What Would You Like To See In The Next MacBook Pro?
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
by Charles W. Moore
By any measure, the MacBook Pro form factor is getting long in the tooth, essentially dating back to January, 2003 and September, 2003 respectively for the 17 into and 15-inch models, since Apple pretty much just rolled over the previous PowerBook G4 aluminum case designs with the switch to Intel chips. There are some small differences, notably to accommodate the iSight camera in the Macintel version, but the casual observer would be hard-pressed to detect the difference. Five years is an epoch in computerdom.
So, the Pro ‘Books are overdue for a major revision, and now that the “Air” has been cleared, so to speak, as to Apple’s subnotebook plans, the logical next candidate for attention in the notebook line is the MacBook Pro. True, there were rumors late last year that an aluminum MacBook was in the works, but I am inclined to think that was just confusion with the as yet unannounced MacBook Air. The polycarbonate MacBook design is still less than two years old - aside from the Air the youngest form factor in Apple’s system families - notebook or desktop - so I am highly skeptical that any major revamp is in the offering for the MacBook this year.
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Now, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if Apple went for at least one more refreshment of the current MacBook Pro designed, and maybe more than that. There’s still nothing “wrong” with the MacBook Pro and it seems to be selling well. I think it’s quite probable that we will see an update to Penryn processors and an LED backlight for the 17-inch model (the 15-incher has that already), and most likely a few other tweaks and enhancements.
That could come most any time. There are already Penryn PC laptops on the market, and Apple won’t want to lag too far behind. The cusp of April and May has traditionally been a time window for Apple’s spring notebook refresh, so I’ll be really surprised if we don’t see one by then.
However, I think it’s possible, although less likely, that Apple could be cooking up something more ambitious in the way of a revised MacBook Pro, and several major Apple notebook releases have been in late spring/early summer in the past - the WallStreet and Lombard PowerBooks and the clamshell iBook for example. With that in mind, I’m more than a little apprehensive as to what direction of Apple will choose to go with the next MacBook Pro, and hoping against hope that you won’t be the same ultra-thin, excessively wireless-oriented route they took with the MacBook Air. Is the Air a bellwether or an anomaly? I don’t find Apple’s brag that they designed the MacBook Air’s form factor and then figured out how to fit a computer into it. Which amounted to using an iPod hard drive, a battery that requires removal and replacement of 19 screws to change, no RAM upgrade slot, no internal Ethernet, and three measly I/O ports. IMHO they didn’t figure out how to put a real computer into it, and making similar compromises with the MacBook Pro would be truly disastrous.
Now, I know what I would like to see in the next generation Pro ‘Books, and it doesn’t include a thinner profile. In my estimation the current models are already thinner than they ought to be. My (fantasy) MacBook Pro wish list would include a return of the removable device expansion bay last seen in the 2000 PowerBook Pismo, and increased component modularity and ease of servicing, building and expanding on the MacBook’s simple hard drive access. I would like more - not fewer -I/0 ports, for example a third USB port in the 15-inch model, and while I’m dreaming, cooler running, perhaps facilitated by a less cramped (i.e.: less thin) case would be nice. I’d like an internal modem too, but the chances of that are virtually zero, so that third USB port is the next best thing.
Actually, the likelihood of any of the features cited in my wish list in the previous paragraph are, well, slim. Perhaps improved hard drive access has a chance. Indeed, about the only functional advantage I can discern with regard to the MacBook Air’s case design other than light weight is that it’s a monocoque design and access to be innards isn’t really that bad at all. It’s just that with the Air, there’s not much you can do when you’re in there.
But sadly, instead of the practicality and productivity enhancements I’m dreaming about, the reality is more likely to be something along the lines of a stretch or widebody MacBook Air, stunning to look at but functionally compromised by excessive emphasis on form, with fewer ports and more functional compromises. I’m not concerned that Apple would go to anything like the MacBook Air’s extreme minimalism in the Pros, at least not next time around, but it seems probable that the orientation will be in another direction. I hope I’m wrong in this surmise.
So one would you like to see in the next MacBook Pro? Practical workhorse or sleek fashion statement? Something in between? I’d be interested in hearing your ideas.
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