Your Macbook Pro 2012 Theory

Fascinated by what Apple might have in store for the upcoming year, I want to start this thread and ask you what you think apple will include in it's upcoming new release of the Macbook Pro.

My assumption:
The new Intel processor; Ivy Bridge
USB 3.0
Removal of the CD drive (Leading to a thinner design)
Battery made out of Liquid Metal so the capacity increases thus causing an all together longer lasting battery.

 

Regarding the removal of the ODD, I dont know, Im expecting a redesign in conformity with what we have right now.

The mba will still be thin and light, while the mbp will be more bulky but have more power.

I expect the use of the ivy bridge variable tdps, with apple limiting the tdp or reusing the same design as of today so that we can at least have more performance out of the tdp.

I hope that the variable tdps would be coupled with a cooling solution so that we can dock the laptops thus giving us more power when we are stationary

I hope that the 13 mbp, will have a higher res screen, give us the air screen!

And if there is a redesign of the chassis a move to 16:9 aspect ratio is inevitable.

 

Fixed the processor *doh*
However, the original rumor was that the battery was going to a liquid metal design thus increasing it's overall capacity. Than, there was a rumor speculated that the entire body would be made of liquid metal thus making it sturdier.

I hope a redesign is implemented however with the new processor, usb 3.0, and a longer lasting battery. If all of these factors are implemented, I'm buying.

 

there is no profit as far as I can see to make the batteries using liquid metal, the chassis however is another story

 

The liquidmetal rumor just keeps reminding me of Terminator 2. Right now, that might not be an economically feasible design simply because the technology is still rather new outside of the government industry. Liquidmetal was used in a few projects for NASA in their satellites along with a few other space related projects but it's not really being used for anything outside of science projects like this. That is where liquidmetal development is being hurt. It would be far too expensive to make a structural beam out of liquidmetal so any research going into it won't have mass amounts of benefits other than selling off a few things to various government agencies.

I could be wrong but I don't see the liquidmetal thing happening with the MBP/MBA line just yet. Maybe in another 3-5 years but not now especially since liquidmetal is really only being used to manufacture parts that would otherwise be a pain to make with traditional methods. Given that Apple isn't having issues pumping out aluminum unibody designs, I don't think they will be switching to entire liquidmetal casing. Maybe a chassis/frame upgrade but I don't see it happening for the entire thing.

I also highly doubt that USB 3.0 is going to happen especially since Apple has had multiple chances of officially supporting it and they haven't yet. The 2010 MBP's (and MBA) could have supported it along with the early 2011 MBP and mid-2011 MBA. Instead Apple is focusing on Thunderbolt and they will probably stay that way. If anything, I see more Thunderbolt accessories coming out especially since Windows notebooks and desktops are going to start fully supporting it early next year.

 

to put a third party chip in a notebook is quite different from having the ports already available in the chipset itself.

Sincerely I dont see a remote possible competition between thunderbolt with USB3, they are designed for different purposes, and focus different markets. Thus they arent mutually exclusive.

 

As always, I wish for better screen options (RGBLED, IPS). I'm pretty happy with Apple's direction with this generation of Macbooks; and while the panel is definitely decent, offering top notch panels as options would just kick it up an appreciable notch.

 

I predict that the 2012 MBP will be the beginning of the consolidation of the MBP and MBA lines. No optical drives, thinner cases.

PC manufacturers have started moving into the thin-and-powerful segment in force. The Envy is struggling right now, but the 15z is a bit more serious (after they fixed the preproduction build quality problems), and the Vaio S 15.5" and especially the Samsung Series 7 are serious, quality machines on the thin-and-powerful 15" segment that the MBP used to occupy essentially alone. So I think Apple needs to dial up the Apple-ness of the MBP to distinguish these significantly-less-expensive machines, and I suspect that includes an ultrathin design.

 

It depends though. Just like there is "powerful enough" there is also "thin enough".

The current 15" MBP is about "thin enough for me".

I think it would be nice if the MBP 15 and 17 stayed essentially the way they are, but if they didn't' have an optibay used the extra space to become more powerful, lighter, and maybe have dual HD options for SSD and Hard Drive?
Like I think without an optibay they could have fit a 6850 or 6870m into the MBP 15 which would basically be a gaming computer + thin and light + insane battery life for the power. Or include a 128gb SSD + 750gb hard drive like people "modify" their macbook pros to have.

Now that is what I want, not necessarily what Apple will do.

 

Screen? What screen? The 2012 MBP will be be a 1" x 1" x 1" apple-shaped sphere that fits in your pocket, where the stem will project a 3d holographic display upwards to 60" and the "bite" will project a virtual keyboard that will react to the oils on your fingertips to allow for a true "touch-type" experience.

You can also CTO and upgrade the the display projector to replace it with a laser that will beam directly into your eyes for a true 'retina' experience.

Also completely green and earth-friendly. At the end of its expected lifespan, simply recycle it by popping it into your mouth and savor the delicious flavor.* Currently only comes in Mcintosh flavor, but Granny Smith and Golden Delicious coming in 2013!

* Disclaimer: AppleCare will not cover accidental ingestion of your 2012 Macbook Pro.

 

Pretty sure it will be something like this:

"Macbook pro 13 is now Lighter AND have more Screen Real Estate because it is actually 14 inch! But its still smaller and lighter. And the screen is bigger! Breakthrough! So its bigger while being smaller and smaller while being bigger. And its also a bit more powerful. ... $1500 pls"

While we are at it it will carry nuclear battery. 1000 years of battery life trololo.

 

Cramming a 14-inch screen into a 13-inch chassis...I've heard that one before. Wouldn't it be ironic to see the MBP playing catchup with the MBP-mimicing Samsung Series 7?

 

so far mbp was half year ahead -)) now s7 will ofc beat it in price.
I am kinda curious what do they have in terms of bigger screens. Like 15-16 would be cool.

Actually ye, i am looking on my mbp15 screen now and there is a huge black frame around the screen. Probably 1-1.5 inch no less. Making it 16 would be awesome right there. I mean like super awesome. Same size -- bigger screen, higher resolution without making things tiny. yes pls.

 

Anyone have estimations on how long the battery life will be?

 

The 13" diagonal screen on the 13" macbook pro is housed on a display panel that is 15" along the same diagonal. Just a thought.

The samsung series 7 does seem to have a smaller border around the screen. Point is, I agree.

 

Whatever they do, I hope they keep it 16:10.
I know it's not likely, but 16:9 really sucks for a computer screen. Especially if you have the menu bar at the top, dock at the bottom, and run MS Office with its fat title bar and fatter ribbon. It's like looking at your document through a slit.

 

-no optical drive
-no 13" MBP (it's a terrible value proposition between the 13" MBA and 15" MBP)
-on higher-end MBPs, the option or standard feature of an SSD like what the MBA has (plus 9.5mm HDD). this isn't far-fetched at all, considering how they offer the SSD+HDD combo on the Mac Mini, iMac, and Mac Pro
-of course, Ivy Bridge chips and USB 3.0 since it's in the southbridge
-*if* they ever move to 16:9 screens, the 17" MBP will be gone. the 15" will then cover the 1600x900 and 1920x1080 resolutions

 

Simple solution: don't. In OSX, my dock is on the right side. In Windows, my taskbar is on the right side. Problem solved.

 

I prefer it on the bottom though.

I like 16:9 for gaming and movies, but I don't like it at all for computers. Even when the dock is not at the bottom I prefer the extra space for document typing and coding and stuff like that.

I don't really get the 16:9 trend for computer monitors. 16:10 makes sense for most non "entertainment" tasks on a computer.

 

And suddenly Macs would be in style demand in afghanistan, somalia and yemen!

 

I prefer the extra width so that I can fit two windows side-by-side with decent text size in each window (I spend most of the workday with two pages or two windows at once on my screen). I realize that for certain industries, height is more important, but for me, actually, width is the critical dimension. 16x9 makes perfect sense for someone like me, and not just for entertainment.

 

Touche.

Its just personal preference then I guess. But mine is still 16:10. Plus don't you actually get more screen real estate with a 16:10? A perfect square = maximum area for the same diagonal so the closer you are to a perfect square = more screen real estate with the same diagonal.

But I can see how some people might want to fit more windows side by side for sure.

 

It definitely is personal preference, no doubt about that. Kind of like chicklet versus traditional keyboards; it's not that one is "better" or "worse" than the other.

If I was running a computer company, I'd offer a choice of 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios. 16:10 is a compromise solution, for sure, but I suspect most people would be happiest with either of the extremes: 4:3 (great for smaller screens, and people who just want the most vertical space for work) or 16:9 (great for multimedia machines and two-windows-at-a-time work machines).

 

This thread became more of a what I want, instead of what I think it will be.

For me there will be:

-Redesign
-Drop of ODD
-Possible move to 16:9
-More battery life
-Possible quads on the mbp 13

 

fan holes in the bottom case (this makes a HUUUGE difference in temps)

 

I think there are more important optimizations to consider than area per diagonal length. There's not much use in trying to minimize diagonal length...

You probably want the most usable screen ratio per area. The diagonal is just an easy single number approximation of "size" (primarily area) for marketing purposes. It's easy to ask how large a laptop screen is and get the answer 15", even though 15" and 4:3 vs 15" and 16:9 are two very different screen sizes.

I think you could make the argument that 16:10 is a pretty optimal ratio for a variety of tasks. Some tasks are better suited to 3:4.

 

This just proves that the simplest improvements can lead to drastic positive results. They should definitely take out the drill and puncture some holes in the bottom.

 

Given Apple's current trend of making certain normally (i.e, Windows PC's) upgradable components (HDD, SSD, etc.) impossible to upgrade, I think the new model will have all components spot-welded to the all metal chassis, will contain more proprietary parts and connectors, and will still only contain legacy I/O ports except for Thunderbolt, which will still only have a couple overpriced products available by a couple of manufacturers. Despite the fact the new chipset will support eSATA and USB 3.0, those portions of the silicon will be permanently disabled by Apple.

In the mean time, in addition to my iMac 27 2011 and MBP 17 2011, iPad2 and iiPhone4, I will still be forced to lug around a new Dell notebook so that I can use the latest generation of widely available, inexpensive USB 3.0 and eSATA peripherals that offer the performance expected by the latest and greatest hardware.

Hopefully, I'm wrong.

 

Hopefully you are wrong on some areas. Ars pointed out in an article about ultrabooks that are coming this year and next year, and well guess what? Giving the customer the ability to upgrade certain components can lead to higher prices, due to the extra connectors, and it would increase the size of the laptop.

Now given that we can REALLY, only upgrade the cpu (not always, in the apple case, never), ram, HDD and the ODD (not always again), there is little point in debating if apple is going to remove from the user some aspects of upgradeability, its a matter of when that will happen.

If that will happen next year, I dont know. It will happen.

Sincerely my main point of concern is the ram and the HDD upgrade. Usually there is little to no benefit on upgrading the cpu (of course there is always the case that there are some models out there that can take a quad and run it beautifully instead of that i3 that it came with), there are only a handful of models that can take new gpus (workstation and gaming, currently only 13 notebooks can do that, 4 sagers, 2 aw, 2 dell, 1 lenovo, 2 msi, 2 hp)

Regarding USB3 Im sure as hell that apple wont pass that up, its going to be in the chipset, its going to be ''free'', its going to be just there.

So to wrap it up, I want it to at least be possible to change the RAM and the HDD.

PS: when thinking about components, the pennies are worth a lot, marginal gains are what people aim for

 

If you want something you can upgrade, build your own desktop or get an Alienware/Clevo.

Those are built for that. I'm fine with the fact that the only user upgradeable parts are the hard drive and the ram, that is 100% acceptable on a laptop.

 

i experimented a bit

With bottom case on. Fans at 6200 w/ SMC
windows 7

CPU at 2.07GHz (+0.07GHz)
GPU. 535, 1350, 1385. core/shad/mem
Crysis 2 960x800 (custom res)

80c


with bottom case OFF, fan lifted for good airflow

CPU at 2.1GHz (+0.1GHz)
GPU at 560/1370/1800. core/shad/mem
Crysis 2 960x800 (custom)

64c



Prime95 max CPU. 10 mins per test

Bottom case on: max CPU= 79

Bottom case OFF: max CPU= 67



OS X 10.6

yes>dev/null

case on: 76
case off: 65


now i feel like drilling a hole in the bottom case, but have anybody attempted this before?

 

Agreed, and as far as my post, that's all I referred to. Practically any laptop or desktop in recent history has upgradeable (in some cases, as convenient as a couple of screws anyone could remove) hard drives and RAM.

Apple, though, in it's latest iMac, thinks you shouldn't be able to upgrade your own hard drive (unless, of course, it's an overpriced Apple-branded drive) and implemented code (in the drive and iMac) that makes your iMac sound like it's blasting off should you want to put in your own (bigger) non-Apple drive or SSD in your iMac (which, to be honest, Apple made it practically impossible to do in the first place). I expect to see more proprietary equipment (and associated "check code") in future Apple products.

 

^QFT!

I agree 100% with you.

@Mobius: There is a thread here somewhere where someone did that and gained stunning results. I lost track of the thread however.

 

apple should make an option for the keyboard lighting to be green like the caps lock!

is the thread in NBR or some other apple forum?

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/app...tle-underside-case-mod-big-temp-decrease.html

 

I'm truly the best problem solver.

 

this past year and 2010, when did the new MacBook refreshes come out? I wanna get one, but afraid that a refresh is around the corner. I don't need one right away, but my notebook (listed in sig) is getting long in the tooth. I had it for college, and now that I don't need a portable 13 inch, I wanna upgrade to the high end powerhouse MBP 15 with the 6750

 

Well the typical refresh cycle is around April a new line comes out. Its October now, so its up to you, we're approaching the half way point of the current cycle if Apple follows its previous pattern.

Whether they do or not is up in the air.

 

i'm sorry , i can't help but laugh .
battery made out of Liquid Metal , wow ...

 

Didn't they make a movie about that?

YouTube: liquid metal technology

 

Yeah, it's called Terminator 2

 

Wikipedia states:"Although Liquidmetal has very high strength and an excellent strength to weight ratio, its commercial success as a structural material may be limited.".

Why so? I couldn't google up an answer.

 

any what's in this "liquid metal" sounds like it would be made partially of mercury... something we already ingest much more of than we should...

 

You sure?

Mercury is a liquid metal, but we're talking about LiquidMetal, the alloy.