End of the MacBook Pro Rumors

MacBook Pros will be updated at the WWDC.

I know this is my first post, but let me recall how I have come to this revelation.

I am a rising freshman college student and I was looking at MacBooks and MacBook Pros. The nearest place where I could get my hand on some of these nice things was at CompUSA, where, fortunately, there was an Apple Solutions Consultant who was promoting the recent upgrades to the Macbooks. I told him that my studies at college would be fairly graphics intensive and was wondering if I should buy a MacBook Pro today or if I should wait.

Now, I've been following some rumor threads on this forum, and it makes sense that Apple wouldn't upgrade their hardware since they are probably busy with Leopard and the iPhone.

Heres the thing: this Apple Consultant (who I will not name, as he told me he could get in heaps of trouble) was telling me all about Steve Jobs, etc, and telling me some good restaurants in Palo Alto, after I told him I'd be attending Stanford. So obviously, he's been out to the Cupertino area a bunch and goes to "campus" often.

So I ask about the MBPs, and he tells me to wait a few weeks, obviously in light of the WWDC. I pull a sly one on him and ask about Santa Rosa. He laughs and tells me I'm naughty(sort of lol). He told me it would be worth my wait to wait a few weeks in purchasing the MBP, so obviously its either gunna be a)fairly decent upgrade or b) fairly decent price decrease in light of an upgrade or a combination of both.

The end of the MBP rumors: theres gunna be an update. I have this guy's business card, and he was telling me all about how corporate releases a pre-release booklet of products a few weeks before public announcements so that consultants like him can begin to seek retailers, etc. He also told me about this legal book he was given, spelling out the consequences of leaking specific information, which he described as being at least 70 pages long.

Anyway, I'm actually waiting on the Apple stock to tank at the end of May to somewhere lower than $100, and then eat it up. Hopefully my profits can buy me one of those new MBPs. (AAPL stock will probably rise anyway, due to the hyped Leopard and iPhone launches which I'm sure Apple will execute well)

 

hmmmm, you would make an excellent apple rep. Not only you announce the end to the rumours, but you promote their stocks as well.
And like you mentioned, 0 posts.
I would read this guy's post with a pinch of salt.
And we all kinda know/guess that there's going to be updates to the MBP soon.

 

This isn't really any big surprising revelation, it is almost a lock that the MacBook Pro will be updated WWDC (or if not, soon afterwards).

But this Apple Solutions Consultant doesn't know anything more or less than you or I know. The information they told you is because they essentially get the same rumors, etc. as everyone else.

Heck, it doesn't even sound like he told you anything specific, just that it would be "worth the wait".

Anything beyond that is just silly - it's not like this guy, an Apple Solutions Consultant working at a CompUSA, is dining regularly with Jobs.

So he says it is going to be "worth the wait" because he knows the same information we all know.

Also, you might want to check Apple's stock history. Historically speaking, Apple stock rises in anticipation of new product releases (so it will continue rising through WWDC, the unveiling of Leopard, the iPhone in June, and possibly new MBP's), and then falls afterwards. Apple's stock isn't going to tank before then (it has been increasing so far).... the trick would be to wait for the post-product launch selloffs in June and July, and then snap some up at a lower price and plan on selling it in the Fall.

-Zadillo

 

I also doubt this Apple Consultant's credibility.

Apple is a huge corporation. Do you think they'd leak information to a Apple Consultant that works at CompUSA?

 

Indeed. Generally speaking, these guys like to puff themselves up and in their minds they are much more important than they actually are. More specifically though, they love to make people like the original poster think they have some super-secret insider knowledge that they are sharing.

You'll even see this sometimes with people working at the actual retail Apple Stores. They will sometimes tell you something and it will have more credence because they "work for Apple"; but usually when they are telling you about Apple's MacBook Pro plans, etc. it is because they read the same rumor sites and forums as everyone else.

It's sort of like the clerk working at EBgames who happens to be best friends with John Carmack and can tell you all about the super secret new game he's working on that no-one else knows about yet, but he is doing a favor and going out of his way to tell you, some random person who came into his store.

For better or worse, Apple has gotten very good about controlling product leaks. This is why you see so many stories now about things like component orders from overseas manufacturers, etc. - because that is the only kind of information anyone can get any more. The days of someone taking super secret spy shots and uploading them to the web are long since over.

Hell, think about it, the iPhone is less than a month from release and there's still really been nothing released that wasn't released by AT&T, Apple or the FCC. And the only things known about the iPhone before were gleaned from patent filings, etc.

WWDC is in less than a month, but the remaining features, etc. of Leopard have yet to be leaked.

 

Apple controls its information very well. Most of their employees, pretty much everyone except the people actually designing or otherwise "needs to know" of course, have no knowledge of upcoming products until they are actually announced. So yeah, this consultant guy is almost certainly just making guesses based on his own judgement (and that of the rumor sites).

It's not only in the interests of competition, it also builds up this huge hype - you don't see entire forums dedicated to discussing rumors about Dell or HP products for example (that is unsubstantiated from my part, but I have never heard of such a site at least - didn't bother googling for one either). Apple gets a lot of free advertising from this hype, because when people start guessing it means people are showing interest, and when people show interest the magazines and newspapers show interest, and then they write articles about the rumors - bam, free ads. It's quite an interesting phenomenon really.

 

Well, the reason why I gave credibility to this guy was that when he explained his job, it seemed like he was a corporate employee who sells Apple products to retailers, especially in my area. I don't know if you've noticed, but when they announced the new MacBook, Apple Stores and CompUSA stores and etc had those new MacBooks on the day of the announcement, I saw the new 2.16 GHz on the spec sheet of the display MacBook.

Anyway, in order for retailers to have the product before it is announced, somebody has to know, and who better to know beforehand than the guy who sells to retailers? Retailers would have to know one or two weeks beforehand so they can place shipment orders and have it in the warehouse to ship to the store a day or two before it goes on sale. And then the guy who is responsible to choose which retailers to carry the product must know a few weeks before that to scout and see what places would be a good place for Apple to sell their products to, i.e. CompUSA, even though thats a given, there might be other new stores, etc.

And he was telling me about the pre-announcement packet that he received, along with a legal packet about disclosing specific information inside the pre-announcement packet. He was careful not to tell me anything specific, as he dodged a lot of my questions, but recommended me to delay on my MacBook Pro purchase. I am sure that legal packet he received would deal serious consequences for a leak. So I am confident that there will be an update at WWDC, even though I don't know the specifics, but it's enough for me to wait on my purchase.

I'm not sure if this will help his credibility, but he gave me his business card, which was definitely not a cheapo card, and had his e-mail address in the apple.com domain.

Oh yeah, and he didn't work at CompUSA, he was just there promoting the new MacBooks to customers and helping CompUSA set up some Apple advertising things. His address on his business card was an office suite at a very nice building in my area.

 

Well don't be discouraged by the feedback on your first post, but you have to understand what you are saying is highly unlikely. First, I don't believe for a second there is some sort of pamphlet of an announced product for two main reasons. One, the rumor sites would have their hands on it. Two, there have been times when a product has been scheduled to be announced and the plug has been pulled minutes before the event.

As for a new MBP at WWDC, I doubt it. It is almost a certainty that the iPhone will be released now that they have FCC approval and we know we are getting a feature complete demo of Leopard. I am not sure that leaves time for a new computer. Plus, they don't seem interested in announcing new computers anymore. Unless this is a significant redesign and includes LED screens, I don't think you will see an announcement, but rather it will once again just show up.

 

Apple doesn't actually work like that though (pre-announcement packets given out to their employees, etc.).

The reality is that even the people who do Apple retail, etc. don't normally find out about the new products until they are publically announced. Until that point, it's basically kept to the people who need to know (the people actually designing it, the people developing the marketing materials, etc.).

The MacBook updates are a bit different because they were just spec updates, so there wasn't as much importance about updates.

You'll notice that the only info that leaked about the MacBook updates was that there were possibly new models coming (and actually the info was wrong, as it indicated 5 new models), and that they weren't expected to be anything but spec updates. This essentially is what came to be.

-Zadillo

 

I went to the Apple Store on the 15th after the last update. The store still had the OLD specs on display - this was late in the afternoon...it wasn't until I asked that he went to the backroom. I asked the sales guy about the differences and he didn't know. He said that the store had no idea about anything until THAT MORNING.
They didn't deliver until THAT MORNING...and in fact they didn't have everything there yet. They didn't have the 2.16 model because it wasn't arriving until Wednesday.

I wondered if they were still selling the older MBs. I didn't ask.

 

Lost me at first post.

Nailed the coffin with CompUSA.

Made me rofl with "put a sly one on him."

 

I agree with cashmonee, Apple wouldn't release a pamphlet to all employees a few weeks before a major announcement. All the rumour sites have "sources" within the company, employees that feed in info to them, and Apple knows it. If they really did send out a pamphlet/news announcement to its employees the rumour sites would be all over it.

However, I think its no doubt that the MacBook Pro will be updated at WWDC.

 

I'd scream insider trading, but oh wait, that's not insider trading.

 

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/05/23/apple_seen_unloading_new_macbook_pros_and_possibly_imacs_at_wwdc.html

 

I don't like AppleInsider that much. Plus the title of that article is very misleading. It sounds as though they literally caught them unloading MBP and iMacs and in fact the story had nothing to do with that. It's just an analyst saying what may happen, he know no more than most.

 

Man this one time I hope an analyst is right. I'm really stoked for a new iMac or maybe some Mini news. I'm so looking to replace my eMac. Hopefully Apple will sting us like a bee and we'll be so happy from the news we'll float away like butterflies. I know it's corny and cruel.

 

Well it looks like the anal-list might be onto something. Guys over at the macnn.com forums are reporting that their MPB orders have not been given a ship date as of yet and some of those orders are 1-2 weeks old.

So yeah here's hope for some Apple hardware love during the WWDC next month.

 

It's possible. I sure hope so, my brother is in the market for an iMac. We will see.

 

Apple Consultant rep at CompUSA having insider information about any MBP updates is about as likely as the car salesman who claims to have inside information about the release date or specs of a highly anticipated car release. Just another case of somebody trying to make their job seem more important than it is.

 

If the Macbook pro is updated at WWDC...and if they are upgraded with a new graphics card, Which one do you think it will be? any speculations?

 

Assuming they stick with ATI, the HD X2600 would be most likely. If they switch to NVidia, probably the GeForce Go 8600M (not sure if it would be the GT or not though).

 

Any one of those two cards would be worth the wait over the x1600...i hope they wont underclock the new card because of heating issues.

 

Well, I think there's a strong possibility that it might be underclocked from the stock speeds. Even the X1600 in the updated C2D MBP's was still clocked a bit below stock speeds.

Realistically, this is kind of a necessity with a 1" thick chassis........ it's not necessarily going to be feasible to clock it the same way as in a machine like, say, the Asus G1.

But it's hard to say; we don't even know yet if the MBP is getting a new chassis or not, and what that might mean for issues like this.

-Zadillo

 

If the new card is underclocked would i be able to overclock it to its regular speed or higher when i need it without damaging the insides. I know its hard to say because the thing hasnt even come out yet. I am personally waiting till WWDC to buy a MBP...ive been waiting a while so they better update it lol.

 

If I had to guess, I would say probably so. With the C2D MBP's, many people easily "overclocked" the X1600 back to 470/470 stock speeds, and I recall some people being able to boost it a fair amount past that.

It might not be recommended to do too much gaming at those clock speeds, but should be ok for a few hours of gaming from time to time.

 

when the mbp is updated, will the current models still be on sale?

 

Well, you might find some stores selling whatever remaining stock of old models is available, and there might be refurbs for some time, but generally speaking, you won't find old models still on sale.

Generally, supplies of the previous model become constrained in the weeks leading up to a new release (that is, Apple ramps down production of units so that there aren't a bunch of old units out on the market).

The new models are pretty much always replacements for the old models, not products designed to be sold concurrently with the previous version.

-Zadillo

 

I think we will see the HD 2600 if they do update the gpu. Its on a 65nm processes which makes it cheaper than the X1600, it will have better preformace, hardware to de-code Blue-ray and HD-DVDs, and best of all it will draw less power and create less heat.

 

It is looking like we will see the MacBook Pro sooner rather than later. Rumor has it Apple will be launching the new notebooks with their Back To School promotion this Tuesday, June 5th, a week before WWDC.

Source: MacRumors

 

Looks like this "n00b" was right.

 

Umm, well, yes, but look at what he said. That there would be an update in a few weeks around WWDC, and that it would be a significant update (or feature a price decrease). This wasn't some earth-shattering prediction, it was something that had been rumoured/guessed at ever since the release date for Santa Rosa came out.

If his prediction had been more specific, it might have been more impressive, but he basically made a vague statement that the MBP would be updated around WWDC.

I'm not blaming the original poster though, I believe that this is what this guy told him.

The point all along was that this guy didn't have some super secret information because he was an Apple rep; he was basically making himself sound important by stating something that most people were already guessing at anyway.

-Zadillo