My laptops will have USB 3, eSATA, a 2630QM quad core option and Blu-Ray .... just kidding guys. :-)
Joe - 13 years ago
1. Sandy Bridge: This one is a given. If Apple managed to make upgrading to the new machines worth it, without using new processors, they would (once again) amaze a lot of people.
2. Light Peak Interface: It all depends on how hard Intel wants to push this thing. Apple is not going to put it in its MacBook Pro's, if Intel doesn't have deals with Canon and Co to have Light Peak in cameras, storage media and other devices. Apple has pushed new standards before, but never without a clear and strong incentive. For Light Peak, Intels cash is the only incentive right now.
3. Battery Life: 12-13 hours would be nice, but thats not happening. A small evolutionary step in batteries is absolutely possible, but at the end of the day, Apple does NOT really design and manufacture the cells. They play arround with them, have a few scientists and researchers, but they buy their cells off the shelves (at great conditions and they choose their cells pretty wisely). -> 10 hrs of battery life for the 17-incher and 11 hrs for the 15-inch and 13-inch variations (less batterie cells, but weaker processors as well).
4. MacBook Air-like SSD's: No way to know what they are planning. It WOULD be a great and unique selling point to have an additional SSD in the notebook. I would not expect 8 or 16GB, but instead the same old Toshiba-sticks used in the Air. That would allow for instant-on capabilities, keep driver and testing requirements to a minimum (and we know how Apple loves to re-use the same tech over and over... see Trackpads, keyboards, SuperDrives...). Considering the price points of the SKU's, this might very well be optional or 17-inch only. Of course SSD's will be optional as HDD-replacements in all models anyway, so the rocket scientists can feed their hunger for flash chips.
5. BluRay: I would love to see it, but its not going to happen. Apple doesnt even offer FullHD-movies in its iTunes store. If a company does not even acknowledge the need for FullHD, how are they supposed to sell you a BluRay drive?
6. 15" MacBook ProAir: Great idea, but not happening. I am using it in my 17-inch MBP right now (OS X on an SSD that is installed instead of the SuperDrive, a 1TB HDD instead of the stock 500GB model. Kickass combo!). However, I dont expect this in a shipping product, since Apple has very clear product lines. They might decide to launch a 15" MacBook Air. But that would ship with significantly less processing-punch and overall performance.
7. Mac OS 10.6.7: Possibly. Likely. Doesn't really make much of a difference. It will be out soon and unless the moon changes colors, Software Update is going to push this out to all living (and dead) customers.
8. Lower price points: Apple is getting to the point, where their huge sales of very few models are becoming a prime example of the economy of scale. Just compare their model-count with HP, Lenovo, Dell, Acer, Asus and the like. Apple sells only a few models, but sells and manufactures them in quantities others can only dream of. So the prices can drop significantly, without impacting margins too much. Significantly being $100, in some models less, maybe even more than $100 in one model or so. If the 17-incher gets its exclusive Air-like SSD like my speculation states above, it will (at least) retain its price.
9. I would have speculated on 3G as well. 6 months ago. But now that Apple has the Hotspot-Option in the iPhone (and that is likely coming to the iPad as well)... nope... no more 3G for the notebooks.
10. Liquidmetal infusion molded cases: If Apple and its partners have managed to bring this technology to the point where it makes sense for mass production, they have themselves a winner. They currently sell their products as green, even though 95% of the aluminum is removed during the milling/manufacturing process. If you infusion-mold your cases... Thats right. They come in the shape you specify. Maybe some drilling here, some polishing there and a few cuts... but
wanton - 13 years ago
3G on iPad and iPhone rocks. I see no difference for those mobile pros, who need networking on the go. Please make it a BTO. Modules could be changed according to technical and economic demands, depending on when and where in the world Apple sells.
Tobo - 13 years ago
Considering there were 23108 voters prior to this comment and only 5648 or 24% voted for the Sandy Bridge processors I have concluded that at least 76% of you have no idea what your talking about (the reason I say this is because Sandy Bridge processors will be on all the new MBPs, that's one of the main upgrades in this line...). There is no price increase so there will be no SSD's on the cheaper models, only as an upgrade option. The displays will have higher resolution, what some are calling "better displays" (just fyi JM "retina" is not a technology its just the name for the iPhone4 high resolution and ppi display). OLED is an nice though but is only in early stages of development so I doubt Apple will implement OLED in these models. Since Mini DispalyPort supports high resolution and audio there most likely will be no HDMI connections. IMO Blu-ray is a dying tech since everything is moving to online streaming and flash memory for personal usage, don't see the point in wasting money on Blu-ray. 3G... why would they put 3G on anything now that there is Verizon 4G for CDMA and ATT for GSM if that's your preference, also an unnecessary installation cost for someone who doesn't want to pay $35-$80 (200mb on ATT - 10GB on Verizon) per month for a limited data plan. I personally hate the idea of a small SSD partition being soldered onto the mobo it would give the boost but if you wanted to make a multiboot system you would have to change your boot drive in bios every time you wanted to switch OS. Also it would only boost the OS everything else on the system would run off a regular spinning disk and would not run any faster than before, so I really don't see the point. If you want an SSD drop some extra cash and get the speed boost.
aga - 13 years ago
Better tracking of everything about you, everything you do, and you.
Youngie - 13 years ago
With Toshiba's new 1.8" 250gb drive and a
SSD drive for osx to boot from could
this not be a speed / weight advantage
Apple has be looking for?
zwi - 13 years ago
Where's 3G for heavens' sake !?
Filipe Silva - 13 years ago
I hope it has a HDMI port or a port that suports audio e video HD
Charles Thompson - 13 years ago
As far as I am aware, even though Apple supported the adoption of Blu-ray, Macs will unfortunately not be able to natively support it. Steve Job said "Bluray is looking more and more like one of the high end audio formats that appeared as the successor to the CD - like it will be beaten by Internet downloadable formats." I do hope that we get it, but I don't think we will.
Possibly a better display, I don't know if the Retina technology is applicable to this.
I don't think we'll see SSD on the pro models. SSD still is limited in size so I think we'd see a shift first to the macbook lineup before the macbook pro (based on the assumption that the Pro is being designed for more robust uses compared to the macbook)
I think Blue Ray is more likely over No Optical Drive, also based on the assumption of designing the Pro for more robust uses. (but I'm not saying they'll add Blu Ray)
Joe - 13 years ago
They will have soldered on-board memory I bet!
Nikke - 13 years ago
I think the 17" MBP will have one of following extra feature:
1. Better display, maybe OLED?
2. SSD
This is only based on new higher price (200$ higher than old model)
My laptops will have USB 3, eSATA, a 2630QM quad core option and Blu-Ray .... just kidding guys. :-)
1. Sandy Bridge: This one is a given. If Apple managed to make upgrading to the new machines worth it, without using new processors, they would (once again) amaze a lot of people.
2. Light Peak Interface: It all depends on how hard Intel wants to push this thing. Apple is not going to put it in its MacBook Pro's, if Intel doesn't have deals with Canon and Co to have Light Peak in cameras, storage media and other devices. Apple has pushed new standards before, but never without a clear and strong incentive. For Light Peak, Intels cash is the only incentive right now.
3. Battery Life: 12-13 hours would be nice, but thats not happening. A small evolutionary step in batteries is absolutely possible, but at the end of the day, Apple does NOT really design and manufacture the cells. They play arround with them, have a few scientists and researchers, but they buy their cells off the shelves (at great conditions and they choose their cells pretty wisely). -> 10 hrs of battery life for the 17-incher and 11 hrs for the 15-inch and 13-inch variations (less batterie cells, but weaker processors as well).
4. MacBook Air-like SSD's: No way to know what they are planning. It WOULD be a great and unique selling point to have an additional SSD in the notebook. I would not expect 8 or 16GB, but instead the same old Toshiba-sticks used in the Air. That would allow for instant-on capabilities, keep driver and testing requirements to a minimum (and we know how Apple loves to re-use the same tech over and over... see Trackpads, keyboards, SuperDrives...). Considering the price points of the SKU's, this might very well be optional or 17-inch only. Of course SSD's will be optional as HDD-replacements in all models anyway, so the rocket scientists can feed their hunger for flash chips.
5. BluRay: I would love to see it, but its not going to happen. Apple doesnt even offer FullHD-movies in its iTunes store. If a company does not even acknowledge the need for FullHD, how are they supposed to sell you a BluRay drive?
6. 15" MacBook ProAir: Great idea, but not happening. I am using it in my 17-inch MBP right now (OS X on an SSD that is installed instead of the SuperDrive, a 1TB HDD instead of the stock 500GB model. Kickass combo!). However, I dont expect this in a shipping product, since Apple has very clear product lines. They might decide to launch a 15" MacBook Air. But that would ship with significantly less processing-punch and overall performance.
7. Mac OS 10.6.7: Possibly. Likely. Doesn't really make much of a difference. It will be out soon and unless the moon changes colors, Software Update is going to push this out to all living (and dead) customers.
8. Lower price points: Apple is getting to the point, where their huge sales of very few models are becoming a prime example of the economy of scale. Just compare their model-count with HP, Lenovo, Dell, Acer, Asus and the like. Apple sells only a few models, but sells and manufactures them in quantities others can only dream of. So the prices can drop significantly, without impacting margins too much. Significantly being $100, in some models less, maybe even more than $100 in one model or so. If the 17-incher gets its exclusive Air-like SSD like my speculation states above, it will (at least) retain its price.
9. I would have speculated on 3G as well. 6 months ago. But now that Apple has the Hotspot-Option in the iPhone (and that is likely coming to the iPad as well)... nope... no more 3G for the notebooks.
10. Liquidmetal infusion molded cases: If Apple and its partners have managed to bring this technology to the point where it makes sense for mass production, they have themselves a winner. They currently sell their products as green, even though 95% of the aluminum is removed during the milling/manufacturing process. If you infusion-mold your cases... Thats right. They come in the shape you specify. Maybe some drilling here, some polishing there and a few cuts... but
3G on iPad and iPhone rocks. I see no difference for those mobile pros, who need networking on the go. Please make it a BTO. Modules could be changed according to technical and economic demands, depending on when and where in the world Apple sells.
Considering there were 23108 voters prior to this comment and only 5648 or 24% voted for the Sandy Bridge processors I have concluded that at least 76% of you have no idea what your talking about (the reason I say this is because Sandy Bridge processors will be on all the new MBPs, that's one of the main upgrades in this line...). There is no price increase so there will be no SSD's on the cheaper models, only as an upgrade option. The displays will have higher resolution, what some are calling "better displays" (just fyi JM "retina" is not a technology its just the name for the iPhone4 high resolution and ppi display). OLED is an nice though but is only in early stages of development so I doubt Apple will implement OLED in these models. Since Mini DispalyPort supports high resolution and audio there most likely will be no HDMI connections. IMO Blu-ray is a dying tech since everything is moving to online streaming and flash memory for personal usage, don't see the point in wasting money on Blu-ray. 3G... why would they put 3G on anything now that there is Verizon 4G for CDMA and ATT for GSM if that's your preference, also an unnecessary installation cost for someone who doesn't want to pay $35-$80 (200mb on ATT - 10GB on Verizon) per month for a limited data plan. I personally hate the idea of a small SSD partition being soldered onto the mobo it would give the boost but if you wanted to make a multiboot system you would have to change your boot drive in bios every time you wanted to switch OS. Also it would only boost the OS everything else on the system would run off a regular spinning disk and would not run any faster than before, so I really don't see the point. If you want an SSD drop some extra cash and get the speed boost.
Better tracking of everything about you, everything you do, and you.
With Toshiba's new 1.8" 250gb drive and a
SSD drive for osx to boot from could
this not be a speed / weight advantage
Apple has be looking for?
Where's 3G for heavens' sake !?
I hope it has a HDMI port or a port that suports audio e video HD
As far as I am aware, even though Apple supported the adoption of Blu-ray, Macs will unfortunately not be able to natively support it. Steve Job said "Bluray is looking more and more like one of the high end audio formats that appeared as the successor to the CD - like it will be beaten by Internet downloadable formats." I do hope that we get it, but I don't think we will.
Possibly a better display, I don't know if the Retina technology is applicable to this.
I don't think we'll see SSD on the pro models. SSD still is limited in size so I think we'd see a shift first to the macbook lineup before the macbook pro (based on the assumption that the Pro is being designed for more robust uses compared to the macbook)
I think Blue Ray is more likely over No Optical Drive, also based on the assumption of designing the Pro for more robust uses. (but I'm not saying they'll add Blu Ray)
They will have soldered on-board memory I bet!
I think the 17" MBP will have one of following extra feature:
1. Better display, maybe OLED?
2. SSD
This is only based on new higher price (200$ higher than old model)
What else it can be?
Can't wait!