[The Godfather]

Perhaps the time will go faster and the angst will be more bearable, if we speculate on what we are patiently waiting for.

Wikipedia is a good reference for what chips are available from Intel: Intel Core - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I am pinning for a mid-range MBP:
* 13-inch aluminum unibody in 2 colors: virgin aluminum, gun black (+$100)
* 2400 MHz Intel Core i5-520M <- a little hard to sell considering current, soon to be obsolete, line ranges from 2.26 to 2.8GHz
* Integrated Intel GPU
* 4GB RAM - upgradable to 8GB
* 500GB HDD - upgradable to 1000GB
* 12 hour battery life
* Four USB 3.0 ports, no firewire
* SD reader
* Minidisplay port, Airport 802.11N, Magsafe, iSight, bluetooth
* OSX 10.6.2, coupon for $20 off new OS
* USB Superdrive (to make room for gargantuan battery)
* LED-backlit 1440x900 LCD
* Large glass multitouch trackpad
* 2 kg
* One jack for headphones and microphone
* Programmable touch buttons all over palmrest and LCD bezel
* $1500

Higher and lower models to vary in price by +300 and -200 USD. Higher model to have dedicated GPU by either nVidia or AMD. 15" and 17" to offer i7.

Accessories to pay for:
* USB-ethernet dongle ($50)
* Minidisplay to VGA, DVI or HDMI ($20-60)
* External game controller for new mass consumption iPhone emulator ($90)

Let's not be weak and buy a MB[P] before a new one arrives!

[JoshuaZ]

I don't expect Apple to change their port setup very much.

In fact I'd be surprised if they changed any of their port make-up in this revision.

USB 3? Ha ha ha. Remember how long it too Apple to put USB 2 in? You could get a USB 2.0 toaster before you could get USB 2.0 on a Mac!

I would be happy to see a firewire plugin on the 13in Macbook Pro, but that's not going to happen either.

What I expect: up to 500 GIG HD with a whole lot of SSD options, 4 GIG RAM standard, maybe a free iPod touch for their back to school sale.

[Simon]

Originally Posted by JoshuaZ 

I would be happy to see a firewire plugin on the 13in Macbook Pro, but that's not going to happen either.

The current 13" MBP actually has FW800.

It's the MB that doesn't have it anymore.

I agree with the rest of your post. Most likely Apple won't change any of the ports. USB3 would be great, but that's going to take another generation.

[lpkmckenna]

- All MBPs will have nVidia Optimus, MB only integrated
- form-factor, ports, keyboard, trackpad will stay the same
- battery life will remain at 8 hrs or so
- optical drive will remain

[mduell]

lpkmckenna nailed it. Optimus for the 13" will be a low end product like 310M but the big boys should have something decent like 330M.

[Eug]

Yeah, my MacBook Pro 13" already has FW800. Very handy for high speed CF, since it doesn't have a CF slot. I'm so glad I didn't the first 13" aluminum MacBook. I was better off sticking with the white MacBook with FW400, which was much cheaper anyway.

I fully expect FW800 to remain there until USB 3 shows up... which won't be this coming iteration of the MacBook Pro.

[The Godfather]

If this new Asus notebook is anything to go by...
ASUS U30Jc on sale today, come get your Optimus-ized Core i3 in a thin and light package -- Engadget
Replace i3 with i5, add $100
Same GT310M, $0
OSX fee, $500
13" Macbook Pro goes on sale for $1500

[JoshuaZ]

Originally Posted by Simon 

The current 13" MBP actually has FW800.

It's the MB that doesn't have it anymore.

I agree with the rest of your post. Most likely Apple won't change any of the ports. USB3 would be great, but that's going to take another generation.

Do'h! Revoke my geek card!

Oh well. I'll just sit here and wait. I'd love to get a new MBP this summer sometime. Or this fall. Or whenever.

The only reason I wouldn't upgrade is if it somehow came out in bright neon pink and played a constant stream of Ace of Base songs from the mid 90s.

[Big Mac]

Originally Posted by Eug 

Yeah, my MacBook Pro 13" already has FW800. Very handy for high speed CF, since it doesn't have a CF slot. I'm so glad I didn't the first 13" aluminum MacBook. I was better off sticking with the white MacBook with FW400, which was much cheaper anyway.

I fully expect FW800 to remain there until USB 3 shows up... which won't be this coming iteration of the MacBook Pro.

USB still won't be a proper replacement for Firewire.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by Big Mac 

USB still won't be a proper replacement for Firewire.

Maybe it won't, but I could most definitely see Apple removing Firewire on the 13" Pro if there were USB 3.

They already tried that with the first aluminum Multi-Touch MacBook. Admittedly that failed, but at the time there wasn't any USB 3 either. I think they'll try again with USB 3.

P.S. I want an 11" MacBook Pro, or at least an 11" MacBook. However, I predict my want will go unfulfilled.

[Big Mac]

After the first backlash you think they'd try that little stunt a second time? It's possible, but I think Apple knows better than that now.

[Simon]

Personally I hope they can FW800 as soon as they install USB3. As they showed on the original iMac with USB vs. ADB/SCSI, the best way to get people to adopt a new port standard is to remove the old one.

I don't care if there are certain things FW800 is better at. FW adoption was botched. By Apple actually. It's time to acknowledge the facts and move on.

[Big Mac]

ADB and SCSI were antiquated, and frankly speaking, SCSI was terribly unreliable. Firewire is not, and there are thousands of devices that rely on it. Your argument for dropping it is shallow and far from compelling.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by Big Mac 

After the first backlash you think they'd try that little stunt a second time?

Most definitely. And despite the fact I have lots of FW devices, I'd most definitely consider a USB 3-endowed Firewire-less 11" MacBook (Pro), too.

If it's on the 13" and there is no 11" (which is the most likely scenario), I'd just keep my current 13" with FW800.

[Simon]

I'd rather have eSATA than FW800. OTOH it looks like that isn't going to happen in Apple world. Hence, I'll take whatever's fast enough and available. USB3 will be more than fast enough and it will be ubiquitous. FW800 won't be fast enough (it already bottlenecks fast HDDs today) and it's anything but ubiquitous. Add to that the fact that USB3 will become dirt-cheap (like USB2 today), while FW800 will never become inexpensive.

I can see how audio pros with special equipment might need FW800 until their hardware is replaced with USB hardware (if that happens). I'm not nostalgic however. So as long as we're talking about a bus to connect storage (disks, other computers, memory cards, etc.) I won't miss FW one bit once USB3 arrives and destroys what's left of it.

[tears2040]

Originally Posted by Simon 

I'd rather have eSATA than FW800. OTOH it looks like that isn't going to happen in Apple world. Hence, I'll take whatever's fast enough and available. USB3 will be more than fast enough and it will be ubiquitous. FW800 won't be fast enough (it already bottlenecks fast HDDs today) and it's anything but ubiquitous. Add to that the fact that USB3 will become dirt-cheap (like USB2 today), while FW800 will never become inexpensive.

I can see how audio pros with special equipment might need FW800 until their hardware is replaced with USB hardware (if that happens). I'm not nostalgic however. So as long as we're talking about a bus to connect storage (disks, other computers, memory cards, etc.) I won't miss FW one bit once USB3 arrives and destroys what's left of it.

I can see you still haven't changed.........

With that said many people use firewire for their audio setups, it's not about being "nostalgic" as you say, it's just that USB is not good for audio and that's why we need firewire.

[Simon]

There's no reason to become hostile.

You obviously missed the part where I explicitly mentioned that I understand why audio pros want FW to stay.

Originally Posted by Simon 

I can see how audio pros with special equipment might need FW800 until their hardware is replaced with USB hardware (if that happens).

[P]

IPS screens. Even the iPad uses IPS screens now, time for the MB(P) to join the rest of the line.

[OreoCookie]

Originally Posted by tears2040 

I can see you still haven't changed.........

There's no need to get personal, please keep it on topic.

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally Posted by P 

IPS screens. Even the iPad uses IPS screens now, time for the MB(P) to join the rest of the line.

I thought they have for years.

They don't look it to me, and I can only assume that Apple would toot their horn if they were, but people have been claiming so since the April 2008 revision. I haven't found conclusive evidence either way, despite extensive searching.

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally Posted by Simon 

Personally I hope they can FW800 as soon as they install USB3. As they showed on the original iMac with USB vs. ADB/SCSI, the best way to get people to adopt a new port standard is to remove the old one.

I don't care if there are certain things FW800 is better at. FW adoption was botched. By Apple actually. It's time to acknowledge the facts and move on.

Actually, FW adoption is pretty much universal across the board in the entire audio/video industry.

It's not just audio pros with "special" equipment, it's pretty much audio pros with ANY equipment.

Adoption may have been "botched" due to dumb licensing, but at least the PROTOCOL wasn't botched.

I don't know enough about USB3 to decide whether it's actually an option now (as long as it's still fully CPU-dependent, I doubt it), but I certainly hope Apple doesn't drop the Firewire connector until a follow-up with backwards-compatibility arrives (LightPipe?).

[OreoCookie]

I'd be very surprised if they used IPS panels, because at least on the machines I've used lately, there is a definite color shift when tilting the screen. That's definitely not characteristic of IPS panels.

[Spheric Harlot]

I know.

And yet, people keep claiming it.

Shaddim claimed to have asked a "friend" at Anandtech:

http://forums.macnn.com/103/ipod-iph...4/#post3931848

[mduell]

Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot 

I thought they have for years.

They don't look it to me, and I can only assume that Apple would toot their horn if they were, but people have been claiming so since the April 2008 revision. I haven't found conclusive evidence either way, despite extensive searching.

Nope, TN for all the MacBook Pros.

[Simon]

Anandtech disagrees.

[P]

I can confirm that the 15" MBP used TN panels at least as recently as 2008. They may have changed since, or they may use better panels on the 17", but I think they'd say if they did. Here's how to find out the display type on your computer.

Note that Apple does not specify viewing angles on their laptop tech spec, so that route to figuring it out is closed.

[The Godfather]

If Apple doesn't update MB[P]s this month, is it evidence that they are getting out of the computer business?

Even if they release updated laptops, how can they compete with $500 i5 Windows laptops?

Perhaps they are going to start a deluge of iAds to highlight the value of owning a Mac.

[Simon]

Apple isn't getting out of the computer business.

And they'll continue to compete with the $500 Windows laptop like they always have.

Let's not go overboard with the drama, shall we?

[Love Calm Quiet]

Originally Posted by Simon 

...
And they'll continue to compete with the $500 Windows laptop like they always have.
...

"compete"? In the same way that Charmin competes with wax paper.

Oh. You meant compete in sales. Well, at least in outhouses there must still be people who must use pages of Sears catalog.

[Sorry: still feeling the pain because I occasionally have to use my Dell Inspiron.]

[fisherKing]

845am EST: THEY'RE HERE. and no love for the 13" macbook pro users....

[OreoCookie]

Let's use this thread for discussion …