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Do YOU want a 12 inch MacBook Pro?

Do you want a 12 inch MacBook Pro

  • Yes and I'd buy one immediately!

    Votes: 126 62.1%

  • No, I thought the MacBook was supposed to be the replacement.

    Votes: 77 37.9%
  • Total voters
    203
  • Poll closed .
Spectrum said:
The Macbook/Pro line fails in a spectacular way in a very key area (for some): Weight.

13" MacBook : 5.2 lb !!!
15" MacBook Pro : 5.6 lb
17" MacBook Pro : 6.8 lb

12" iBook : 4.9 lb
14: iBook : 5.9 lb

12" PowerBook : 4.6 lb !!!
15" PowerBook : 5.6 lb
17" PowerBook : 6.9 lb
Click to expand...

Hmmm. The 17" is marginally lighter now. The 15"s are the same weight and the MacBook, with a larger screen, is a whopping .6 lbs more than the slightly smaller (and much less powerful) 12" iBook disguised as a PowerBook. (My shoulder hurts just thinking about lugging around that monstrous sized MB)

It's true though, those PowerPC chips were very heavy. The Intels clearly are flawed because they really should be much lighter. As you cleverly pointed out, Apple have clearly failed again with the MB and MBP. :rolleyes:
 
netdog said:
Hmmm. The 17" is marginally lighter now. The 15"s are the same weight and the MacBook, with a larger screen, is a whopping .6 lbs more than the slightly smaller (and much less powerful) 12" iBook disguised as a PowerBook. (My shoulder hurts just thinking about lugging around that monstrous sized MB)

It's true though, those PowerPC chips were very heavy. The Intels clearly are flawed because they really should be much lighter. As you cleverly pointed out, Apple have clearly failed again with the MB and MBP. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
You miss the point - but thanks for the large helping of sarcasm - delicious. :)

What you have in fact just pointed out is that the MacBook is almost the same weight as the 15" MacBook Pro - yet with a crappy 13" screen.

My point is that, there was a limit to the processing power+ cooling that could be achieved in a given sized enclosure for a given weight for the G4.

By adopting more powerful Intel hardware, Apple could produce a 12" MacBook Pro that would exceed the capability of the 12" Powerbook AND be lighter.

All we have though are computers tuned for power. This is not what a 12" MacBook Pro needs to be.

And for others saying that the 12"PB is just a dressed up 12" iBook - well, use one and see the differences:

Faster RAM/bus/processor
Dedicated graphics
Nicer keyboard
Nicer trackpad and mouse button (really!)
Slimmer screen bezel=smaller case
Lighter.

IMO, the MacBook appears to be a replacement for the 14" iBook, NOT the 12" line of computers. The 12" PB replacement is non-existent.
 
How can a 12" be a PRO?!!!!!! There is a 13" MacBook. If there is anything smaller, it will never be a pro. Probably something like MacBook Mini which will stand below MacBook performance wise (look at 12" vaio laptops for example).
By the way, in in my personal opinion the 12" powerbooks were the ugliest of all the apple portables. The keyboard looked really stupid without the speakers. Of course this is just my personal feeling and I don't mean to insult anyone.
 
zign said:
How can a 12" be a PRO?!!!!!! There is a 13" MacBook. If there is anything smaller, it will never be a pro. Probably something like MacBook Mini which will stand below MacBook performance wise (look at 12" vaio laptops for example).
By the way, in in my personal opinion the 12" powerbooks were the ugliest of all the apple portables. The keyboard looked really stupid without the speakers. Of course this is just my personal feeling and I don't mean to insult anyone.
Click to expand...

Wow, my 12" powerbook wasn't too happy about your statement :p
 
Spectrum said:
And for others saying that the 12"PB is just a dressed up 12" iBook - well, use one and see the differences:

Faster RAM/bus/processor
Dedicated graphics
Nicer keyboard
Nicer trackpad and mouse button (really!)
Slimmer screen bezel=smaller case
Lighter.

IMO, the MacBook appears to be a replacement for the 14" iBook, NOT the 12" line of computers. The 12" PB replacement is non-existent.
Click to expand...

And still 12" powerbooks were sometimes outperformed by iBooks.
 
zign said:
How can a 12" be a PRO?!!!!!! There is a 13" MacBook. If there is anything smaller, it will never be a pro. Probably something like MacBook Mini which will stand below MacBook performance wise (look at 12" vaio laptops for example).
By the way, in in my personal opinion the 12" powerbooks were the ugliest of all the apple portables. The keyboard looked really stupid without the speakers. Of course this is just my personal feeling and I don't mean to insult anyone.
Click to expand...

No insults taken as long as you are sharing your personal opinion how can anyone get offended. I am a professional photographer who would love a high powered 12 MBP. It would allow for easier travel when I am out of the country and give me a high powered machine that I could use with a monitor at home or in an office. I almost bought a 12 powerbook but could not justify the feature set. Now if a MBP came in 12 inch size I might like to get rid of my current 15 MBP.
 
failsafe1 said:
No insults taken as long as you are sharing your personal opinion how can anyone get offended. I am a professional photographer who would love a high powered 12 MBP. It would allow for easier travel when I am out of the country and give me a high powered machine that I could use with a monitor at home or in an office. I almost bought a 12 powerbook but could not justify the feature set. Now if a MBP came in 12 inch size I might like to get rid of my current 15 MBP.
Click to expand...

I agree... how nice it would be to set up nikon capture and tether a small notebook to my Nikon D70? That would be the future for me seriously.
 
princealfie said:
I agree... how nice it would be to set up nikon capture and tether a small notebook to my Nikon D70? That would be the future for me seriously.
Click to expand...

I hate having to try to squeeze my computer/camera bag under the seat on the plane and feel like I am squashing all my nice professional stuff. A 12 MBP would go a long way to getting a smaller bag to hold all my fun stuff.
 
failsafe1 said:
I hate having to try to squeeze my computer/camera bag under the seat on the plane and feel like I am squashing all my nice professional stuff. A 12 MBP would go a long way to getting a smaller bag to hold all my fun stuff.
Click to expand...

Yeah I went back to shooting with Leica M6. I just hate carrying all that weight.
 
zign said:
How can a 12" be a PRO?!!!!!! There is a 13" MacBook. If there is anything smaller, it will never be a pro.
By the way, in in my personal opinion the 12" powerbooks were the ugliest of all the apple portables. The keyboard looked really stupid without the speakers.
Click to expand...
I disagree. Screen size has very little to do with "pro". If Apple brought out a 17" MacBook with the same feature set as the 13" would you say that the 15" MacBook Pro was no longer justified the "pro" moniker?

Regarding the ugliefest: Well, my personal opinion is that the 12" PB has the cleanest lines. The lack of speaker grill and keyboard frame looks very good. Probably the smallest laptop ever produced with a FULL-SIZE keyboard. I toyed for ages whether to get a 12" PB + external monitor, or a 15" PB. In the end I got the 15", but I am often tempted to pick up a second hand or refurb 12" PB - only problem is: they are rare and still quite expensive - and for a reason: No modern competitor.

15" is OK, 17" looks kind of awkward with the wide speaker grilles. Always reminds me of the 30" PB mockups :D. I think they should put in a dedicated number pad on the 17" to use that space.

Ideal 12" MacBook Pro?

OLED display (non-widescreen)
Up to 2.0 Ghz C2D (plenty!). Low power if possible.
Up to 2 GB RAM
Updated integrated graphics (or something < X1600)
Aluminium frame w/full-size backlit keyboard.
Thinner than 12" PB.
4 lb

$1500
 
I'd ditch my Dell 700m (12") in a heartbeat for an ultraportable mbp. The mb is too big imo to be truly portable...and 0.5 lbs makes a huge difference in a laptop because the laptop only weighs around 4-5 lbs anyway!
 
Well, I'm not in the market for a Laptop, currently, since my 12" PB still works (it's damn slow, though). But if it would break tomorrow, I'd probably get a Lenovo X61 Tablet, since Apple doesn't provide a tablet at the moment - not even a 12" laptop.

Why tablet? Well, the fact that you can write on the screen makes it even more portable. And just today in a meeting when we were trying to sketch a concept it would've been so useful..
 
The 12" powerbook was such a big hit. People loved them. My coffee shop buddies all have 12" powerbooks, with the exception of a few ibooks/Macbooks and my 15". Apple could sell a lot of these. Especially see and how a lot of people want the smaller size, but the dedicated GPU.
 
Spectrum said:
IMO, the MacBook appears to be a replacement for the 14" iBook, NOT the 12" line of computers. The 12" PB replacement is non-existent.
Click to expand...

Also true, and yet not. The MB was an interesting compromise. Yes, though, there is truth to what you are saying.
 
failsafe1 said:
I almost bought a 12 powerbook but could not justify the feature set. Now if a MBP came in 12 inch size I might like to get rid of my current 15 MBP.
Click to expand...

Well, there's the rub. People keep talking about the 12" PowerBook as if it were truly a PowerBook, and yet it hadn't been replaced.

A 12" MBP would break new ground, and might be very useful to a lot of people. My point was that the 12" PowerBook was simply more an iBook in PowerBook clothing.
 
Spectrum said:
I disagree. Screen size has very little to do with "pro". If Apple brought out a 17" MacBook with the same feature set as the 13" would you say that the 15" MacBook Pro was no longer justified the "pro" moniker?

Regarding the ugliefest: Well, my personal opinion is that the 12" PB has the cleanest lines. The lack of speaker grill and keyboard frame looks very good. Probably the smallest laptop ever produced with a FULL-SIZE keyboard. I toyed for ages whether to get a 12" PB + external monitor, or a 15" PB. In the end I got the 15", but I am often tempted to pick up a second hand or refurb 12" PB - only problem is: they are rare and still quite expensive - and for a reason: No modern competitor.

15" is OK, 17" looks kind of awkward with the wide speaker grilles. Always reminds me of the 30" PB mockups :D. I think they should put in a dedicated number pad on the 17" to use that space.

Ideal 12" MacBook Pro?

OLED display (non-widescreen)
Up to 2.0 Ghz C2D (plenty!). Low power if possible.
Up to 2 GB RAM
Updated integrated graphics (or something < X1600)
Aluminium frame w/full-size backlit keyboard.
Thinner than 12" PB.
4 lb

$1500
Click to expand...

The problem is that Apple may come out with a smaller portable, but they will not lable it as a pro. It will be small, more expensive than MacBook and most likely not as powerful (except for the video, but not dedicated). People will still be waiting for the "PRO".

12" "Power"book is an iBook in metal casing. Even if Apple did release another PRO model it would just be a MacBook in metal with more VRAM.


Apple need to release a real compact portable. Small, light (=<1kg), not powerful (maybe even a core solo), long battery life (10 hours at least).
 
Yes. In fact I'd be even more thrilled with less than a 12 inch screen that would fit even better in a bag with still all the macbook pro advantages.
 
I have a big monitor, keyboard, etc.
For doing major editing of photos or such, I am typically in my home office.
But, for surfing the web, visiting grandparents to show a few pictures, etc, a smaller, more powerful MBP would be great.
I am not going to get hung up on 12 or 12 inches (I'll leave that to the porn stars), but to have a very lightweight, long lived battery, no CD option, with firewire 800, USB 2.0, dedicated graphics, etc?

Oh, yes, I would get that today, even though I swear I am waiting for 10.5 and Santa Rosa.
 
I've become incredibly interested in the mac world in the past few months and have been waiting for the leapard release to buy my first mac. I've decided i can wait, but it's painful because it would be awesome to have one now!

I'm interested in using the mac for casual photo and video editing and was originally interested in the imacs but have thought about the macbook pro for portability on the road or in the classroom.

The portability would be nice, but the price tag takes a bit of a leap from a dazzled up imac to a macbook pro with similiar specs.

I was wondering if you guys think the macbook pro is sufficient for both editing photos (aperature), video (final cut express) and playing around with music (garage band). I don't really have the budget for an added display at the moment...maybe in the future...

I'm also interested to hear what you think the ideal screen size is 15 or 17 and if it should be the glossy widesreen or just regular.

as of now i'd like to get:

2.33 ghz 15"/17" macbook pro
2 gigs of mem
200 gig hard drive

Any advice?
 
macsr4all said:
I've become incredibly interested in the mac world in the past few months and have been waiting for the leapard release to buy my first mac. I've decided i can wait, but it's painful because it would be awesome to have one now!

I'm interested in using the mac for casual photo and video editing and was originally interested in the imacs but have thought about the macbook pro for portability on the road or in the classroom.

The portability would be nice, but the price tag takes a bit of a leap from a dazzled up imac to a macbook pro with similiar specs.

I was wondering if you guys think the macbook pro is sufficient for both editing photos (aperature), video (final cut express) and playing around with music (garage band). I don't really have the budget for an added display at the moment...maybe in the future...

I'm also interested to hear what you think the ideal screen size is 15 or 17 and if it should be the glossy widesreen or just regular.

as of now i'd like to get:

2.33 ghz 15"/17" macbook pro
2 gigs of mem
200 gig hard drive

Any advice?
Click to expand...

In terms of performance it would be sufficient. In terms of screen size and glossy/matte it would be best for you to try these options at an apple store and decide for yourself.
 
Here's a thought... :D :D :D

According to calculations using the Pythagorean theorem, a 12.1" widescreen MBP wouldn't be overly dinky!

Lets take the difference between the 15" PB and the 15.4" MBP first :D

  • The PB's 4:3 ratio with 15" diagonal gave users 108 square inches of visio-pleasure.
  • The MBP's 16:9 ratio with 15.4" diagonal gives users 101 square inches of visio-pleasure.

Notice how the numerically greater diagonal results in less actual viewing area!

Using the current MBP keyboard length as the indicator for the size of the screen base (having seen how the keyboard was set on the 12" PB), and using 16:9 as the screen aspect ratio, you'd end up with..

  • The PB's 4:3 ratio with 12" diagonal gave users 69.12 square inches of visio-pleasure.
  • A MBP's 16:9 ratio with 12.1" diagonal would give users 63 square inches of visio-pleasure!

So come on Apple - get busy!

***I'd buy the 12.1" MBP if it came along. Dell's M1210 and Sony's TX series have proven that these machines can be built small but fairly fully featured (just not as pretty :D :D :D )

EDIT**** Apple wouldnt have to sacrifice the DVD-RW drive either , so lets stop wishing for it :D
 
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