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Apple Finishing Up Work on an Ultra-Thin 15" Mac Notebook

macrumors.com

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Re: Apple Finishing Up Work on an Ultra-Thin 15" Mac Notebook

#41

Post by saturdaysaint »

freakwit wrote: post #8
schrototo wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aside from the fact that no Apple product will ever have a Blu-ray drive (Jobs: "a bag of hurt"), it wouldn't make sense to phase out optical media on their computers but give the displays built-in drives. The future is digital distribution and I'm certain Apple is 100% committed to that. (If you need to use "legacy" media for the time being, Apple will be happy to sell you an add-on drive.)

some more context from http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/14/steve-jobs-calls-blu-ray-... "Blu-ray is just a bag of hurt. It's great to watch the movies, but the licensing of the tech is so complex, we're waiting till things settle down and Blu-ray takes off in the marketplace." I wouldn't take that as apple never supporting blu-ray. Although given the quote is three years old, I wouldn't say it's likely either.

I have a very hard time believing that licensing blu-ray would be anywhere near as complex as the content and patent negotiations that Apple is involved with on a daily basis.

Re: Apple Finishing Up Work on an Ultra-Thin 15" Mac Notebook

#42

Post by xentronium »

econgeeker wrote: post #18

This is what I've been expecting. I used to think I was unique, but looking at the forums, I realize there's a whole cadre of people who buy MacBook Pros, take out the optical drive, and replace it with an SSD, so they run with both an SSD and a hard drive. The SSD runs the OS and has your code and apps on it, the hard drive has your Big Media. I hope, when Apple gives up the optical media drive, they will still cont…

> they will still continue to have a hard drive slot.

Not gonna happen. Even if they decide to save the current form-factor, they will fill the empty space with something actually useful, like battery.

Re: Apple Finishing Up Work on an Ultra-Thin 15" Mac Notebook

#43

Post by daimyoyo »

I am willing to let the optical drive go in my next computer, but what I'm not willing to let go of is the storage capacity. Right now I can buy a laptop with 500GB of storage for less than $2,000. Or I can get a MacBook Air with half that. I understand that for the average consumer that 256GB of memory is plenty but I'm willing to exchange weight for storage capacity. And for everyone saying iCloud will eliminate the need for a lot of storage ask yourself if you really want to have to connect to the internet and burn up bandwidth every time you want to access your stuff? In the days of data caps, I don't.

Re: Apple Finishing Up Work on an Ultra-Thin 15" Mac Notebook

#44

Post by kylec »

jws wrote: post #28
kylec wrote: post #23

I really hope it doesn't have the wedge shape, they're so hard to get open. What I'd really like to see is for them to ditch the optical drive, make it ~40% thinner or so (but with the same thickness throughout) and to fill the rest of the space with a bigger battery.

…and a flying pony. You want a 40% space reduction and room for more batteries in exchange for losing an optical drive that accounts for 10% of the original volume.[1] [1] The MacBook Pro has a volume of 2175cc. An internal optical drive is about 200cc.

Overall volume perhaps, but the optical drive takes up a lot more than 10% of the internal volume.

Re: Apple Finishing Up Work on an Ultra-Thin 15" Mac Notebook

#45

Post by saturdaysaint »

inkaudio wrote: post #13
cageface wrote: post #11

I wonder if this new crop of ultra-thin Macbooks is going to threaten iPad sales. Certainly the iPad is half the price of the low-end MBA, but the MBA isn't that much harder to lug around and it's so much more capable. Lately I find myself reaching for my 2010 MBP more than the iPad and that's a beast compared to this year's crop.

I think most people use the ipad to view content or play games. see: http://mashable.com/2010/07/08/ipad-usage-report/ It not so much about lugging a computer around, but using the ipad while you're on the move. The Ipad is so much easier to use in that way. There are plenty of photographers and videographers who use it to show their work. People are using it to replace e-readers (like me). Restaurants are using it t…

I prefer using the Macbook Air for both content consumption and creation. For reading, resting a laptop on my lap and paging with an occasional tap of a key or brush of the touchpad is far easier than supporting the entire weight of the device and swiping the screen on occasion. For website viewing, I need the freedom to have 10 or so tabs open without the iPad's annoying reload when you try to enter an old tab.

Re: Apple Finishing Up Work on an Ultra-Thin 15" Mac Notebook

#46

Post by clobber »

cageface wrote: post #15
inkaudio wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think most people use the ipad to view content or play games. see: http://mashable.com/2010/07/08/ipad-usage-report/ It not so much about lugging a computer around, but using the ipad while you're on the move. The Ipad is so much easier to use in that way. There are plenty of photographers and videographers who use it to show their work. People are using it to replace e-readers (like me). Restaurants are using it t…

I'm probably not a typical user, but over and over again I find that while browsing on the iPad that I want to comment at length on something I read, which I hate doing on the touch keyboard. I also tend to browse the web with a bunch of tabs open and switch around quickly and this also isn't so pleasant on the iPad. Something like the 11" MBA with Ableton Live, Adobe CS, XCode, Terminal, Chrome, and Transmit could b…

iOS 5 will solve at least part of this for you: The new Safari will have tabs and the touch keyboard will be "split"

http://www.geek.com/articles/apple/apples-ios-5-finally-brin...

Re: Apple Finishing Up Work on an Ultra-Thin 15" Mac Notebook

#47

Post by gamble »

saturdaysaint wrote: post #41
freakwit wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

some more context from http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/14/steve-jobs-calls-blu-ray-... "Blu-ray is just a bag of hurt. It's great to watch the movies, but the licensing of the tech is so complex, we're waiting till things settle down and Blu-ray takes off in the marketplace." I wouldn't take that as apple never supporting blu-ray. Although given the quote is three years old, I wouldn't say it's likely either.

I have a very hard time believing that licensing blu-ray would be anywhere near as complex as the content and patent negotiations that Apple is involved with on a daily basis.

I suspect that the real sticking points are the DRM certification process the movie studios demand to ensure that Bluray-compatible PCs can't rip the video stream, and the need to develop a new, considerably more complex version of DVD Player capable of playing BD 2.0.

Re: Apple Finishing Up Work on an Ultra-Thin 15" Mac Notebook

#48

Post by jaredmck »

jaxn wrote: post #37
jaredmck wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doubtful, the segmentation and price anchoring effects of multiple lines are too important to ignore.

I disagree. The 13" MBA is available for $1299 and $1599 whereas the 13"MBP is available for $1199 and $1499. The tradeoff used to be performance vs portability, but the benchmarks on the new MBA look like there isn't much performance difference anymore. I am using a 13" MBP right now, but there is no way I would buy one today. I could see the MBP line going away and the MBA line replacing it completely. Not sure if…

I could definitely see them getting rid of the 13" MBP, but it has been positioned as the model you're pushed to via anchoring, as it seems like a deal (if that makes any sense). It does seem like the MBAs are filling in this role, but I don't really see how turning every model into a variant of the MBA would match up with Apple's standard product strategy.

Agree that there likely will be some changes to the larger models along the lines you're proposing, but I think they will still be somewhat distinct from the Air.

Re: Apple Finishing Up Work on an Ultra-Thin 15" Mac Notebook

#49

Post by lukifer »

econgeeker wrote: post #18

This is what I've been expecting. I used to think I was unique, but looking at the forums, I realize there's a whole cadre of people who buy MacBook Pros, take out the optical drive, and replace it with an SSD, so they run with both an SSD and a hard drive. The SSD runs the OS and has your code and apps on it, the hard drive has your Big Media. I hope, when Apple gives up the optical media drive, they will still cont…

I do this also, and I would be pretty miffed if it becomes impossible in the future to buy a new MBP without two drive bays.

Re: Apple Finishing Up Work on an Ultra-Thin 15" Mac Notebook

#50

Post by r00fus »

w1ntermute wrote: post #7
schrototo wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aside from the fact that no Apple product will ever have a Blu-ray drive (Jobs: "a bag of hurt"), it wouldn't make sense to phase out optical media on their computers but give the displays built-in drives. The future is digital distribution and I'm certain Apple is 100% committed to that. (If you need to use "legacy" media for the time being, Apple will be happy to sell you an add-on drive.)

Well, without a Blu-ray drive (or a TV to watch movies with a regular Blu-ray player) and a deep-seated loathing of streaming, that leaves me up shit creek with piracy as the only option when it comes to watching HD movies. Maybe I'll just stick to DVDs.

Perhaps you should consider a non-Apple product? Blue-ray appliances and PCs are not exactly hard to find or expensive.
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