The announcement of the MacBook Pro has brought up a lot of questions and Jason O’Grady and possibly “Sandwich Man” are looking for answers:
• What the expected battery life of the MacBook Pro?
• What happened to the FireWire 800 port?
• Why regress to the slower 4x single-layer SuperDrive?
• An ExpressCard slot instead of a PC card slot? (Could frustrate EV-DO card users)
• Why the MacBook Pro name?
Full article here.
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Related articles:
Apple posts Steve Jobs’ Macworld keynote via QuickTime – January 10, 2006
Apple posts new Intel Mac ad online – January 10, 2006
Apple introduces MacBook Pro; up to four times faster than PowerBook – January 10, 2006
MacDailyNews presents live coverage of Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ Macworld Expo Keynote – January 09, 2006
He’s the guy predicting things, (or trying to, at any rate) why doesn’t he give us an answer?
AND
what happened to S VIDEO? i didnt see it in the pics
Steve explained the MacBook Pro name in the Keynote. He said they got rid of the Powerbook name because they no longer use the PowerPC processors, and they want the name Mac “in all our products”. Thus, the new name.
it’s nice to see prices not increasing… but I hope the prices do reflect how apple adjusted iPod prices
i can answer one question:
Why the single-layer DVD drive?
one word: upgrade path.
separate Apple dvi->s-video adaptor
Yeah…i dont think many people really like the name…and battery life is always a big decision breaker…however apple has always kept it around 5 hours.
Maybe this all suggests that while Apple was souping-up the last PPC books, it was because they were really spooked about sales declines. Turns out to be unfounded…
or… the dual layer isn’t as big a hit as expected?
“Steve explained the MacBook Pro name in the Keynote. He said they got rid of the Powerbook name because they no longer use the PowerPC processors, and they want the name Mac “in all our products”. Thus, the new name.”
There was no PPC processor in my PB 145. So the Power name predates the processor.
Will the PowerMac the be called the Mac Mac? Or maybe the Big Mac, and the Mini will be the Litttle Mac?
The name MacBook sounds like you’d order at the choke & puke with a side order of fries
DakRoland, you just answered my question. I had been wondering why they didn’t go with “Pro Book”? That would have avoided the double “k” sound (MakBook), and would work consistently with the other lines:
iMac – ProMac
iBook – ProBook
But if they want the name Mac in all products, then clearly the old naming scheme, for both iBooks and PowerBooks, had to go. It’s not just a case of getting rid of “Power,” but also the “-Book” suffix for both laptops.
It’s really not that big of a deal because Dual-layer discs are still too expensive. Besides, Blu-ray is on the way soon enough anyhow.
I’m guessing the non-dual-layer was to make the MacBook Pro (cries at repeating such a horrible name) so thin…
That being said why the hell didn’t they release the intel processors in new boxes? the online store just looks a confusing mess of the same computers twice. Also, in the UK the G5 iMac is £899 while the intel is £929… not what SJ said.
I think Gary’s answer, “Upgrade Path” explains everything. I wouldn’t buy this new MacBook Pro right now unless a car ran over my existing 17″ and I had to have a new laptop. There is nothing terribly exciting about it.
I wouldn’t mind having it to test on if I was currently developing a product.
•What the expected battery life of the MacBook Pro? – That’s what I’d like to know. Either it’s incredible and Apple wants to surprise us, or it sucks and Apple wants to surprise us.
• What happened to the FireWire 800 port? – I think this has to do with the fact that Apple is likely using an Intel chipset that does not support FW 800. I expect this to remedied when the Rev. B MacBook Pro ships.
• Why regress to the slower 4x single-layer SuperDrive? – This baffles me as well. They have the 8x DL SuperDrive in the 1-inch thin 17″ PowerBook G4. Why can’t they put the same drive in a 1-inch thin MacBook Pro? The only only reasoning I can think of is that this new drive uses SATA, and an 8x DL version is not available. However, I don’t know if this sort of drive even exists and I’m trying to put a happy face on this scenario. It could just be that Apple is being cheap (hopefully NOT the case).
• An ExpressCard slot instead of a PC card slot? (Could frustrate EV-DO card users) – ExpressCard is an Intel standard (wink, wink, nudge, nudge
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” /> ). Not to mention the fact that Apple is known for getting rid of old technology in favor of newer stuff (ie: latest Power Macs).
• Why the MacBook Pro name? – Watch the keynote again. Steve explains it pretty plainly.
Is anyone else getting the feeling that this MacBook model was rushed to market? I’m not gonna be an early adopter on this one.
I’m guessing the battery life is similar to previous generation P’Books.
G4 PBook: 50 Wh battery, 65W power supply. SO max possible draw is 65 W –> 46 min @ maximum draw
MacBook Pro: 60 Wh battery, 85W power supply, So max possible draw is 85 W –> 42 min @ maximum draw.
Pretty close. ~90% of previous gen.
I sure hope these “Monday Morning QB’s” find something else more constructive to do with their time than ponder these stupid ass questions. I mean really, “why the name ‘MacBook’ “?
I couldn’t give a ratz ass what Sj calls it as long as it long on useful features, faster, lighter, cheaper, easier to uuse, yada, yada.
Rock on SJ
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And this is the Rev A machine, simply to give others a temperature cooler, faster Powerbook. Best bet would be to wait until June.
As always with Apple, machines in this or the other lines released later in 2006 and 2007 will offer much more.
Not bad for their first step into the Intel waters.
Ah yes, Jason O’Grady, that great prognosticator of all things Macintosh. After all, Jason totally nailed it with his predictions about the Plasma Displays from Apple. And now he’s blathering about stuff that will become apparent in the next few days? Why do we even give him the benefit of our atttention?
My advice to my fellow Mac fanboys (Admit it: we are. Get over it.): keep your pants on. We won’t see the new Mac Books for another few weeks, and already, everyone is making assumptions and second-guessing everything. Just wait a few frickin’ days until Apple publishes more details. These puppies haven’t even been tested yet. Armed with scant knowledge and making rash assumptions, the message boards are alive with a ton of self-appointed experts (Mr. O’Grady included) already going off about things for which they have no details.
Just be cool everyone. We’ll find out enough soon enough. And if it makes you feel any better, I just went and ordered my Mac Book yesterday. I am that confident.
There. I feel better now.
Alternate explanation for 4x single-layer SuperDrive: Battery Life.
MacBook battery life is a little low and a lower spec SuperDrive might have kept it from being lower. Again I say, rushed to market.
(for one account of battery life, see the very bottom of this page: http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2006/1/10/2436 )
• What the expected battery life of the MacBook Pro? That’s a good question, especially since power consumption was one of the big issues that Intel was supposed to remedy.
• What happened to the FireWire 800 port? As much as I hate to say it, FW800 never caught on. I think it’s done. If Apple isn’t pushing it, no one will.
• Why regress to the slower 4x single-layer SuperDrive? Cost maybe? They added an iSight but the price stayed the same. They will improve this eventually.
• An ExpressCard slot instead of a PC card slot? (Could frustrate EV-DO card users) If it was a PC card slot people would have complained that it wasn’t (fill in the blank). You can’t please everyone.
• Why the MacBook Pro name? Because they dropped the PowerPC (I know, the name precedes the PowerPC but most people don’t remember that), and, my perception of what Steve said was that they want to get away from the word power because power consumption was such an issue with the G5. And to put the name Mac in it. I think that’s the most important issue. I only wish Ives would have completely redesigned it though. New name, completely new look. It looks pretty much like the last PowerBook, but darker.
Tech question:
Why in the Apple Store do the new intel Macbooks tout the spec:
“667MHz frontside bus”
and the “old” PowerPC books don´t? Does it matter and what is a good speed frontside bus?
one word: upgrade path.
heheh, that’s two words. =]
I hated the name MacBook at first because in relation to what we are accustomed to, it sounds generic. I think that’s why so many people hate it. Once the transition is complete, the naming will make sense. It doesn’t right now. Steve said they wanted the name Mac in all their products and i think this is a larger part of the branding strategy for an upcoming ad campaign. It also is a good way to differentiate the computers from whatever appliances they may have in development.
In a couple years MacBook isn’t going to sound so bad.
Okay…I´m a nerd with a worthless point:
The specs for the new Macbook Pro says its thickness is 1.0 inches (2.59 cm)
2.59 centimeters is equal to 1.02 inches.
My math teacher always said if you are going to compare numbers show them both to the same decimal places…
——
And regarding battery usage the specs say the following:
“Battery life depends on configuration and use.”
—–
Now I will go back in my nerd cave.
macbook, macbook, macbook, macbook, macbook, macbook, macbook, macbook, macbook, macbook, macbook,
cookbook.
>separate Apple dvi->s-video adaptor
Apple only offers a mini-DVI > S-video adapter for the 12″ PB and the Intel iMac. There’s no “full size” DVI > S-video adapter from Apple, or from anyone that I can find. Lack of TV-out would be a deal-breaker for me on the Macbook. What’s the point of using Front Row on a 15″ screen? The remote would be laughable. It’s redundant, like remotes for car stereos.
ndelc,
I agree with most of your opinions, I think you hit the nail there.
With regard to design, I think this was done on purpose. Steve clearly wanted to quell the fears that everything will be different. Just listen to his keynote: “It’s the same iMac, same specs. So what’s different? Just the processor. It’s two (five) times faster, but that’s all. Don’t worry, keep buying.” Or some such. Also, using the same form factor gave them less to work on, pressed as they were for time. Keeping the form factors gives buyers a sense of continuity, important at such a juncture.
Techless – because 667mhz isn’t available for PowerPC and 667mhz is very good and it matters quite a bit for data throughput, not as much as processor but it still makes a big difference.
Tired of everyone whining about the name. Get used to it, and get over it. Otherwise, get a job at 1 Infinite Loop and send a memo to Steve with all your suggestions.
“Why in the Apple Store do the new intel Macbooks tout the spec “667MHz frontside bus” and the “old” PowerPC books don´t? Does it matter and what is a good speed frontside bus?”
Techless, yes, it makes a great deal of difference. The G4 front side bus maxed out at 125mhz (if I remember correctly). It was considered the great bottleneck of that chip. The G5 has anywhere from 1ghz to 1.25ghz fsb which is one of the things that makes it so much faster.
It would be akin to having a one lane on ramp to a twelve lane highway at rush hour. Once you get on the highway you can really go fast, but it takes a long time to get on.
The Core Duo has a slower fsb, but I believe there are other aspects that make up for it.
I should clarify, the Core Duo has a slower fsb than the G5, but more than 5X higher than the G4.
Expresscard/34 is smaller and faster. Apple usually moves forward with emerging technologies. Here is the home page for the group:
http://www.expresscard.org/web/site/
Why move backward with supporting legacy technologies when you can move forward? The PCMCIA group is moving forward with this standard as it is, so it is time to upgrade the hardware.
“Steve explained the MacBook Pro name in the Keynote. He said they got rid of the Powerbook name because they no longer use the PowerPC processors, and they want the name Mac ‘in all our products’. Thus, the new name.”
Actually, the first PowerBooks had Motorola 68K processor, so the lack of PowerPC shouldn’t matter. The “Power” in PowerBook referred to “The Power To Be Your Best.”
Just a little trivia.
“The remote would be laughable. It’s redundant, like remotes for car stereos.”
Remotes for car stereos are not so useless. If you are into competative car audio circles, then you might know that there are more than a few cars and trucks out there with car stereos so loud that it’s not good for you to be in the car when it is turned up. So how do you crank it up at a competition? With the remote from the outside. As not only a Mac Geek, I’m also a (recovering) car stereo geek. Car stereo stuff can easily be a more expensive addiction than Apple stuff. It’s also far worse for you. I gave it up for the most part because I was starting to worry about my hearing. Now I keep my car stereo under 1,000 watts.
Yeah, how could Apple be soooo stupid to get rid of the floppy drive….they won’t sell any being so short-sighted.
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“Will the PowerMac the be called the Mac Mac?”
Who started this idiotic meme? What absolute idiot would even think of it? “Is Apple going to lose all sense of marketing and name their top of the line computers Mac Mac?” Derrrrrrr. Get a fookin clue, people.
ExpressCard/34 is spec’ed at 250MBps in each direction with a max of 500MBps combined. Compare that to FW 800 which is 800 MegaBITS or 100MBps. Even if Apple went with the unreleased FW1600 it would still max out at 200MBps. So what’s the point in that? Skip the FW800 and have one less legacy plug they have to add to all their future products. Those who need FW800 can get an ExpressCard/34 card for it when they come out. (Currently only in EC/54 sized cards)
About battery life, you can bet that it’s not good.
The MacBook Pro has much more smoke that a PowerBook, its got to draw more power while smoking. One hint is that it comes with a 60 watt-hour battery (vs about 45) AND the power adaptor is now rated at 85 watts (vs 65).
If Apple allows us to optionally shut down one core completely AND underclock the other for operation on a battery, the battery life might be a little better due to the larger battery. Even so, it would still suck.
– gws
“Yeah, how could Apple be soooo stupid to get rid of the floppy drive….they won’t sell any being so short-sighted.”
NO FLOPPY!!!?
Has anyone tried to price the macbook vs. a dell yet? I looked at both sites and from what I could tell the macbook is cheaper. Be sure to add all of the software you need to buy with the Dell to make it a fair comparison. I found the macbook to be hundreds of dollars cheaper. I could be wrong but now Jobs has taken away every complaint except for software. Hopefully that will be taken care of soon. I just wonder what the windows fanboys will try and use as an arguement for the “superior” MS OS. Looks like it will come down to the market share comments and we all know easy it is to dispell that one.
Just wondering. Why did Apple bother releasing a G5 version of the latest iMac? Couldn’t they have waited until now to release the new form factor? There would be much more buzz about FrontRow, the IR remote, and integrated iSight in the new Intel-based iMac (and Macbook, too). Why did they spoil the “surprise”?
MDN Word: lost. As in, I wonder if there is finally a new episode of Lost tonight?
You know, I think it stinks that Apple expect us suckers to pay $349 for 2 years extra warranty (which is 14% of the purchase price.) I think with products like this (being first revision and all) it should be included. I don’t want to pay for their mistakes, which really, they should be correcting since they’ve screwed up (I’m talking about design flaws, not necessarily component failure such as a DVD drive breaking down, unless that failure is attributable to a design flaw such as excessive heat.)
Of course, I’m living in a make-believe world where ethics and morality comes into play ahead of screwing customers.
Actually, that 14% was for the higher-end model.
The price of Apple Care represents 17.5% of the purchase price for the lower end model.
It also irks me that the price of Apple Care is constant for notebooks of different value (it’s a standard $349 for both models, even though one costs an additional $500 to buy.)
So what are they gonna call the intel PowerMacs?
MacMacs?
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The decision to lower the spec on the DVD drive was probably for both cost and power reasons. Plus I agree with an earlier post that DL media are too expensive at the moment.
FW800 has never caught on. It uses a different connector that FW400 and only offers 2X performance increase. Compare that to USB 2 which was a significant upgrade over 1 and uses the same port configuration. Maybe FW800 will be useful for high data transfer ala HD video cameras, but most firewire-serial busses limit data transfer for external harddrives. So I don’t blame Apple for leaving it out, even if the Intel chipset doesn’t support it yet.
As far as battery life is concerned, Jobs didn’t mention it nor does the website. I agree that the intel processors will use more energy. When plugged in, the processor will fly by the sounds of it. When running on battery, the processor speed will obviously be lowered to save power. What we don’t know if how much and how will it compared to the G4 PB.
Fact is though, the speed improvement more than offsets any change in battery life.
Enuff with the Mac Mac.
They’re gonna be called “Mac Pro”
Moe Rons
“Why did Apple bother releasing a G5 version of the latest iMac?”
Uh, the money?
I’ve had it with “Dick” O’Grady.
First he promotes this stupid “Plasma TV Mac” rumor and now he is trying to blame his stupidity on Jobs planting fake product numbers and info on the web to hopefully catch employees giving out “secret” product specs.
What a total “Dick.”
Battery life from a Lenovo T60
Towards the bottom, you will see the battery life of the new Yonah cpus.
“All in all we saw around 5 hours of battery life in most of the situations we tested in; obviously your mileage will vary depending on the type of usage but we are confident that with the Centrino Duo platform we will finally start seeing more manufacturers break the 5 hour mark for normal usage.”
The same can apply for the new macs, maybe some optimizations will need to be done, but all in all, battery life shouldn’t be a concern.
crap forgot the link
http://www.anandtech.com/printarticle.aspx?i=2663
I noticed a comparison between the MacBook Pro and the Acer TravelMate 8204WMLi (and you thought the new mac’s name was bad!) over at macintouch.com. There was a link to a review of the Acer by PC Mag as an Editor’s Choice machine. In the review the Acer, which is very similar to the MacBook, had a battery life of 3 hours 47 minutes. I bet that is a good estimate of what the new MacBook will get.
Here is the link to the PCmag.com article:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1907155,00.asp
Here’s my theory:
The MacBook Pro is just a souped up intel iBook in a Powerbook casing. This may explain the apparent downgrades and omissions. Perhaps the plan was to release the iBooks first (as indicated at WWDC 2005) but then in the last few months before MWSF 2006 they decided to release a decently-powered Powerbook so as to avoid the confusion of the consumer line being 4-5x faster than the pro line. Not to mention the Powerbooks have been using laggardly chips for about 3 years and it is high time they get a chip that can hold its own against other laptops.
So they stop work on that rumored 13.3″ iBook and turn that into these MacBook Pro machines. Just use a better processor and graphics chip, and a bigger hard drive than the iBook had and you get a Powerbook-like machine. This also could explain the non-appearance of the oft-rumored 13.3″ widescreen iBooks (the Powerbooks pretty much took their place).
Do you think this theory holds water?
gladcow, not likely.
the iBook (MacBook) is probably coming soon. It would have been dumb of Apple to release the low end stuff first. Even the low end intel stuff would have had performance exceeding the existing iMac and Powerbook stuff and the older stuff would have been cut off at the knees, unsellable.
The PowerMac got a signficant bump recently so that it could at least stay above water. The iMac got a packaging update a few months ago to work out the issues with the new goodies but with an interim G5 as the Intel motherboard was being worked out.
Now that the middle of the line is set, it will expand upward and downward.
My real question, which is unanswerable except through time, is if Apple will make a true sub notebook that will compete head to head with a Vaio.
– gws
theloniousMac –
“I wouldn’t buy this new MacBook Pro right now unless a car ran over my existing 17″ and I had to have a new laptop. There is nothing terribly exciting about it.”
Well, as a travelling pro photographer, I can say that 4-5x speed IS terribly exciting. Aperture barely crawls on anything less than a single-core G4s and G5s. Looks like the MacBook Pro should be a good solution for Aperture road warriors. The brighter screen should be a plus, too. The loss of FW800 hurts, though.
Bottom line: a lot of pro photogs will want this baby, especially when there’s a 17-incher.
Oops, meant to say “Aperture barely crawls on single-core G4s and G5s” or “Aperture barely crawls on anything less than a dual-core G5.”
Oh! Grady! is right!
Why should we accept these downgraded machines just because they are from Apple?
They actually are a downgrade in terms of features, and despite reports to the contrary, they require more power to operate, Can’t run XP, which is the only thing that some of my clients wanted to be able to run Autocad sometimes, as well as Windows Quickbooks once a week.
Loosing more features and the terrible name is a bad way to transition platforms; but as we have experienced before in the PPC604 to PPC750 where we Lost the 6 pci slot, 8 dimm, 6 drive bay PowerMac9600 and got the 3 slot 4dimm 3 drive bay White G3; we are continuously screwed and only much later are the complaints ever addressed.
Someone please remind me why we are now on Intel again?
The power signature of PPC970fx is still less than this dumb move.
ARG.
Reading about these laptop’s being hotter, requiring larger power supplies and batteries is really upsetting.
Loosing features too is just one thing to much.
I can’t wait to get my Quad G5 and at this point I will also try to get a PowerBook G4 as well, this should last me for a while, hopefully until some really amazing development happens where I can get an AMD powered Mac.
(even if I fall behind the software Que at least I will be able to do the things I want with the present tools.)
I really hate apologizing for Apple fuck ups, done it tooooooo much over the past 18 years of being a die hard user.
ARG.
Matt asked “Why did Apple bother releasing a G5 version of the latest iMac?”
For people like me, who wanted the form factor and features, but still have a lot of legacy software. I bought my iMac in the full knowledge that a dual-core one was likely going to be out within six months, but decided that speed wasn’t the only factor. And thinking about it, I’m glad I bought a PowerPC one. As long as software keeps coming out as UniBin, this machine will give me five years use.
Power.
4x more power per watt.
4x-5x more power.
Indirectly, about the same wattage required.
Battery is 20% larger, so, I’m guessing the battery life is gonna be roughly the same, to a little better.
seabasstin:
I’m with you. Since 70% of the boost comes from the MoBo improvements, these performance increase specs could have been just as easily achieved with a G4 PowerBook … IF Apple hadn’t skimped on its last upgrade, that is. You wouldn’t even need a G5 to make it worthwhile, since the dual core G4 would probably perform better across the board (these battery concerns wouldn’t exist either). When you factor in all the features that have been dropped too, it’s really a head scratcher what Apple was thinking here.
I’ve read they were forced to drop stuff just because they’re with Intel now. Well, if that’s the case … who needs f**kin Intel anyway? What a lousy trade!