You shouldn't paint with such a broad brush because you are wrong about the lack of re-design. It's true that the outer shell hasn't changed much but the current MacBook Pros run much cooler, have a much crisper & brighter screen, & the battery life rocks!!
I'm with you. A few weeks ago, I got my 17" LED Hi-Res Matte MBP w/7200RPM drive and maxed out the RAM via OWC. I do not regret it ONE bit, even if they were to introduce new machines tomorrow. I kept waiting until they addressed the heat issues and put in the LED on the 17", those were my last true nagging doubts. This is a proven case enclosure, the heat issues of the past have been taken care of, I work with it on my lap at home (in shorts, bare skin!) with no issues at all and battery life has been terrific. The hi-res LED screen is GORGEOUS. It's snappy as HELL. Sure I wouldn't mind having the maglatch but I'll take this tried-and-true setup over a new enclosure with lots of unknowns any day of the week.
My 12" PB G4 is getting very tired, and an alumium refresh of the Macbooks would make a beautiful transition.
If that did happen, I'd be curious what will happen to MBA sales if they bring a similar enclosure and the build quality (sorry folks, the current Macbooks cases are CRAP, they chip like crazy) down to the consumer line lappie.
No, what I'd prefer to see is a silver aluminum MacBook Pro with black Air-like keyboard and an aluminum regular MacBook that comes in 6 colors.
Well, carbon/ceramics is about reduced weight and better wireless transparency. And aluminium can also come in multiple colors, although I'm not sure about the cost of (colored) aluminium.
So does apple really need separate MB and MB Pro lines?
What if they just came up with one great case design and just differentiated by features? The more expensive machines have bigger screen, hard drive, more ram, faster processor, more ports, etc.
Just make it one line of cases, if they really want to designate some models as "pro" just create some stock configurations labeled that way. And do more of a continuum of BTO options instead of the annoying mandatory bundles of certain features.
Is there any compelling reason at this point to keep them separate, especially when both are using the same line of processors?
In fact, one might argue that the two tone MacBook Air and current iMacs are more 'tawdry' than the previous all white enclosures.
My sentiments also.
IMHO the white MacBooks and iMacs were the most attractive designs Apple has come up with. But then Apple has only to ring its bell and Pavlov's dogs start drooling on queue no matter what they're shown.
No doubt they will "discover" how ugly the steel and aluminium models are when they are replaced. Not to mention how nicely they transmit the heat into your lap.
I also don't buy that the polycarbonate designs are less ecofriendly than the cocktail of metal that takes considerable energy to manufacture. None of which should handicap it in the American market where conspicuous, wasteful consumption is a good thing and the only concern is how much that energy costs.
Now how to manufacture the permanently on Macs, twice as big as they need to be, throw in air conditioning and run them on oil with as low mileage as possible?
I'm surprised that they're not talking about the MacBook Air at all - these new chipsets are much smaller than the old and use less power - hence ideal for the MBA. Of course, for back to school the MacBook would be a focus (I'm still expecting a 9-inch laptop for students based on the iPod Touch with iWork).
As for cooler - I have the next-to-latest revision of MBP and I bought a heat pad for it, seems to make a difference. I also have Fan Control installed to bump the fan speeds up more quickly when it heats up. On the road I now occassionally hit 70'c when encoding video but no longer 80'c (160'F, no longer 176'f). If you're at home, you can take the battery out too and it runs MUCH cooler. I look forward to better cooling
"shedding their plastic enclosures for ones constructed from more eco-friendly materials such as aircraft-grade aluminum and stainless steel..."
Then we can all say goodbye to the MacBook's excellent WiFi range. Someone really should set Apple's engineers down and explain to them a little physics. Radio waves don't pass through metal. Make a laptop's case out of metal, and you end up with a weirdly shaped, poor coverage pattern. It's a bit like using your cell phone inside lots of buildings.
One suggestion: Someone with access to an antenna range to put various Macs on a turntable and test their coverage. Then we'd have a standard of comparison.
Makes me glad I've got a "plastic" MacBook along with a plastic iMac.
They'll definitely update the Air when they're ready for it. But for a while it will be internal updates, things like speed and feature bumps. This article is more about major case redesigns.
Wonder if Apple will front a black anodized Aluminum enclosure similar to the fronts of the black iPod classic. That might make for a very sexy, sleek machine.
Get rid of the current f'ugly iMac now! That nasty mighty mouse and racoon border have got to go. Let's not forget the ghastly cheap black apple on the back.
Is everything being designed to look like the iPhone?
Are there any wifi range/signal comparisons online between MB and MBP?
I would think with a metal case you could use the case itself as an antenna, but that's utter speculation on my part.
Antenna's have to be a very specific length and distance in between so I doubt using the case as an antenna would work well, but I'm not really an expert on this matter either.
My current 17" MacBook Pro (an original 2.16Ghz) has really turned me off of laptops altogether, and I've anticipated my next computer would be a return to the iMac. The machine itself is just too hot (my keyboard is surrounded by burn marks), the battery life disappointing (my battery has been replaced once already after the computer cooked the first one to death), the wi-fi reception is half that of the consumer MacBooks, and the screen brightness/contrast leaves much to be desired. I believe many of this issues can be contributed to the design of the machine itself, and the materials utilized, which has gone unchanged since the first aluminum PowerBooks arrived in 2003. A totally revamped model, complete with new technologies like LED backlit screens becoming standard across the board, could probably alleviate many of these issues, and make the machines appear far more modern and attractive in the process.
I don't think many people are interested in replacing their MacBook Pros with a newer model that looks exactly the same and has all the same issues.
The problems you describe can all be laid squarely at the feet of the Intel Core Duo chip. It isn't all that great. Despite the name, it doesn't actually use the "Core" micro-architecture, it's merely a minor tweak of the earlier Pentium-M.
Apple were really caught between a rock and a hard place during the Intel transition. Really, they could have done with one more PPC step before going Intel, but it just didn't exist. Whilst the Core Duo was a massive step forward in terms of computational power, it was also a significant step backwards in terms of heat generation and electrical power consumption.
Since your MacBook Pro, the CPU has evolved twice, and the motherboard chipset once. With the next revision talked about in this article, the CPU will be further refined and the motherboard chipset evolved once more. All these evolutions and refinements have delivered lower heat generation and better power efficiency. You can then buy a new MacBook Pro with confidence. I can't wait for this revision!
Quote:
Originally Posted by jd051572
Why mess with perfection?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gustav
At least someone here agrees. The MacBook Pro has a timeless look, definitely not dated. Any redesign is only to satisfy superficial desires for something that looks "new."
Hmmm... the current MacBook Pro isn't quite perfect. There's four things specifically which could do with being improved.
1.) The latching mechanism. Get rid of those hooks and use the magnetic latch of the MacBook and MacBook Air. More elegant, easier to manufacture, less to go wrong/break. All round, the magnetic latch is a much better design than the current MacBook Pro's.
2.) HDD replacement is very tricky. It's much easier in the MacBook and the MacBook Pro should have the same mechanism.
3.) There's not enough contrast between the colour of the keyboard keys and the keyboard backlight. The keys are light grey and the backlight is a blueish white, and the intensity of the backlight is automatically set according to the ambient light level. For some ambient light levels, the intensity of the backlight is such that it matches the key colour - making it much harder to read the keys! The MacBook Air, having black keys, doesn't suffer from this problem. The MacBook Pro keys should be black.
4.) Sticking with the keyboard, the design of the MacBook/MacBook Air/desktop keyboard is fabulous. At first it divided opinion, but it seems to becoming more and more a consensus view that the "new" keyboard design has a fantastic feel to it. It looks great, too.
Comments
You shouldn't paint with such a broad brush because you are wrong about the lack of re-design. It's true that the outer shell hasn't changed much but the current MacBook Pros run much cooler, have a much crisper & brighter screen, & the battery life rocks!!
I'm with you. A few weeks ago, I got my 17" LED Hi-Res Matte MBP w/7200RPM drive and maxed out the RAM via OWC. I do not regret it ONE bit, even if they were to introduce new machines tomorrow. I kept waiting until they addressed the heat issues and put in the LED on the 17", those were my last true nagging doubts. This is a proven case enclosure, the heat issues of the past have been taken care of, I work with it on my lap at home (in shorts, bare skin!) with no issues at all and battery life has been terrific. The hi-res LED screen is GORGEOUS. It's snappy as HELL. Sure I wouldn't mind having the maglatch but I'll take this tried-and-true setup over a new enclosure with lots of unknowns any day of the week.
Would love to see MacBook upgrades to aluminium and MacBook Pro upgrades to carbon and/or ceramics.
No, what I'd prefer to see is a silver aluminum MacBook Pro with black Air-like keyboard and an aluminum regular MacBook that comes in 6 colors.
If that did happen, I'd be curious what will happen to MBA sales if they bring a similar enclosure and the build quality (sorry folks, the current Macbooks cases are CRAP, they chip like crazy) down to the consumer line lappie.
No, what I'd prefer to see is a silver aluminum MacBook Pro with black Air-like keyboard and an aluminum regular MacBook that comes in 6 colors.
Well, carbon/ceramics is about reduced weight and better wireless transparency. And aluminium can also come in multiple colors, although I'm not sure about the cost of (colored) aluminium.
What if they just came up with one great case design and just differentiated by features? The more expensive machines have bigger screen, hard drive, more ram, faster processor, more ports, etc.
Just make it one line of cases, if they really want to designate some models as "pro" just create some stock configurations labeled that way. And do more of a continuum of BTO options instead of the annoying mandatory bundles of certain features.
Is there any compelling reason at this point to keep them separate, especially when both are using the same line of processors?
My sentiments exactly.
In fact, one might argue that the two tone MacBook Air and current iMacs are more 'tawdry' than the previous all white enclosures.
My sentiments also.
IMHO the white MacBooks and iMacs were the most attractive designs Apple has come up with. But then Apple has only to ring its bell and Pavlov's dogs start drooling on queue no matter what they're shown.
No doubt they will "discover" how ugly the steel and aluminium models are when they are replaced. Not to mention how nicely they transmit the heat into your lap.
I also don't buy that the polycarbonate designs are less ecofriendly than the cocktail of metal that takes considerable energy to manufacture. None of which should handicap it in the American market where conspicuous, wasteful consumption is a good thing and the only concern is how much that energy costs.
Now how to manufacture the permanently on Macs, twice as big as they need to be, throw in air conditioning and run them on oil with as low mileage as possible?
Are you ready for the HumveeBook?
aluminum regular MacBook that comes in 6 colors.
right.
that's not going to happen.
As for cooler - I have the next-to-latest revision of MBP and I bought a heat pad for it, seems to make a difference. I also have Fan Control installed to bump the fan speeds up more quickly when it heats up. On the road I now occassionally hit 70'c when encoding video but no longer 80'c (160'F, no longer 176'f). If you're at home, you can take the battery out too and it runs MUCH cooler. I look forward to better cooling
Then we can all say goodbye to the MacBook's excellent WiFi range. Someone really should set Apple's engineers down and explain to them a little physics. Radio waves don't pass through metal. Make a laptop's case out of metal, and you end up with a weirdly shaped, poor coverage pattern. It's a bit like using your cell phone inside lots of buildings.
One suggestion: Someone with access to an antenna range to put various Macs on a turntable and test their coverage. Then we'd have a standard of comparison.
Makes me glad I've got a "plastic" MacBook along with a plastic iMac.
--Mike Perry, KE7NV
They'll definitely update the Air when they're ready for it.<snip> This article is more about major case redesigns.
Good point.
I would think with a metal case you could use the case itself as an antenna, but that's utter speculation on my part.
Is everything being designed to look like the iPhone?
Are there any wifi range/signal comparisons online between MB and MBP?
I would think with a metal case you could use the case itself as an antenna, but that's utter speculation on my part.
Antenna's have to be a very specific length and distance in between so I doubt using the case as an antenna would work well, but I'm not really an expert on this matter either.
My current 17" MacBook Pro (an original 2.16Ghz) has really turned me off of laptops altogether, and I've anticipated my next computer would be a return to the iMac. The machine itself is just too hot (my keyboard is surrounded by burn marks), the battery life disappointing (my battery has been replaced once already after the computer cooked the first one to death), the wi-fi reception is half that of the consumer MacBooks, and the screen brightness/contrast leaves much to be desired. I believe many of this issues can be contributed to the design of the machine itself, and the materials utilized, which has gone unchanged since the first aluminum PowerBooks arrived in 2003. A totally revamped model, complete with new technologies like LED backlit screens becoming standard across the board, could probably alleviate many of these issues, and make the machines appear far more modern and attractive in the process.
I don't think many people are interested in replacing their MacBook Pros with a newer model that looks exactly the same and has all the same issues.
The problems you describe can all be laid squarely at the feet of the Intel Core Duo chip. It isn't all that great. Despite the name, it doesn't actually use the "Core" micro-architecture, it's merely a minor tweak of the earlier Pentium-M.
Apple were really caught between a rock and a hard place during the Intel transition. Really, they could have done with one more PPC step before going Intel, but it just didn't exist. Whilst the Core Duo was a massive step forward in terms of computational power, it was also a significant step backwards in terms of heat generation and electrical power consumption.
Since your MacBook Pro, the CPU has evolved twice, and the motherboard chipset once. With the next revision talked about in this article, the CPU will be further refined and the motherboard chipset evolved once more. All these evolutions and refinements have delivered lower heat generation and better power efficiency. You can then buy a new MacBook Pro with confidence. I can't wait for this revision!
Why mess with perfection?
At least someone here agrees. The MacBook Pro has a timeless look, definitely not dated. Any redesign is only to satisfy superficial desires for something that looks "new."
Hmmm... the current MacBook Pro isn't quite perfect. There's four things specifically which could do with being improved.
1.) The latching mechanism. Get rid of those hooks and use the magnetic latch of the MacBook and MacBook Air. More elegant, easier to manufacture, less to go wrong/break. All round, the magnetic latch is a much better design than the current MacBook Pro's.
2.) HDD replacement is very tricky. It's much easier in the MacBook and the MacBook Pro should have the same mechanism.
3.) There's not enough contrast between the colour of the keyboard keys and the keyboard backlight. The keys are light grey and the backlight is a blueish white, and the intensity of the backlight is automatically set according to the ambient light level. For some ambient light levels, the intensity of the backlight is such that it matches the key colour - making it much harder to read the keys! The MacBook Air, having black keys, doesn't suffer from this problem. The MacBook Pro keys should be black.
4.) Sticking with the keyboard, the design of the MacBook/MacBook Air/desktop keyboard is fabulous. At first it divided opinion, but it seems to becoming more and more a consensus view that the "new" keyboard design has a fantastic feel to it. It looks great, too.
.... the Macbook Air does resemble the Macbook Pro for a reason. It's sexy and sex sells.
Best comment of the thread so far!