MacBook Pro To Look More Like MacBook Air

[btarunr]

Later this year, Apple will refresh its MacBook Pro line with a new generation, and it is reported that these new products will look increasingly similar to the MacBook Air, as they will get a lot more slimmer. MacBook Pro is Apple's main line of portable Mac computers, and arguably its most popular Mac. Apple has mastered ultra-compact notebook design with the MacBook Air, which its PC rivals are struggling to get even close to. It is now going all out on the ultaslim form-factor by designing ever more powerful MacBook Pros based on it.

The ultra-slim form-factor will also see hardware such as optical drives and hard disk drives leave. Primary storage will be handled by SSDs, there will be an increasing relevance of iCloud for additional storage. "They're all going to look like MacBook Airs," a source familiar with the designs of the upcoming MacBook Pros told AppleInsider. We will get to see MacBook Pros that are as slim as the MacBook Air, but as big as 15-inch and 17-inch, while being backed by powerful hardware, even as PC makers struggle with big Ultrabooks since they're government by specifications laid down by Intel, a move that could limit their success in Europe, creating a great market opportunity for Apple. AppleInsider provided mock-ups of what the new MacBook Pros could look like.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Bo$$]

I guess we can say bye bye to discreet GPU's again :shadedshu

 

[NC37]

I didn't think Apple could do something to kill off my remaining desire for a new Mac laptop...good job Apple, you just did it. Unless I see a Trinity label on those...<insert various profanity mixed with Apple biting something here>!

What is the point of 3 laptop lines now? Why even call it a Pro? Heck, this means no more NV or AMD GPUs in Mac laptops. Or at least not midrange ones. Can't cool power user machines properly with something that thin. High end CPUs and GPUs need to breathe!

Think I'll avoid the Christmas rush and start hating these now. Rumor or not.

 

[btarunr]

I guess we can say bye bye to discreet GPU's again :shadedshu

Yup, unless Apple can have Trinity-based MacBook Pros.

 

[Bo$$]

Yup, unless Apple can have Trinity-based MacBook Pros.

I doubt that'll quell their CPU power needs... but possible in some respects

 

[InnocentCriminal]

I'd love to see Apple using AMD APUs sorry, Heterogeneous Systems Architecture - but I'm too skeptical of them ever doing that (anytime soon).

 

[NC37]

Steve said it himself, he wasn't happy with Intel graphics. The APU was considered last year but performance wasn't there. Apple has to have AMD based Macs in labs for testing. Lets face it, AMD has been supporting Apple a lot on the graphics front, even in court.

Trinity with Piledriver has features I could see Apple wanting to play with. But yeah, CPU power wouldn't be there. Apple did the wonderful bonehead thing of making all their lines pretty much the same on performance...i5s, i7s. They can't change for Trinity easily without people getting upset.

However, if Apple completely redid all their lines, cut some fat out, they could introduce a more budget Mac based on Trinity. But then, that implies Apple knows the meaning of the word "budget."

 

[Fourstaff]

I don't see a problem with the lack of discrete graphics, since that Intel's graphics department fares quite well against low end discrete, leaving the only real improvement in the mid range to high end, and there are still plenty of "big" laptops out there.

 

[Completely Bonkers]

I think it is a wise decision. Laptops are more than gaming and a monster gaming GPU is somewhat wasted on OS X since it isnt really the best gaming platform/OS anyway. So long as integrated can drive flash HTML 5 youtube then it is all that 95% of what people want. And 2012 is going to be a form factor changer with the Intel ultrabook concept, and Apple needs to stay ahead in the design element to keep ahead on sales.

You cant please all buyers with just one product. But you can please most buyers most of the time with an MacBookAirPro concept.

Would I buy one? Well no, not because they don't look great or have enough power... but because I'm an old skool netbook to LAN user, and my LAN is W2Kx and I need full W compatibility for files and applications. Not unless bootcamp came preloaded

 

[Octavean]

If we reference the earlier article posted here titled:

Core i5-3570K Graphics 67% Faster Than Core i5-2500K, 36% Slower Than GeForce GT 240

We might conclude that Ivy Bridge HD 4000 series integrated graphics could bring some noteworthy improvements.

Personally I don’t see the attraction to making such things thinner and slightly less massive than parading it as a selling point. A thinner slightly less massive laptop is of no practical benefit to the average user. IMO, it’s nothing more than a “thin is in” fashion statement and fashion isn’t worth a price premium or idle consideration for me.

 

[phanbuey]

God, I hope that they do not do that...


That just means generally slower machines. And honestly OSX is a freaking hog of hogs. It hogs 8gb of ram and constantly pegs out my sandy bridge proc when Im using it, and even though mountain lion is supposed to be all IOS inspired, it will still be a freaking hog.

Also I love my optical drive... what they need to do is put a bluray in there and allow me to stream it over my wifi network at home to my hdtv lol. That would be sweet.

 

[Wrigleyvillain]

Yeah while you can make the argument this is a natural progression I think I agree that's it too soon. Hope just rumor as well.

 

[Red_Machine]

The MacBook Pro is supposed to be the professionally-oriented MacBook. Hence the "Pro" moniker. How can a pro go without massive storage, an optical drive and GPU-accelerated Photoshop?

 

[Delta6326]

Well this would make sense if they are going to go AMD, could be why they stopped support for the older computers.

 

[Wrigleyvillain]

The MacBook Pro is supposed to be the professionally-oriented MacBook. Hence the "Pro" moniker. How can a pro go without massive storage, an optical drive and GPU-accelerated Photoshop?

Indeed...

 

[phanbuey]

This looks fake... not to mention the picture is the exact same notebook scaled down.

You can see as the apple logo shrinks, apple logos are not smaller or larger on different sized notebooks. I know that there are probably no pictures of the real notebooks yet, but it sounds to be untrue.

I hope that they do not get rid of the optical drives on the pros... or if they do, to use that space for another hard drive or something... like and SSD/ docs drive.

 

[Scrizz]

need mah optical drives and GPU acc

 

[Fourstaff]

need mah optical drives and GPU acc

You can get the iOpticalDrive and iSonyVaioZExternalGPU for $9999 each

 

[Inceptor]

Macbooks have no EFI interface, they're pretuned.
So, if they're Ivy Bridge based, which is likely, I'm guessing the cpu will be underclocked and undervolted, and the on die gpu overclocked a little.
Unless they can shoehorn in a small discreet gpu.

 

[xenocide]

Apple making the MacBook Pro just like the MacBook Air is a terrible idea. Then again, people will probably still buy it. If Apple did this they would be in a poor position to take on UltraBooks which is basically the segment MBP's founded.