What do you think is in store for Rev B. MacBook Pros?

[johnbro23]

Based on Apples history, are Rev B.'s usually more substantial than other rev updates?

Do you expect a price drop?

What do you think the base specs will be? I can't imagine Apple bumping up the specs that much. A 20GB boost to the hard drive and 200 or so mhz increase in processor speed is all I'm expecting (even 5 or 6 months from now when Rev B's can be expected to be coming out). I can't see Apple adding any more RAM to the base models. I think their VRAM card might be upgraded from 1600 to 1800 (or whatever the next level is).

So I think the biggest change to the Rev B's is going to be a fairly large price drop, with minor hardware upgrades.

 

[dmw007]

Based on Apples history, are Rev B.'s usually more substantial than other rev updates?

Do you expect a price drop?

What do you think the base specs will be? I can't imagine Apple bumping up the specs that much. A 20GB boost to the hard drive and 200 or so mhz increase in processor speed is all I'm expecting (even 5 or 6 months from now when Rev B's can be expected to be coming out). I can't see Apple adding any more RAM to the base models. I think their VRAM card might be upgraded from 1600 to 1800 (or whatever the next level is).

So I think the biggest change to the Rev B's is going to be a fairly large price drop, with minor hardware upgrades.

I think that the Rev B MacBook Pro could prove to be quite substantial-
1) New processor core (Yonah -> Merom) which will bring higher clockspeeds (merom is supposed to debut at 2.33GHz), double the L2 cache, and a much faster FSB, and 64 bit capabilities.
2) larger stock HDD (probably only ~20GB increase)
3) better video card (maybe, 1800???)
4) perhaps a slight drop in price.

 

[cnakeitaro]

17 inch

Well I personally think prices of the 15 inch will drop the moment that the 17 inch model is released. This of course will sport the new intel core duo (possibly 2.0 ghz), with a release somewhere around late march/early april. I think apple will TRY and reintroduce the 8x superdrive into that model, increase HD capacity, but I am not sure what they will do about the video card model - i think that will probably stay the same atleast for now. I think the X1800 would be too hot for the thin design.

We also might see a Rev B 15 inch, with a 2.0 - 2.13 Ghz Yonah processor, and more HD capacity, possibly with some of the unknown flaws fixed if any exist. I think this model will be released either the same time as the 17 inch or later possibly in late may/early july.

I think August/September will be the time we see the Merom processors, if they're not delayed, see their way into the new MacBooks. They have been promised before the release of Windows Vista, so we will see.

I personally think we will see atleast one or possibly two revisions of the MacBook with the Core Duo, mainly because Apple started out with the lower end line of processors. I think they will gradually build up in speed, til the Merom release.

 

[mdavey]

Based on Apples history, are Rev B.'s usually more substantial than other rev updates?

Do you expect a price drop?

Nope.

What do you think the base specs will be?

They'll use a low power version of Core Duo (Yonah) and a new screen (backlight?) technology to give significantly improved battery performance over competitors - at least 8 hours heavy usage on battery.

Two expresscard/34 slots.

Super-slim optical drive with support for DL and Blu-Ray/HD-DVD.

A clever ExpressCard/34 slot design that allows Apple 3rd parties to make cards that are flush with the case when inserted.

Lots of cool innovations that I can't even think of, to differentiate Apple as an innovator (more things along the lines of MagSafe).

 

[Platform]

I think that the Rev B MacBook Pro could prove to be quite substantial-
1) New processor core (Yonah -> Merom) which will bring higher clockspeeds (merom is supposed to debut at 2.33GHz), double the L2 cache, and a much faster FSB, and 64 bit capabilities.
2) larger stock HDD (probably only ~20GB increase)
3) better video card (maybe, 1800???)
4) perhaps a slight drop in price.

Agree, this seems to be very right.

Maybe faster RAM too

 

[ortuno2k]

I don't demand much and really don't expect a price drop but if it happens it would be nice.
What I'd really like to see is a DL SD above all things, and perhaps a boost in speed and video ram. Improved battery life would also be delightful.

 

[lord patton]

merom in portables

Now that Apple has thrown its hat over the Intel wall, I think they will choose to keep their line updated with whatever is Intel's latest and greatest.

Consider the debut of the MacBook and Intel iMacs. They were released concurrently with the Intel chips (okay, a week later). I think this because the Intel chips were released at CES, and Apple knew that Dell et. al. were going to having product shipping ASAP. Apple had to match this.

So whenever Merom debuts, I expect Apple to update its line at the same time the PC oems update theirs. This is the world they live in now.

In retrospect, I bet rolling out the Intel line in January was always the plan, because of CES and what the other vendors were going to do.