Macbook Pro Refresh Possibilities...

I've looking to buy a laptop towards the end of January 08 and I here the Macbook Pro is going to be updated in January, am I being optimistic hoping for the following hardware upgrades?
Please let me know whether you thing each component is likely/not likely and your reasons why.

Higher resolution screen:
15" at 1680x1050

Quicker Harddrive:
120GB+ at 7200rpm

More Graphics Memory:
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics with 512MB SDRAM

More Ports:
3or4x USB
Memory Card Reader

What are your opinions on these upgrades? Possible or not?

 

200gb 7200rpm HDD is already available, as is 160gb

High Res Screen is possible for 15", not that likely though

more USB ports is highly unlikely as MBP's have other faster ports already

more GPU ram possible, not really that necessary.

the real point is, what is the point of this speculation when really we all know you will just have to wait and see what Apple decides to do and when they decided to do it.e

I would spend less time worrying about possible hardware and just start thing about what you can do with it and what you can do with what you already have.

 

Probably the only thing the next refresh will do is add Penryn. Other than that it is unlikely anything else will be added until Montevina. If you want an idea as to what kind of update this will be look back at the move from CoreDuo (Yonah) to Core2Duo (Merom).

 

Maybe new hard drives and a higher screen resolution, but unless Apple changes the casing (and the Penryn refresh probably isn't the one), I don't expect any more ports for the MBP. I don't expect any graphics changes as well.

 

I really hope they update to 1680x1050. But then it won't be backlit probably

 

I have said it many times and will say again time for better graphics!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Exactly what would they put into a MBP that would be better and actually feasible? The 8600 GT is the latest generation of cards and probably the highest end that will fit and operate properly in a form factor the size of a MBP.

 

so the MBP wont get penryn till Q3?

in my opinion the MBP needs a HDMI out and it would be perfect

 

Mobile penryn (T8100/8300, T9300/9500) are coming on January 6th. Then the Montevina penryn's is coming Q2/Q3.

 

What exactly does Montevina offer? Higher FSB, DDR3 and better integrated video? Personally I think Santa Rosa Penryns will do just fine.

 

The Montevina platform will bring:

* Low power usage Penryn chips (25w compared to 35w of current Core 2 Duo's)
* Smaller motherboard allows notebooks to be up to 25% smaller than current notebooks
* WiMax
* Ability to view HD DVD or Blu-ray without a dedicated video card
* Robson 2.0 (2nd version ofTurbo memory)
* DDR3 Ram
* 3 versions of Intel GMA X4500 (intergrated graphics)
* Intel's line of SSD's

New Nvidia 9000 series/ATI 3000 series graphics cards with DX10.1 support

 

The new ATI cards are 55nm, much smaller then the Nvidia 8 series which are 80Nm anyway ATI cards can be much faster then the Nvidia ones with less of a power consumption and heat output.

 

Well, Apple doesn't update graphics cards too often, so even though the new ATI graphics cards are better, Apple will probably stick to the 8600M GT for a while.

 

I still doubt that an ATI x3800 (or whatever moniker their new high end mobile card will have) will fit into the MBP constraints for size and heat. I could be wrong, but you just aren't ever going to get much more than midrange power out of a 15" notebook that is an inch thick.

 

You sure about that? According to engadget, desktop Penryn was released on November 12:
http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/12/intel-launches-desktop-and-server-class-45nm-penryn-processors/
And here is the AppleInsider story claiming mobile Penryn's will be released January 6. Where are you getting your info?
http://www.appleinsider.com/article...ch_penryn_mobile_chips_ahead_of_macworld.html

 

Ignore that reseller...he's been known to give out rather incorrect information.