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    How often are Macbook/MBP's refreshed?

    Discussion in 'Apple and Mac OS X' started by asdfTT123, Oct 26, 2007.

  1. asdfTT123

    asdfTT123 Notebook Geek

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    I'm hoping to get a new Macbook in the future (sooner or later) and I'm trying to work out a possible upgrade path. If the Macbook is refreshed before this holiday season, when can we expect to see the next refresh? Will it be before summer of 2008? Does apple like to stick to an upgrade cycle with the Macbook and MBP's or do they seem to occur randomly without warning? Also, how about the iPod touch? Is that expected to get a refresh sometime sooner or later? Thanks.
     
    asdfTT123, Oct 26, 2007
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  2. duffyanneal

    duffyanneal Notebook Deity

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    Apple is very secretive in regards to product releases and updates. So the official answer is that no one outside of Apple knows for sure. Apple does tend to refresh its notebook line every 6 months or so. Apple almost always releases refreshed products or new products during Macworld San Francisco in January. Since switching to Intel CPUs it has been a bit easier to estimate model updates. So with that in mind here's my totally misinformed guesses:

    1. There is a 50% chance that the MB will be refreshed before the end of the year. If it is going to happen it will happen within the next few weeks for the holiday shopping season. When the upgrade does happen the MB will finally get the Santa Rosa chipset.

    2. MBPs will get a speed bump after the first of the year. That will tide people over until Penryn is released. After Intel releases Penryn the MBP will be upgraded to the new CPU.

    3. MBs will continue with Santa Rosa until Q3-Q4 '08. Until then Apple will upgrade the RAM, HDD, and CPU speeds. Look for LED backlight displays in '08.

    4. If Apple does in fact have a MB/MBP thin I would look for it to show up after Penryn is released. I have a feeling that if this product does exist it will be marketed more towards business users than personal use. Apple traditionally does not release business class devices at Macworld SF.

    5. The Touch was just released. Don't look for an upgrade for several months.
     
    duffyanneal, Oct 26, 2007
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  3. cashmonee

    cashmonee Notebook Virtuoso NBR Reviewer

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    cashmonee, Oct 26, 2007
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  4. Sam

    Sam Notebook Virtuoso

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    Usually, the Macs will be updated following when Intel updates its processor/processing platform line. So look for Penryn in early 2008 (if the MacBook is updated sometime this year, then it won't be updated with Penryn right away, as the last update would be too recent), Montevina in the second quarter of 2008, and Nehalem in the second half of 2008. Nehalem is the major update of the three.

    As for the iPod Touch, most likely it won't be updated until September 2008, following Apple's trend of iPod updates in September. But if Apple decides not to wait that long, I'd say, it won't happen at least until March.
     
    Sam, Oct 26, 2007
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