“MacRumors has heard from several sources that supplies of Apple’s existing MacBook Pro models, particularly the 15″ and 17″ sizes, are beginning to run low in Apple stores and at third-party retailers, suggesting that the company may be drawing down stock in advance of an update to the product line,” Eric Slivka reports for MacRumors.
“At least one major retail chain has reportedly notified its branches that it has been unable to fulfill replenishment orders, a situation that has been tied to forthcoming product updates in the past,” Slivka reports.
Slivka reports, “A new version of the MacBook Pro will almost certainly incorporate Intel’s Sandy Bridge microarchitecture and could see the company adopt some aspects of the its successfully revamped MacBook Air in order to improve performance and reduce size and weight.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Dan K.” for the heads up.]
“some aspects of the its successfully revamped MacBook Air in order to improve performance and reduce size and weight”
I don’t like this.
I’m looking at getting a new MacBook Air and a MacBook Pro 17″. I want my MacBook Air to be as stripped down as possible…no optical drive, and flash memory is an ok trade off instead of an SSD or HD.
On the other hand, I don’t want my MacBook Pro to have flash memory. It should have at least one full sized (tall) drive bay that it has now, which could have SSD or HD. Then it’s a question of what to do with the optical drive.
I pulled my optical drive and put in a 500GB hybrid SSD/HD drive for a total of 1.5TB on my MacBook Pro 13″. I’d like to do the same with a new 17″.
If Apple were to remove the optical drive, I’m not sure what else it could really do with the space, except for put in flash, or make it a SSD/HD bay…which still wastes some space. The battery can’t be extended to fit in there, unless they added another independent battery cell (making the battery fat-L-shaped).
I suppose that’s possible, but with battery life already being great, it seems like Apple may want to give users the option of having either SSD, HD, or optical on the MacBook Pro.
Bottom line, I don’t see Apple taking “ideas from the MacBook Air to improve the size or weight” of the MacBook Pros, unless they make some really poor design decisions.
I would like to see some Light Peak though.
Just ordered a 17″ 2.8 i7 MBP last night.
Just canceled my MBP order this morning upon seeing the MacRumors article.
Let the countdown begin!
Other websites are also claiming that MacBook Pro will be refreshed along with iMac.
http://techztalk.com/techwebsite/01-27-11-macbook-pro-and-imac-updates-imminent
Apple has already told us that the future of their notebook line is the MacBook Air.
Bye-bye optical drive.
@anaknipedro,
“Apple has already told us that the future of their notebook line is the MacBook Air.”
Not exactly.
Apple did something different with the latest MacBook Air. The original MBA could have a HDD or SSD internally and then an optical drive externally (as an option).
The latest MBA does away with the internal drive altogether. It has neither a HDD or SSD, but instead has flash built into “blades” using mini-SATA connectors
The advantage is that it allows for the MBA to be even that much thinner and lighter. It’s also faster and cheaper.
The downside is that the storage on the MBA is not upgradeable using standard HDDs or SSDs. This significantly reduces their capacity and increases their cost per GB as it scales up.
This all makes sense where the MBA is concerned, but while the MBA has a use-case, so does the MacBook and the MacBook Pro.
It may be likely that Apple will transition the MB to the MBA line when optical drives are phased out, but the MBP doesn’t make sense to go with flash blades.
The MBP may do away with the optical drive, but I’d be surprised if it did so this year completely, as opposed to having it be an option.
I don’t see the MBP line being significantly redesigned this year. It’s going to be mostly about Sandy Bridge and perhaps Light Peak. It certainly won’t transition into a MBA form factor.
DRM built in…
THE MAIN reason to buy the MacBook Air 11.6-inch is NOT because it is cheaper, but because it is lighter and smaller. Apple should make an even lighter (400 to 600 g) and smaller (7-inch) MacBook Air.