Josh Ong
Upstream suppliers are said to have begun shipping the components this month, though it remains unclear whether the final version of the 15-inch laptop will be marketed as a MacBook Air or a MacBook Pro. Based on the timing of the order, sources believe that mass shipments of the device will begin in March of next year, according to Taiwan's DigiTimes.
However, it should be noted that the publication has, as of late, had spotty reliability when it comes to Apple product predictions, though it claims to be well-connected in the Asian supply chain.
Late last month, it was reported that Apple was finishing up a "test phase" for a new thin-and-light 15-inch MacBook. The Mac maker is also rumored to be developing a 17-inch ultraportable MacBook, though such a machine was not mentioned in Tuesday's report.
AppleInsider reported in February that, according to people familiar with the matter, Apple appears poised to move its MacBook Pro lines more toward the MacBook Air next year. The company is believed to be interested in bringing features, including instant-on, standard SSD drives, slimmer enclosures and the omission of optical drives, to the MacBook Pro in future designs.
Apple co-founder Steve Jobs seemed to telegraph such a move last year when he said that the MacBook Air, which had been redesigned to incorporate standout features from the iPad, represented the "future of the MacBook."
The MacBook Air's portion of Apple's total Mac sales saw a significant jump in July after the company released an upgrade with Thunderbolt, Sandy Bridge processors and back-lit keyboards. According to a recent analysis, the thin-and-light notebook now makes up 28 percent of Apple's notebook shipments, up from 8 percent in May and June.
As of the September quarter, portables represented 74 percent of the company's Mac sales, despite seeing record desktop sales in the same period. Meanwhile, total Mac sales last quarter were the highest ever at 4.85 million units.
Analyst Gene Munster with Piper Jaffray believes the latest NPD domestic sales data point to Apple selling 5.3 million Macs over the holiday quarter. Wall Street consensus for the quarter stands at 5.2 million.
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Malcolm Owen
Charles Martin
William Gallagher
99 Comments
Just dropping the HDD and Optical driver while keeping everything else would the trick. In fact, with the real-estate saved Apple could add even more ports, a larger battery and even better CPUs and GPU, or they could make it thinner.
Just dropping the HDD and Optical driver while keeping everything else would the trick. In fact, with the real-estate saved Apple could add even more ports, a larger battery and even better CPUs and GPU, or they could make it thinner.
Doubtful on better CPUs and GPUs. As a owner of the current 2011 MacBook Pro, it's pretty obvious that the cooling system wasn't designed for 45W TDP CPUs, and a thinner enclosure won't help that problem. If anything, I expect then to lower the TDP with a cooler chip and focus on battery life. I hope they hake the 1680x1050 res screen standard.
Doubtful on better CPUs and GPUs. As a owner of the current 2011 MacBook Pro, it's pretty obvious that the cooling system wasn't designed for 45W TDP CPUs, and a thinner enclosure won't help that problem. If anything, I expect then to lower the TDP with a cooler chip and focus on battery life. I hope they hake the 1680x1050 res screen standard.
Agreed.... tempted to reference Stephen King every time someone asks for that silly machine to be made "thinner". That was such a cheesy movie. Anyway at the price points Apple chooses I tend to feel like a lot of things should be standard features. The high res display is one of them. Ivy Bridge was supposed to bring down power consumption a bit but by how much varies from article to article.
I'd really like to see them bring out something that could run cool at high loads rather than go as thin as possible. This is the thing about Apple. They like things that come off as sleek. If you go into an Apple store and play around on a macbook pro, you won't ever experience how hot it can get or how fast the fans may ramp up. The look and feel are designed to grab you. I'd rather they optimized a bit more toward a product that is as stable and reliable as possible. Perhaps I'll get my wish with Haswell, but I'm sure at some point Apple will try to be the first to come out with a fanless laptop that will once again runs hot.
Edit: Once again people would buy it because they'd find it cool (not in the temperature sense).
Agreed.... tempted to reference Stephen King every time someone asks for that silly machine to be made "thinner". That was such a cheesy movie. Anyway at the price points Apple chooses I tend to feel like a lot of things should be standard features. The high res display is one of them. Ivy Bridge was supposed to bring down power consumption a bit but by how much varies from article to article.
I'd really like to see them bring out something that could run cool at high loads rather than go as thin as possible. This is the thing about Apple. They like things that come off as sleek. If you go into an Apple store and play around on a macbook pro, you won't ever experience how hot it can get or how fast the fans may ramp up. The look and feel are designed to grab you. I'd rather they optimized a bit more toward a product that is as stable and reliable as possible. Perhaps I'll get my wish with Haswell, but I'm sure at some point Apple will try to be the first to come out with a fanless laptop that will once again runs hot.
Edit: Once again people would buy it because they'd find it cool (not in the temperature sense).
My guess is that the 15" will lean towards the Air and the 17" will stay Pro with the optical removed.
I'd really like to see them bring out something that could run cool at high loads rather than go as thin as possible.
Until Apple starts putting its own chips in the MacBooks (A6 ahem...), they can't do anything to reduce the heat. The high heat is generated by the CPUs (and GPUs), and a bigger enclosure is not going to reduce the amount of heat that is generated. If anything, with Apple's aluminum enclosures, a slimmer profile might even be better because the aluminum will disperse the heat better than static air would. IOW, the slimness is unlikely to be causing more heat to be generated.