Apple's next-gen MacBook Pro casing design revealed

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Comments

  • Reply 61 of 95
    hillstoneshillstones Posts: 1,490member
    I have never seen so many gullible people. Wow, new alleged case design made of aluminum! What a great idea! I wonder why they didn't think of that in 2003, oh wait, they already did! The photos are crap.



    I love the bogus chart with the case design intro and ending dates. The MacBook Pro case is EXACTLY the same as the PowerBook G4 design since 2003. They didn't retire the design in 2006.



    If the MacBook and MacBook Pro share a similar aluminum case, it won't be anything new. It will just look like 2003...again.
  • Reply 62 of 95
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hillstones View Post


    I love the bogus chart with the case design intro and ending dates. The MacBook Pro case is EXACTLY the same as the PowerBook G4 design since 2003. They didn't retire the design in 2006.



    If the MacBook and MacBook Pro share a similar aluminum case, it won't be anything new. It will just look like 2003...again.



    Just because it was aluminum all along doesn't mean it's really the same design all along. Pretty similar, but not the same.



    Maybe the changes are too subtle for your eyes, but there were several minor changes in the case between the Powerbook and MacBook Pro. Maybe it takes someone that's actually spent time with both to notice the difference.



    The design on these pictures, if that is going to be the new one, is hardly the same either, it's a lot closer to the Air styling now. The more significant difference here is that the battery hatch is moved or gone, the same with the memory hatch.
  • Reply 63 of 95
    I find that the "strange" battery-compartiment thingy actually makes this picture quite credible. I mean, if someone was planning to fool us all, i think it's very unlikely that he/she would construct an image showing a 3/4 bottom-shell piece.



    Anything is possible, i know, there are probably some very bored creative minds out there, but the atypical bottom piece makes me believe this image has a 90% chance to be authentic.



    Then there is off course the chance that this is a prototype that will never have any offspring.

    But i would counter this argument by saying that making a mold for producing these aluminium shells is way to expensive to just make prototype designs. Prototype designs would cease to exist during the 3D-modelling phase.



    Bottom line: can't wait to see the next-gen MBP

    This will be in august i guess. After the 3G-effect has worn off.
  • Reply 64 of 95
    Certainly plausible. I simply could not come up with a way of dealing with convenient hard drive access through the bottom of a MacBook Pro case without moving the DVD slot to the side rather than the front. This approach seems to involve one SIDE of the case for the hard drive and battery, which would enable them to resolve this issue without, say, losing their trademark screen hinge design.



    In fact, if this panel does indeed go right across the front of the computer, it implies slide-out user access for the DVD burner as well as the hard drive and battery. And there's an enticing prospect both for home users and enterprise customers. What has hitherto been a major maintenance issue and serious downtime just becomes another plug-in on a tray, just like a Mac Pro hard drive.
  • Reply 65 of 95
    dhagan4755dhagan4755 Posts: 2,152member
    With a side optical drive, will we loose a whole side of ports? Can't put them in the back...hinge...can't put them in the front...battery...so it's going to be one side for all of the connectivity?
  • Reply 66 of 95
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by DHagan4755 View Post


    With a side optical drive, will we loose a whole side of ports? Can't put them in the back...hinge...can't put them in the front...battery...so it's going to be one side for all of the connectivity?



    No, the idea is you have the opening across the FRONT of the computer (sorry for capitalizing SIDE in my first post, but I did reference the front), and then the hard drive slides out to the front, the battery slides out to the front, and the DVD burner slides out to the front. At least that's how I see it from the leaked photos.



    Otherwise, the only way to get user access to the hard drive in at least the 15 inch version would be to put the optical drive on the side like with the 13 inch MacBook, and then you would be losing space for ports. In the 17 there's probably just enough room to rotate the drive 90 degrees so that it slides into the battery compartment like on the MacBook, without relocating the DVD.



    I still don't see a convenient docking station solution in this case, but Apple doesn't seem to be much interested in that anyway. The docking "solution" Apple has in mind, if the Air is anything to go by, is to plug in your monitor and USB hub and turn on your wireless keyboard.
  • Reply 67 of 95
    I'm waiting for the MBP update before I buy one for college. I check back on AI everyday for news about it. I'm just happy that they put up a story that has nothing to do with the iPhone.
  • Reply 68 of 95
    I'd think that we would see about a %30 improvement over the 8600M GT if Apple moved to the 9600M GT. Not much, but when you consider that the 8600M GT already offers twice the performance of the underclocked x1600 in my Core Duo MBP, even that small difference is a nice improvement.



    The other, and less likely alternative is that Apple will instead toss in a 8800M GTS, like to what we find in the 24-inch iMac.
  • Reply 69 of 95
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by John French View Post


    I bet they'll put in a Nvidia 9600M GT





    ...



    It's about 2% faster than the current card...
  • Reply 70 of 95
    zevotzevot Posts: 9member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Machead99 View Post


    ...



    It's about 2% faster than the current card...



    hmm i think u r talking about 9500MGS which has the same core and memory clock as the 8600gt



    but both of that of 9600m gt are higher... i think everyone should check out this site for comparison of notebook graphics cards

    some1 has posted this before but there you go



    http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-...ist.844.0.html
  • Reply 71 of 95
    Ah ok I see.



    Well, meh, it's still a mediocre upgrade. It's a bit depressing to think that in our next MBPs we'll still only be getting 4500 on 3dmark... so much for "Pro".



    Sighh.... I might have to get an iMac
  • Reply 72 of 95
    zevotzevot Posts: 9member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Machead99 View Post


    Ah ok I see.



    Well, meh, it's still a mediocre upgrade. It's a bit depressing to think that in our next MBPs we'll still only be getting 4500 on 3dmark... so much for "Pro".



    Sighh.... I might have to get an iMac



    iMac... so why do u wanna get a mbp??



    yea but i still cant wait to see what they can come up with the new design



    4gb ram is definitely gonna happen in the top model right?? but ddr2 or ddr3??



    i guess they will start with ddr2 then bump it to ddr3 next yr on the update after...

    but i m def gonna buy it once it comes out in the next 2 months
  • Reply 73 of 95
    I'm wondering if this will cut down on all of the ports that the current MacBook Pro has. This looks to have an optical drive which is good, because the people who need an MBP are the same people who are most likely to use their laptops for burning discs of images or video while they are either away from the office or without using a ton of attached peripherals.



    I can handle the weight saving decisions of the Air, but I want all my features for what is primarily a workhorse machine - it's 3k and it's to last for a fairly long time and to do a lot. I know a lot of MBPs end up in the hands of people who use them in Starbucks but there's lots of people who buy the MacBook Pro (or the Powerbook g4 before it) because it's the most powerful laptop available from Apple. I've used my optical drive in the field many times, as long as you keep a little wallet of writable CDs in your bag you can burn pictures to a disc as soon as they come off your CD after an event. It's much cheaper to be able to burn a disposable CD which you can give away (I don't really mind if a commercial printer gives me my CD back but I would complain if a memory card or portable hard drive went missing) than to risk losing a more expensive storage device.



    When I'm at home I have a couple of desktops set up which between let me do anything I can conceive of, but when I'm out I want to have all my devices in self contained boxes, and the idea of dragging an external CD burner along with a bag of camera equipment around does not appeal.
  • Reply 74 of 95
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by zevot View Post


    iMac... so why do u wanna get a mbp??



    yea but i still cant wait to see what they can come up with the new design



    4gb ram is definitely gonna happen in the top model right?? but ddr2 or ddr3??



    i guess they will start with ddr2 then bump it to ddr3 next yr on the update after...

    but i m def gonna buy it once it comes out in the next 2 months



    4GB of video RAM or system RAM? All current iMacs and MBPs can use 4GB system RAM right now.
  • Reply 75 of 95
    zevotzevot Posts: 9member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by JeffDM View Post


    4GB of video RAM or system RAM? All current iMacs and MBPs can use 4GB system RAM right now.



    i mean stock ....baby!!
  • Reply 76 of 95
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by zevot View Post


    iMac... so why do u wanna get a mbp??



    Because portability is extremely useful to me, but I need a proper graphics card, not yesterdays mid range tech. I'll feel pretty humiliated spending $3k on a 17" pro laptop with a 9600M GT ..



    If they're tapering the edges maybe it's to allow the central part of the laptop to be thicker, and an 8800M GTS might be possible. Plenty of PC laptops the same price as the MBP have it.
  • Reply 77 of 95
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Machead99 View Post


    Because portability is extremely useful to me, but I need a proper graphics card, not yesterdays mid range tech. I'll feel pretty humiliated spending $3k on a 17" pro laptop with a 9600M GT ..



    If they're tapering the edges maybe it's to allow the central part of the laptop to be thicker, and an 8800M GTS might be possible. Plenty of PC laptops the same price as the MBP have it.



    Your melodrama is a bit much. What is todays' mid range mobile chip if a 9600M is already "yesterday's"?



    I wouldn't call the iMac portable by any stretch. It is very easy to move, but that's not the point of the product. It doesn't even have a built-in battery other than for the clock.
  • Reply 78 of 95
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by JeffDM View Post


    Your melodrama is a bit much. What is todays' mid range mobile chip if a 9600M is already "yesterday's"?



    I wouldn't call the iMac portable by any stretch. It is very easy to move, but that's not the point of the product. It doesn't even have a built-in battery other than for the clock.



    I know, I mean the portability of the MacBook Pro is useful to me, although it has a grossly underpowered CPU for a pro laptop. In the 17" model I don't see why we should be sacrificing potentially an 8800M GTS or an HD3850 for literally 0.25 inches of thickness. If I cared that much about it being thin I'd get an Air.
  • Reply 79 of 95
    alxthsalxths Posts: 8member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Machead99 View Post


    I know, I mean the portability of the MacBook Pro is useful to me, although it has a grossly underpowered CPU for a pro laptop. In the 17" model I don't see why we should be sacrificing potentially an 8800M GTS or an HD3850 for literally 0.25 inches of thickness. If I cared that much about it being thin I'd get an Air.



    I'm with ya on that. My 12" powerbook is 1.18 inches thing and I haven't once found myself wishing they could've somehow made it 1" or .93" for that matter. And mine doesn't even have a nice video card to justify the extra bulk \
  • Reply 80 of 95
    Don't rule out the 8800M GTS. Apple used it in the iMac. No reason why they wouldn't use it in the MBP...
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