Yep.. I remember those. Complete with a turbo button!

 

That turbo button did nothing...

 

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles...book_pros.html


While most of its rivals are struggling to match innovations Apple pioneered with its first MacBook Airs over three years ago, the Mac maker this year is hoping to further distance itself from the competition with a pair of radically redesigned professional offerings that will set the tone for the next wave of notebook computing.

In particular, people familiar with Apple's roadmap say the Cupertino-based company currently plans to exit 2012 having completed a top-to-bottom revamp of its notebooks lineup that will see new MacBook Pros adopt the same design traits that have made its MacBook Airs an increasingly popular choice among mobile consumers.

This will include new, ultra-thin unibody enclosures that jettison yesteryear technologies like optical disk drives and traditional hard drives in favor of models with lightweight chassis that employ flash-memory based solid-state drives, instant-on capabilities, extended battery life, and rely on digital distribution for software and media.

"They're all going to look like MacBook Airs," one person familiar with the new MacBook Pro designs told AppleInsider. Meanwhile, existing MacBook Pro designs are expected to be phased out over the course of the year.

Much in the same way that Apple initiated its last MacBook Pro overhaul by first revamping the higher-volume 15-inch models, and only then following up a few months later with a redesigned 17-inch counterpart, the company is again said to be giving priority to its new 15-inch model. A 17-inch model is expected to follow shortly thereafter.

As such, AppleInsider believes that based on its information, leaks out the Far East regarding an ultra-thin 15-inch Apple notebook slated to hit the market this spring indeed pertain to Apple's 15-inch MacBook Pro makeover, regardless of what marketing name the company ultimately chooses to stamp on its bezel. It's to rely heavily on Thunderbolt and be built around Intel's forthcoming Ivy Bridge microarchitecture and mobile components currently slated to start shipping in April.

The transition comes at a time when Apple's notebook sales are surging in the face of a broader market contraction, prompting competitors to retool their own offerings in a similar manner in hopes of stemming the slow but increasingly material market shift towards the Mac maker's sleek and sexy designs.

Since introducing its first MacBook Air, Apple has seen its notebook sales increase nearly threefold, from 1.342 million units quarterly in January of 2008 to 3.719 million units during the company's most recently ended quarter. A huge chunk of that growth took place in the 12-months after Apple revamped the Air with lower pricing and the addition of an 11-inch model, with shipments rising nearly 1 million units from 2.643 million in the fourth fiscal quarter of 2010 to the 3,616 units in the fourth fiscal quarter of 2011.

 

This is an interesting gamble...the are betting on changing the future standards...

And at a time, where NO ONE knows right now where apple stands with pro towers. Their Mac Pros have not seen a real upgrade in a LOOONG time, with rumors circling that they might possibly be dumping towers.

If you dump towers to the ever increasingly popular pro laptops...you have to have laptops with the proper in/outputs.

I hate to say it...but it sucks the only laptop in the mac line to have a PC express slot is the 17"....the 15" SHOULD still have this slot. The iMacs? I love mine...but it could use a PC Express slot...or E-Sata port.

Thunderbolt...great..love the idea....will it catch? When will the market be able to follow through with the proper drives/ set ups to utilize it?

Apple in the past has typically put the cart before the horse and come out on top....can they do it again?

I hope so, I love the thin form factor...but sometimes apples desire for form, kills the function...

Guess we'll see.

 

Did you catch the Thunderbolt demo on page 18? Cool stuff is coming.

I don't know if they are going to release a new Mac Pro or not. They dumped the servers and I suspect the amount of Mac Pros they sell is very small.

 

Anyone have any suggestions on how to connect the Apple thunderbolt display to a pc with the full resolution?

Do I need to pick up a new video card that has a mini-display port?

 

http://www.apple.com/displays/specs.html

System Requirements
Thunderbolt-enabled Mac computer, including MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mac mini, and iMac
OS X v10.6.8 or later

SOL

 

Yup AFAIK SOL unless you got a thunderbolt Mac

 

do the apple standalone display's properly line up with the newer iMacs? Or do they still sit lower than the iMac Display?

 

They sit lower...by about 3 inches if I remember correctly

 

Attach it to one of those height adjustable arm mounts?

 

how easy would it be for someone that is already not good with a windows PC to use OSX?

my moms computer is probably about 10 years old now? i think its due to be replaced (hard drive already went out, half of the ram is gone and runs slow as balls even after a fresh install of XP)

So I'm thinking of picking up a mac mini for her.

maybe a refurb 2010 mini with the optical drive since she uses it to make copies of her chinese soap operas that her friends lend to her.


hmm.. i dont even know if the laser printer thats attached to the PC even has a USB port, i think its using the parallel port...

 

wat?

 

 

Depends on the person Miz. I know that if I tried to give my Dad an Apple computer, I would be fielding calls from him for years. In fact, he'd probably break something on it a lot sooner than he breaks stuff on his PC.

 

 

i dunno if we have a macbook thread, don't really feel like making one, but what do you guys do to conserve your battery. Do you leave the charger in all the time?? And run it down every now and then?

 

I leave it plugged in, but there are a few good programs out there that will.

 

It made a big difference for a lot of DOS games. They'd run too quickly with the turbo button 'on'

Thank God for DosBOX

 

I do not leave my laptop plugged in...unless they built in some sort of trickle charger that I don't know about (much like iOS now uses with the new iPads) Then leaving the laptop on constant charge is bad for the life of the battery.

Ive had my current laptop for 3 years now...and the battery in it still gives me 3-4 hours per charge.

 

ohh i see, I was thinking that maybe once its fully charged it will take all power from the outlet and none from the battery.

Anywho, i love this laptop haha. Still getting used to some stuff but the whole UI is pretty damn slick, mainly referring to the gestures on the trackpad. And man the trackpad is amazing. I'll say that organization thus far seemed easier to deal with on the windows as for files and everything. Maybe its because I haven't gotten used to the mac, actually thats probably why so we'll see after time.

 

ivy bridge was just released yesterday, some cores at least. I hope the new macs come within the next two weeks then i can upgrade mine at no cost

 

If the new MBPs are MBA-ish in form factor, I plan sell my MBA and upgrade. Something with 8GB and something faster than my C2D would be nice.

 

Rumors are that apple will drop the 17" since sales are slow.

 

I highly doubt it, but we shall see

 

This is true. Once you achieve a full charge the laptop will only draw power from the outlet. Not sure when this was implemented but it's how my 15" i5 MBP works... Says so when I click on the battery icon while plugged in at 100%.

I do run the battery down on a regular basis.

 

To add to that:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1909

dont be alarmed when you see the battery drop down over time while being plugged in. this is normal. It should go to around 95% and then back to 100%.

so there is no problem leaving the computer connected. It does discharge ever so slowly.

 

My late 2007 model MBP does this.

 

Anyone know when the next MBP generation is coming out?

 

July is my guess

 

I'm not confirming it's July with this post, but macrumors does state the following in regards to the current MBP:

Source: http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/#MacBook_Pro

 

I got one hundred dollars bills, just waiting to throw at them...

 

Cool - Thanks!

 

That'll cover the tax on most of their products, now you just gotta come up with the funds for the product itself.

 

Bills,, as in plural...

 

Ok, fine. You've got enough to cover tax and AppleCare.

 

new MBPs to be announced tomorrow

 

I'll be putting my MBA for sale as soon as I know the availability of the new MBPs.
The thing is I no longer have an external drive, so if I sell it with Parallels and Win7 after reformatting the SSD, I won't be able to install Win7. I guess I can always bundle in the software and let the purchaser do it themselves.

 

Im plugging my ears. My MB Pro is maxed out and I love it. I refuse to believe they will come out with one I want to get...No No No!!

 

guess that is out of the question...