Macbook Updates Dull! Macbook Pro Updates Bright?

[SHowHawk]

With luck, they would make a 13" MacBook Pro and have it cheaper then the current 15" offering. They probably won't, but we'll see!

That is my hope exactly. Now that the MBs have been updated and not received anything other than simple CPU and HDD bumps, I am pinning my hopes for best fit in an Apple notebook on the possibility of a smaller MBP, perhaps at WWDC.

I want a new notebook very much, but (a) don't want one that is more than 13.5" wide x 9.5" deep x 1.25" thick - I have a 15.4" Dell D820 at work and I consider it too big for my personal needs; and (b) I want a machine that at least has some decent 3D graphics power, which the MBs and their Intel GMA950 do not.

I would also prefer not to have to shell out north of $2000 for a notebook. I know this is not too much to ask because one can meet these specs (minus the obviously preferable OS X) in one of the new HP dv2500t series lappies that have incoporated Santa Rosa and its GMA X3100.

 

[mkrishnan]

Given that the Macbooks do not seem to have LED backlighting, and Apple provided a timeframe for going LED across the board, I think the fairly obvious hint is that there is going to be another update, if only to change the backlight, in the relatively near future, right?

Anyway, I'm mildly surprised Apple isn't using SR right away, but I also think the Macbooks are very reasonable at what they do and the price they do it at. If you compare them to 7.5 lb notebooks, sure, they come out shoddy. But when you compare them to similarly sized notebooks with similar broad feature sets, they're fairly competitive with the small Dells, Lenovos, and Sonys. Lenovo and Sony particularly offer nicer small notebooks, but at a large price premium.

 

[jdechko]

Just to comment on "needing" the top-of-the line, I fully plan on my next computer last about 5 years, so in that amount of time, it will seem painfully slow. Heck, My current home machine is a P3 mobile 1.2 with the IIG 845 chipset and a whopping 48 MB of shared video RAM, on a machine that is maxed out (and has been since day 1) at 384MB of RAM. I've decided that I can no longer afford to update iTunes as each new release slows it down further. Now that machine is fine for my wife who checks her email, does her myspace thing, and types up word docs.

But I play games, and do some serious CAD/3D work and want to get into video, so I'll need a MBP (still going to stay with a portable to take to work, etc). The current spec MBP would be great for me, but I'll wait at least until the next update comes before buying.

Having said all of that, I expect that there will be some nice updates at or around WWDC and that there'll be a new MB/P model introduced that fits somewhere between the current offerings of MB's and MBP's.

Help me, though, cause the Sony VAIO FZ190 (15.4", C2D 2.2, 2GB RAM, 160GB HD, nVidia 8400M, DVD-RW/DL w/ Blu-Ray, $2160) is my first choice if I don't get a Mac.

The MBP has the intangibles (Mac OS X, Backlit Keyboard, Better Firewire, iLife, Better Style), but the Sony has some nice specs itself.

 

[4np]

At leasts it's clear now that the LED backlit displays Apple ordered are for the next MBP revision as it is the only machine that uses a 15.4" display. Which means we should definately see a 15.4" MBP with at least a LED backlit display.
I think there is no way Santa Rosa will not be part of the revised MBP's; basically because it's a Pro machine and Santa Rosa has been 'released'. This, of course, also includes a 2.4Ghz CPU. Also there will definately be faster superdrives as the new top model MB has got a faster drive than the 15.4" MBP (17" has an equally fast drive). I would also expect Robson caching (512Mb?) available; being supported by the 10.4.10 release and a increase to 4 GB max memory with 2Gb default installed.

As for speculative upgrades I think of a better GPU (x1600 is getting a bit old); also because the more recent GPU's are capable of decoding HD-video and offloading work from the CPU and we're definately entering the HD era now. Other options are maybe a higher resolution iSight and / or a Blu-Ray drive (maybe BTO); also because of the HD-era.

And for what will not happen; I don't think the displays will become more high-res. I think the displays will stay at the current (1440) resolution. Also, while I would be interested to see a new case design I doubt it will happen anytime soon.