Apple to build 200K 15-in. MacBook Pros in April, 400K 13-in. units in June
Apple is gearing up to begin production of its new thinner and lighter MacBook Pros, with production of the new 15-inch model set to begin first in mid-April.
Mass production of the new 15-inch MacBook Pro will see initial monthly shipments of , according to DigiTimes. The new notebooks are expected to be powered by Intel's next-generation Ivy Bridge processors.
On the heels of the new 15-inch model, Apple is expected to begin building the thinner 13-inch MacBook Pro in June. For the smaller variant, initial monthly shipments are expected to be greater, reportedly falling between 300,000 and 400,000 units.
The latest report is consistent with previous claims that the 15-inch MacBook Pro would go into production first, and could arrive as early as this month. But Tuesday's report also suggests initial shipments of the 15-inch model will be slightly greater than was previously expected, as earlier reports claimed that initial monthly shipments would be between 100,000 and 150,000.
AppleInsider reported in February that Apple is gearing up to introduce radically redesigned MacBook Pro models this year, borrowing the ultra-thin design the company pioneered with its MacBook Air. One person familiar with the new MacBook Pro designs indicated "they're all going to look like MacBook Airs."
Like the highly successful MacBook Air, the new MacBook Pros are expected to ditch the built-in optical drive, allowing them to have a thinner and lighter design.
Intel plans to release Ivy Bridge chips that are seen as likely candidates for Apple's next-generation Macs at the end of this month. In particular, new quad-core Ivy Bridge processors are expected to officially go on sale April 29.
Among those chips are the Core i7-3720QM and Core i7-3820QM, both of which have been rumored to make their way into Apple's MacBook Pro lineup. Both chips will feature Intel's HD 4000 integrated graphics.
[ View article on AppleInsider ]
Comments
With no optical drive and no hard drive, what's to distinguish the 13" Pro from the 13" Air? Just asking.
Dual hd's, faster cpu, discrete graphics, firewire, more ram as standard.
Dual hd's, faster cpu, discrete graphics, firewire, more ram as standard.
More ports. user-replacable RAM, larger battery for longer life, HiDPI display....
Like the highly successful MacBook Air, the new MacBook Pros are expected to ditch the built-in optical drive, allowing them to have a thinner and lighter design.
Still believe the built-in optical drive makes the MBP distinct from the MBA. It's called Pro after all. Perhaps the 17" will retain the optical.
Really looking forward to the Ivy chips.
An initial production run of 200,000 15" MacBook Pros doesn't seem aspirational.
Well, the "report" comes from Digitimes which should clue you in: it's a bogus rumor.
Their track record is abysmal, a joke really.
Dual hd's, faster cpu, discrete graphics, firewire, more ram as standard.
The bolded is not true for the current 13" MBP.
Well, the "report" comes from Digitimes which should clue you in: it's a bogus rumor.
Their track record is abysmal, a joke really.
Hence my comment.
Dual hd's, faster cpu, discrete graphics, firewire, more ram as standard.
So, what does "Dual HDs mean, when it's likely to run flash storage? You don't think there will be standard SSDs do you? And two of them? Sounds like wasted space.
Dual hd's, faster cpu, discrete graphics, firewire, more ram as standard.
So, what does "Dual HDs mean, when it's likely to run flash storage? You don't think there will be standard SSDs do you? And two of them? Sounds like wasted space.
I haven't seen any evidence that Apple will do this, but I'd like to see a smaller (64 GB, perhaps) SSD for the OS and a larger platter hard disk (500 GB - 1 TB) for the data. That would allow most of the performance benefits without greatly increasing the cost or restricting the user to relatively limited storage.
Now I'm wondering what the letdown will be. There's always all these rumors but I very much doubt they will switch processors, change the chassis, and introduce retina MBPs all at once, I'm guessing the last won't happen yet.
The bolded is not true for the current 13" MBP.
He was responding to what would still differentiate the hypothetical future model, without the optical drive. Without the ODD they would have thermal headroom and space for the GPU die, and space for battery to make up for it.
An initial production run of 200,000 15" MacBook Pros doesn't seem aspirational. I am considering buying three 15" MacBook Pros just this year. I have told everyone considering a laptop to wait until the end of April as well. Likewise, I have seen a lot of others here who are waiting for the latest refresh to purchase systems.
That is a lot of laptops for a launch. You have to remember nobody sells laptops the way phones and even iPads sell.
As to waiting that is very very good advice. I expect Ivy Bridge in and of itself to be a big step forward, combine that with a complete overhaul of the product and it could be very compelling. I just hope Apple doesn't screw it up and do something silly like give us one USB port and one TB port and say that is good enough.
As for me I was going to wait another year but my current MBP has issues and frankly I don't know if it is worth repairing even if I DIY. The right MBP might just get me to move that purchase up a year. I'm just not convinced that Apple will deliver the product I want anyways. All the parts of the puzzle are there they just need to put them together the right way.
Still believe the built-in optical drive makes the MBP distinct from the MBA. It's called Pro after all. Perhaps the 17" will retain the optical.
Really looking forward to the Ivy chips.
I don't understand what is 'pro' about an optical drive. What do you need it for? I haven't bought physical software installation disks for over two years now, what use does it serve? I'm sure there will be a peripheral available for those that need one, but i can't imagine why anyone would need this in a portable device.
MacBook Air 13" @ $1599 + $79 (MacBook Air SuperDrive)
1.7GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor with 3MB shared L3 cache
4GB of 1333MHz DDR3 onboard memory
Intel HD Graphics 3000
[COLOR="rgb(46, 139, 87)"]256 SSD HD[/COLOR]
MacBook Air SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Bluetooth 4.0
Two USB 2.0 ports (up to 480 Mbps)
Thunderbolt port
SD card slot
Full-size backlit keyboard
MacBook Pro 13" @ $1499 + $500 ("upgrade" to 256 GB SSD HD)
[COLOR="rgb(46, 139, 87)"]2.8GHz dual-core Intel Core i7 processor with 6MB shared L3 cache[/COLOR]
4GB of 1333MHz DDR3 memory
Intel HD Graphics 3000
750GB ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm (add $500 for 256 GB SSD HD)
SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Gigabit Ethernet port
Bluetooth 2.1
FireWire 800 port (up to 800 Mbps)
Two USB 2.0 ports (up to 480 Mbps)
Thunderbolt port (up to 10 Gbps)
Audio line in
Audio line out
[COLOR="rgb(46, 139, 87)"]SDXC card slot[/COLOR]
Full-size backlit keyboard
We can see few differences currently but based on currently shipping products for other markets and rumors we can surmise that the following features are potential differentiators for the MacBook Pro product line versus the MacBook Air product line:
Retina Display
Higher processor clock speeds (possibly quad-core as well)
Higher RAM
Larger SSD Hard drives (256 GB minimum, upgrade to 512 GB)
Discrete graphics (I think this is the least likely feature)
Considering that the primary differentiators for the MacBook Pro line are discrete graphics and additional processing power, Apple may have difficulty creating a value proposition for the 13" MacBook Pro without a Retina Display and discrete graphics. Right now, in my opinion, the 13" MacBook Air is a far superior value versus the 13" MacBook Pro. Apple needs drastic changes to differentiate the two product lines.
With no optical drive and no hard drive, what's to distinguish the 13" Pro from the 13" Air? Just asking.
You seem to be jumping to conclusions there.
In answer to your other question, a discrete GPU and a HiDPI screen would set a 13" MBP off from an AIR. Also expandable RAM would be very important in any machine labeled MBP. Let's not forget though that the MBPs CPU has always ran much faster than the AIRs.
Beyond that other things that could go into a MBP include more USB ports supporting USB3 and high current. An additional TB port. An Ethernet port. A slot for a LTE modem of your choice.
A TV tuner. A Laser based projector. Navigation hardware (GPS, compass and so forth). A parallel port for the hacker in all of us ( yes very wishful thinking). Speaking of some of these features, like the tuner or GPS, it would be very nice to have a well defined Internal expansion port, something accessible to yes even hardware hackers.
The above are just rational ideas. One could go a bit farther and suggest all sorts of things, but I think you see there are many possibilities. However the idea I like best is that the flash storage modules are PCI Express based and that the slots are general enough to power things other than flash storage. So say the 13" machine comes with 2 of these "slots", one would provide for access outside the case and thus could support expansion or additional functionality or serve its primary purpose as a storage slot. This way one could get all sorts of custom functionality into a MBP and as long as you have more than one slot not impact the machines performance. Thus you could have internal cards for GPS hardware, extra USB ports or what have you.
Again though wishful thinking, I just don't see a problem at all with setting the 13" MBP off from the AIR. The 13" MBP is already a good seller as it is even with the AIR available cheaper.
Still believe the built-in optical drive makes the MBP distinct from the MBA. It's called Pro after all. Perhaps the 17" will retain the optical.
Really looking forward to the Ivy chips.
I'm not sure I will miss the optical or not, frankly I don't use it much anymore. I do however have to carry an external drive around with me all the time. So an MBP that can handle a 1TB or larger internal HD in addition to the SSD would be very welcomed. I really don't see how dropping the optical is such a big deal these days.
As for the idea that the optical has anything at all to do with making the two products distinct I think that is bogus. Even today the MBP have CPUs easily twice as fast as the ones in the AIRs, combine that with RAM expansion, more internal storage and other features and you have a very different machine. In a nut shell there are major performance differences between the two models.