Official Macworld 2009 Prediction Thread

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  • Reply 21 of 151
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Outsider View Post




    The Mac. A cube Mac in the same vein as the PowerMac G4 Cube.
    • 8x8x8 cube

    • Big enough to house a full size optical drive

    • 3.5" hard drive

    • 7.6x7.6 motherboard

    • 3 DIMM slots for triple channel DDR3

    • Core i7 processor (2.6-3.2GHz)

    • 1 PCIe 16x slot

    • External power supply

    • $799 for 2.66GHz - 3GB RAM - 250GB HDD - Radeon HD 2400

    • $1299 for 2.93GHz - 3GB RAM - 320GB HDD - Radeon HD 2600

    • $1999 for 3.2GHz - 3GB RAM - 500GB HDD - NVIDIA 8800GT

    No Mac Pro updates at this time.



    What's with the severely outdated graphics cards?
  • Reply 22 of 151
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Outsider View Post


    My predictions:



    Snow Leopard demo, but not too much. SL is supposed to be an evolution to Leopard, so maybe some technology details will be expanded on, demo the new Finder, application demos to show off the speed of Grand Central.



    iMac updates. No case redesign, but the motherboard will use DDR3 and NVIDIA nForce chipset with 9600M GT graphics chip. Intel Core 2 Quad and Duo. Same screen sizes. No-brainer update.



    Mac mini. Gets discontinued.



    Mac TV upgraded.



    The Mac. A cube Mac in the same vein as the PowerMac G4 Cube.
    • 8x8x8 cube

    • Big enough to house a full size optical drive

    • 3.5" hard drive

    • 7.6x7.6 motherboard

    • 3 DIMM slots for triple channel DDR3

    • Core i7 processor (2.6-3.2GHz)

    • 1 PCIe 16x slot

    • External power supply

    • $799 for 2.66GHz - 3GB RAM - 250GB HDD - Radeon HD 2400

    • $1299 for 2.93GHz - 3GB RAM - 320GB HDD - Radeon HD 2600

    • $1999 for 3.2GHz - 3GB RAM - 500GB HDD - NVIDIA 8800GT

    No Mac Pro updates at this time.



    Replace Radeon 2400 with 3650



    Replace Radeon HD 2600 with 4670



    Replace NVIDIA 8800GT with 9800



    Mac pro staring at $2500 dual 2.66GHz core i7 3650 6gb of ram 3 dimms
  • Reply 23 of 151
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,310moderator
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Outsider View Post


    Mac mini. Gets discontinued.



    Don't see it happening. That size of computer has far too many uses and the price is very reasonable to people who don't need more power. If it makes money, they should keep it going.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Outsider View Post


    [*]Big enough to house a full size optical drive[*]3.5" hard drive[*]Core i7 processor (2.6-3.2GHz)[*]1 PCIe 16x slot[*]External power supply[*]$799 for 2.66GHz - 3GB RAM - 250GB HDD - Radeon HD 2400[*]$1299 for 2.93GHz - 3GB RAM - 320GB HDD - Radeon HD 2600[*]$1999 for 3.2GHz - 3GB RAM - 500GB HDD - NVIDIA 8800GT



    I don't think 3.5" drives are needed. 7200 rpm 320GB 2.5" drives are fine - they are quieter, cooler and much smaller. We are moving to SSD in the near future, which are pretty much all 2.5" or 1.8" so there's no real need for big drives.



    I agree with a single PCIe slot. I think that using Nvidia integrated by default with one slot and have an option for a dedicated GPU would work. If they can fit a dedicated card + an extra slot fair enough but in the interests of saving space, I say go with just one slot that gets filled with a dedicated GPU. This means less chance it won't simply be an addition that won't be used by most people.



    I think people are still missing the point about Nvidia chips. None of the ATI GPUs support OpenCL. All of the Nvidia GPUs fully support CUDA. I think we'll be seeing an all-Nvidia lineup across the board, especially if the Snow Leopard release date is Q1. They'll want to show off the improvements in their best light and ATI chips aren't the best way.



    Having a uniform lineup means they can support the models better and they might get better discounts.



    Those GPUs are fairly old too as mentioned. I'd say Nvidia integrated on all low-end models with some 9x series options above that.
  • Reply 24 of 151
    outsideroutsider Posts: 6,008member
    Minor issues; replace my suggested video cards with appropriate modern ones from NVIDIA.



    @Marvin, i think 3.5" drives are important because they offer more value for less money. Some of these new 3.5" drives are very thin as they only have 1 or 2 platters.
  • Reply 25 of 151
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    Here are some guesses:



    1, Mini replacement, extremely small device.

    2, XMac type machine.

    3. New Pro models possibly announced before MWSF. A simple update really.

    4. More monitors.

    5. IPod line expands with a Touch Maxi / Newton 2.

    6. IPhone line expands with something much smaller and targeted at a different market than the smart phones. The Touch Maxi can also be had in an iPhone version.

    7. NO Mac Touch tablet, I simply don't see the practicality of such a device.

    8. iMacs of course with docking portals for the iPhones & IPods. In fact I expect integration of such a feature on a number of Apples new machines.



    I'm suspecting a MWSF that is bigger than what we are normally use to. Such an event would shake up the user base at a time when something abnormal is needed. Like all turns of the New Year this stuff might not all come at MWSF but rather be spread out over the following weeks. My Guess is that we would see three families at the debut, that would be new iMacs, Monitors, and Touch Maxi.



    Dave
  • Reply 26 of 151
    My predictions for Macworld:



    1) Mac mini updated, integrated Geforce 9300. Slightly updated design but no size change.



    2) Updated iMac- Core 2 Quad 65W processors, new GPUs. Looks the same, priced the same.



    3) New iLife suite and some other software stuff.



    4) Lots of 10.6 discussion, beta given to developers.



    Post-Macworld (early February-ish):



    1) 20" and 30" displays



    2) New Mac Pros



    Edit: and 3) 17" Macbook Pro



    It's unreasonable to expect too much. A 90-minute speech can only cover 3-4 things.
  • Reply 27 of 151
    regreg Posts: 832member
    With the slow state of the economy I think there will be a slow roll out of products. I expect Steve to talk about the improvements to snow leopard, sales records for the iphone and app store. I believe/hope that by summer a 10"tablet will arrive.
  • Reply 28 of 151
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by FuturePastNow View Post


    What's with the severely outdated graphics cards?



    Well, this is Apple.



    My predictions: Something completely new is going to be released or this might be an off year.



    Hardware:

    Mac Mini: One of five possibilities.

    1) Still left to rot

    2) dropped all together.

    3) update of current design to Nvidia 9400M chipset and Penryn CPUs.

    4) replacement with something small. Think desktop version of MBA

    5) Replaced by something a bit bigger.



    iMac:

    Using custom "Pre-Penryn) CPUs. May be updated with 65w Quad cores (possibly custom using the mobile package) and either an Intel PM45 or Nvidia Geforce 9400m chipset and DDR3 memory. May also remain as is until Mobile Core i7s are released. Updating to Penryn would offer little that current model doesn't already have.



    MacPro/ Core i7 Machine.

    If released, this could be the major hardware focus of the keynote. Will come in one of two forms if it comes: either a small form factor machine like the Cube or as a lower end variant of the Mac Pro. If the later is the case, the dual-CPU variants of the Mac Pro will also be announced, but ship at a later date. Because x58 supports both SLI and Crossfire, support may be added to Mac OS X via Snow Leopard.



    17" Macbook:

    Not at Macworld, but will be coming sooner or later.



    iPod/iPhone:

    I honestly don't see much here beyond maybe some new content announcements. Perhaps something with AppleTV, but I find chances of that slim.



    Software:

    Snow Leopard: Released ahead of schedule.

    Speculative additions: OpenGL 3.0 based on a faster implementation.

    Game oriented version of xCode. Includes porting tools.

    ZFS in client version.

    New Thumbnail view in finder based on iTunes 8



    Mac Apps store. It'll be here sooner or later.



    iLife '09:

    50/50. Depends if there's anything new they can do with it.

    iPhoto: Multiple view options, increased camera compatibility, hopefully new editing tools.

    iDVD: New themes or something.

    iMovie: New dual mode option that combines that offers both the ease of use of the iMovie '08 with the better editing capabilities of iMovie HD. Increased compatibility with USB2.0 camcorders.

    iWeb: Hopefully an option for more experienced uses to add their own code.

    Garage band: updated somehow.



    iWork.

    Also 50/50 for same reason as above.

    Hopefully export option is moved into save dialog in addition to any updates of the individual apps. Bundle option or inclusion of Bento into suite.
  • Reply 29 of 151
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Daniel B View Post


    OK, here's my wishlist for Papa Steve (think Life Aquatic):



    Tablet/Mac Touch:



    - 10" screen

    - Slim and light, obviously no optical drive

    - Pop-out rest for standing and laying on a table

    - Separate keyboard & mouse (wireless)

    - Running full OS X

    - Option for HSPA (turbo 3G)



    Apple TV, Take 3 software update:



    - iTunes, making it a stand-alone media server

    - Safari

    - Keyboard & mouse (wireless)

    - External HDs (USB)

    - App Store with apps & games (hey, it's X-mas)



    Let me add:



    iPhone, software update



    - Push Notification, IM app demo

    - Turn-by-turn navigation, TomTom demo

    - Tethering

    - USB storage



    /Daniel
  • Reply 30 of 151
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Joe_the_dragon View Post


    Replace Radeon 2400 with 3650



    Replace Radeon HD 2600 with 4670



    Replace NVIDIA 8800GT with 9800



    Mac pro staring at $2500 dual 2.66GHz core i7 3650 6gb of ram 3 dimms



    Why not replace the 2400 with a 4-series card?



    And the 9800GT and the 8800GT is the exact same card, with a name change. Radeon HD4850 will beat them handsomely for about the same price.
  • Reply 31 of 151
    Hi all,



    First mess!



    1) New Mac Pro, undoubtedly.

    2) New iMac quad core

    3) A small update on Macbook, but I doubt

    4) The new iLife + iWork

    5) New ACD? Compatible with all mac I hope.

    6) Snow Leapard?
  • Reply 32 of 151
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Zandros View Post


    Why not replace the 2400 with a 4-series card?



    And the 9800GT and the 8800GT is the exact same card, with a name change. Radeon HD4850 will beat them handsomely for about the same price.



    ok move the to a 4XXX card but you can get 3650 for $50 or less and apple likes to put low end video card in some of there systems.



    ok move to a higher end ati or nvidia card for base on the high end systems and BTO on there other systems.
  • Reply 33 of 151
    Last year Apple talked about 4 things:



    1. Leopard (and Time Capsule)

    2. iPhone (Maps with location, SMS multiple people at once, Web clips, iPod touch gets more apps)

    3. iTunes Movie Rentals

    4. MacBook Air



    Looking back, it wasn't much. The MacBook Air was the big take away, and the thing everybody remembers that from the event. So I think we should all tamp down our expectations...
  • Reply 34 of 151
    I have the sneaking suspicion (or is it just my hope?) that a lot of hardware products in the pipeline require Snow Leopard and are delayed until it arrives.

    This would also be in line with rumors that SL might appear as soon as Q1 2009, because Apple would really want to push this further up as so much new hardware depends on it.



    Some examples:



    - Resolution Independence

    Did anyone notice that the new 15" MacBook Pro's LCD is 15.4", the old one was 15" straight. Now 15.4" is exactly the smallest size 1920x1200 LCD panels come in. Hmmm. So there is a real chance that 15" MacBook Pros could get full 1080p capable HD panels.

    But of course, as was debated ad nauseam, pixels would be too small for most, so Resolution Independence would really be needed here.



    - Grand Central and Open CL

    Multi-core CPUs and Multi GPU machines are not really fully utilised today. So I can imagine that Apple might not feel pressured releasing Quadcore MacBook Pros or iMacs for that reason.

    But once the OS fully supports them, and helps developers using multi-cores, then the floodgates can be opened. Like e.g. a 17" MacBook Pro with a Quadcore CPU option.



    - More RAM in MacBook Pros

    We know the nVidia chipset in MacBooks can accept 8GB of RAM. The Mac OS unfortunately not.

    I can imagine that the new 17" MacBook Pro was intended to be released with an 8GB option - but Apple realised they needed to fix the OS Kernel for supporting two 4GB sticks.

    I wouldn't be surprised if that improvement is part of Snow Leopard and one of the reasons the 17" was delayed.



    - Blu-Ray

    The age old request. Again, too many things must change along for this to work. Snow Leopard will likely include all these fixes.

    And perhaps from then on we can finally have BTO options for Blu-Ray drives in Mac Pros and MacBook Pros (assuming the next 17" MBP can still take 12.5mm drives, or a 9.5mm Blu-Ray drive is available then).





    I am still wondering what the problems were that caused the last minute cancellation of the 17" unibody MacBook Pro. But it seems a lot of the issues really require Snow Leopard and would probably be too hacky to fix in Leopard - just for the 17" MBP. So perhaps Apple simply delayed the 17" MBP until Snow Leopard.



    Anyone know the real story why the 17" unibody MBP was not introduced?



    Same could apply to the new iMacs.





    I wouldn't be surprised if Macworld 2009 would be about Snow Leopard - and any new products introduced will not be available until SL ships.
  • Reply 35 of 151
    All the Macbook Pros are 15.4" The last couple of the revisions of the Powerbook G4 were 15.2" and 15" before that.
  • Reply 36 of 151
    I would say this:



    1. Holiday sales review, state of the Mac, iPhone, and possibly iPod.



    2. iTunes Plus! announcement



    3. AppleTV Take 3



    4. New MacPros with new 20" and 30" displays



    One more thing....



    1. New iMacs with desktop parts inside instead laptop parts. (i.e. Non-Xeon Quad Core option)



    Maybe some things released, but not in the keynote are iLife '09 and iWork '09 updates. iLife is pretty much complete IMO. Also 17" MacBook Pros released using the new unibody enclosure...again not in the keynote.



    Other unlikely items are (but not out of the question):



    1. iPhone update of some sort (but I think the iPhone is set for a while)



    2. Snow Leopard update (possibly a demo and a ship date)



    3. Something totally off the wall (Hmmm...what could it be????)
  • Reply 37 of 151
    imickimick Posts: 351member
    In no particular order:



    iPhone: Cut & Paste, disk mode, larger capacity, video recording, better camera, flash, much more 3G coverage, IR support for using as a smart remote control



    iWeb: tables, more control for user coded stuff, quick publishing to something other that .mac, counters/stats



    iMac: this one is actually for displays and iMacs, but I would like them to match styles so that they look the same; also support for 3 displays



    TV: here's my big one. I would really like Apple to bring a full computer to my tv. Let's get the AppleTV and the MacMini merged into a real, kick @ss media center. With it, I need a wireless mouse that isn't a mouse - something that I can control with one hand - a small scroll ball on the end of a stick. Of course, it needs a big drive, Blu-Ray, networking, connectivity with my other Macs, DVR functionality with at least 2 HD tuners, guide, on-screen display of anything that I want to display during shows, ie, stocks, incoming email preview, caller id, weather, iChat, splitscreen functionality. It would also be nice if this device would make movie theatre popcorn on demand.



    Tablet pc? Ideally, it'd be 8 inches, somewhat similar to a portable dvd player with a slightly shrunk keyboard that could be displayed on a glass trackpad. Said device would have the ability to snap on an extra battery, hard drive, or Blu-Ray drive on the bottom of it, much like a portable dvd player can do. Networked, of course, to share media from my other Macs. Video/Audio out to any tv or media device to use in a hotel, or even at home or in a vehicle. iChat support via a built-in camera. GPS support. 3G/data support.



    Car audio deck: I'd like full iPod-like functionality in my car/vehicle. I'd really like to pull in to my garage and have the data sync. I'd also like to be able to pull up to a wi-fi spot and use the device for Internet. 3G support would be cool too (especially if I had 3G near me). Maybe my "tablet pc" could be used in the vehicle thru a dock.... GPS support.
  • Reply 38 of 151
    Quote:

    The Mac. A cube Mac in the same vein as the PowerMac G4 Cube.

    8x8x8 cube

    Big enough to house a full size optical drive

    3.5" hard drive

    7.6x7.6 motherboard

    3 DIMM slots for triple channel DDR3

    Core i7 processor (2.6-3.2GHz)

    1 PCIe 16x slot

    External power supply

    $799 for 2.66GHz - 3GB RAM - 250GB HDD - Radeon HD 2400

    $1299 for 2.93GHz - 3GB RAM - 320GB HDD - Radeon HD 2600

    $1999 for 3.2GHz - 3GB RAM - 500GB HDD - NVIDIA 8800GT



    No Mac Pro updates at this time.

    Replace Radeon 2400 with 3650



    Replace Radeon HD 2600 with 4670



    Replace NVIDIA 8800GT with 9800



    Mac pro staring at $2500 dual 2.66GHz core i7 3650 6gb of ram 3 dimms



    I agree with those two posts. That would keep me happy.



    Lemon Bon Bon.
  • Reply 39 of 151
    nofeernofeer Posts: 2,427member
    is there any advantage of combining the apple tv, and mini

    put a dvd player in the apple tv

    or some company needs to make a dvd player that mimics the apple tv like some have done for the mini with harddrives....where is SJ on adding value to the apple tv?



    with the competition from netflix, now blockbuster, the apple tv (which i would like to have) still doens't make sense ....yet, we need more compelling abilities and rental flexibility.....i would like to be able to rent for unlimited or say 3-5 views for say 3days



    apple tv needs to get close to what renting a dvd from netflix is now+ dvr

    .



    will we hear any hints of iphone changes like video conferencing and other enhancements
  • Reply 40 of 151
    If there ever was a time to bring an updated or all-new mini forward, MWSF sure seems like it's the time. Two reasons: it's been forever in computer terms since it was updated and there was the "patience" e-mail from Apple top brass in response to a user question they received. It would appear foolish to have given that response if a new version wasn't in the works and coming in the not-too-distant future.
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