Rumor: New MacBook Pros on the way?

With Apple's MacBook Air having reached store shelves, it might not be too much longer before the company updates the rest of its notebook lineup.

MacRumors notes fresh evidence--of sorts--that Apple is getting ready to launch revamped MacBook Pros in February. The site obtained screenshots reportedly from Best Buy's inventory system that point to a $1,999 MacBook Pro arriving at Best Buy in mid-February, although the site also notes that it has heard rumors of several dates in both February and March for the new systems.

It could be time for new MacBook Pros, according to several rumors circulating this week.

(Credit: Apple)

It's been awhile since Apple released new MacBook Pros, and with Intel having just launched several Penryn-class notebook chips at the Consumer Electronics Show, many had thought (including me) that Apple would have new notebooks to show off at Macworld. They did, unwrapping the MacBook Air, but said nothing about the rest of the Mac lineup.

Several in the Apple rumor business also believe that the company will add the multitouch trackpad capabilities found on the MacBook Air to upcoming MacBook Pros and MacBooks. This technology lets you use many of the same iPhone gestures, such as pinching to zoom in and out on a picture, on the notebook's trackpad.

New notebooks could give Apple a boost heading into the second quarter, which is generally the slowest quarter of the year for PC sales. Although the Mac business hasn't needed much of a boost lately, coming off a huge holiday quarter. If you're in the market for a new Mac that comes with an optical drive and more than one USB port, you might want to wait a few weeks to see what shakes out.

[alasdair23]

Product Differentiation

It will be interesting to see what Apple does in terms of the
MacBook Pro upgrade to differentiate these models from the
consumer line [MacBook] and the fashion/elite line [Air].

Definitely faster graphics chips and LED backlight screens across
the entire range - potentially SSD drive option and multi-touch
trackpad.

Looking at the recent MacBook Air benchmarks, I think most pro
users will be waiting for this refresh and the new MacBook Pro's
are going to sell like hotcakes.

[jscott418]

Won't see SSD drive

SSD drives are simply not big enough or cheap enough to add them
to a MacBook Pro. It certainly would be time for a graphics update
and a CPU upgrade. But what else are you really going to do??

[coryschulz]

iMac Update too!

I'm waiting on an iMac update as well! They're about due for an update. A newer processor and better video card would be nice. It also seems odd to me that all computers and laptops on the market now come with 2 GB of ram, and yet the iMacs only come with 1 GB. I know that it's because Apple charges a hefty price to upgrade that extra gig (like $300) and they're making extra profit off of it, but still. If Vista comes with 2 GB I would hope that OSX would as well.

[Dalkorian]

need

Vista PC's *NEED* 2GB of RAM just to function like a decent
computer. Decent operating systems (like OSX and Linux) can run
well on far less memory because they weren't designed by idiots.

[PC_Pete]

What Apple needs to roll out:

A USB touch pad that works on Apples and PCs that has the iPhone "multi-touch" interface. They would make a fortune selling these to everyone and make even further inroads into the PC market.

[paulej]

Like the one on Macbook Air

You mean some kind of interface like on the Macbook Air?

If so:
1) You need software to support the interface
2) I don't believe desktop PC users would want to change the mouse in favor of a touchpad
3) I don't think a laptop user will want to carry around an extra input device

The functionality certainly looks interesting, but I wonder why one just doesn't buy a Mac?

I've been very impressed with all of the cool stuff Apple has released in recent years. But, it does not seem to make a lot of sense to me to try to turn a PC into a Mac. If you like what Apple has to offer, buy an Apple.

[theoxygenthief]

Brilliant!

I agree! if they made it windows compatible i'd even buy it for my windoze pc's. I'm a designer and I recently aquired a Wacom Intuos Graphics Tablet. It has sped up my workflow IMMEASUREABLY, and not only in Graphic Design applications.

[peterdom]

What Apple needs to roll out:

That's the best idea I've ever heard in this forum. I'd buy one!

[bkargman]

What Apple needs to roll out

What Apple needs to roll out is Direct Push technology for the i phone. I recently received one as a gift and was shocked that I could not access my corporate e-mail. My technical consultant said the i phone was not compatible with our e-mail system. I have a T mobile Dash phone that receives direct push and a Treo 680 which also receives direct push. I cannot believe that Apple does not have compatiblity with this function. I cannot even obtain e-mail through our webmail URL on Safari.

[skillingssucks]

Integrated Card Reader.

It's just beyond lame that they don't have them. Who wants to keep track of USB dongles/cords, it's a hassle? For two grand a lack of an integrated card reader is just asinine.

[BigGuns149]

How useful is it really?

One concern that I have is that card formats have shifted a number of times. With the exception of SD I don't see a future for most of the card formats. Remember Smart Media? It's dead. XD may be joining it soon. Other than Fuji and Olympus nobody uses it. XD is more expensive than CF or SD and it has fallen behind in capacity capabilities. Sony seems to be changing their memory stick designs it wouldn't be a stretch to buy a new Sony camera a year from now that wasn't compatible with the card reader. For my stint working at Fry's I had a number of customers that had problems finding a card reader that read their MS. I had to open 4-5 different brands of card reader before I found on that worked. I have never seen such issues with SD. Furthermore, the designers of SD seem to have designed the card to be more future proof than most competing formats. Even SD at some point will be replaced. Unless you have living under a rock you have probably have already heard that there are plans for a card format that will scale to much, much higer.

Anybody buying a MacBookPro is probably going to keep it for 3-4 years so you should think about the value of certain features in the long run. The MBP isn't a $500 machine that will be in the trash in 1-2 years. It would look pretty stupid to put a XD or a memory stick slot on the machine that may become virtually useless 2-3 years from now. I think adding a eSATA port or another USB port would be far more useful in the long run. eSATA is growing in popularity and for the audience of the Macbook Pro probably would get more use. Most people wouldn't mind another USB port. Of all the people I have ever met who expressed interest in the MBP(100+) I never had anyone who asked about a card reader. The most commonly requested wishes for the Macbook Pro from people I have talked to were more USB ports, an eSATA port, a port replicator option, and even another video output(never completely understood that one). I have had zero people who told me that they wish it had a card reader and a couple of people outright happy that Apple hasn't put marketing BS like a biometric reader on the machine. Biometric readers don't add any security (a malicious user can still enter the admin password manually if they figure it out or better yet reset the admin password without even touching the biometric reader), but they add more cost to the laptop. Anything that adds cost, but no real value is stupid. I would rather have a cheaper laptop or more RAM or a bigger HDD or a slightly better CPU than a useless biometric reader that gives the illusion of security, but in reality adds nothing.

Putting an SD slot on the machine wouldn't be such a bad idea though. SD has a very robust user base a lot, but I can't say so much about virtually any other card format. SD is the only card format I can guarantee anyone will use in any large percentage in two years. Compact Flash's big advantage of being trivial to use with a Cardbus slot has faded as Cardbus slots are going the way of the dodo bird. Except for some Lenovo models and the Sony AR, most laptops have moved towards Expresscard, many of them have followed Apple and chosen the 34mm version.

CF would nice for people with digital SLRs(pretty common demographic for a MBP user), but it would take too much space on the 15.4" MBP without killing one or more ports or making the laptop thicker(put a Cardbus slot on top or below the Expresscard slot). When the MBP came out having CB/EC would have made sense, but there are now Expresscard to CF adapters from a number of companies now so it isn't necessary anymore to have a Cardbus slot albeit it still would be nice for people with older data cards that are still under contract and don't want to dump it.

Bottom line, you're are an oddball.

[BigGuns149]

Seems like much ado about nothing. Move along... nothing to see.

The date is one day before MacWorld. It seem someone added this into their system in anticipation of a new product. Furthermore, a MBP update has been rumored in February for about 2-3 weeks on the Apple rumor sites. CNET though seems to report news on a week plus echo of the rest of the internet.