First, how would any further hardware updates from Apple push Thunderbolt? The only thing that still needs it is the Mac Pro.
Second, it didn't work for FireWire because Intel didn't add it to their boards. FireWire was an Apple venture exclusively.
Intel is putting Thunderbolt on (I think) all of their PC boards.
The last time Intel and Apple got together behind a port, USB happened. Thunderbolt is going to explode. Remember USB adoption was pathetic from 1997-1999, too.
The above I can support.
Which is why I personally don't see the point. The MacBook Pro will look like a larger-screened Air. What's the point in keeping the 13" Pro around, since it will be identical to the MacBook Air's 13" model? And when you drop the 13" Pro, the lineup falls together nicely.
Drop the entry price of the 13" Air (now just 13" MacBook), and you have some nice steps all the way up the four sizes.
This however is still non sense in my mind. It repeats the fallacy that the 13" AIR and the 13" MBP are the same class of machine. They aren't and frankly never have been. The 13"MBP can support a far more powerful processor and even a GPU if Apple wants too. Given that sales of the 13" machine are real strong Apple is about to abandon ship here.
Beyond that there was a reference to Steve once drawing a square decided into quarters with consummer hardware in one column and Pro the other. I don't see Apple getting away from this formula.
The # of macs with thunderbolt wasn't enough to justify a lot of companies to invest in it.
That really has nothing to do with it. Perception is the problem here, people see TB as a USB replacement but it isn't and never was intended to be a replacement.
MSI and ASUS just launched motherboards with thunderbolt but they are not cheap either. Computex is next week so its possible to see more products with thunderbolt. But I suspect might be 6 months to a year before there are more accessories on par with say USB3
I don't see TB ever being on a par with USB. They are two different interfaces with different intentions.
products since at least with USB3 they(makers) know it can still be used by those with older system that only have USB2 which is huge.
There is simply no way to put the power that Pros need into a AIR type chassis. Besides one of Apples best selling laptops is the 13" MBP.
And you know this how? Their best-selling iPod was the mini… until they discontinued it.
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If anything the Pros will all end up quad core & descrete GPUs with the AIRs stuck with dual cores and intel graphics.
Every rumor we have seen says the opposite.
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I still believe that HiDPI screens will come to the MBPs first as they will be better able to handle the screens. Thus the AIRs will basically be a processor bump.
The Intel 4000 can handle them. The real question then becomes why you think such displays are actually ready/in existence.
There has been data for awhile about the average selling price of Apple laptops. It floats around the $1300 mark, which would mean there is a healthy chunk of 13" MBP and low end 13" MBA to balance out the lower end MBA and higher end MBP.
There has been data for awhile about the average selling price of Apple laptops. It floats around the $1300 mark, which would mean there is a healthy chunk of 13" MBP and low end 13" MBA to balance out the lower end MBA and higher end MBP.
Sorry, but your logic fails.
Let's say they sell 1,000,000 laptops at an average price of $1,300.
That could be 1,000,000 laptops at $1,300.
Or 500,000 laptops at $1,000 and 500,000 at $1,600.
Or 800,000 laptops at $1,000 and 200,000 at $2,500
There's no way to infer the distribution when all you know is the average selling price.
There has been data for awhile about the average selling price of Apple laptops. It floats around the $1300 mark, which would mean there is a healthy chunk of 13" MBP and low end 13" MBA to balance out the lower end MBA and higher end MBP.
No, sorry, I mean not being able to put power needed inside a smaller case. I knew I should have split those two sentences up.
No, sorry, I mean not being able to put power needed inside a smaller case. I knew I should have split those two sentences up.
Unless you of are the mind that computers are as fast as they need to be, it is easy to configure an 13" MBP that significantly out performs the AIR. It is simply a matter of implementing a higher wattage processor, providing room for more RAM and a GPU. Even today the two machines are dramatically different computers performance and capability wise.
So yes Ivy Bridge means that AIRs with it will be more powerful. Frankly I see them as being one hell of an update! However the same technology now means that the 13" MBP can get an even more impressive update as the machine has additional cooling and battery capacity.
There's some incongruity in the current lineup: the 13" Macbook Air has a higher resolution screen than the faster 13" Macbook Pro.
Even if Apple were to omit the Optical Disk drive from the next 13" Macbook Pro, the Firewire 800, faster processor, ability to upgrade RAM and to take 2.5" hard disks should distinguish it from the Macbook Air. Maybe Apple can use the refresh to upgrade the 13" Macbook Pro to the same or better screen resolution as the 13" Air.
That is assuming Apple does not do the same thing to the Pro's that they did to the Air, make the the ram soldered on to the board and the hard drive a weird blade SSD and as such not something you can upgrade easily.
Not something i am hoping for (who wants to pay Apple 600$ for 16GB's of ram really?) but something i unfortunately expect, if not for the HD at least for the ram.
Why on earth would you expect that for the Pro systems? If there is any SSD style RAM soldered to the board, it will be a 16 or 32GB amount where the OS installs, then you will have regular SSD and/or HDD drives for apps and storage. That would be good. Make OS X smart enough to install all apps to the SSD drive and store all other files on the HDD. As you run out of space on the SSD, it would intelligently shift your least used apps to the HDD.
That is assuming Apple does not do the same thing to the Pro's that they did to the Air, make the the ram soldered on to the board and the hard drive a weird blade SSD and as such not something you can upgrade easily.
Not something i am hoping for (who wants to pay Apple 600$ for 16GB's of ram really?) but something i unfortunately expect, if not for the HD at least for the ram.
This is another silly assumption. There's a fairly good chance that this wouldn't even benefit Apple. You can say that they could potentially charge more for upgrades. It will dissuade a portion of users, so it matters how many they can sell on this. I don't see them doing many variations on boards with soldered ram unless they can move them in very large numbers. The low end 11" might be an exception here as it's basically reverse engineered to that price point.
Comments
This however is still non sense in my mind. It repeats the fallacy that the 13" AIR and the 13" MBP are the same class of machine. They aren't and frankly never have been. The 13"MBP can support a far more powerful processor and even a GPU if Apple wants too. Given that sales of the 13" machine are real strong Apple is about to abandon ship here.
Beyond that there was a reference to Steve once drawing a square decided into quarters with consummer hardware in one column and Pro the other. I don't see Apple getting away from this formula.
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Originally Posted by wizard69
There is simply no way to put the power that Pros need into a AIR type chassis. Besides one of Apples best selling laptops is the 13" MBP.
And you know this how? Their best-selling iPod was the mini… until they discontinued it.
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If anything the Pros will all end up quad core & descrete GPUs with the AIRs stuck with dual cores and intel graphics.
Every rumor we have seen says the opposite.
Quote:
I still believe that HiDPI screens will come to the MBPs first as they will be better able to handle the screens. Thus the AIRs will basically be a processor bump.
The Intel 4000 can handle them. The real question then becomes why you think such displays are actually ready/in existence.
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Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
And you know this how?
There has been data for awhile about the average selling price of Apple laptops. It floats around the $1300 mark, which would mean there is a healthy chunk of 13" MBP and low end 13" MBA to balance out the lower end MBA and higher end MBP.
Sorry, but your logic fails.
Let's say they sell 1,000,000 laptops at an average price of $1,300.
That could be 1,000,000 laptops at $1,300.
Or 500,000 laptops at $1,000 and 500,000 at $1,600.
Or 800,000 laptops at $1,000 and 200,000 at $2,500
There's no way to infer the distribution when all you know is the average selling price.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SSquirrel
There has been data for awhile about the average selling price of Apple laptops. It floats around the $1300 mark, which would mean there is a healthy chunk of 13" MBP and low end 13" MBA to balance out the lower end MBA and higher end MBP.
No, sorry, I mean not being able to put power needed inside a smaller case. I knew I should have split those two sentences up.
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Originally Posted by drblank
Are these the same processors that Intel is talking about for the Ultrabooks from Dell, HP, etc.?
Yes.
Unless you of are the mind that computers are as fast as they need to be, it is easy to configure an 13" MBP that significantly out performs the AIR. It is simply a matter of implementing a higher wattage processor, providing room for more RAM and a GPU. Even today the two machines are dramatically different computers performance and capability wise.
So yes Ivy Bridge means that AIRs with it will be more powerful. Frankly I see them as being one hell of an update! However the same technology now means that the 13" MBP can get an even more impressive update as the machine has additional cooling and battery capacity.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ChiA
There's some incongruity in the current lineup: the 13" Macbook Air has a higher resolution screen than the faster 13" Macbook Pro.
Even if Apple were to omit the Optical Disk drive from the next 13" Macbook Pro, the Firewire 800, faster processor, ability to upgrade RAM and to take 2.5" hard disks should distinguish it from the Macbook Air. Maybe Apple can use the refresh to upgrade the 13" Macbook Pro to the same or better screen resolution as the 13" Air.
That is assuming Apple does not do the same thing to the Pro's that they did to the Air, make the the ram soldered on to the board and the hard drive a weird blade SSD and as such not something you can upgrade easily.
Not something i am hoping for (who wants to pay Apple 600$ for 16GB's of ram really?) but something i unfortunately expect, if not for the HD at least for the ram.
Why on earth would you expect that for the Pro systems? If there is any SSD style RAM soldered to the board, it will be a 16 or 32GB amount where the OS installs, then you will have regular SSD and/or HDD drives for apps and storage. That would be good. Make OS X smart enough to install all apps to the SSD drive and store all other files on the HDD. As you run out of space on the SSD, it would intelligently shift your least used apps to the HDD.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bounou
That is assuming Apple does not do the same thing to the Pro's that they did to the Air, make the the ram soldered on to the board and the hard drive a weird blade SSD and as such not something you can upgrade easily.
Not something i am hoping for (who wants to pay Apple 600$ for 16GB's of ram really?) but something i unfortunately expect, if not for the HD at least for the ram.
This is another silly assumption. There's a fairly good chance that this wouldn't even benefit Apple. You can say that they could potentially charge more for upgrades. It will dissuade a portion of users, so it matters how many they can sell on this. I don't see them doing many variations on boards with soldered ram unless they can move them in very large numbers. The low end 11" might be an exception here as it's basically reverse engineered to that price point.