Any rumors about the Macbook Pro?

I kinda slow when it comes to Apple but has anybody hear any rumors about the Macbook Pro? Will Macbook Pros get a DX10 hardware upgrade? If you guys have any news please post them here.

 

Well, unless Apple is going to be putting nVidia graphics cards in the next MacBook Pro revision, it's unlikely to support DirectX 10. ATI hasn't even released a desktop card that supports Dx10.

So far, nVidia's the only one to support DirectX 10 in their graphics cards, ever since the GeForce 8800 in November 2006.

 

I have heard talk of a mobile X2600, which would seem to be the most likely mobile ATI card that Apple would use.

If they do switch to NVidia, the GeForce Go 8600 would be a likely choice.

I think MacBook Pros will see new GPU's to keep up performance-wise. In terms of when, it's hard to say. A lot of people expect a Santa Rosa update for the MBP in June or July, and a GPU upgrade would make sense at the same time.

 

Unlikely to have a Santa Rosa update in June/July if Apple is going to update MBPs to LED-based screens only a few months later.

 

Who said the LED-bases screens couldn't be debuting in June/July along with the Santa Rosa update. This was actually the long-standing rumor even before Jobs confirmed Apple will actually be using them.

The only surprise from Apple was a commitment to moving to LED-backlit screens across the board, which he said was only waiting for manufacturers to be able to reach capacity on larger screens. Previous rumors had already acknowledged LED-backlit screens for the smaller screens of the laptops.

-Zadillo

 

Any rumors about whether or not the regular Macbook's will be getting a dedicated gpu? Macbook's always appealed to me because of their design and simplicity. If Apple actually comes out with a MB that comes with a dedicated gpu like a GF Go 8600 or something similar to that I'll definitely think about purchasing one.

 

I don't that the MacBook will ever get something like a Go 8600.

Maybe a DX10 version of the Go 7200 or something, but it'd all depend on if it would be able to be cool enough to operate inside the system.

 

The MacBook is Apple's consumer machine, equivalent to the typical laptops HP, Toshiba, etc. sell in the $1000-1300 range.

They're not going to stick a GeForce 8600 in the regular MacBook (any more than I would expect to see HP slap a GeForce 8600 in a $1300 dv6500, for example).

The next time the MacBook is updated, I think it's almost guaranteed that it will have a GMAX3100 in it.

Frankly, even if Apple were to make a MacBook with a dedicated GPU (as a 13.3" 1" thick notebook I would think at best it would get a GeForce 8400 though), the cost would increase to the point that it wouldn't be significantly cheaper than a MBP anyway.

More likely would be the possibility of a 13.3" "MacBook Pro" that has been rumoured, which would be a smaller and lighter machine but might have some sort of GPU (although again, i would expect a GeForce 8400 or something like that).

 

Severely doubt it, owing to the small size of the laptop and an emphasis on battery life in that segment. They'll upgrade to the GMA X3000, but I don't foresee a dedicated GPU in the MB line for some time.

 

So, what do you guys think the chances are that Apple will switch to nVidia (if they do) with the Santa Rosa refresh?

 

I hope they do since nVidia has better OpenGL support. I think the odds are fairly good, but as usual you never know.

 

Anything's possible, especially if ATI doesn't have an equivalent part ready. Apple has used nVidia GPU's in the past, and even offers them as options with the Mac Pro right now.

 

So how's the GMAX3100 supposed to perform?

 

I don't think we'll know for sure until these machines start getting out into the wild. I've heard various things, including some that it isn't that much better than the GMA950 in terms of performance (but it was also said that those tests weren't accurate).

So rather than depend on pre-release stuff, etc. I think it will only be clear once people actually starting getting these machines and using them.

Honestly, it sounds like what you want would be more met by the MBP than the MB (dedicated GPU performance, ExpressCard, etc.).

 

One of my reasons I hope that Apple does switch soon.

I think the odds are fairly good, but as usual you never know.

Indeed.

Apple is very good at hiding all of its new products and info, for the most part.

 

Apple switching to nVidia would not surprise me in the slightest, because ATI has not, as of yet, shown any of their DX10 mobile cards, and from the benchmarks of the desktop R600, its not likely to perform better than the nVidia cards anyways.
The MacBook probably (actually, almost definitely) won't get a dedicated GPU, but the rumored 12" MBP seems like a likely candidate for a Go8200 or 8300. And the switch to LED backlighting for the MBPs seems inevitable at the same time as the Santa Rosa/DX10 refresh. Potentially, its also a good time to preinstall Leopard across the board.

What I am more interested in is the mouse. Does anyone think that Jobs will make the switch to 2 mouse buttons like he should?

 

I wouldn't expect to see a physical two-button mouse anytime soon. Possibly though some form of multi-touch though, like the Mighty Mouse (where the single "mouse button" would be split up into regions that could act as clicks depending on where they are clicked).

As it is through, the two-finger right-clicking seems to work just fine, so it doesn't seem like a huge deal to me either way.

 

Yes, something like the Asus models W3 and A8 have would be great.

That single mouse always been the thing that disturbs me most about Apple laptops.

 

What exactly disturbs you about it? Especially with the two-finger right clicking (you hold two fingers down on the trackpad, and then it treats the mouseclick as a right-click), there isn't any real loss of functionality, etc. I'm not sure what would really be disturbing about it.

-Zadillo

 

I love the one-button design.

I'm ambidextrous, however I tend to use my left hand more for writing and computer use, and with a Mac, I don't have to switch the buttons around and such in the properties

 

After using the touchpad, I actually prefer having the two-finger click and a single button. Call me crazy, but I find it more user friendly, for me at least.

 

I was playing with a MBP at the Apple Store in Santa Clara Friday, and I must say the touchpad is probably the best I've ever used.

I really liked the two-finger click with the single button design, as well. Makes one less thing to break and one less thing to accidentally hit.

 

Mighty mouse is too heavy.. at least for me..

 

I'm considering getting the Mighty Mouse when I buy my MBP.

I wonder if they have any out to test at Apple Stores...

 

The Might Mouse is now included standard on all desktop Macs, so you should be able to try it out with any iMac, Mac mini or Mac Pro at the Apple Store.

-Zadillo

 

I've always been wary of the one mouse button, especially since my current laptop has 3, and I've become very accustomed to that. I can use the middle click to click on links and it will automatically just open them up in a new tab in Firefox. It can also be used to bring up the scroll circle on screen (similar to clicking the wheel on a regular mouse), and Linux was designed for 3 mouse buttons originally, so it's been pretty easy to find things to assign to it. One thing that does bother me about it, however, is that I often find myself clicking the middle button when I need to click the left button. This is one thing that I think a Mac laptop would eliminate.

 

I miss that!

You need to try two-finger scrolling. There is no need for that with a Mac touchpad, much more user friendly way than that annoying scroll circle.

 

The last set of rumors was that Santa Rosa was coming out in May. Any reason for now saying June or July (aside from Zadillo's thoughtful LED comment), or is this just the way rumor mills work?

 

Well, the Santa Rosa platform itself is coming out in May (tomorrow in fact), and many laptop makers will be selling Santa Rosa laptops in May.

However, a number of models are not being released until June or July (in some cases, companies like Lenovo and Asus are releasing some models in May, while others are not coming out til June or July).

In the case of Apple, it is generally expected that Apple would not release any updated notebooks right away (although it wouldn't be impossible; Apple's original MacBook Pro was one of the first announced laptops with the Core Duo chip, for example), and would release them either in June (especially because there is a major Apple event, the Worldwide Developers Conference, on June 11th) or possibly even as late as July.

There isn't any basis to any of this though, it is pretty much purely speculation.

-Zadillo

 

I have a buddy that works in Sales at a PC manufacturer. He said the rumour (pure rumour) going around in his workplace is that Apple will not introduce the new MacBook model(s) until Leopard is available next Fall. He thought they would include some PC-ish items like more USBs and a card reader. He also thought that Santa Rosa might start making its way into MacBooks earlier, but that full scale "nextgen" MacBooks are a Christmas item (spaced out from the iPhone). He did qualify all of this by saying no one ever really knows what Apple is up to except for Apple. Personally, I'm hoping for an earlier release so I can buy a MacBook Pro for my wife without worrying about the new verison coming out a week later!

 

Considering that most people even within Apple don't know the details of Apple's MB and MBP plans (outside of those people actually specifically working on them), I think you are right to put the above as "pure rumor". I don't have any doubt that this rumor is floating around PC manufacturers, but that's about it.

I don't think Apple is going to wait until Leopard to update the MB and MBP line.

-Zadillo

 

I doubt Apple's going to add any more ports. That would take away from the Apple aesthetic and make macs just like any other ugly POS windows laptop. Maybe they'll announce it at Macworld '08, with them available for pickup and shipping AT Macworld instead of a month later.

Oh by the way, I really now know the value of buying higher quality products even if it means paying a premium for it. There's definitely a difference between the way Apple treats its customers and the way HP treats its customers. Apple has better hold music first of all.

 

I thought HP was pretty well regarded as far as customer service goes?

I've always figured that if I was going to buy a PC laptop, an HP would be near the top of my list (I like their consumer laptop lineup right now).

 

I would buy a 13.3 inch MBP. That would be nice. Carrying around a power house thats like a few pounds and very small. Hopefully at the same price. Hopefully. but i like the ones they have now too. I would rather buy a 13.3 inch laptop than a 15 inch but thats just me.

 

I've never had a problem with HP's customer service.

When I had dropped my notebook (I had the accidental protection plan), they repaired it, gave me a bigger hard drive, and upgraded my DVD-Combo drive to a DVD-RW drive.

I also don't consider their Indian techs too bad, but then again my father is from India, so I have experience in understanding the accent.

=P



Anyways, getting back on topic, I myself will be purchasing an AppleCare warranty when I buy my MacBook Pro.

The majority of the stories I've heard are good ones, so I feel it's worth it.

 

Actually i have a question. How will the Macbooks benifit from the intel GMA X3100. I mean is the graphic performence really that much better over whats already offered?

 

It's better than GMA950. How much better will require seeing some more benchmarks, etc. though and real-world use. I did see one review of a GMAX3100 equipped laptop and it got like a 3x higher performance in 3Dmark06 than the GMA950 did; still not enough for great game performance, but might make it more useable for some older games, etc.

Probably won't make a huge difference though; if you plan on doing any real gaming, you'd still want a discreet GPU.

As far as OS level stuff (special effects and so forth), it remains to be seen how much of a difference it would make.

-Zadillo

 

Well i have a PC right now. Its an alienware. My specs are
1.86 pentium M
1 gig ram
Nvidia geforce go 6600
60 gig hard drive

I do play Half life 2 but thats about it. I dont do any major gaming on my computers. I have a 360, Wii and DS. I am a game design major. I do alot of photo editing. Like photoshop and illustrator. I just bought those programs for the PC and will probally get them for the mac. The reason i am getting a mac is because well i just dont like PC's anymore. Too much spyware. The other day i got some like major trojan spyware that was probally slowing down my comp. Tuesday night my laptop started to slow down. We were trying to open this huge file in Torque 2d. Well they have to keep restarting my computer 4 times. Well i kicked them off and told them to go on my friends laptop because he has everything. AMD turion x2, 256Geforce 7600 and 2 gigs of ram. I walked away for like 2 minutes to go somewhere and well they came back to my machine again. Well this time they tried to open it up again and well they pushed down the power button on my machine and well it would just stay on the Alienware logo and not boot into windows. I unplugged the battery and it did the same thing. Then i held down the power button and then booted it up again and worked fine. My dad told me the memory was still full. He said i needed atleast 2 gigs to help with that file they were trying to load. Well thats true but i think a duel core processor would also help. So thats why i am getting a mac. I here the Macbook is fast. So ya. I am buying a new macbook in october hopefully and selling my sister this one. sorry this had nothing to do with the topic just needed to get that off my chest.

 

As far as "switching" to NVidia goes, I think it's fair to say that it's 50/50 which one will be in the next incarnation of the MBP given Apples track record - they currently use ATI in Macbook Pro and the 17" and 20" iMacs, while the iMac 24" uses NVidia and the Mac Pro has options for both. The rest of Apples current offerings use integrated graphics.

I don't think they're going to hesitate to put whatever suits them best in there, no matter if it's NVidia or ATI. Note that I said what suits THEM best, not necessarily what gamers want The graphics cards in Macs aimed at professionals (Macbook Pro, Mac Pro) are intended to be good at handling graphics-intensive work rather than gaming. Their gaming abilities, or lack thereof, are secondary at best for Apple when making this choice.

That said, we can always hope I'm happy with the one I have for the gaming I do, but I don't play cutting-edge FPS games either.

 

True.

Although the fact that Apple improved the cooling on the C2D MBP and raised the clock speeds of the X1600 considerably make me think they are at least aware of the fact that this is something people want to do.