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Apple's thinner 13- & 15-inch MacBook Pros expected in April at the soonest

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Apple's thinner 13- & 15-inch MacBook Pros expected in April at the soonest

New 13- and 15-inch MacBook Pros with a thinner and lighter design are expected to launch in April "at the soonest," with an initial shipment of just under a million units.
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Would love to see the 13" MBP basically being a 13" MBA with 8GB Memory and discreet graphics.
 

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Would love to see the 13" MBP basically being a 13" MBA with 8GB Memory and discreet graphics.

Make that user upgradeable memory and a 2.5 in SATA Drive Bay and I'm good with it.
 
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Would love to see the 13" MBP basically being a 13" MBA with 8GB Memory and discreet graphics.

With a lack of optical drive and less ports? No thanks.
 
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Other users have said this as well on other forums: let the 13" MBA be the stepping stone to the MBP lineup, which would leave only the 15"/17" as MBP models, and 11"/13" as MBA models. So, you would have 2 line ups: MBA and MBP. The MBA is the ultra thin. The MBP is the ultra-"pro" model. The 13" would take cues from both of the Air and Pro to bridge both of them together. From thinnest to thickest: 11"MBA, 13"MBA, 15"MBP, 17"MBP. Less clutter, and I'm more than positive you could make more money with the 13" this way.
 
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Don't go on a diet mbp stay meaty and powerful

With a lack of optical drive and less ports? No thanks.

I can't agree more. Apple is a great company that makes great products but they are starting to think making something thinner will automatically make it easier to use. I have to disagree with apple, i love my 2011 13 inch mbp and its large number of ports. Thats why people who want a portable notebook can get a mba not a mbp.
 
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It's down to the individual, but I bet if survived a greater number of people would be for ditching the integrated optical drive and sacraficing a few ports for a slimmer machine with "pro" graphics and more memory.

After all, there are plenty of ways to compensate for lack of ports with hubs, adapters, thunderbolt, etc. same for the optical drive, with wireless drive sharing. Conversely there's no way you can just remove an integrated optical drive. Well at least not unless Apple introduce the new range with a docking system.
 

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I tend to agree. I don't need lots of ports. Two USB and one Thunderbolt would probably suffice. And, lack of an optical drive is not an issue. But, IMO, to be a "Pro" it can't sacrifice on the processor, graphics and HAS to have user upgradeable/replaceable RAM and Storage Drives (SSD or HDD).
 

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All I know is - they better not put out a new MBP that doesn't have IVY bridge... hopefully they're getting the first production run of chips again.
 

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I tend to agree. I don't need lots of ports. Two USB and one Thunderbolt would probably suffice. And, lack of an optical drive is not an issue. But, IMO, to be a "Pro" it can't sacrifice on the processor, graphics and HAS to have user upgradeable/replaceable RAM and Storage Drives (SSD or HDD).
I would have normally disagreed about the lack of an optical drive but since mine is broken, I've gotten very good at learning how to get content without it.

All I know is - they better not put out a new MBP that doesn't have IVY bridge... hopefully they're getting the first production run of chips again.
I keep reading conflicting reports. Some say April will bring new MBPs with IB while I've read other reports suggesting that Intel won't be ready (I'll see if I can track down that article). I'm still waiting (and foolishly so) for a quad core 13" MBP.
 
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Using the title "Pro" while ditching ports such as Firewire and widdling the USB ports down to 1 would be a horrible idea. First of all, I don't care if you can use a hub, that's not the point. How is it any better to have a thin machine that forces you to carry around hubs and dongles etc? That would be just as inconvenient.

Thunderbolt? At this point, it's good only for a display port. No one but true industry pro's can afford TB storage! Until its proliferation in the Windows segment, we won't be seeing those prices coming down any time soon.

And while we're at it, I really hope that Apple totally revamps the entire structure of the MB line. If we are to see "pro" level graphics and processing power in a MB the size of the Air, then I fear for the life/longevity of the logicboard due to all the heat build up.

Well, hopefully my 4 year old MBP will hold up for another 4 years, because my next machine is an iMac.

Doug
 

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Thunderbolt? At this point, it's good only for a display port. No one but true industry pro's can afford TB storage! Until its proliferation in the Windows segment, we won't be seeing those prices coming down any time soon.

True . . . I'm a natural optimist (or guillible--you pick) I keep expecting Sonnet to finally release the Allegro Thunderbolt to FireWire Adapter they have been promising.
 
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Maybe its me but i am not really interested in a thinner Macbook. Call me old fashioned but i always think that there is a limit to how thin a macbook can be, considering you start to sacrifice durability in the event. Or maybe its the lack of raw materials why we're using less and less and calling it style...
go figure
 
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Any chance of a retina display on the MBP. That would be awesome.
 

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Maybe its me but i am not really interested in a thinner Macbook. Call me old fashioned but i always think that there is a limit to how thin a macbook can be, considering you start to sacrifice durability in the event. Or maybe its the lack of raw materials why we're using less and less and calling it style...
go figure

I don't quite get it either. The Air is already filling that market space - if the point is to get more horsepower in a smaller platform - just beef up the Air...don't downgrade the Pro.
 
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Any chance of a retina display on the MBP. That would be awesome.

I think the hi-rez (anti glare thank you) one is enough right now. Put an "retina" display on a MBP and expect your battery life to plummet in no time! On an iMac however.... Yeah, I could go for that! That would be a photographers/video editors *** dream.

Doug
 
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I think the hi-rez (anti glare thank you) one is enough right now. Put an "retina" display on a MBP and expect your battery life to plummet in no time! On an iMac however.... Yeah, I could go for that! That would be a photographers/video editors *** dream.

Doug


I think it's do-able on a MBP, especially if they will take out the optical drive altogether to make more room for bigger battery with more capacity. I still like to have an optical drive, although I find that I have used it less and less.
 
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After all, there are plenty of ways to compensate for lack of ports with hubs, adapters, thunderbolt, etc. same for the optical drive, with wireless drive sharing.
That's not a good option for me. I like using my computer as a portable device and like how I only need to bring my laptop and battery charger. I don't want to be lugging around a whole extra bag of accessories.

I don't quite get it either. The Air is already filling that market space - if the point is to get more horsepower in a smaller platform - just beef up the Air...don't downgrade the Pro.
You make a great point. I don't understand why they would want to downgrade the Pro and turn it into a none Pro computer when they could just either upgrade the Air or create a whole new category of laptops. Some of us actually use our computers for work and not just to browse the internet or check email.
 
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Using the title "Pro" while ditching ports such as Firewire and widdling the USB ports down to 1 would be a horrible idea. First of all, I don't care if you can use a hub, that's not the point. How is it any better to have a thin machine that forces you to carry around hubs and dongles etc? That would be just as inconvenient.

Thunderbolt? At this point, it's good only for a display port. No one but true industry pro's can afford TB storage! Until its proliferation in the Windows segment, we won't be seeing those prices coming down any time soon.

And while we're at it, I really hope that Apple totally revamps the entire structure of the MB line. If we are to see "pro" level graphics and processing power in a MB the size of the Air, then I fear for the life/longevity of the logicboard due to all the heat build up.

Well, hopefully my 4 year old MBP will hold up for another 4 years, because my next machine is an iMac.

Doug

Couldn't agree more. Lately, I've seen Apple trying to move in a "prosumer" direction. The Market is getting slimmer and slimmer for the people that actually need the horsepower/ports/graphics that the MBP can offer. I still don't think the White MacBook even needed to be killed off, it had decent power, enough ports, an optical drive... perfect for the average person.

I, personally, can barely consider a MacBook Air to be a computer at all. No expandable options whatsoever. Maybe Apple can drop that 1 USB port while they're at it and shave an ounce off? I'm sure nobody uses it anyway.

I don't know where Apple is heading, maybe this is all speculation and the new MBP will be great. I have my doubts though... :|
 
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The MBA is designed to be portable, it is not supposed to be a "Pro" machine. But I still believe it deserves some respect considering its size it is very good at what it does. Plus when you add a external display you can get more USB ports, another Thunderbolt, and a Firewire
 

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