Macbook Pro Speculation

[Manzana]

I am of the opinion that we will see another "bump" in C2D MBP specs before moving on to Santa Rosa.

My question to everyone is: What will be those increased specs? It seems that Apple is always adding goodies to the laptops to make them more enticing, and I've been racking my brain and I can only come up with a few upgrades that they could do before Santa Rosa:

1. Hybrid HD's (flash memory + traditional disk)
2. Support for "N" wireless
3. Leopard and iLife '07
4. Faster Core 2 Duo's (???)
5. 7200 rpm HD's as standard equipment
6. ???

 

[mkrishnan]

I think 2-4 on your list are reasonable... I don't see Apple sacrificing other aspects of HD choice purely to go 7200 RPM. As for hybrid storage, is that feasible without a motherboard / layout design overhaul?

 

[adrianblaine]

The only one that makes sense to me is #4.

1. Isn't this a part of Santa Rosa?
2. Don't we already have this in the current MBP? a draft at least?
3. Not really a MBP upgrade
4. Sure
5. That would severely hinder hard drive options

 

[Manzana]

RE hybrid storage, I read somewhere that this would be an upgrade that everyone would be able to do so I assumed it is a software solution (driver?)...I think it was a macworld article.

 

[mkrishnan]

RE hybrid storage, I read somewhere that this would be an upgrade that everyone would be able to do so I assumed it is a software solution (driver?)...I think it was a macworld article.

Erm...doesn't the flash memory have to go somewhere? How do you implement something like this in software?

For what it's worth, I think that Santa Rosa supports the hybrid technology via Robson, but I don't think that means that the Santa Rosa chipset actually includes any flash memory or is sufficient by itself to act as hybrid storage.

 

[Manzana]

Erm...doesn't the flash memory have to go somewhere? How do you implement something like this in software?

In hybrid drives the NAND memory is built in to the actual hd, but I assume you need softwarez for the OS to take advantage of it.

As far as Robson, what I have read says that the flash memory is built in to the mb...wouldn't this suck as flash doesn't last as long as hd's?

 

[mkrishnan]

Oh, I see, so in the hybrid model, the hard drive continues to plug in exactly as it did before, but it has a flash module and is responsible on its own for selective utilization of the two?

 

[Manzana]

Oh, I see, so in the hybrid model, the hard drive continues to plug in exactly as it did before, but it has a flash module and is responsible on its own for selective utilization of the two?

exactly, that's how I understand it. Except that the OS is responsible for selecting what to use, flash or hd.

 

[EvryDayImShufln]

it would be sick if we could all upgrade to flash hybrid hard drives, I know I would if my 160gig proved to be too small in some time. I could hten outsource it to an external enclosure