New Macbook Pros coming?

[SpeshulEd]

Check out macrumors.com, they have a buying guide that lists when new updates usually come out and what the rumors are at the moment.

There was just an update before Christmas, rumor is there should be another sometime this year...quite possibly a big one.

I also believe there's a keynote scheduled for late February, but the rumor is they'll be talking about the next iPad/iPhone.

[Ftruck]

My MB is almost 6 yrs old too. I have made a few minor upgrades so thankfully it is still running good for me. Still though there are a few updates I would like in the new MBPs coming out.

If Apple eliminates the optical drives, what is the best way for me to go about getting music on my computer? Do I have to buy an external just to rip CD's? Beatport has only about 25% of what I play and I don't care for iTunes bit rates.

Externals probably the best option (if they do scrap the optical drive). Here in Australia an external is like $30 for DVD and $60 for Blu-ray - I'm assuming that like everything else you could find them cheaper in the US. you could even rip the drive out of your old MB and put it in an enclosure to use with the new MBP. I'm assuming you would do most of your ripping at home so it shouldn't be too much of an inconvenience as you won't have to carry the external around. If you did want to take it with you the enclosures for the internal drives and some of the external drives are pretty slim and wouldn't take up much room in a laptop bag.

[Chelan]

Externals probably the best option (if they do scrap the optical drive).

Thats what I thought. Thanks for the answer, just not the one I was hoping or wanted to hear. I guess that if the new MBPs come out without the optical drive I could hopefully still have the opportunity to buy the ones that are out now that still have them.

[ExTrCt.]

Once the new MacBooks get released. The 2011 models will drop price. Just wait until the new ones are released and pick up a 2011 model.

[MiL0]

Now on the rumors side, I tend to think that the Pro series will get a major revamp with this release. It's believed that it's about time Apple to get rid of the optical disk drive. That is likely to result in thinner Pros. Also, there are a lot of reports about mass production of "Retina" displays for the Pros - the expectations are to 2880x1800 (double 1440x900) on the 15. Perhaps we could see improved resolution & density on the 13" too, to match the MBA 1440x900 (or the Retina equivalent).

I've got an old Dell Inspiron 9300 which is a 17" laptop running a WUXGA screen (1920x1200 resolution). It's really nice for Photoshop and Cubase but it's sometimes a painfully high resolution for everything else. If I had to use a 15" laptop with a retina display (2880x1800 or whatever) then it'd probably drive me mad.

Unless of course Apple do it like the iPhone 4 and double all the pixels up so that the relative resolution stays the same but everything looks smoother. But do you have any idea how much it'd cost to make a 2880x1800 15" screen? I really can't see it happening. Perhaps a slightly lower resolution but unless it's a multiple number of an existing resolution then Apple won't be able to 'double up' on the resolution properly (and then you'd end up again with a stupidly high resolution).

[loop]

I have no idea of how much it would cost, but the industry rumors are that they doubling the density of the pixels with the goal to use the same approach as on the iPhone 4 - 2x2 pixels per old pixel, preserving the aspect ratio and scale. It's just about increasing the density to allow smoother image with higher dpi.

I don't know if that's on track for the pending MBP refresh, but it's definetely in-line with the company's goals, considering that the new iPad will also be upgraded to Retina display (2x2 pixels per old pixel) in Q1 (as rumored)

TBH, I think you overestimate the cost of these displays. Apple are capable to upgrade the screen density w/o affecting the end price, considering the volumes they sell. I'd suggest that we don't speculate on this - it is in our interest that there will be no increase of the price of the computers. Apple is generally expensive anyway, so the high-density screens will just add more value for our hardly earned $. It is a wishful thinking ...

[fdawg]

I am in the market for a MBP but think I might wait for the new release unless I can get a current 13" MBP for cheap (well cheap for apple products).

[MiL0]

TBH, I think you overestimate the cost of these displays. Apple are capable to upgrade the screen density w/o affecting the end price, considering the volumes they sell. I'd suggest that we don't speculate on this - it is in our interest that there will be no increase of the price of the computers. Apple is generally expensive anyway, so the high-density screens will just add more value for our hardly earned $. It is a wishful thinking ...

TBH, I think you massively underestimate the cost of these displays! :P

Apple doesn't manufacture the displays themselves, LG does. And unless LG has some amazing new manufacturing process that they're offering to Apple exclusively, then the chances of seeing a retina display in a 15" Macbook Pro anytime in the next few years is very slim. Especially at the resolutions you're talking about.

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/App...tors,6824.html

edit - having said that, if the iPad 3 has a retina display then it would be a good indication that you might be right.

[space monkey]

I've got an old Dell Inspiron 9300 which is a 17" laptop running a WUXGA screen (1920x1200 resolution). It's really nice for Photoshop and Cubase but it's sometimes a painfully high resolution for everything else. If I had to use a 15" laptop with a retina display (2880x1800 or whatever) then it'd probably drive me mad.

Unless of course Apple do it like the iPhone 4 and double all the pixels up so that the relative resolution stays the same but everything looks smoother. But do you have any idea how much it'd cost to make a 2880x1800 15" screen? I really can't see it happening. Perhaps a slightly lower resolution but unless it's a multiple number of an existing resolution then Apple won't be able to 'double up' on the resolution properly (and then you'd end up again with a stupidly high resolution).

I was worried going from a 1920 res to a 1440 MBA. It's actually an ideal resolution.
As far as the relative resolution for the retina display...yes. I am pretty certain that you won't have to worry about applications running at ultra high res becoming too small. However developers will likely need to include some changes to their widgets and UI to accommodate the screen res for optimal viewing...especially those applications that inherit desktop resolution and run full screen. If not there I guess there would need to be some interpolation of color values between pixels which could result in blurry edges. Fonts on the other hand are resolution independent and could scale dynamically. I wonder how the stripes in Traktor would be handled.
Your question regarding cost has me wondering if the screens would be an optional upgrade, albeit an expensive one. Hmmm.

[C.Lukas1]

Looks like I will more than likely be going with the current model.

13-inch MacBook Pro

Configuration
2.4GHz Dual-core Intel Core i5
4GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM — 2x2GB
750GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm
SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Backlit Keyboard (English) & User's Guide
Accessory Kit

Order Total $1,299.00