Mr. Me -- I guess several different versions of English are being spoken on this board, because I quite clearly asked for people's input based on what is already known about Lion and what is already known about the current-gen hardware and current-gen iOS. Aside from the mistake of using the phrase "best guess" in the OP, at no point did I ask or expect insider info.
The funny thing is, I've asked about six times if the current-gen trackpad is fully compatible with the current-gen iOS feature list, and yet people keep ignoring that simple question in order to beat me up over questions I haven't asked. Quite strange.
Mac OS/X will need a lot more than a minor layer of iOS look alike features.
Mac OS X needs a lot more to make it upgrade worthy. What they showed off so far looks so minor it could just as well be released through Software Update.
And when it comes to the implications of Lion on new hardware, I don't think we've seen really anything in Lion that has even remotely implied anything that we don't already know.
Here's what we know: The next generation MacBook Pro is going to use Intel's Sandy Bridge with the new Core i5 and Core i7 processors. And most likely ATI graphics from AMD.
Apart from that, will the MacBook Pro lose the optical drive? Maybe.
Will it have the same flash storage that the MacBook Air just started using? Maybe.
Will Apple switch the displays from 16:10 to 16:9 panels? Maybe.
Will Apple offer a 3D display? Well, that's a definite maybe.
Longer battery life? That's always possible.
USB 3? Steve says not so fast.
Lightpeak? Well I would hope for that sooner rather than later, but I think that's a generation or two off.
Again, Mac OS X Lion has thus far not shown that it's going to carry a larger footprint on hardware than Snow Leopard.
So as far as implications on hardware go, I'd say none.
Mr. Me -- I guess several different versions of English are being spoken on this board, because I quite clearly asked for people's input based on what is already known about Lion and what is already known about the current-gen hardware and current-gen iOS. Aside from the mistake of using the phrase "best guess" in the OP, at no point did I ask or expect insider info.
The funny thing is, I've asked about six times if the current-gen trackpad is fully compatible with the current-gen iOS feature list, and yet people keep ignoring that simple question in order to beat me up over questions I haven't asked. Quite strange.
This is the Future Hardware area of AppleInsider.com. Questions about current-generation hardware are properly asked in the Current Hardware area. That said, you should be reminded that are currently several trackpads. We have multi-touch trackpads on the MacBooks and MacBook Pros. We also have the Magic Trackpad which has a larger control area than the iPhone 4. From where I sit, Macintosh trackpads are much more capable control devices than the screens of iPhones and iPads. With the iOS devices, you have a 1:1 control area to screen area for access to virtually any pixel. With the Mac trackpad, the user can access virtually any pixel on an screen of effectively unlimited area.
In your most fearful and paranoid imagination, what are your concerns about what you cannot do with a current Mac and a future OS?
In your most fearful and paranoid imagination, what are your concerns about what you cannot do with a current Mac and a future OS?
At the risk of going in circles, my main question/concern is that I'd buy the next MBP that comes out (hopefully by Feb. 2011), and then have Lion be released and find out Lion needs/requires a new/different trackpad, at least for some features, because the current-gen MBP trackpad isn't fully compatible with the iOS features that are being brought "back to the Mac," using Jobs' catchphrase.
If the current-gen MBP trackpad is fully compatible with the current-gen iOS, then great. Obviously, I understand the next-gen MBP might have LightPeak and other new technology like that, but predicting that is always a crapshoot.
I've been an Apple user since the '80s and I've never owned a non-Apple computer, but I'm not a developer or overly into tech specs. I know some info. has been released re: Lion, but I didn't know if there were any hardware implications to what had been released. After the replies in this thread, I gather there are no known hardware implications thus far, but people simply could have said that rather than jumping into the snarky "call Cupertino" nonsense.
You have been asked several times, by multiple people, to reread your posts. The problem rests with you and no one else.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jsk173
Mr. Me -- I guess several different versions of English are being spoken on this board, because I quite clearly asked for people's input based on what is already known about Lion and what is already known about the current-gen hardware and current-gen iOS. Aside from the mistake of using the phrase "best guess" in the OP, at no point did I ask or expect insider info.
The funny thing is, I've asked about six times if the current-gen trackpad is fully compatible with the current-gen iOS feature list, and yet people keep ignoring that simple question in order to beat me up over questions I haven't asked. Quite strange.
And we have repeatedly indicated that we can't say what will happen with a new release of Mac OS/X! My early 2008 MBP is a perfect example here. Initially the new features of Snow Leopard did not work well with the track pad. Some time later Apple came out with an update that gave us some extra functionality at the expense of being buggy as hell. Finally the last rev of Snow Leopard came and we got much of the new functionality, especially the inertial scrolling.
Your problem is basically this you would rather bitch and complain instead of reading what others have posted. Especially with respect to your confused and winding questions. You have repeatedly said you posted one thing at the beginning of this thread when nobody here read it that way.
There is nothing especially bad about that and frankly all of us have had issues with clarity form time to time. Admitting to the communications failure and going on is the smart thing to do.
Mac OS X needs a lot more to make it upgrade worthy. What they showed off so far looks so minor it could just as well be released through Software Update.
Which means that they have something else coming to justify the cost of a paid update.
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And when it comes to the implications of Lion on new hardware, I don't think we've seen really anything in Lion that has even remotely implied anything that we don't already know.
Yep. Which makes the original posters question almost impossible to respond to as we really know nothing.
The problem is nobody has the ability to answer it in a definitive manner. You don't seem to grasp that because the question has been answered several times already. There is a high probability that you will have no problems.
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Originally Posted by jsk173
At the risk of going in circles, my main question/concern is that I'd buy the next MBP that comes out (hopefully by Feb. 2011), and then have Lion be released and find out Lion needs/requires a new/different trackpad, at least for some features, because the current-gen MBP trackpad isn't fully compatible with the iOS features that are being brought "back to the Mac," using Jobs' catchphrase.
I have a significant issue with your bringing up iOS all the time. The features revealed so far are very trivial and would likely work on Macs far back in time at least on i86 hardware.
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If the current-gen MBP trackpad is fully compatible with the current-gen iOS, then great.
You really seemed to be confused here. MBP run Mac OS/X not iOS. There is no way for the track pads to be iOS compatible, none, zip nada. What we will be getting is some features that allow Macs to behave in some ways like parts of the iOS user interface.
I'm trying to work out a way to explain this better but in simplest terms iOS and Mac OS/X are only loosely related. Implementing a user interface feature from iOS does not make Mac OS/X iOS.
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Obviously, I understand the next-gen MBP might have LightPeak and other new technology like that, but predicting that is always a crapshoot.
Yes a crap shoot and you are trying to get us to predict with 100% certainty how well the coming MBP will work with an OS that is months off. That is an issue of probabilities and I lean strongly to the idea that there will be no problem but there is no way to say with absolute certainty. But this has been said again and again in this thread.
Even if the initial release of Lion required special hardware there is nothing to keep Apple form doing what they did with the early 2008 MBP which is basically taking about a year to get the new features to work on the old 2008 MBP.
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I've been an Apple user since the '80s and I've never owned a non-Apple computer, but I'm not a developer or overly into tech specs. I know some info. has been released re: Lion, but I didn't know if there were any hardware implications to what had been released. After the replies in this thread, I gather there are no known hardware implications thus far, but people simply could have said that rather than jumping into the snarky "call Cupertino" nonsense.
It is a two way street guy.
In any event if you want 100% confidence then wait for Lion to come out before buying a new MBP. Seriously; that is a solid course of action. By the way it is completely possible that Apple will hold off the laptops and go with iMac & Mini updates first. Everyone assumes that new laptops come at the beginning of the year but I don't think it is written in stone anymore than anything else.
Of course new laptops early this year are likely. Further I'm sensing a major overhaul as many pieces are coming together at the right time to allow Apple to do so. The problem is this, is all that tech ready for Jan. or Feb. release. If not we could get a minor bump with a major update mid year.
At the risk of going in circles, my main question/concern is that I'd buy the next MBP that comes out (hopefully by Feb. 2011), and then have Lion be released and find out Lion needs/requires a new/different trackpad, at least for some features, because the current-gen MBP trackpad isn't fully compatible with the iOS features that are being brought "back to the Mac," using Jobs' catchphrase.
If the current-gen MBP trackpad is fully compatible with the current-gen iOS, then great. Obviously, I understand the next-gen MBP might have LightPeak and other new technology like that, but predicting that is always a crapshoot.
I've been an Apple user since the '80s and I've never owned a non-Apple computer, but I'm not a developer or overly into tech specs. I know some info. has been released re: Lion, but I didn't know if there were any hardware implications to what had been released. After the replies in this thread, I gather there are no known hardware implications thus far, but people simply could have said that rather than jumping into the snarky "call Cupertino" nonsense.
You may claim to be a Mac user since the 1980's, but your question and concerns sound like a recent switcher who is totally unfamiliar Apple, its philosophies, and its practices. Fear that Lion will obsolete currently-shipping MacBook Pros is completely and totally unfounded. It is difficult to believe that you started this thread out of fear that Apple will obsolete the entire installed-base of Macintosh computers next year or that Apple would introduce an new version of MacOS X that none of the installed-base can use.
You may claim to be a Mac user since the 1980's, but your question and concerns sound like a recent switcher who is totally unfamiliar Apple, its philosophies, and its practices. Fear that Lion will obsolete currently-shipping MacBook Pros is completely and totally unfounded. It is difficult to believe that you started this thread out of fear that Apple will obsolete the entire installed-base of Macintosh computers next year or that Apple would introduce an new version of MacOS X that none of the installed-base can use.
This borders on trolling. Nowhere in this thread did I suggest Lion would "obsolete the entire installed-base of Macintosh computers." I simply asked if the current-gen hardware is compatible with the current-gen iOS features that are being brought "back to the Mac." Unless English isn't your (or wizard69's) first language, I'm baffled by the continued insistence that I'm asking things that I haven't asked.
This borders on trolling. Nowhere in this thread did I suggest Lion would "obsolete the entire installed-base of Macintosh computers." I simply asked if the current-gen hardware is compatible with the current-gen iOS features that are being brought "back to the Mac."
And he's saying, "Of course they are, otherwise Apple would have waited for new hardware on which to demo the features."
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Originally Posted by You
Unless English isn't your (or wizard69's) first language, I'm baffled by the continued insistence that I'm asking things that I haven't asked.
Quote:
Originally Posted by You Again, Earlier Post
Lion be released and find out Lion needs/requires a new/different trackpad, at least for some features, because the current-gen MBP trackpad isn't fully compatible
Yeah, you did say that. He's saying it's nonsense to think that they'd demo it on hardware that wouldn't fully support it and that you have nothing to worry about with a current purchase, much less one of the next update.
Apple no longer seems to release hardware updates with lots of revolutionary new features in one go.
They use the evolutionary approach, tiny steps, spreading new features out over several generations rather than blowing them all at once.
I think you are safe buying the next generation as it will be incomplete by definition.
It will take several generations to have a complete 'Lion-proof' MBP.
For example:
The next generation might drop the internal superdrive for a larger battery and smaller footprint, might also get a higher-resolution iSight camera, perhaps even drop the HD for flash sticks (if there is enough flash capacity to support 512GB configurations).
But it is likely the generation after that that gets LightPeak, an improved speaker system and/or an ultra-high resolution screen (think pixel doubling for most graphics while text looks super sharp).
And only the generation after that will get a touch screen with fold-back hinge so users can finally choose between using the trackpad or touching the screen directly.
Even if Apple plans to release all these features for Lion, they will not release them all in one hardware update.
They will make sure to spread them out so people upgrade 3x instead of just once.
The next generation might drop the internal superdrive for a larger battery and smaller footprint, might also get a higher-resolution iSight camera, perhaps even drop the HD for flash sticks (if there is enough flash capacity to support 512GB configurations).
But it is likely the generation after that that gets LightPeak, an improved speaker system and/or an ultra-high resolution screen (think pixel doubling for most graphics while text looks super sharp).
And only the generation after that will get a touch screen with fold-back hinge so users can finally choose between using the trackpad or touching the screen directly.
Aerosmith, I believe, had a song that sums this up fairly well. Not necessarily what you've said for the first one, but the last two, certainly.
The generation you've deemed to get a Retina display would come out in winter of this year, you know. It's insanely unlikely that Apple would be able to not only mass produce 13, 15, and 17 inch WQUXGA displays by that time, but also get the panel cost down to less than twice the price of the rest of the computer.
The order of events might not be completely accurate. It was just an example.
Point being that any list of hardware features ultimately supported/required by Lion will not be implemented in one update and not even two. The OP will have to wait 3 or more generations to have a complete set.
And true, the Mac with a Retina Display is as elusive as the Loch Ness monster ... and we might never see it happen. Yet there are rumors about an Apple-Toshiba LCD cooperation which might be for Mac LCDs too.
Yet I do wonder how much more expensive those ultra-high displays really are. People have suggested that the iPhone 4's Retina Display is only marginally more expensive than the previous lower res one.
I heard that Windows 8 is coming out around the same time. I don't ever remember a Mac and Windows OS coming out at the same time. Wouldn't that be bad for Microsoft because it would invite comparison? or am I just super biased?
No one knows when MacOS X 10.7 is coming out and every new version of Windows comes out behind schedule. Therefore talk about Windows 8 and MacOS X 10.7 coming out at the same time is just that--talk.
Here's what we know: The next generation MacBook Pro is going to use Intel's Sandy Bridge with the new Core i5 and Core i7 processors. And most likely ATI graphics from AMD.
Apart from that, will the MacBook Pro lose the optical drive? Maybe.
Will it have the same flash storage that the MacBook Air just started using? Maybe.
Will Apple switch the displays from 16:10 to 16:9 panels? Maybe.
Will Apple offer a 3D display? Well, that's a definite maybe.
Longer battery life? That's always possible.
USB 3? Steve says not so fast.
Lightpeak? Well I would hope for that sooner rather than later, but I think that's a generation or two off.
Again, Mac OS X Lion has thus far not shown that it's going to carry a larger footprint on hardware than Snow Leopard.
So as far as implications on hardware go, I'd say none.
I'd like to speculate about this a bit...
Sometimes Apple pushes the hardware forward very quickly. If you go back to 2003 when they introduced the 17" and 12" powerbooks for the first time, there were an unprecedented amount of mobile hardware introductions at that event. Firewire 800, 54mb wireless, illuminated keyboards just to name a few (not to mention the invention of the more modern MBP form factor that served them for at least 5 years). The predictions were that none of this was gonna happen, it blindsided everyone. Steve Jobs said as much during the keynote, showing that the rumor sites thought it was going to be a boring Macworld.
I think we could be looking at a similar event very soon. We know Lightpeak and Sandy Bridge are possibilities for this refresh. They wouldn't have to wait for 10.7 to do Lightpeak, 10.6 with a driver will do. There are a number of other possibilities, higher resolution displays or maybe some kind of hardware feature that plays to the mac app store strengths (I don't know what that could be, but you do have to acknowledge the possibility). Obviously smaller hardware (HD, cpu/gpu) could mean an enclosure redesign, weight change, or longer battery life (if they managed to get us from 9 hours to 12, that would be incredible). If they did all of these things it might be on par with that 2003 Macworld. I don't think any of this is outside the realm of possibility.
I agree certain technologies are out. Apple is skipping over Bluray and USB 3 in favor of other things. Apple is invested in a digital download future, and they aren't going to do anything that might help Sony further establish a foothold. USB 3 is already outdated compared to Lightpeak, and Lightpeak is almost here.
I don't think Apple will offer 3D displays without also offering some kind of big picture solution, methods and ways of getting 3D media onto the Mac. Bluray is the way to do that today, and today 3D is fairly juvenile in its capabilities and quality. For all those reasons I don't see Apple getting on the 3D bandwagon, the quality and content are simply not there. At the same time, I expect a surprise... so we'll see.
Sometimes Apple pushes the hardware forward very quickly. If you go back to 2003 when they introduced the 17" and 12" powerbooks for the first time, there were an unprecedented amount of mobile hardware introductions at that event. Firewire 800, 54mb wireless, illuminated keyboards just to name a few (not to mention the invention of the more modern MBP form factor that served them for at least 5 years). The predictions were that none of this was gonna happen, it blindsided everyone. Steve Jobs said as much during the keynote, showing that the rumor sites thought it was going to be a boring Macworld.
This is always nice to hear from others because it is true. Apple has demonstrated in the past a complete willingness to totally over haul a product line. Due to the convergence of many technologies I can see Apple doing this again with the Macs.
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I think we could be looking at a similar event very soon. We know Lightpeak and Sandy Bridge are possibilities for this refresh. They wouldn't have to wait for 10.7 to do Lightpeak, 10.6 with a driver will do. There are a number of other possibilities, higher resolution displays or maybe some kind of hardware feature that plays to the mac app store strengths (I don't know what that could be, but you do have to acknowledge the possibility). Obviously smaller hardware (HD, cpu/gpu) could mean an enclosure redesign, weight change, or longer battery life (if they managed to get us from 9 hours to 12, that would be incredible). If they did all of these things it might be on par with that 2003 Macworld. I don't think any of this is outside the realm of possibility.
I agree certain technologies are out. Apple is skipping over Bluray and USB 3 in favor of other things. Apple is invested in a digital download future, and they aren't going to do anything that might help Sony further establish a foothold. USB 3 is already outdated compared to Lightpeak, and Lightpeak is almost here.
OK here is where I have a big problem. USB in any form is not going away anytime soon. I would expect Apple to support USB 3 as soon as it is in a chipset used in one of its machines.
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I don't think Apple will offer 3D displays without also offering some kind of big picture solution, methods and ways of getting 3D media onto the Mac. Bluray is the way to do that today, and today 3D is fairly juvenile in its capabilities and quality. For all those reasons I don't see Apple getting on the 3D bandwagon, the quality and content are simply not there. At the same time, I expect a surprise... so we'll see.
I doubt a fast move to 3D myself. Mainly because I expect Lion to introduce other new technologies. Well I hope it will.
This is always nice to hear from others because it is true. Apple has demonstrated in the past a complete willingness to totally over haul a product line. Due to the convergence of many technologies I can see Apple doing this again with the Macs.
OK here is where I have a big problem. USB in any form is not going away anytime soon. I would expect Apple to support USB 3 as soon as it is in a chipset used in one of its machines.
I doubt a fast move to 3D myself. Mainly because I expect Lion to introduce other new technologies. Well I hope it will.
Lightpeak can have a USB style connector, and in theory be backwards compatible with all of our USB devices. There could be an adaptor for FireWire or maybe even ethernet (although I'll admit the latter is unlikely). In theory you could make a Mac with 2-4 Lightpeak ports and all other ports are removed ( FireWire, USB, video, maybe even Ethernet) leaving only audio and PC card, and not lose anything in the bargain.
Comments
The funny thing is, I've asked about six times if the current-gen trackpad is fully compatible with the current-gen iOS feature list, and yet people keep ignoring that simple question in order to beat me up over questions I haven't asked. Quite strange.
Mac OS/X will need a lot more than a minor layer of iOS look alike features.
Mac OS X needs a lot more to make it upgrade worthy. What they showed off so far looks so minor it could just as well be released through Software Update.
And when it comes to the implications of Lion on new hardware, I don't think we've seen really anything in Lion that has even remotely implied anything that we don't already know.
Apart from that, will the MacBook Pro lose the optical drive? Maybe.
Will it have the same flash storage that the MacBook Air just started using? Maybe.
Will Apple switch the displays from 16:10 to 16:9 panels? Maybe.
Will Apple offer a 3D display? Well, that's a definite maybe.
Longer battery life? That's always possible.
USB 3? Steve says not so fast.
Lightpeak? Well I would hope for that sooner rather than later, but I think that's a generation or two off.
Again, Mac OS X Lion has thus far not shown that it's going to carry a larger footprint on hardware than Snow Leopard.
So as far as implications on hardware go, I'd say none.
Mr. Me -- I guess several different versions of English are being spoken on this board, because I quite clearly asked for people's input based on what is already known about Lion and what is already known about the current-gen hardware and current-gen iOS. Aside from the mistake of using the phrase "best guess" in the OP, at no point did I ask or expect insider info.
The funny thing is, I've asked about six times if the current-gen trackpad is fully compatible with the current-gen iOS feature list, and yet people keep ignoring that simple question in order to beat me up over questions I haven't asked. Quite strange.
This is the Future Hardware area of AppleInsider.com. Questions about current-generation hardware are properly asked in the Current Hardware area. That said, you should be reminded that are currently several trackpads. We have multi-touch trackpads on the MacBooks and MacBook Pros. We also have the Magic Trackpad which has a larger control area than the iPhone 4. From where I sit, Macintosh trackpads are much more capable control devices than the screens of iPhones and iPads. With the iOS devices, you have a 1:1 control area to screen area for access to virtually any pixel. With the Mac trackpad, the user can access virtually any pixel on an screen of effectively unlimited area.
In your most fearful and paranoid imagination, what are your concerns about what you cannot do with a current Mac and a future OS?
In your most fearful and paranoid imagination, what are your concerns about what you cannot do with a current Mac and a future OS?
At the risk of going in circles, my main question/concern is that I'd buy the next MBP that comes out (hopefully by Feb. 2011), and then have Lion be released and find out Lion needs/requires a new/different trackpad, at least for some features, because the current-gen MBP trackpad isn't fully compatible with the iOS features that are being brought "back to the Mac," using Jobs' catchphrase.
If the current-gen MBP trackpad is fully compatible with the current-gen iOS, then great. Obviously, I understand the next-gen MBP might have LightPeak and other new technology like that, but predicting that is always a crapshoot.
I've been an Apple user since the '80s and I've never owned a non-Apple computer, but I'm not a developer or overly into tech specs. I know some info. has been released re: Lion, but I didn't know if there were any hardware implications to what had been released. After the replies in this thread, I gather there are no known hardware implications thus far, but people simply could have said that rather than jumping into the snarky "call Cupertino" nonsense.
Mr. Me -- I guess several different versions of English are being spoken on this board, because I quite clearly asked for people's input based on what is already known about Lion and what is already known about the current-gen hardware and current-gen iOS. Aside from the mistake of using the phrase "best guess" in the OP, at no point did I ask or expect insider info.
The funny thing is, I've asked about six times if the current-gen trackpad is fully compatible with the current-gen iOS feature list, and yet people keep ignoring that simple question in order to beat me up over questions I haven't asked. Quite strange.
And we have repeatedly indicated that we can't say what will happen with a new release of Mac OS/X! My early 2008 MBP is a perfect example here. Initially the new features of Snow Leopard did not work well with the track pad. Some time later Apple came out with an update that gave us some extra functionality at the expense of being buggy as hell. Finally the last rev of Snow Leopard came and we got much of the new functionality, especially the inertial scrolling.
Your problem is basically this you would rather bitch and complain instead of reading what others have posted. Especially with respect to your confused and winding questions. You have repeatedly said you posted one thing at the beginning of this thread when nobody here read it that way.
There is nothing especially bad about that and frankly all of us have had issues with clarity form time to time. Admitting to the communications failure and going on is the smart thing to do.
Mac OS X needs a lot more to make it upgrade worthy. What they showed off so far looks so minor it could just as well be released through Software Update.
Which means that they have something else coming to justify the cost of a paid update.
And when it comes to the implications of Lion on new hardware, I don't think we've seen really anything in Lion that has even remotely implied anything that we don't already know.
Yep. Which makes the original posters question almost impossible to respond to as we really know nothing.
At the risk of going in circles, my main question/concern is that I'd buy the next MBP that comes out (hopefully by Feb. 2011), and then have Lion be released and find out Lion needs/requires a new/different trackpad, at least for some features, because the current-gen MBP trackpad isn't fully compatible with the iOS features that are being brought "back to the Mac," using Jobs' catchphrase.
I have a significant issue with your bringing up iOS all the time. The features revealed so far are very trivial and would likely work on Macs far back in time at least on i86 hardware.
If the current-gen MBP trackpad is fully compatible with the current-gen iOS, then great.
You really seemed to be confused here. MBP run Mac OS/X not iOS. There is no way for the track pads to be iOS compatible, none, zip nada. What we will be getting is some features that allow Macs to behave in some ways like parts of the iOS user interface.
I'm trying to work out a way to explain this better but in simplest terms iOS and Mac OS/X are only loosely related. Implementing a user interface feature from iOS does not make Mac OS/X iOS.
Obviously, I understand the next-gen MBP might have LightPeak and other new technology like that, but predicting that is always a crapshoot.
Yes a crap shoot and you are trying to get us to predict with 100% certainty how well the coming MBP will work with an OS that is months off. That is an issue of probabilities and I lean strongly to the idea that there will be no problem but there is no way to say with absolute certainty. But this has been said again and again in this thread.
Even if the initial release of Lion required special hardware there is nothing to keep Apple form doing what they did with the early 2008 MBP which is basically taking about a year to get the new features to work on the old 2008 MBP.
I've been an Apple user since the '80s and I've never owned a non-Apple computer, but I'm not a developer or overly into tech specs. I know some info. has been released re: Lion, but I didn't know if there were any hardware implications to what had been released. After the replies in this thread, I gather there are no known hardware implications thus far, but people simply could have said that rather than jumping into the snarky "call Cupertino" nonsense.
It is a two way street guy.
In any event if you want 100% confidence then wait for Lion to come out before buying a new MBP. Seriously; that is a solid course of action. By the way it is completely possible that Apple will hold off the laptops and go with iMac & Mini updates first. Everyone assumes that new laptops come at the beginning of the year but I don't think it is written in stone anymore than anything else.
Of course new laptops early this year are likely. Further I'm sensing a major overhaul as many pieces are coming together at the right time to allow Apple to do so. The problem is this, is all that tech ready for Jan. or Feb. release. If not we could get a minor bump with a major update mid year.
At the risk of going in circles, my main question/concern is that I'd buy the next MBP that comes out (hopefully by Feb. 2011), and then have Lion be released and find out Lion needs/requires a new/different trackpad, at least for some features, because the current-gen MBP trackpad isn't fully compatible with the iOS features that are being brought "back to the Mac," using Jobs' catchphrase.
If the current-gen MBP trackpad is fully compatible with the current-gen iOS, then great. Obviously, I understand the next-gen MBP might have LightPeak and other new technology like that, but predicting that is always a crapshoot.
I've been an Apple user since the '80s and I've never owned a non-Apple computer, but I'm not a developer or overly into tech specs. I know some info. has been released re: Lion, but I didn't know if there were any hardware implications to what had been released. After the replies in this thread, I gather there are no known hardware implications thus far, but people simply could have said that rather than jumping into the snarky "call Cupertino" nonsense.
You may claim to be a Mac user since the 1980's, but your question and concerns sound like a recent switcher who is totally unfamiliar Apple, its philosophies, and its practices. Fear that Lion will obsolete currently-shipping MacBook Pros is completely and totally unfounded. It is difficult to believe that you started this thread out of fear that Apple will obsolete the entire installed-base of Macintosh computers next year or that Apple would introduce an new version of MacOS X that none of the installed-base can use.
You may claim to be a Mac user since the 1980's, but your question and concerns sound like a recent switcher who is totally unfamiliar Apple, its philosophies, and its practices. Fear that Lion will obsolete currently-shipping MacBook Pros is completely and totally unfounded. It is difficult to believe that you started this thread out of fear that Apple will obsolete the entire installed-base of Macintosh computers next year or that Apple would introduce an new version of MacOS X that none of the installed-base can use.
This borders on trolling. Nowhere in this thread did I suggest Lion would "obsolete the entire installed-base of Macintosh computers." I simply asked if the current-gen hardware is compatible with the current-gen iOS features that are being brought "back to the Mac." Unless English isn't your (or wizard69's) first language, I'm baffled by the continued insistence that I'm asking things that I haven't asked.
This borders on trolling. Nowhere in this thread did I suggest Lion would "obsolete the entire installed-base of Macintosh computers." I simply asked if the current-gen hardware is compatible with the current-gen iOS features that are being brought "back to the Mac."
And he's saying, "Of course they are, otherwise Apple would have waited for new hardware on which to demo the features."
Unless English isn't your (or wizard69's) first language, I'm baffled by the continued insistence that I'm asking things that I haven't asked.
Lion be released and find out Lion needs/requires a new/different trackpad, at least for some features, because the current-gen MBP trackpad isn't fully compatible
Yeah, you did say that. He's saying it's nonsense to think that they'd demo it on hardware that wouldn't fully support it and that you have nothing to worry about with a current purchase, much less one of the next update.
They use the evolutionary approach, tiny steps, spreading new features out over several generations rather than blowing them all at once.
I think you are safe buying the next generation as it will be incomplete by definition.
It will take several generations to have a complete 'Lion-proof' MBP.
For example:
The next generation might drop the internal superdrive for a larger battery and smaller footprint, might also get a higher-resolution iSight camera, perhaps even drop the HD for flash sticks (if there is enough flash capacity to support 512GB configurations).
But it is likely the generation after that that gets LightPeak, an improved speaker system and/or an ultra-high resolution screen (think pixel doubling for most graphics while text looks super sharp).
And only the generation after that will get a touch screen with fold-back hinge so users can finally choose between using the trackpad or touching the screen directly.
Even if Apple plans to release all these features for Lion, they will not release them all in one hardware update.
They will make sure to spread them out so people upgrade 3x instead of just once.
The next generation might drop the internal superdrive for a larger battery and smaller footprint, might also get a higher-resolution iSight camera, perhaps even drop the HD for flash sticks (if there is enough flash capacity to support 512GB configurations).
But it is likely the generation after that that gets LightPeak, an improved speaker system and/or an ultra-high resolution screen (think pixel doubling for most graphics while text looks super sharp).
And only the generation after that will get a touch screen with fold-back hinge so users can finally choose between using the trackpad or touching the screen directly.
Aerosmith, I believe, had a song that sums this up fairly well. Not necessarily what you've said for the first one, but the last two, certainly.
The generation you've deemed to get a Retina display would come out in winter of this year, you know. It's insanely unlikely that Apple would be able to not only mass produce 13, 15, and 17 inch WQUXGA displays by that time, but also get the panel cost down to less than twice the price of the rest of the computer.
Point being that any list of hardware features ultimately supported/required by Lion will not be implemented in one update and not even two. The OP will have to wait 3 or more generations to have a complete set.
And true, the Mac with a Retina Display is as elusive as the Loch Ness monster ... and we might never see it happen. Yet there are rumors about an Apple-Toshiba LCD cooperation which might be for Mac LCDs too.
Yet I do wonder how much more expensive those ultra-high displays really are. People have suggested that the iPhone 4's Retina Display is only marginally more expensive than the previous lower res one.
I heard that Windows 8 is coming out around the same time. I don't ever remember a Mac and Windows OS coming out at the same time. Wouldn't that be bad for Microsoft because it would invite comparison? or am I just super biased?
No one knows when MacOS X 10.7 is coming out and every new version of Windows comes out behind schedule. Therefore talk about Windows 8 and MacOS X 10.7 coming out at the same time is just that--talk.
No one knows when MacOS X 10.7 is coming out...
True, but I'd put my money on October.
Here's what we know: The next generation MacBook Pro is going to use Intel's Sandy Bridge with the new Core i5 and Core i7 processors. And most likely ATI graphics from AMD.
Apart from that, will the MacBook Pro lose the optical drive? Maybe.
Will it have the same flash storage that the MacBook Air just started using? Maybe.
Will Apple switch the displays from 16:10 to 16:9 panels? Maybe.
Will Apple offer a 3D display? Well, that's a definite maybe.
Longer battery life? That's always possible.
USB 3? Steve says not so fast.
Lightpeak? Well I would hope for that sooner rather than later, but I think that's a generation or two off.
Again, Mac OS X Lion has thus far not shown that it's going to carry a larger footprint on hardware than Snow Leopard.
So as far as implications on hardware go, I'd say none.
I'd like to speculate about this a bit...
Sometimes Apple pushes the hardware forward very quickly. If you go back to 2003 when they introduced the 17" and 12" powerbooks for the first time, there were an unprecedented amount of mobile hardware introductions at that event. Firewire 800, 54mb wireless, illuminated keyboards just to name a few (not to mention the invention of the more modern MBP form factor that served them for at least 5 years). The predictions were that none of this was gonna happen, it blindsided everyone. Steve Jobs said as much during the keynote, showing that the rumor sites thought it was going to be a boring Macworld.
I think we could be looking at a similar event very soon. We know Lightpeak and Sandy Bridge are possibilities for this refresh. They wouldn't have to wait for 10.7 to do Lightpeak, 10.6 with a driver will do. There are a number of other possibilities, higher resolution displays or maybe some kind of hardware feature that plays to the mac app store strengths (I don't know what that could be, but you do have to acknowledge the possibility). Obviously smaller hardware (HD, cpu/gpu) could mean an enclosure redesign, weight change, or longer battery life (if they managed to get us from 9 hours to 12, that would be incredible). If they did all of these things it might be on par with that 2003 Macworld. I don't think any of this is outside the realm of possibility.
I agree certain technologies are out. Apple is skipping over Bluray and USB 3 in favor of other things. Apple is invested in a digital download future, and they aren't going to do anything that might help Sony further establish a foothold. USB 3 is already outdated compared to Lightpeak, and Lightpeak is almost here.
I don't think Apple will offer 3D displays without also offering some kind of big picture solution, methods and ways of getting 3D media onto the Mac. Bluray is the way to do that today, and today 3D is fairly juvenile in its capabilities and quality. For all those reasons I don't see Apple getting on the 3D bandwagon, the quality and content are simply not there. At the same time, I expect a surprise... so we'll see.
I'd like to speculate about this a bit...
Speculation is always nice!
Sometimes Apple pushes the hardware forward very quickly. If you go back to 2003 when they introduced the 17" and 12" powerbooks for the first time, there were an unprecedented amount of mobile hardware introductions at that event. Firewire 800, 54mb wireless, illuminated keyboards just to name a few (not to mention the invention of the more modern MBP form factor that served them for at least 5 years). The predictions were that none of this was gonna happen, it blindsided everyone. Steve Jobs said as much during the keynote, showing that the rumor sites thought it was going to be a boring Macworld.
This is always nice to hear from others because it is true. Apple has demonstrated in the past a complete willingness to totally over haul a product line. Due to the convergence of many technologies I can see Apple doing this again with the Macs.
I think we could be looking at a similar event very soon. We know Lightpeak and Sandy Bridge are possibilities for this refresh. They wouldn't have to wait for 10.7 to do Lightpeak, 10.6 with a driver will do. There are a number of other possibilities, higher resolution displays or maybe some kind of hardware feature that plays to the mac app store strengths (I don't know what that could be, but you do have to acknowledge the possibility). Obviously smaller hardware (HD, cpu/gpu) could mean an enclosure redesign, weight change, or longer battery life (if they managed to get us from 9 hours to 12, that would be incredible). If they did all of these things it might be on par with that 2003 Macworld. I don't think any of this is outside the realm of possibility.
I agree certain technologies are out. Apple is skipping over Bluray and USB 3 in favor of other things. Apple is invested in a digital download future, and they aren't going to do anything that might help Sony further establish a foothold. USB 3 is already outdated compared to Lightpeak, and Lightpeak is almost here.
OK here is where I have a big problem. USB in any form is not going away anytime soon. I would expect Apple to support USB 3 as soon as it is in a chipset used in one of its machines.
I don't think Apple will offer 3D displays without also offering some kind of big picture solution, methods and ways of getting 3D media onto the Mac. Bluray is the way to do that today, and today 3D is fairly juvenile in its capabilities and quality. For all those reasons I don't see Apple getting on the 3D bandwagon, the quality and content are simply not there. At the same time, I expect a surprise... so we'll see.
I doubt a fast move to 3D myself. Mainly because I expect Lion to introduce other new technologies. Well I hope it will.
Speculation is always nice!
This is always nice to hear from others because it is true. Apple has demonstrated in the past a complete willingness to totally over haul a product line. Due to the convergence of many technologies I can see Apple doing this again with the Macs.
OK here is where I have a big problem. USB in any form is not going away anytime soon. I would expect Apple to support USB 3 as soon as it is in a chipset used in one of its machines.
I doubt a fast move to 3D myself. Mainly because I expect Lion to introduce other new technologies. Well I hope it will.
Lightpeak can have a USB style connector, and in theory be backwards compatible with all of our USB devices. There could be an adaptor for FireWire or maybe even ethernet (although I'll admit the latter is unlikely). In theory you could make a Mac with 2-4 Lightpeak ports and all other ports are removed ( FireWire, USB, video, maybe even Ethernet) leaving only audio and PC card, and not lose anything in the bargain.