Thinner Macbook Pro's coming?

Rico · July 28, 2011, 08:57:47 AM

A few rumors around the net of Apple developing thinner Macbook Pro's to have them get closer to the size of the Macbook Air's - but with more power of course. Seems to be a reasonable idea and plan for Apple.

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Macbook_Air-Macbook_Pro-Redesign-15_inch_Macbook_Air,13135.html

billybob476 · July 28, 2011, 09:23:46 AM

Makes sense, though since they already refreshed the MacBook Pros earlier this year it's likely they'd wait until early next year to re-refresh them.

Dangelus · July 28, 2011, 09:37:04 AM

I wonder if they'll remove the DVD drive too since Lion won't be on disc.

Everything will be App store very soon.

billybob476 · July 28, 2011, 09:41:55 AM

Quote from: Dangelus on July 28, 2011, 09:37:04 AM
I wonder if they'll remove the DVD drive too since Lion won't be on disc.

Everything will be App store very soon.

The talk is of no optical drive and SSD. The only thing that worries me is that currently, Apple is charging over 1200 dollars to upgrade to a 512 gig SSD. A lot of people use MacBook Pros as their main 'powerhouse' machines. While I love all the cloud stuff, we still need local storage (especially those of us doing audio/video production). I don't think SSD's are cheap enough per gig to replace spinning disks just yest, which would be a big limitation to making the MBP thin across the board.

ElfManDan · July 28, 2011, 02:41:49 PM

I think no optical drive is a stupid way to go. I know you can get an external, but I prefer having mine on board when I want to use it. Though I admit I could do without it if I had to, but if they use SSDs only if they make them larger storage and cheaper. I would probably replace the thing anyway given the chance, like I have in my MacBook with a better one. I don't get the point of a smaller lighter notebook anyway, I'm perfectly fine with a thicker heavier one that has the stuff I want to use in it.

KingIsaacLinksr · July 28, 2011, 03:08:27 PM

Quote from: Sheppard on July 28, 2011, 02:41:49 PM
I think no optical drive is a stupid way to go. I know you can get an external, but I prefer having mine on board when I want to use it. Though I admit I could do without it if I had to, but if they use SSDs only if they make them larger storage and cheaper. I would probably replace the thing anyway given the chance, like I have in my MacBook with a better one. I don't get the point of a smaller lighter notebook anyway, I'm perfectly fine with a thicker heavier one that has the stuff I want to use in it.

Lighter netbooks makes it easier to carry around and etc. As for the no optical drive, I haven't used a CD in...forever. Granted, it is a nice backup to have, but more often than not, I'm downloading my music, downloading the latest software for drivers (since CDs are usually out of date) and such from the Internet. Sure, if I had a blu-ray player on my PC that would be one thing and if I didn't have a Netflix account that would be another thing, but Apple is trying to push technology ahead to drop the disc. (and encourage more use of their App store).

As it is, CDs are not likely to survive the next five years of tech advancement. We will either go completely digital or use SD card, that is my guess. ***

BUT, I will agree, this is pushing things a little too far too fast. We still need the optical drives and it will annoy some people to have to buy external drives.

King

*** However, this depends on if the internet company start putting limits on our internet bandwidth or not. If they do, then anything could happen.

Rico · July 28, 2011, 03:28:30 PM

I'd be more bothered by less hard drive space than no optical drive. I needs me some mega-storage!

ElfManDan · July 28, 2011, 03:35:01 PM

I use my optical drive all the time and if it's anything like my MacBook I'd just buy the smallest hard drive they have and replace it with a much larger one. I don't know if you will be able to swap out a regular notebook hard drive for the solid states though here, but if you can I'd just do that.

billybob476 · July 28, 2011, 05:06:22 PM

I can't recall the last time I used an optical drive on any of my machines. So far I haven't put one in my MacBook Pro at all. That's not really my issue, the issue would be the SSD. If they went MacBook Air-thin then they'd have tp have an SSD in there and I don't think a 256 gig drive on a high end machine is nearly enough.

Rico · July 28, 2011, 05:08:47 PM

Of course, you can always plug an external optical drive in when you need it. But I'm with Joe, you still need that storage much more.

ElfManDan · July 28, 2011, 11:00:06 PM

Like I said the optical drive I could live without, if I had to, but I prefer my heavier notebook with it cause I do use it a lot. I'm with you guys that storage is more the issue though, cause that fills up quick on my computers.