It's an option I'll consider. I would prefer an integrated one. Blu Ray players will become commonplace in the near future and disks seem ideal, not for archiving, but for sharing media. They are coming, whether you want them or not.
Steve thought 128mb magneto-optical drives would replace floppy disks, too, but you can still buy the latter in office supply stores.
The dustbins of business are littered with the remains of the perfect portable media. SyQuest carts, Iomega Zip and Jaz carts, mag-opto carts, and DVD-RAMs were all considered the answer, and all of them had their moment in the sun, but something always comes along that's better, faster, easier.
We may see solid state memory cards in large enough capacity for large-scale file and media sharing before Blu-Ray has completely penetrated the marketplace.
A large-scale demand for a product must already be in place for a manufacturer to cost-effectively build it into their standard specs, even as a special-order item. Companies like Apple need to be able to place orders in sufficient quantity from OEMs to get the kind of pricing that makes it affordable to them to keep those components in inventory. In the fast-paced world of technology and personal computing, where the large orders are typically made by corporate buyers, HD optical drives aren't warranted. When I worked for a Fortune 10 corporation, they wouldn't even allow DVD players for laptops, even paid extra to get them with CD players only from Dell.
We may see solid state memory cards in large enough capacity for large-scale file and media sharing before Blu-Ray has completely penetrated the marketplace.
That sentence got me thinking. While the NetBoot feature in the MBA is nice, it's not an ideal situation requiring a 2nd machine for an OS install.
I checked Google Products for the non-eBay USB flash drives that were 8GB. That is as close to an install DVD as I could get. The current lowest price is about $25. While still very expensive compared to the cost of a DVD, the actaully production costs may actually be lower for the 8Gb drive than a SuperDrive. If the trend is moving away from using optical media?which I think it is?this might be the best choice for Apple in the next couple years. (Speculation)
That's understandable, however in the realm of graphic design studios, a laptop is quite impractical, unless you're a freelancer. I work at a studio decorated in Mac Pros, with dual monitors on an xServe. For the fast paced, deadline hungry clients we deal with, the power a Mac Pro has, is much more reliable than a notebook. Of course, I am purchasing a MBP for my home freelance work, but there, I'm hooking it up to a Cinema display when I work.
So my point: Towers are powerful and good for office professionals, Notebooks are powerful and good for on the go professionals.
I should have mentioned the configurations we do also included monitors. And I see your point about using MBP by on the go professionals.
BTW, now that the newer Penryn/Santa Rosa MBPs have more VRAM, we're looking at Matrox's TripleHead2Go product to connect two Apple Cinema displays to an MBP. Not sure if the solution is reliable enough, but we're still experimenting.
I have almost no knowledge to new hardware so please forgive me if my question is stupid. I wonder how big the difference will be between this rumored "Montevina Centrino 2 platform" and the recently upgraded "Penryn processors" in the "Santa Rosa mobile platform"? I am flying to China around the end of June and I plan to buy a new MacBook. I wonder if the rumor one will be available at that time. Thanks for advance!
It's unlikely Apple will have either MacBook or MacBook Pro models shipping with Penryn/Centrino 2 (aka Montevina) chipsets by the time you leave for China.
The speculation is these updated Apple laptops will have better performance, cooler operation and longer battery life.
It is still unknown if the updated MacBooks will also inherit the multi-touch trackpad and whether both product lines may benefit from a chassis revamp, although it seems like a logical conclusion.
Based on early tests, Penryn/Santa Rosa based products only have marginally improved performance and battery life.
As it seems to have escaped all your attentions, Computers are used by professionals in the Film/photography/music business, not just for downloading from iTunes in Starbucks, so a Blu Ray drive for backups is of huge benefit.
DVD has been too small for years to be used for that purpose. I'm not buying a new laptop until writable BluRay is onboard.
Quote:
Originally Posted by YipYipYipee
As portable Macs and PCs become more powerful, storage as inexpensive, and software as sophisticated as it has ever been, portability offers a new cost/performance advantage to film and television producers.
A catalyst for the above is this year's election season. Indeed, the availability of highly portable OB (outside broadcast) editing platforms makes it easier and more timely for news organizations to create a slick piece in the field, rather than sending footage back to the studio for editing.
The cost of pro-sumer and professional HD equipment (e.g. video cameras) has dropped significantly. And the production value is so good, it makes news, documentary and independent film productions look just as professional as traditional methods.
The company I work for is at the forefront of this change. We're able to put together a fairly sophisticated HD editing workstation on one or two portable carts, with a high-end MBP as the NLE (typically running Final Cut Pro).
great posts, really summing up what producers of HD content are doing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by solipsism
Then get a 3rd-party BD burner from one of various vendors.
At the moment however, on macs at least, there is no authoring solution for B-R. there is minor HD-DVD capability in DVDSP, but no B-R and possibly not til the next FCS release next year at least. so with an external burner you are limited to storage purposes only.
At the moment however, on macs at least, there is no authoring solution for B-R. there is minor HD-DVD capability in DVDSP, but no B-R and possibly not til the next FCS release next year at least. so with an external burner you are limited to storage purposes only.
I just checked Toast Titanium 8. It can burn to BD but there doesn't appear to be any direct authoring for it.
If there isn't any software for it I don't see a reason why Apple should add the hardware.
I just checked Toast Titanium 8. It can burn to BD but there doesn't appear to be any direct authoring for it.
If there isn't any software for it I don't see a reason why Apple should add the hardware.
i agree. hence i hope apple update DVDSP to allow B-R authoring asap. it's a huge undertaking, that's why i don't think it will happen till a new version of FCS c.NAB09...
i agree. hence i hope apple update DVDSP to allow B-R authoring asap. it's a huge undertaking, that's why i don't think it will happen till a new version of FCS c.NAB09...
Perhaps the day DVDSP is released Apple will also release a Blu-ray BTO option for their Pro line.
PS: Intel's Montevina platform will also have support for Blu-ray on the chip, but I think that only means codec support. It will also have support for Wi-Max is things are still going as planned.
Perhaps the day DVDSP is released Apple will also release a Blu-ray BTO option for their Pro line.
PS: Intel's Montevina platform will also have support for Blu-ray on the chip, but I think that only means codec support.
re: PS: i think that seems to be the first hurdle to overcome, perhaps then ppl will be able to use them for more than data.
i've also read someone post hereabouts that B-R drives aren't thin enough for MBPs, similar to the issue with dual layer drives when apple first went to intel.
i'm less interesed in the drive for it's own sake but rather for system wide support, now that the format war is over.
It's unlikely Apple will have either MacBook or MacBook Pro models shipping with Penryn/Centrino 2 (aka Montevina) chipsets by the time you leave for China.
The speculation is these updated Apple laptops will have better performance, cooler operation and longer battery life.
It is still unknown if the updated MacBooks will also inherit the multi-touch trackpad and whether both product lines may benefit from a chassis revamp, although it seems like a logical conclusion.
Based on early tests, Penryn/Santa Rosa based products only have marginally improved performance and battery life.
YipYipYipee
It seems the chipsets difference will not be too huge. Multi-touch trackpad is not so tempting to me as I only use it for web browsing and some school stuff. I will wait and see what issue people will probably have with the latest MacBook.
Those waiting for this "June" revision should read this...
"The timeline for all of this is pretty simple; you can expect Montevina before the end of 2008 (Intel lists it as June on its internal roadmaps, but you can expect to see it in notebooks anytime in Q3). Despite being officially released this year, Nehalem won?t be in notebooks until sometime next year so the big performance upgrade will be a 2009 thing."
Why do you want BluRay on your laptop? Will you be able to see that much difference in video playback on a 15 inch screen? Ir is it that you frequently find youself needing to burn 40 GB of data to a disk when you are at Starbucks?
Sorry for being flip, but I don't see the point of salivating over this.
I only buy blu-ray movies now and won't be able to watch them on my MacBook when I buy one.... Thats the reason I think it would be a must for most people. As we don't want to have to buy the inferior DVD version as well just to be able to watch on the go.
How about you re-read my post, where I explicitly say, "it's just my personal choice..., etc." before you go climbing all over my ass with an absurd public comment like that.
If what you meant to say is, "I don't really give a shit what your thoughts are, Zanshin, my habits include packing Blu-Ray DVDs and $3500 computers when I take my kids places," then say that. Don't disguise your own inability to accept that I PERSONALLY don't want the added cost making Blu-Ray a "standard feature" by saying that I can't comprehend other's needs.
I've deployed Mac laptops since the PowerBook 140 was the big deal, for engineers, accountants, HR teams, construction managers, CFOs, IT staff and communication creatives. I've been taking the computing needs of others into consideration to justify new Mac purchases probably longer than you've been able to reproduce.
I would suggest that instead of replaying videos for your spawn while traveling to keep them quiet, you read to them, but apparently that's still a bit beyond your own skill set.
ROTFLMAO.
First, you're the one advocating that there's no place for BR in a laptop. I'm suggesting that it would be a useful BTO option for some. That means your first two paragraphs are nothing more than an indication of your lack of reading ability and/or inability to think logically.
As for the rest, I've been reading to my daughter since she was an infant - and her test scores are currently in the top 1% of the US population for her age group. She's reading at a grade level 5 years above her age. Why don't you stick to talking about things you know something about - if you can find something, that is?
First, you're the one advocating that there's no place for BR in a laptop. I'm suggesting that it would be a useful BTO option for some. That means your first two paragraphs are nothing more than an indication of your lack of reading ability and/or inability to think logically.
As for the rest, I've been reading to my daughter since she was an infant - and her test scores are currently in the top 1% of the US population for her age group. She's reading at a grade level 5 years above her age. Why don't you stick to talking about things you know something about - if you can find something, that is?
Because rather than just say "It will probably show up in the next revision or so as an option depending on factors x, y, and z" it's more fun to belittle someone and feel all superior.
I've switched to buying only BR movies myself. While I've never been one to watch movies on a laptop except for when I'm travelling I'd be interested in a BR drive equipped Macbook at some point in the future. I'm not paying to rent content I already own so iTunes will not fit as a substitute for my needs.
The best bet here may be the feature Sony (yes, evil Sony) will be introducing to the PS3 allowing BR movies to be ripped (albeit to a lower resolution) for play an any other device (not just PSPs).
2009 will be the year that the Mac turns 25. What a wonderful way to commemorate that anniversary than by revamping the entire Mac line with Nehalem CPUs, chips from the Calpella chipset, and Mac OS 10.6, all in time for WWDC 2009.
2009 will be the year that the Mac turns 25. What a wonderful way to commemorate that anniversary than by revamping the entire Mac line with Nehalem CPUs, chips from the Calpella chipset, and Mac OS 10.6, all in time for WWDC 2009.
I have almost no knowledge to new hardware so please forgive me if my question is stupid. I wonder how big the difference will be between this rumored "Montevina Centrino 2 platform" and the recently upgraded "Penryn processors" in the "Santa Rosa mobile platform"? I am flying to China around the end of June and I plan to buy a new MacBook. I wonder if the rumor one will be available at that time. Thanks for advance!
I wouldn't lose sleep over it.
The next BIG jump will be early 09 when Intel ships chips with integrated memory controllers. In addition, they'll have integrated video which will help with price and energy consumption at the low end of the range.
integrated video that uses system ram by then they should have a desktop with a real video card for $700-$1500 base
Did you miss the week they taught punctuation in school?
I don't see any sign that things will change from their current status - low end systems will use cheap integrated graphics with shared RAM and high end systems will have dedicated graphics cards. When video and memory controllers are on the CPU, the performance penalty will actually decline, so there's even LESS reason to go away from integrated video after it's available on chip.
i currently have a 2.4GHz C2D Santa Rosa w/ 256MB 8600 GT, 15" LED Glossy MBP.....but if they refresh the macbook air with a 2.0GHz C2D and a 5400 RPM hard drive that has atleast 100GB of space.....I'll be throwing down the green for one. the 4200 RPM HD is whats killing it for me right now.....its holding the system back from performing as well as the macbook.
Comments
It's an option I'll consider. I would prefer an integrated one. Blu Ray players will become commonplace in the near future and disks seem ideal, not for archiving, but for sharing media. They are coming, whether you want them or not.
Steve thought 128mb magneto-optical drives would replace floppy disks, too, but you can still buy the latter in office supply stores.
The dustbins of business are littered with the remains of the perfect portable media. SyQuest carts, Iomega Zip and Jaz carts, mag-opto carts, and DVD-RAMs were all considered the answer, and all of them had their moment in the sun, but something always comes along that's better, faster, easier.
We may see solid state memory cards in large enough capacity for large-scale file and media sharing before Blu-Ray has completely penetrated the marketplace.
A large-scale demand for a product must already be in place for a manufacturer to cost-effectively build it into their standard specs, even as a special-order item. Companies like Apple need to be able to place orders in sufficient quantity from OEMs to get the kind of pricing that makes it affordable to them to keep those components in inventory. In the fast-paced world of technology and personal computing, where the large orders are typically made by corporate buyers, HD optical drives aren't warranted. When I worked for a Fortune 10 corporation, they wouldn't even allow DVD players for laptops, even paid extra to get them with CD players only from Dell.
We may see solid state memory cards in large enough capacity for large-scale file and media sharing before Blu-Ray has completely penetrated the marketplace.
That sentence got me thinking. While the NetBoot feature in the MBA is nice, it's not an ideal situation requiring a 2nd machine for an OS install.
I checked Google Products for the non-eBay USB flash drives that were 8GB. That is as close to an install DVD as I could get. The current lowest price is about $25. While still very expensive compared to the cost of a DVD, the actaully production costs may actually be lower for the 8Gb drive than a SuperDrive. If the trend is moving away from using optical media?which I think it is?this might be the best choice for Apple in the next couple years. (Speculation)
@ YipYipYipee:
That's understandable, however in the realm of graphic design studios, a laptop is quite impractical, unless you're a freelancer. I work at a studio decorated in Mac Pros, with dual monitors on an xServe. For the fast paced, deadline hungry clients we deal with, the power a Mac Pro has, is much more reliable than a notebook. Of course, I am purchasing a MBP for my home freelance work, but there, I'm hooking it up to a Cinema display when I work.
So my point: Towers are powerful and good for office professionals, Notebooks are powerful and good for on the go professionals.
I should have mentioned the configurations we do also included monitors. And I see your point about using MBP by on the go professionals.
BTW, now that the newer Penryn/Santa Rosa MBPs have more VRAM, we're looking at Matrox's TripleHead2Go product to connect two Apple Cinema displays to an MBP. Not sure if the solution is reliable enough, but we're still experimenting.
http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/gx...s/mac/home.php
YipYipYipee
I have almost no knowledge to new hardware so please forgive me if my question is stupid. I wonder how big the difference will be between this rumored "Montevina Centrino 2 platform" and the recently upgraded "Penryn processors" in the "Santa Rosa mobile platform"? I am flying to China around the end of June and I plan to buy a new MacBook. I wonder if the rumor one will be available at that time. Thanks for advance!
It's unlikely Apple will have either MacBook or MacBook Pro models shipping with Penryn/Centrino 2 (aka Montevina) chipsets by the time you leave for China.
The speculation is these updated Apple laptops will have better performance, cooler operation and longer battery life.
It is still unknown if the updated MacBooks will also inherit the multi-touch trackpad and whether both product lines may benefit from a chassis revamp, although it seems like a logical conclusion.
Based on early tests, Penryn/Santa Rosa based products only have marginally improved performance and battery life.
YipYipYipee
As it seems to have escaped all your attentions, Computers are used by professionals in the Film/photography/music business, not just for downloading from iTunes in Starbucks, so a Blu Ray drive for backups is of huge benefit.
DVD has been too small for years to be used for that purpose. I'm not buying a new laptop until writable BluRay is onboard.
As portable Macs and PCs become more powerful, storage as inexpensive, and software as sophisticated as it has ever been, portability offers a new cost/performance advantage to film and television producers.
A catalyst for the above is this year's election season. Indeed, the availability of highly portable OB (outside broadcast) editing platforms makes it easier and more timely for news organizations to create a slick piece in the field, rather than sending footage back to the studio for editing.
The cost of pro-sumer and professional HD equipment (e.g. video cameras) has dropped significantly. And the production value is so good, it makes news, documentary and independent film productions look just as professional as traditional methods.
The company I work for is at the forefront of this change. We're able to put together a fairly sophisticated HD editing workstation on one or two portable carts, with a high-end MBP as the NLE (typically running Final Cut Pro).
great posts, really summing up what producers of HD content are doing.
Then get a 3rd-party BD burner from one of various vendors.
At the moment however, on macs at least, there is no authoring solution for B-R. there is minor HD-DVD capability in DVDSP, but no B-R and possibly not til the next FCS release next year at least. so with an external burner you are limited to storage purposes only.
At the moment however, on macs at least, there is no authoring solution for B-R. there is minor HD-DVD capability in DVDSP, but no B-R and possibly not til the next FCS release next year at least. so with an external burner you are limited to storage purposes only.
I just checked Toast Titanium 8. It can burn to BD but there doesn't appear to be any direct authoring for it.
If there isn't any software for it I don't see a reason why Apple should add the hardware.
I just checked Toast Titanium 8. It can burn to BD but there doesn't appear to be any direct authoring for it.
If there isn't any software for it I don't see a reason why Apple should add the hardware.
i agree. hence i hope apple update DVDSP to allow B-R authoring asap. it's a huge undertaking, that's why i don't think it will happen till a new version of FCS c.NAB09...
i agree. hence i hope apple update DVDSP to allow B-R authoring asap. it's a huge undertaking, that's why i don't think it will happen till a new version of FCS c.NAB09...
Perhaps the day DVDSP is released Apple will also release a Blu-ray BTO option for their Pro line.
PS: Intel's Montevina platform will also have support for Blu-ray on the chip, but I think that only means codec support. It will also have support for Wi-Max is things are still going as planned.
Perhaps the day DVDSP is released Apple will also release a Blu-ray BTO option for their Pro line.
PS: Intel's Montevina platform will also have support for Blu-ray on the chip, but I think that only means codec support.
re: PS: i think that seems to be the first hurdle to overcome, perhaps then ppl will be able to use them for more than data.
i've also read someone post hereabouts that B-R drives aren't thin enough for MBPs, similar to the issue with dual layer drives when apple first went to intel.
i'm less interesed in the drive for it's own sake but rather for system wide support, now that the format war is over.
It's unlikely Apple will have either MacBook or MacBook Pro models shipping with Penryn/Centrino 2 (aka Montevina) chipsets by the time you leave for China.
The speculation is these updated Apple laptops will have better performance, cooler operation and longer battery life.
It is still unknown if the updated MacBooks will also inherit the multi-touch trackpad and whether both product lines may benefit from a chassis revamp, although it seems like a logical conclusion.
Based on early tests, Penryn/Santa Rosa based products only have marginally improved performance and battery life.
YipYipYipee
It seems the chipsets difference will not be too huge. Multi-touch trackpad is not so tempting to me as I only use it for web browsing and some school stuff. I will wait and see what issue people will probably have with the latest MacBook.
Thanks Bageljoey and YipYipYipee!
Why do you want BluRay on your laptop? Will you be able to see that much difference in video playback on a 15 inch screen? Ir is it that you frequently find youself needing to burn 40 GB of data to a disk when you are at Starbucks?
Sorry for being flip, but I don't see the point of salivating over this.
I only buy blu-ray movies now and won't be able to watch them on my MacBook when I buy one.... Thats the reason I think it would be a must for most people. As we don't want to have to buy the inferior DVD version as well just to be able to watch on the go.
How about you re-read my post, where I explicitly say, "it's just my personal choice..., etc." before you go climbing all over my ass with an absurd public comment like that.
If what you meant to say is, "I don't really give a shit what your thoughts are, Zanshin, my habits include packing Blu-Ray DVDs and $3500 computers when I take my kids places," then say that. Don't disguise your own inability to accept that I PERSONALLY don't want the added cost making Blu-Ray a "standard feature" by saying that I can't comprehend other's needs.
I've deployed Mac laptops since the PowerBook 140 was the big deal, for engineers, accountants, HR teams, construction managers, CFOs, IT staff and communication creatives. I've been taking the computing needs of others into consideration to justify new Mac purchases probably longer than you've been able to reproduce.
I would suggest that instead of replaying videos for your spawn while traveling to keep them quiet, you read to them, but apparently that's still a bit beyond your own skill set.
ROTFLMAO.
First, you're the one advocating that there's no place for BR in a laptop. I'm suggesting that it would be a useful BTO option for some. That means your first two paragraphs are nothing more than an indication of your lack of reading ability and/or inability to think logically.
As for the rest, I've been reading to my daughter since she was an infant - and her test scores are currently in the top 1% of the US population for her age group. She's reading at a grade level 5 years above her age. Why don't you stick to talking about things you know something about - if you can find something, that is?
ROTFLMAO.
First, you're the one advocating that there's no place for BR in a laptop. I'm suggesting that it would be a useful BTO option for some. That means your first two paragraphs are nothing more than an indication of your lack of reading ability and/or inability to think logically.
As for the rest, I've been reading to my daughter since she was an infant - and her test scores are currently in the top 1% of the US population for her age group. She's reading at a grade level 5 years above her age. Why don't you stick to talking about things you know something about - if you can find something, that is?
Because rather than just say "It will probably show up in the next revision or so as an option depending on factors x, y, and z" it's more fun to belittle someone and feel all superior.
I've switched to buying only BR movies myself. While I've never been one to watch movies on a laptop except for when I'm travelling I'd be interested in a BR drive equipped Macbook at some point in the future. I'm not paying to rent content I already own so iTunes will not fit as a substitute for my needs.
The best bet here may be the feature Sony (yes, evil Sony) will be introducing to the PS3 allowing BR movies to be ripped (albeit to a lower resolution) for play an any other device (not just PSPs).
2009 will be the year that the Mac turns 25. What a wonderful way to commemorate that anniversary than by revamping the entire Mac line with Nehalem CPUs, chips from the Calpella chipset, and Mac OS 10.6, all in time for WWDC 2009.
WWDC, but not MacWorld.
I have almost no knowledge to new hardware so please forgive me if my question is stupid. I wonder how big the difference will be between this rumored "Montevina Centrino 2 platform" and the recently upgraded "Penryn processors" in the "Santa Rosa mobile platform"? I am flying to China around the end of June and I plan to buy a new MacBook. I wonder if the rumor one will be available at that time. Thanks for advance!
I wouldn't lose sleep over it.
The next BIG jump will be early 09 when Intel ships chips with integrated memory controllers. In addition, they'll have integrated video which will help with price and energy consumption at the low end of the range.
integrated video that uses system ram by then they should have a desktop with a real video card for $700-$1500 base
Did you miss the week they taught punctuation in school?
I don't see any sign that things will change from their current status - low end systems will use cheap integrated graphics with shared RAM and high end systems will have dedicated graphics cards. When video and memory controllers are on the CPU, the performance penalty will actually decline, so there's even LESS reason to go away from integrated video after it's available on chip.