Your MacBook Pro 17" Unibody Wishlist

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Hunterzyph

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 23, 2005
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I've struggled over the years between wanting the horse-power of a full-desktop while on the go (speaking as an original Dell Inspiron XPS user), and the lightweight portability of a standard to sub-notebook. However, I'm finding more and more that the horsepower of a smaller notebook is insufficient for all of the VM's, photo-editing, and everyday parallel computing.

So I'm hoping that Apple's late-comer to the unibody design will pack in a few more features to make it a real workhorse on-the-go. Here are a few thoughts on my wishlist for Macworld 2009 in January

  • E-SATA - Excellent for inexpensive external storage arrays/drives and faster than USB and Firewire, compact connector
  • Quad Core CPU - Intel is releasing the Q9000 in Q1 '09, has a lower TDP, and is priced to sell (around $350), so making it standard on a $2800 laptop shouldn't be an issue....though I suspect Apple would probably add a premium to it *groan*. Snow Leopard has promised improved threading and parallel processing, so it would be a logical option
  • Second HDD slot - Essential for video-editing, and allows for additional storage or redundancy as SSD's haven't quite lined up price-wise...but might be a little challenging to squeeze into a thin laptop
  • Wireless USB - Should be going mainstream next year, so why not drop it in as an option? Uses a half-size Mini Card slot, so not much room taken up

Anything else? Thoughts?
 
a second hdd is just another point of failure for a laptop system, while i get the need for more space... that's what esata would be for, or some sort of more rugged external solution if you're really going to be on the go.

in fact, the only slightly possible of these options in my eyes will be e-sata.

it'd be awesome to have a quad laptop, but the battery life would be like my desktop processor based area-51m with it's 2.53ghz pentium 4... an hour and a half.

snow leopard isn't expected by the rumor sites (and based on reports from it's status in the current betas) until middle of next year, which is right around WWDC'09.

i would want unibody, and the WUXGA display as standard in the 17"; although it's way too big for me.. i'll be getting a 15.4"
 
A matte screen! Even though that would piss me off, as I would rather have a 15" matte screen... but it's better than no matte option at all.
 
Matte screen, and Firewire 400 (in addition to 800) if they want me to buy the next gen of Macbook Pro!
 
I don't see Apple re-introducing a matte screen option anytime soon.

They're trying to create an image with their new manufacturing process and quality.
 
Even though I won't buy one, Matte screen and something better than the 9600 in the current 15" models. Also, I don't like the fact you have to take apart the case (i think) in the current 15" models in order to upgrade the ram.
 
CKMorpheus said:
Matte screen, and Firewire 400 (in addition to 800) if they want me to buy the next gen of Macbook Pro!
Click to expand...

Why do you want a legacy firewire port and a new one? FW800 is backwards compatible with an adapter or a different cable.
 
Optional87 said:
a second hdd is just another point of failure for a laptop system, while i get the need for more space... that's what esata would be for, or some sort of more rugged external solution if you're really going to be on the go.

in fact, the only slightly possible of these options in my eyes will be e-sata.
Click to expand...

Wireless usb is easy to do. Several laptops available now come with it standard (such as my thinkpad T61p. There's not much use for it now, but its good to have for forward-compatibility.
 
Desdichado said:
Wireless usb is easy to do. Several laptops available now come with it standard (such as my thinkpad T61p. There's not much use for it now, but its good to have for forward-compatibility.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately WiQuest went under and Intel has halted it's plans for it's own Wireless USB chip... so err, support might not quite be there in the coming years.

I honestly do not imagine Apple adopting Wireless USB, Matte Screens, E-SATA, or a second HDD bay in the 17" machine.

Realistically it could come standard with the WUXGA screen this time around in order to reduce the parts they need to produce for the screen enclosures, and as any new MB/MBP owner who is in the know will tell you, this part is a single piece and can only be ordered as such, so even if you just break the glass, you still have to replace the display and the top case.
 
I wish...

It cost $1,000 less than it probably will, even more so to be honest. ;)

Guess I'll just have to stick with a 100% MacDell for now... hehe

Second hard drive? For what? You're asking for E-SATA, so why bother wasting space in the chassis for a second hard drive. Forget that, Apple would never ever put two hard drives in a laptop. Ever.

Quad cores won't start appearing in laptops for another year solid, and if Apple releases one in the next three I'd be very very surprised even considering they want the MBPs poised as "the business-class laptops". It just ain't gonna happen.

Wireless USB... I can't see the point, honestly. Matte screens are probably the least concern of all because they just love harping "Glass screen, edge to edge."

You do realize why they're harping on that "Glass screen, edge to edge," right? It's because sometime in 2009 we're going to see one of the following, perhaps even both:

1) A touchscreen Mac laptop, or...

2) A tablet Mac, finally.

Honestly I think we're going to see both. What with HP's recent introduction and wicked sales of their touchscreen desktops for ridiculously CHEAP PRICES considering what you're getting with one, Apple doesn't have much choice now since they've pushed "multi-touch" into the public consciousness. Microsoft Surface might have been the right idea, but Apple got there first, at least on portable devices like the iPhone and iPod touch. Now, with the introduction of the "glass, edge to edge" touchpad on the new Macbooks/MBP lineups... come January you can be absolutely assured Apple will introduce a full blown touchscreen iMac...
 
if they come out with a touchscreen or tablet, i would buy it. My x61T sucks.
 
My only want, for it to come out!!!
I am ready to buy the 17" model now now NOW!! :) Just give me the same laptop as the 15.4, in a 17" model with a 1920 x 1200 resolution.
 
Optional87 said:
Unfortunately WiQuest went under and Intel has halted it's plans for it's own Wireless USB chip... so err, support might not quite be there in the coming years.
Click to expand...

That sucks. I was enjoying imagining using a wireless usb mouse (cause I don't have bluetooth on it). Is anyone else producing chips?
 
Hmmm, let's see...things I want from the 17" model. Relevant, since I'm planning on getting one. QX9300, or a Tier 1 GPU. Having both is a pipe dream, since it would crank out too much heat. A 9800M GT would be nice, but at 65W is probably way too much heat, considering the 9600M GT only produces 23W, from what I can tell. But then, it would be a little more reasonable given the hybrid SLI. Past that, not a whole lot. I expect they'll adopt the new 500GB hard drives when those come out, but as long as it come sstandard with 1920x1200, I'm happy.
 
Whoa, I didn't realize that the 17" out right now doesn't have a numberpad... I would really like a full keyboard like on almost every other 17" notebook out there...

I'd also agree, quad-core would be nice, but a high-end GPU would probably be even better. 9600m GT isn't too bad, but even something like a 9700m or even 9800m GS or GTS would be awesome! Photoshop CS4 works awesomely on my Gateway P-6831FX w/ T9300. A Macbook Pro with similar config would be even better.
 
Citizen86 said:
Whoa, I didn't realize that the 17" out right now doesn't have a numberpad... I would really like a full keyboard like on almost every other 17" notebook out there...
Click to expand...
I actually kind of prefer not having the numpad, because it places the rest of the keyboard in the center. The function key numpad works ok, I think, once you get used to it. But different strokes for different folks and all that. I just want it non-glossy! But that does not seem very likely anymore...
 
I use a 15.4" MacBook Pro with a VM loaded with Windows Vista pretty constantly.. while I have Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Entourage, and Firefox, at the least, open. Usually I also have iTunes, Adium, Illustrator and Cyberduck open. Sometimes Safari too. Personally I feel it's better to keep the portability of a 15.4" or smaller laptop and just have a external HD and monitor at my office. Typically even though I do a decent amount of work while on the go, a majority is still done at a small amount of key places.

Who cares about a number pad? Do any of you really use one enough to care? I hardly even notice.

My biggest wish would be better monitors. Even at 15.4", they should support 1680x1050.. virtually every decent PC laptop does.
 
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