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When will the Macbook Pro get a magnetic latch?
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It definately will at some point. When is anyone's best guess. The earliest would be when Apple revises the MacBook Pro for Santa Rosa, but it could come later as well.
I highly doubt Apple will even move to the Santa Rosa platform. They're not using current Centrino platforms, so why would they use the next one?
Not to mention they already slipped in 802.11n into C2D MBPs.
I don't imagine you'll see a big move to next chipset because there's very little value in it for the MBP. GMA965 isn't going to be used in the MBP, so the only benefit of Santa Rosa is going to be 800Mhz FSB.
I believe that if they were, it would involve a completely new case design or they would have done it with the latest rev. There must be a reason as to why they have not included it yet - most likely it has to do with how thin the MBP's are and what is occupying the area where the latches are.
Then again - we all know nothing about the real reasons and we are just being speculative.
Just because Apple doesn't slap ugly Centrino stickers on their cases doesn't mean the MacBook and MacBook Pro aren't based off the Centrino platform (Hell, the iMac and Mini qualify, except for them not being laptops).
The Napa Centrino platform contains the following:
The platform consists of:
* an Intel Core (code-named Yonah) or Core 2 processor (code-named Merom)
* an Intel Mobile 945 Express-series chipset (code-named Calistoga), and
* the Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG mini-PCIe WiFi adapter (code-named Golan).
Intel uses Centrino Duo branding for laptops with dual-core ("Core Duo") processors and retains the Centrino name for laptops with single core ("Core Solo") processors.
Aside from the Intel PRO/Wireless, The MB, MBP, iMac and Mini meet the criteria for the Napa platform. Intel has allowed vendors to label their products "Centrino" even if they use a wireless chipset other than Intel's, which means every shipping Apple computer except the Mac Pro and XServe qualifies as a Centrino product.
Centrino is really just a marketing term, nothing more.
Except a faster bus, faster CPUs (Future Merom processors will be Socket P), NAND flash-memory caching, and support for more than 3GB of RAM. It would also make sense for Apple to base all their laptops around the same platform (currently Napa, later Santa Rosa). The MB could use the integrated GMA X3000 graphics; the MBP a discreet solution, likely from ATI or NVidia.
I heard two guys at the apple store talking about this, one wondering why there was no magnetic latch, the other explaining.
With the magnetic latch, the upper and lower halves of the case sit flush to eachother, and this is made possible by the flat MB keyboard. The keyboard of the MBP is slightly raised, meaning that a magnetic latch would leave awful keyboard indents on the screen. The next generation of MBPs, if they were to have a magnetic latch, would have to have a MB-esque flat keyboard.
That was the gist of it anyway, there was one other reason, but I forgot
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With the magnetic latch, the upper and lower halves of the case sit flush to eachother, and this is made possible by the flat MB keyboard. The keyboard of the MBP is slightly raised, meaning that a magnetic latch would leave awful keyboard indents on the screen. The next generation of MBPs, if they were to have a magnetic latch, would have to have a MB-esque flat keyboard.
That was the gist of it anyway, there was one other reason, but I forgot
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that's true. i expect the MBP wont get a magnetic latch as long as the design remains like it is. when we see it get a redesign, then it will get the latch. however, i love the current PB/MBP keyboard. its teh best portable keyboard around.