Thoughts on new Apple laptops?

I'm in the market for two new laptops to replace my dead TiBook G4 and my Acer 8100. Apple is top of the heap right now for both of them, although Asus is in the running with its 14" models.

Any clue when Apple is expected to refresh the MBP?

Any idea if the rumors of a 15" Macbook are true, because my wife really doesn't want a 13" Macbook.

I figure I must be close to a refresh with Santa Rosa coming out, and don't want to by a lappy only to see something better for sale a month later.

 

Well, this is just my paranoid mind at work, but I've noticed that Futureshop has had sales on Apple computers the last few weeks. Last week it was a sale on all iMacs, and this week it is all MacBooks/Pros. Perhaps trying to get rid of some stock?

Again, who knows, it could just be a normal sale lol.

The general consensus is that "If you _can_ wait, then do it. If you need a computer, buy."

 

No idea about the 15" MacBook rumors; it doesn't seem completely off-the-wall (after all, Apple made both a 12" and 14" iBook), but there's no way to tell for sure.

Regarding the updates, a lot of people (including myself) expect new MBP's at least to come out along with the Santa Rosa refresh; that could conceivably be as soon as May 25th, but Apple may also wait for WWDC, June 11th to 15th, to unveil them.

The big thing is that I expect the updated MBP's to debut alongside Mac OS X 10.5, which is also likely to debut sometime in May or June.

The reason some people are waiting for Santa Rosa-based MBP's is because aside from the internal changes, people are expecting a more serious overhaul of the MBP case design, etc. as well (the current MBP still uses a basic design that has been in use for a number of years). Apple has said that one reason they didn't change the case designs of any of their products significantly was because they wanted to emphasize the idea that even though they were switching to Intel on the inside, they were still Macs, and they figured a more radical design change might throw people off too much.

So now that the Intel transition has been completed successfully and everyone is used to the idea now, Apple has more freedom to do it.

-Zadillo

 

my question is...is the price going to jump more than just a couple hundred bucks? if at all?

 

Prices will likely remain the same. Apple likes round numbers if you haven't noticed.

I think there will be a 15" MacBook, but who knows when. Remember too that Apple generally only releases things associated with that particular conference. So while we are very likely to see Leopard at WWDC and maybe even a new MBP and Mac Pro, it is unlikely we will see a new MacBook or iMac at WWDC. They don't appeal to the attendees. Look it will happen probably over the summer, but when and what exactly? Who knows. I don't believe they will overhaul the case BTW, I think at best you will get a user-replaceable hard drive.

 

I'd expect MBP revisions in June or July, a month or two after Intel releases santa rosa (Centrino Pro).

 

cashmonee is right on. Apple generally has specific price points they like to keep their models at........... they generally do new versions in the same line (pro laptop, consumer laptop, pro tower, consumer all-in-one, etc.) but keep the basic price points the same.

 

I don't know, I'm still pretty convinced that the next major revision of the MBP, whenever it comes, will have a case redesign. Apple would have already done it (the current MBP design was already long-in-the-tooth when it was being used for the PowerBook G4), except for the previously stated reason of wanting to make sure the Intel-based Macs looked like the same Macs people were familiar with.

 

Regarding case redesigns, I don't really see how they could improve the looks, although I would love a flat, matte black version similar to the NeXT hardware. For as long as the Powerbook/Macbook pro case has been in use, I'm still amazed that the PC vendors have never come anywhere close to matching its looks.

But I would really like a memory card reader and 1-2 extra USB ports.

 

I think Dell was making a pathetic attempt to copy the powerbook titanium with its little white band things....

 

Well, I can't personally see what they can or need to do either, but then again, that's probably why I'm not a designer at Apple....

 

Apple is always one step behind the resolution curve. The MacBook should have a WXGA+ screen. The MacBook Pro 15.4" should have WSXGA+ and WUXGA screen options. The MacBook Pro 17" should have a WUXGA screen.

 

Actually not. They typically picked the "correct" ergonomic resolution and one that kept 72dpi per screen size. The dpi thing is out of date now, but the ergonomic concerns are not.

Although I appreciate the extra space when doing graphics or X11, 1680x1050 is really just slightly too compressed for the 15.4" panel in my M70. Dell used to ship 1920x1200 15.4" lcd option for the M70 and they were basically unusable. Either will wreck you vision over time.

1440x960 is probably "right", but I really don't like less than 1000 vertical pixels.

 

The Dell Latitude D820 and one of the HP 15.4" laptops still have the WUXGA option.

 

I really want to see WSXGA+ screens on 14.1" laptops. I saw a SXGA+ screen on a 12.1" laptop. I think it is one of the Toshiba tablet PCs.

 

Well, a lot of these things should change once OS X 10.5 rolls out, as one of the major changes in it, and a change that Apple is making sure third party devs also support, is complete resolution independence.... allowing for much higher resolution screens while avoiding the pitfalls that go along with it (tiny icons, unreadable text, etc.).

 

Oh man that would be really nice. On my M70, switching between 96dpi and 120dpi to make text more readable causes more problems than it solves.