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RUMOR: Apple’s new MacBook Pros to feature 16GB SSD boot disk; end is near for white MacBook

Tuesday, February 22, 2011 · 10:30 pm · 28 Comments

“Citing a ‘trusted source,’ French Apple site MacGeneration reported Tuesday a number of alleged details about Apple’s forthcoming MacBook Pro refresh,” AppleInsider reports. “The site claimed that Apple sees its $999 11-inch MacBook Air as its new entry-level notebook, replacing the current $999 plastic MacBook.”

AppleInsider reports, “As for the new MacBook Pros, it was said that the notebooks will feature 16GB Go SSD mSATA drives that will store the Mac OS X operating system. This separate internal drive would allow the devices to boot faster from solid state memory, much like with the new all-flash MacBook Air models… The site heard from another source that Apple is expected to debut ‘new technology’ in the new MacBook Pro models, a tidbit that implies the inclusion of Intel’s high-speed Lightpeak technology.”

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Comment Feed

28 Comments

Take To Task

Tuesday, February 22, 2011 - 10:43 pm · Reply

How cool is that? I’m quite happy with my Core i7 MBP 15″, but it’s nice to see Apple doing a good update, assuming part of these rumors are real.
jkpinpdx

Tuesday, February 22, 2011 - 10:49 pm · Reply

I have a 4 year old Macbook Pro 15″…

I am SOOOOOOOOO ready for the new MBP!

Cant wait any longer!!! (plus my internal fan has a blown bearing or something… it’s making very funny noises like it needs a shot of WD40 + it sounds like a wobbling tire with 3 of the 5 lug-nuts off!) LOL!!!
- doggonetoo
  
  Tuesday, February 22, 2011 - 11:13 pm · Reply
  
  Yeah I’m in a similar boat. Of course I also want an iPad2, iPhone5 and another AppleTV.
- appaulmac
  
  Wednesday, February 23, 2011 - 6:00 am · Reply
  
  Had the same problem with my MBP 17″ which is not about 4 years old. Had the fan swapped out, couldn’t bear it any longer! Now the screen is playing up, the drive won’t burn DVD’s, all in all it’s coming to the end of its life. I think I’d like to go 15″ this time, to save weight and space..
- Luc
  
  Wednesday, February 23, 2011 - 6:16 am · Reply
  
  You young guys with new toys….my 2004 PowerBook’s backlight gave up. Using it as a desktop until I have time to get it repaired…
  No Intel for me..waiting for an A8 Apple driven SMB (SuperMacBook)
  - Jeremy
    
    Wednesday, February 23, 2011 - 9:00 am · Reply
    
    I do need to replace by ’05 Powerbook sometime soon…but for now, it does the job!
    - doggonetoo
      
      Wednesday, February 23, 2011 - 10:43 am · Reply
      
      Jeremy,
      Have to say you are missing out on the performance difference between the PB and MBP. Night and day in terms of speed.
brilliantsandwich

Tuesday, February 22, 2011 - 11:06 pm · Reply

It’s looking more and more like next week’s possible announcement may not be iPad related. Bummer. Jonesing for an iPad 2.
TowerTone

Tuesday, February 22, 2011 - 11:10 pm · Reply

I have a five year old iMac.
I’m hoping the refresh has SSDs in them, also.
And Lightpeak.
And Sandy Bridges (inspired by Sandy Duncan’s tryst with Lloyd Bridges….).
And a lower price.
And whatever else.
- MacinScott
  
  Wednesday, February 23, 2011 - 12:06 am · Reply
  
  Coming up on 3 yeas for my iMac but I’m ready for an upgrade. After I get my display replaced due to yellow banding issues.
  
  SSD Boot drive
  Lightpeak
  Ambient backlit keyboard (ala MacBook Pros)
- ken1w
  
  Wednesday, February 23, 2011 - 1:31 am · Reply
  
  Mine is a “Late 2006″ (first Core 2 Duo) iMac model. By CPU speed, it’s “faster” than the spiffy new MacBook Air, and it has discrete (not integrated) graphics.
  
  Of course, in the real world that accounts for ALL the specs, ANY new Mac model is MUCH faster; I know because I’ve used a few. I helped someone set up a recent Mac mini (upgraded its RAM and HD) and I was amazed at the zippiness of Apple’s supposedly “low end” Mac.
  
  However, I’m surprised by how well my old iMac holds up in my day to day use. I’ve never opened it up; it’s stock everything except for the maxed out RAM. I thought its 3GB RAM limit may be critical by now, but Apple is still selling the new MacBook Air with 2GB of RAM (soldered in place and not upgradable unless originally ordered with 4GB), so Apple must not expect most typical users to need huge RAM in the near-term future.
  
  If the next iMac release has the same new features rumored for the new MacBook Pro, I might be compelled to get one. Then again, since I’m not really “hurting” now, maybe I’ll put a 64GB SSD in there to replace the stock hard drive. Almost all of my data is already stored on external drives, so I can easily do this “SSD boot drive trick,” except for me, it will be with OS AND app files. Probably good for a few more years…
  - TowerTone
    
    Wednesday, February 23, 2011 - 8:09 am · Reply
    
    I’ve had problems with my ATI x1600 video card for quite a while.
    
    Apple replaced the logic board at the end of the warranty period because of its failure, and for the last year it has been having problems after every OS upgrade. I have to keep cranking the fan speed up.
    
    I finally tore into it and did a good cleaning. After I get a new iMac, I may reflow the solder on the ATI board or cut some slots in the back to allow more ventilation. I’m too scared to go that deep while it is still my main computer.
    - ken1w
      
      Wednesday, February 23, 2011 - 8:50 am · Reply
      
      That’s unfortunate. Mine has been flawless. 17-inch 2.0 GHz C2D, that same video card. I did buy it as an Apple-certified refurb, so whatever was wrong with it that got it returned was obviously fixed. One advantage of a refurb is that it is “tested” through actual use.
      - TowerTone
        
        Wednesday, February 23, 2011 - 3:50 pm · Reply
        
        Most of the problems I have heard about (and there are several threads at Apple and other places) concern the 20″ models.
        
        My ‘stepdaughter’ has the same model as I do in a 17″ (2 GHz CoreDuo) and has never had a glitch.
        
        Go figger….
        
        TowerTone
        
        Wednesday, February 23, 2011 - 11:45 pm · Reply
        
        Sorry, that should be 1.8 GHz for the 17″, 2 GHz for the 20″.
Derek Currie

Tuesday, February 22, 2011 - 11:16 pm · Reply

I still don’t know why a ‘Pro’ would want a mere 16 GB drive of any kind in a MBP. Huh?

I’ll have my MBP with a 1 Terabyte HD please! And of course an optical drive.
- Derek Currie
  
  Tuesday, February 22, 2011 - 11:18 pm · Reply
  
  BUT! If the SSD merely holds the OS AND I still get my 1 TB HD AND my optical, that’s just fine with me boss!
  - chew
    
    Wednesday, February 23, 2011 - 8:28 am · Reply
    
    It`s looking like the SSD will be dedicated solely to OS duties a la the article.
KenC

Wednesday, February 23, 2011 - 12:54 am · Reply

This rumor is better than the one with 8GB or 16GB as a boot drive, since the 8GB really won’t work as OS updates require additional space.
Kvasek

Wednesday, February 23, 2011 - 1:06 am · Reply

With the rumors of Apple conference on March 2nd, I’d assume the Macbooks will be presented then and they will go on sale on the same day. iPad will be one more thing.
GeeOne

Wednesday, February 23, 2011 - 3:47 am · Reply

I have a 5 year old 1st gen black MacBook that I’m DYING to replace. An iPad2 would be nice, too.
- Dmitri
  
  Wednesday, February 23, 2011 - 8:18 am · Reply
  
  We just replaced our black MacBook (2gig ram) with a refurb current model whitey. You’ll really feel the difference, esp around graphics. Had to bump it to 4 gig though to have fast user switching be “fast,” though…
ninetimesoutoften

Wednesday, February 23, 2011 - 7:06 am · Reply

This guy’s an idiot. As if the MacBook Air is a replacement for the MacBook….
A little over half the processor speed. 20% slower FSB, half the battery life, 1/4 the onboard storage and 2″ less screen size…..
2 very different markets are addressed by the MacBook Air and the white MacBook. Can you just imagine a university student (a massive demographic for the MacBook) not needing tons of storage or a full day’s battery life?
macguy

Wednesday, February 23, 2011 - 7:07 am · Reply

Light Peak will be named Thunder Bolt by Apple 13 inch model gets I5 processor
Dogadoga

Wednesday, February 23, 2011 - 9:19 am · Reply

I can’t WAIT to upgrade! My Mac Plus is getting a bit long in the tooth!
burningzeppelin

Wednesday, February 23, 2011 - 10:19 am · Reply

I am wondering when this thing will actually make it’s way to my country…
MacDust

Wednesday, February 23, 2011 - 11:03 am · Reply

I like the idea of instant on, but is this a way for Apple to control our computers? Would this be a non-user installable partition on this drive? Much like iPhone, AppleTV? Is this a way for Apple to say, not allow Flash to run, non-Apple approved software? Would users have to Jailbreak the OS in order to install other software, like QuickSilver, or PathFinder or other types of Finder/Utilities? If Apple eventually moves in Lion to only Mac App Store, this would be a way to control what you can and cannot put on your computer.
- Derek Currie
  
  Wednesday, February 23, 2011 - 11:45 am · Reply
  
  @MacDust sez: “… this would be a way to control what you can and cannot put on your computer.”
  
  I don’t think so. That would incur the-wrath-of-hell in industry and government.
  
  There are very few applications that install anything into the actual System. QuickSilver, PathFinder, etc., would have no troubles. That is because the rest of the root directory would remain on the hard drive. The SSD would only contain, presumably, the System folder.
  
  There are critical 3rd party files that must be installed into the System folder, particularly .KEXT files, aka Extensions. Originally Apple asked developers to never install extensions. This was in order to avoid the extension conflict crap from olde Mac OS days. But it never happened. There were 3rd party .KEXT files being installed before Mac OS X v10.0.0 was even released. There were also extension conflicts, although rare.
  
  A lot of these .KEXT files are for hardware functionality. Examples: Printers, digital ripping devices (like EyeTV), drawing tablets, ExpressCards, video cards and scanners. There are some that kludge the OS to provide added software support such as Ambrosia’s AudioSupport.kext
  
  Conclusion: I expect Apple will keep things as they are with the ability to install System folder items with administrator approval. Mostly likely on the hard drive there will be an alias, or symbolic link, to the System folder on the SSD. That’s my guestimate anyway.