Just so you know...

[scootermaster]

Arrandale, CES, Jan 7th. Give or take.

I would expect Arrandale MBP's 3rd or 4th week in January. The question is, however, what else will they add? Just that? Different graphics? Other features people have been clamoring for? (eSATA, HDMI, BD, TV Tuner, 3G?) Not to say I think any of those will happen (the only one I can really see might be HDMI, but Apple is clearly in favor if displayport), but those seem to be the only things they could add. But maybe they have something else up their sleeve!

 

[secretanchitman]

for all mbps:

better battery life (maybe increase it a little longer by an hour or two), cheaper upgrades for cpu, memory, hard drives/ssds.

13" mbp:

core i3 option, maybe possibility of discrete graphics. they need to upgrade the low-end model (2.26ghz) badly because the regular macbook has the same cpu, same memory, but a 250GB hard drive instead.

15" mbp:

core i5/i7 option, higher resolution (1680x1050 led backlit with glossy and anti-glare as options), option for better discrete graphics, expresscard as an option (i HATE how apple put the sd card slot on the 15").

17" mbp:

core i5/i7 option, discrete graphics, ssd as standard with no-cost to go to a 500GB 7200rpm hard drive.

arrandale has the cpu and gpu on one chip, and im sure apple knows that the integrated gpu that intel has is totally crap compared to the 9400. im hoping apple will NOT use the intel integrated gpu, or at least disable it somehow. im not too worried about the discrete graphics (heres to hoping they put something better than the 9600GT) either. i actually think that core i7 will drain the battery too fast and will be too hot for the already thin mbp enclosure, so core i5 is probably the more logical choice. i also dont think hdmi will happen...its only limited to 1920x1200 and it wont drive the 30" cinema display either. i could be wrong though. blu-ray is probably not going to happen, since none of the other models have it and im sure they dont want to cannibalize their itunes store for movies. 3G is a possibility but where would they fit that in? tv tuner im not too sure about either.

 

[scootermaster]

I always have this discussion about "specs" versus "toys". Specs are easy to predict (bigger HD, better CPU, more ram, etc), but the toys are harder to see coming. There already have a webcam, backlit keyboard, LED screen, unibody construction, magsafe connector, SD card...am I missing anything? They've only added unibody, LED screen and the integrated battery in, what, the last 2 years? So maybe this is a big specs bump, not a toys bump, but regardless of what I think they'll add, I guess I'm just wondering what's even in the universe of things they possibly could add. A webcam is a pretty easy call, but no one saw magsafe coming. Everyone else seems to care only about the specs ("the graphics card isn't good enough! I need more ram!!") but for me an Apple is all about the form factor...the toys. If I wanted some uber crazy machine with top of the line specs, I'd buy an Alienware or something.

Know what I'm sayin'? At any rate, it can't happen soon enough.

I actually wouldn't mind if they could find a way to lop a pound off the weight. 7 hours battery life is fine...I don't think it really needs to be 9. If they could make the thing weigh 4.5 or 4.75 pounds I'd easily make that trade. So that's what I want.

 

[secretanchitman]

I always have this discussion about "specs" versus "toys". Specs are easy to predict (bigger HD, better CPU, more ram, etc), but the toys are harder to see coming. There already have a webcam, backlit keyboard, LED screen, unibody construction, magsafe connector, SD card...am I missing anything? They've only added unibody, LED screen and the integrated battery in, what, the last 2 years? So maybe this is a big specs bump, not a toys bump, but regardless of what I think they'll add, I guess I'm just wondering what's even in the universe of things they possibly could add. A webcam is a pretty easy call, but no one saw magsafe coming. Everyone else seems to care only about the specs ("the graphics card isn't good enough! I need more ram!!") but for me an Apple is all about the form factor...the toys. If I wanted some uber crazy machine with top of the line specs, I'd buy an Alienware or something.

Know what I'm sayin'? At any rate, it can't happen soon enough.

I actually wouldn't mind if they could find a way to lop a pound off the weight. 7 hours battery life is fine...I don't think it really needs to be 9. If they could make the thing weigh 4.5 or 4.75 pounds I'd easily make that trade. So that's what I want.

agreed. i honestly dont know what else they can do at this point...light peak is a few years away though

 

[Kmax82]

I love my current MBP. I want the i7 though. I just want some more speed, and these seem to be monsters. But hopefully, come January/February.. my new machine will be Core i7 (2.5 Ghz or more), 8 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD... That would be a massive upgrade to me.

 

[scootermaster]

I love my current MBP. I want the i7 though. I just want some more speed, and these seem to be monsters. But hopefully, come January/February.. my new machine will be Core i7 (2.5 Ghz or more), 8 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD... That would be a massive upgrade to me.

I think that's the next step: affordable (and WORKING, thanks Apple!) SSDs.

If you can upgrade the battery life with 32nm, decent integrated graphics, SSD and battery technology, and then just take the same 7 hour batter and make it smaller, thereby decreasing the weight, I think you're on to something.

Makes me wonder: do SSDs weigh less than normal magnetic HDs? Those platters aren't particularly light.

A 7 hour, 15" MBP in its current form factor that weighs less than 5 pounds is the holy grail for me. 1600xwhatever and BD would be nice too. =]

 

[Kaido]

Arrandale, CES, Jan 7th. Give or take.

I would expect Arrandale MBP's 3rd or 4th week in January. The question is, however, what else will they add? Just that? Different graphics? Other features people have been clamoring for? (eSATA, HDMI, BD, TV Tuner, 3G?) Not to say I think any of those will happen (the only one I can really see might be HDMI, but Apple is clearly in favor if displayport), but those seem to be the only things they could add. But maybe they have something else up their sleeve!

All I want for Christmas is an iTablet, please :awe: I've been jonesing for a new Apple toy since I ditched my iPhone a couple weeks ago D:

 

[secretanchitman]

All I want for Christmas is an iTablet, please :awe: I've been jonesing for a new Apple toy since I ditched my iPhone a couple weeks ago D:

you ditched your iphone?? why? what happened? :twisted: