“The latest rumors, however, suggest that’s all likely to change in April 2011, with Three Guys and a Podcast tipping a significant refresh that will see the new MacBook Pro gain not only up to 512GB of SSD storage in a wholesale shift to solid-state memory, but the adoption of Intel’s Light Peak technology,” Davies reports.
“The new MacBook Pro will also apparently lose its optical drive,” Davies reports. “Apple is expected to keep a ‘legacy’ 15-inch MBP for those unwilling to drop the DVD burner…”
Read more in the full article here.
Just in time to upgrade my 1st gen intel MBP!
No optical in the MacBook Air is one thing. That, for me anyhow, is a second computer, one that I take when I don’t want to tote the MBP. But no optical in the MBP is a problem. As a photographer who also does video, I burn DVDs on a near daily basis. I still watch my movies on DVD (don’t have the hard drive space for all of them). I wouldn’t even consider a MBP without an optical drive.
Well, SSD—Yes!
Light Peak,—Yes!
No optical drive—better offer up an alliterative and it better be good.
This whole stuff of streaming data, cloud computing will go only so far with present technology, without something to take the place of optical medium.
Jack has it right.
See Jack Run
Jack is right!
No optical drive is a big problem….
Great! Sure hope they put a slower processor in it, soldered in RAM, and 2 year old integrated graphics.
“the poor MacBook Pro has been somewhat relegated”
Except Apple found a way to machine it out of solid aluminum while keeping it light, give it a desktop-class processor and graphics, and build in the brightest, highest resolution screen I’ve ever seen on a portable.
With a 27″ monitor the MBP has replaced several desktop workstations here at our shop.
Other than that it’s been “relegated”.
Will Light Peak even be ready by then (as a standard)?
I think the LightPeak is meant to facilitate the use of external players and burners. You’ would actually get better performance with LightPeak and an external optical drive than in the current setup. The throughput will be considerably higher. Apple could conceivably provide an external option at launch. It would certainly prove the value of LightPeak.
I know SSD is superior to Hard Drives, but a big problem is it increases the price. I’ve run out of space pretty quickly, and I really need the larger space, but if it’s going to add another $1,000 on to the price, that’s going to be a big deterrent.
I’m in the market and not sure whether to hold off or not. I’d like to see them have the option of an optical drive or a second hard drive; with an SSD for the OS and applications and a higher capacity standard HDD for storage. I could always use an external optical drive if needed.
Light Peak is going to be awesome. I wonder if they can make a thumb drive with this technology instead of USB; at least one that’s affordable.
“The sky is falling! The sky is falling!
It’s just a fraking rumor, for Jobs sake.
@ disposableidentity
No kidding. As far as I, and all my “graphics professional” friends and colleagues are concerned, the MacBook Pro is THE Mac. Few own iMacs, very few have Mac Pros, Mac minis are connected to HDTVs. It’s 15″ MBPs all the way. The 17″ is essentially a desktop machine.
MacPros are too big, iMacs are glossy. The MBP is it.
No optical drive would be a problem. Aside from not having it while I’m out and about or traveling, I really don’t want yet another external drive on my desk. Now I have 2 LaCie RAIDs, 2 desktop hard drives and a 2.5″ portable. And yes, I STILL need an optical drive.
Light Peak? Bring it on! Although, we’ll need devices that support it first.
I’m also a photographer. No optical drive can be a deal buster unless Steve has a surprise for me. If I wanted no optical drive I would get a MacBook Air.
There better damn well be an optical drive in the new MacBook Pros! Case in point: I just went to a concert the other night and bought 3 CD’s. I immediately used my MBP’s optical drive to import them into iTunes!
@I Want It Now
Maybe Apple will do a hybrid thing. 64GB or 128GB for your System and Applications and a standard 500GB± internal hard drive for storage. Although, that would be annoying to manage.
Oh boy, it could be just like the Classic Mac Days when I had separate hard drive partitions for System, Applications and Documents. Keeping my iTunes Library on an external hard drive is bad enough, No Thanks.
I thought flash drives were replacing dvd’s?
@Jack and baddoggie
How much do you actually use the optical drive on a daily basis? And where do you use it most of the time? At your desk/work area or on the road?
The reason that I am asking is that the rumored MBP would not be an Air – it would be far more powerful. And you could attach peripherals to this trimmer, sleeker MBP, as needed. And, increasingly, peripherals are being networked wirelessly to avoid cables. That could be applied to an optical drive, too.
You know your work flow, so I am not attempting to contradict you. But, sometimes, what you think that you need is not actually what you would like to have. In any case, Apple and SJ will do pretty much what they think is best, so you might want to purchase a maxed out current generation MBP if the next generation doesn’t meet your needs. That will keep you going for a few years. Sometimes Apple reverses course (e.g., Shuffle design) when they head down the wrong path.
For all those who are so concerned about losing the optical drive, the rumor has it that there will be a legacy version with one. You can always get a Dell also.
Does anybody remember the “left behind 1.4Mo floppies” at the first iMac intro?
He!Ho! No floppy? Impossible!
And now: – No CD or DVD drive? Impossible!
One more note – this MBP rumor sounds reasonable to me given SJ’s statements regarding the new Air design. Apple often pushes the envelope a bit and has been gradually transitioning its devices to solid state storage technologies over the past decade. As soon as it becomes economically feasible, you will see 512GB to 1TB SSDs in the MBP. If you then remove the optical drive, as speculated, you can slim down the MBP while adding some additional battery capacity. With great power comes great responsibility.
I agree no optical drive is not a good thing. There are to many things one needs to use an optical drive for. One main reason for having one is the fact that most software installs via an optical drive. And like Jack said, burning media is a big part of having an optical drive and can’t be eliminated on Pro systems or main use computers. Air is great as a secondary computer but not as a main computer as it is limited.
I wonder if there will matte option (with no additional charge)?
I hope the boneheads have gotten enough feedback to realize the high gloss screen isn’t all that loved.
My daughter, once high on the gloss, has (after a couple years use) started complaining about the annoyance of the reflections.
Magic Word – “ill”
Working with glare all day does make some people ill.
So, is Apple (and every other vendor) going to start selling software on flash drives instead of disks?
Will Lion be a diskless installation?
I can see no optical with the Mac app store coming. But I think they would offer dual ssds’ in the 15 and bto dual ssd or optical in the 17 or both.
“…the poor MacBook Pro…”
WTF?
I love my MBP and don’t want to change it to MBA, because of the backlit keyboard.