Ultraportable MacBooks are rumored to be aluminum clad, 50% lighter and "strikingly slimmer" to the existing 15" MacBook Pros.

Why would Apple enter that market though? The 19-inch notebook market is extremely small...Apple just currently isn't large enough to offer a large lineup of notebooks; it will have to go with what is the larger market first. The 19-inch gamer market is a small market.

 

Well if not that they seriously need to upgrade the graphics of the MBP!

 

Once again, Apple's notebooks currently aren't meant to target the gamer market...Apple will want to shake off the "Macs can't game" stereotype first .

If you mean the 17-inch, yes, the 8600M GT DDR3 is weak for a 17-inch, but the MBP is so thin, it would be hard (as well as very power consuming + heat generating) to fit a larger graphics card in it.

 

Well the new ATI cards have die shrinks to 55nm which is much smaller then todays 8600GT. An ATI 3870 would fit in perfectly!

 

Well, the MacBook Pro had a pretty significant hardware update in the June update, so I wouldn't expect them to change graphics cards already. They'll most likely keep the 8600M GT, and overhaul everything again with Nehalem, which is the big Intel update.

 

Thats why I am waiting biting my finger nails off sitting in the corner shaking! LOL

 

It won't get a new GPU until the new DX10.1 nvidia 9 series mobile cards are out, at the very least. They actually might even wait until the Capella update in 2009 to give it a new GPU, since the time difference should only be around 6 months (from when NB9M cards start showing up until the Capella release - though Apple's Capella update will likely be after that).

 

Do you really know you need to be so bleeding edge?

Today's laptops are really very very capable.

With the Core 2 Duo, the world of 3d rendering and video compression became a lot more practical. I do 3d modeling on my X1600 128MB with no problems unless the models just get way out of control, like I cut and past some poorly designed high polygon models all over the place.

Buy the $1999 MBP now, use it for a year, sell it. They don't depreciate that bad. You'd lose $500-$600 in a year. ~$50 a month give or take.

 

Yeah but I am buying the MBP 17" with all the bells and whistles. So I kinda want what is being offered in June, with Montevina and nvidia's 9 series.

 

I would be surprised if it dropped that much value.

 

All the better.

 

Will this "Ultraportable" replace the macbook? Honestly that would be a bad move on apple. Even if the product will range around $1,500. Thats not very consumer friendly. I mean yeah its a good price but the price of the macbooks is also good to.

 

I don't think so, I think it will be (or try to be) the spiritual sucessor to the PowerBook, that never replaced the IBook remember? Apple will keep the Macbooks.

Now I am starting to think this will like the Powerbook vs Ibook, same screen size/form factor as the Macbook, but with dedicated graphics, backlit keyboard, same finish as the Macbook Pros, etc.

 

I'm not sure what you mean here. The MacBook Pro is the successor to the PowerBook line, with the MacBook being the successor to the iBook.

What do you mean by the PowerBook that never replaced the iBook?

Are you referring to the 12" PowerBook G4 in particular?

-Zadillo

 

Sorry, I meant the new rumored ultraportable Macbook Pro would be the replacement to the 12" Powerbook G4.

 

Ahh, gotcha. Yeah, it seems like that's what most signs point to (or at the very least, it would fill the same role that the PowerBook G4 12" did).

-Zadillo

 

The Black MacBook was meant to replace the PB G4 12", but it never fit into that role properly. Apple has recognized this and is thus going to debut the new portable Professional notebook.

 

Does anybody know if Apple release all their laptops worldwide same time or USA first then comes Europe and so on?

 

They release their new notebooks everywhere at the same time. That didn't happen with the iPhone for various reasons.

 

Usually, its a worldwide release. It takes some time for the product to arrive to some other countries, but that's usually within a few weeks of announcement.

 

Yes, I know that iPhone is special case

But maybe they could be the only laptop company that release their notebooks everywhere at same time and at least also same names, same specs, etc... not like Sony & Toshiba