my original unibody macbook pro 15 2.4 ghz

    sometime in 2012 so this would be perfect. Hoping for dual drive

    capacity if they drop the optical drive. 256 SSD and 1 TB HHD would be a dream.

    I wonder what the chances are they include new higher res screens with the update.



    Going to be an expensive spring if the iPad 3 and the fully redesigned macbook pro

    come out.
  • Reply 4 of 97
    chabigchabig Posts: 641member
    "The new notebooks were a minor update ahead of the holiday buying season, believed to be an attempt to keep the MacBook Pro lineup competitive until a major refresh occurs next year."



    Does the author believe that a 2.4GHz machine is competitive but a 2.3GHz machine is not?
  • Reply 5 of 97
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jivebaby View Post


    Looking to upgrade my original unibody macbook pro 15 2.4 ghz

    sometime in 2012 so this would be perfect. Hoping for dual drive

    capacity if they drop the optical drive. 256 SSD and 1 TB HHD would be a dream.

    I wonder what the chances are they include new higher res screens with the update.



    Going to be an expensive spring if the iPad 3 and the fully redesigned macbook pro

    come out.



    I have the 13 inch air and real world speed test compared my early 2011 Macbook Pro is unbelievable. Everything you do is instant and it makes the Pro seem really slow in comparison. It's about as fast as my iPad 2 and even the startup and restart times are superfast (around or less than 20 seconds) It's crazy expensive though but it's worth every penny. I think the 256gb is worth the extra 300 over the 128gb hdd and I'm considering getting a portable HDD for my Air. I really don't want to carry around too much bulk and I would love to see an affordable tb flash drive one day
  • Reply 6 of 97
    eriamjheriamjh Posts: 1,733member
    I have been waiting for the 15" MBA since the redesigned 11 and 13s came out. I'm not sure it would meet my needs, but I want the option when I am ready to upgrade my CD MBP (from 2006, baby).
  • Reply 7 of 97
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mr. H View Post


    I've got my fingers crossed that they will keep the MacBook Pro thick enough to fit a standard 2.5" HDD inside. A 128 GB SSD for OS + apps and a large (500+ GB) HDD for files would be ideal.



    That would be nice, if possible without too many other sacrifices. Even 64 GB of SSD would be enough if combined with a 500 GB HDD. All I'd really need on the SSD would be my OS and application files. I can live with 256 GB of SSD if that's not possible, though.



    The bigger thing for me is that I hope it holds at least 8 GB of RAM. 4 is probably OK, but it just doesn't leave enough head room.



    I really hope this rumor turns out to be true. My MBP is over 4 years old and I'm about ready to buy a new one. I've looked really hard at the MBAs, and the 13" is tempting, but I decided that the screen is just a bit too small, so I'd be going with an MBP if buying today. If they were to bring out a 15" MBA with Ivy Bridge, I'd buy one in a heartbeat.
  • Reply 8 of 97
    aizmovaizmov Posts: 989member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mr. H View Post


    I've got my fingers crossed that they will keep the MacBook Pro thick enough to fit a standard 2.5" HDD inside. A 128 GB SSD for OS + apps and a large (500+ GB) HDD for files would be ideal.



    I want them to ditch the HDD and optical drive to make it as thin and light as possible.
  • Reply 9 of 97
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mr. H View Post


    I've got my fingers crossed that they will keep the MacBook Pro thick enough to fit a standard 2.5" HDD inside. A 128 GB SSD for OS + apps and a large (500+ GB) HDD for files would be ideal.



    That's what I'm hoping for, though I'd be happy with a 7mm (single-platter) 2.5" HDD, which is the standard 2.5" SSD thickness. That said, you can install a 12.5mm HDD in the current MBP cases so they could remove 3mm+ at its thickest point for a nice thin and tapered MBP. Glad to see that large, unused 12.7mm ODD that takes up 5.25 inches of port-side space finally removed from these machines.
  • Reply 10 of 97
    I was seriously looking at the maxed out 13 air when it came out. Would like to have a bit more storage space than the air would afford. Hoping the 2012 macbook pro will have discrete graphics, quad core and the dual ssd/hd setup. Keep it slim and we are in business. The 13 inch pro could also be an option for me if it had a discrete graphics chip.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Deewin View Post


    I have the 13 inch air and real world speed test compared my early 2011 Macbook Pro is unbelievable. Everything you do is instant and it makes the Pro seem really slow in comparison. It's about as fast as my iPad 2 and even the startup and restart times are superfast (around or less than 20 seconds) It's crazy expensive though but it's worth every penny. I think the 256gb is worth the extra 300 over the 128gb hdd and I'm considering getting a portable HDD for my Air. I really don't want to carry around too much bulk and I would love to see an affordable tb flash drive one day



  • Reply 11 of 97
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Aizmov View Post


    I want them to ditch the HDD and optical drive to make it as thin and light as possible.



    If those are your only qualifiers then there is the MBA.
  • Reply 12 of 97
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post


    That would be nice, if possible without too many other sacrifices. Even 64 GB of SSD would be enough if combined with a 500 GB HDD. All I'd really need on the SSD would be my OS and application files. I can live with 256 GB of SSD if that's not possible, though.



    The bigger thing for me is that I hope it holds at least 8 GB of RAM. 4 is probably OK, but it just doesn't leave enough head room.



    I really hope this rumor turns out to be true. My MBP is over 4 years old and I'm about ready to buy a new one. I've looked really hard at the MBAs, and the 13" is tempting, but I decided that the screen is just a bit too small, so I'd be going with an MBP if buying today. If they were to bring out a 15" MBA with Ivy Bridge, I'd buy one in a heartbeat.



    I currently use an 80GB MLC SSD boot drive plus apps with a 1TB HDD. If I were to do that again I'd likely get a smaller but faster SLC SSD. I just don't use much of the SSD with my Home Folder on the HDD.
  • Reply 13 of 97
    bigpicsbigpics Posts: 1,397member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Aizmov View Post


    I want them to ditch the HDD and optical drive to make it as thin and light as possible.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mr. H View Post


    I've got my fingers crossed that they will keep the MacBook Pro thick enough to fit a standard 2.5" HDD inside. A 128 GB SSD for OS + apps and a large (500+ GB) HDD for files would be ideal.



    That's why I hope we get both a full "Air line" from 11-15" and a slimmer (but less slim) Pro line sans ODD (from 13-17"), but with all these interesting possibilities for hybrid drive systems, more GPU power and more.



    This fits in with both serving general markets with the lightest, most affordable machines in their quality class and the the prosumers and pros who are more demanding, as well as keeping all present price points filled with attractive goodies. (including iPads - and other iDevices - at the lower end to meet virtually everyone computing needs and budgets)



    (In this scenario the 13" Pro is the most endangered-seeming species in the two families for several reasons, including lack of case space for some of the pro-est features).
  • Reply 14 of 97
    ikolikol Posts: 369member
    Please make an almost perfect product perfect by adding 3G.
  • Reply 15 of 97
    tylerk36tylerk36 Posts: 1,037member
    No DVD drive is good. Everything is going either wireless or flash drive/card. Even Steve acknowledged this in an interview at D8.
  • Reply 16 of 97
    Give me a nice GPU on the 13" model and it's an insta-buy.



    But please don't take long. I don't want to miss on Arkham City or Skyrim any more than I need to \
  • Reply 17 of 97
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by tylerk36 View Post


    No DVD drive is good. Everything is going either wireless or flash drive/card. Even Steve acknowledged this in an interview at D8.



    And if the Mac Mini had the ODD removed I assume everyone assumes the MBP redesign will be losing them, too.
  • Reply 18 of 97
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Lukeskymac View Post


    Give me a nice GPU on the 13" model and it's an insta-buy.



    But please don't take long. I don't want to miss on Arkham City or Skyrim any more than I need to \



    My guess, is that the 13" MB Pro as we know it will be retired. Anybody wanting a 13" Mac portable will have no choice but to look to the 13" MBA. My prediction is the following;



    MBA lines - 11" to 15" screen, dual-core Ivy Bridge CPU & integrated GPU



    MB Pro line - 15" to 17" screen, quad-core Ivy Bridge CPU & Discreet AMD GPU
  • Reply 19 of 97
    quambquamb Posts: 143member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by tru_canuk View Post


    My guess, is that the 13" MB Pro as we know it will be retired. Anybody wanting a 13" Mac portable will have no choice but to look to the 13" MBA. My prediction is the following;



    MBA lines - 11" to 15" screen, dual-core Ivy Bridge CPU & integrated GPU



    MB Pro line - 15" to 17" screen, quad-core Ivy Bridge CPU & Discreet AMD GPU



    That'd be a shame, the 13" mbp is the perfect size vs powered computer on the market. And I'm sure the 13" mbp is one of Apple's best selling products?
  • Reply 20 of 97
    dunksdunks Posts: 1,254member
    Give the 11 inch air 1GB discrete graphics and I?m there.



    Best Starcraft 2 device ever.



    I think the 11 inch Air is the only Mac that supports the (optimal) 16:9 resolution.
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