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[Mr. Wonderful]

These last few weeks are going to kill me.

 

[Valkyr Junkie]

The consumer end

I'm starting to believe.

Interesting. I knew the initial Light Peak ports were gonna run over copper instead of fiber, but I didn't know they'd be utilizing a hybrid USB connection.

 

[dmshaposv]

These last few weeks are going to kill me.

Tell me abt it - waiting for the refresh since december. My body is ready if the thursday rumour is true.

 

[Bowser]

Tell me abt it - waiting for the refresh since december. My body is ready if the thursday rumour is true.

Been waiting since October, have had the money set aside since then. I AM so ready for this. Hope these MBPs come standard with SSDs plz god

 

[mrkgoo]

Been waiting since October, have had the money set aside since then. I AM so ready for this. Hope these MBPs come standard with SSDs plz god

Though I would think the ssd would remain an option, why is it important that they make it standard?

 

[Jasoco]

The consumer end



I'm starting to believe.

Man oh man, if they could get Lightpeak working with backwards compatibility with USB2 and maybe even 3, it would be so awesome. Unfortunately it would also be useless to me since all my stuff is connected to my new mini. Which is USB2 and isn't going to change.

I only bought my MBP last year but am still tempted to upgrade already.

 

[giga]

I don’t see Light Peak happening this early. I’d like to be proved wrong, but I’m not expecting it before the desktops get it.

 

[badcrumble]

Raising the baseline price on the 17" MBP from $2299 to $2499 is bullshit if they're actually doing it. There had better be some SERIOUS upgrades going on, because Apple's generally been DROPPING their prices for the past few years, not raising them.

 

[badcrumble]

Having looked a bit more closely, I think it's more reasonable to suspect that Apple's gonna drop to one 13" SKU, two 15" SKUs, and two 17" SKUs. They've already got one 13" MacBook and two 13" MacBook Airs (not to mention two computers at the $999 price point - the MacBook and the baseline 11" MacBook Air). That's pretty crowded, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Apple cutting the cost on the 17" SKU from $2299 to $2199 and then adding some kind of unbelievably tricked out 17" SKU at $2499.

 

[LCfiner]

Raising the baseline price on the 17" MBP from $2299 to $2499 is bullshit if they're actually doing it. There had better be some SERIOUS upgrades going on, because Apple's generally been DROPPING their prices for the past few years, not raising them.

a couple thoughts. On one hand, I think Apple feels they can do pretty much whatever they want with the 17" model's price since it's such a low volume seller and Apple might believe that those users will keep coming back despite a price hike.

But on the other hand, those BB skus don't list every model from the Apple Store. they have 5 prices but the Apple store currently sells 6 models (the 2000 model is missing). so maybe that 2500 model is an upgraded 17" and the 2200 price is a base 17" - or some other combination of upgraded 15" skus. we don't know yet.

edit: lol, looks like we had the same thought after your second post

 

[Burger]

Having looked a bit more closely, I think it's more reasonable to suspect that Apple's gonna drop to one 13" SKU, two 15" SKUs, and two 17" SKUs. They've already got one 13" MacBook and two 13" MacBook Airs (not to mention two computers at the $999 price point - the MacBook and the baseline 11" MacBook Air). That's pretty crowded, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Apple cutting the cost on the 17" SKU from $2299 to $2199 and then adding some kind of unbelievably tricked out 17" SKU at $2499.

Courtesy of: http://www.appleinsider.com/article..._5_new_macbook_pro_skus_and_price_points.html

 

[badcrumble]

Courtesy of: http://www.appleinsider.com/article..._5_new_macbook_pro_skus_and_price_points.html

That chart is just based off of speculation by lining up the prices of current models with the new Best Buy prices that got leaked. There's no actual confirmation of the screen sizes at each price point.

 

[Bowser]

Though I would think the ssd would remain an option, why is it important that they make it standard?

Standard as in the price stays the same but with an SSD instead of an HD. Basically, I'm cheap Also, I'm hoping they do it blade style like the MBA so that they can reduce the overall size which may entice me to opt for a 15" rather than a 13"

 

[Burger]

That chart is just based off of speculation by lining up the prices of current models with the new Best Buy prices that got leaked. There's no actual confirmation of the screen sizes at each price point.

Sure, I only thought you might find it interesting.

 

[dmshaposv]

I don’t see Light Peak happening this early. I’d like to be proved wrong, but I’m not expecting it before the desktops get it.

Going by the rumour mill, price options, and the general popularity of MBPs along with the substantial time taken for the refresh - it would be a good time to introduce Light peak. I'd assume they'd at least go with the copper peak route intel has recently touted.


Apple is definitely not going usb 3 and firewire 800 is becoming stale. Also ties in with the "MBA as the future" stand, with light peak replacing existing ports and MBPs getting thinner and lighter.


It is all up in the air, so all we can do is wait and watch the next few days (hopefully!) or weeks.

 

[badcrumble]

Sure, I only thought you might find it interesting.

Yeah - and I've got to admit that what I'm saying is purely wishful thinking. But I've been thinking since the MacBook Air announcement that Apple needs to un-crowd the 13" screen size and/or the $999 price point for fear of letting their notebooks cannibalize each other. And I'm still wondering whether the vanilla MacBook will go the way of the iPod Classic in this, i.e. sitting around and barely getting upgraded until its nimbler, younger, solid-state-based sibling catches up on storage capacity and it can be discontinued.

 

[Burger]

Yeah - and I've got to admit that what I'm saying is purely wishful thinking. But I've been thinking since the MacBook Air announcement that Apple needs to un-crowd the 13" screen size and/or the $999 price point for fear of letting their notebooks cannibalize each other. And I'm still wondering whether the vanilla MacBook will go the way of the iPod Classic in this, i.e. sitting around and barely getting upgraded until its nimbler, younger, solid-state-based sibling catches up on storage capacity and it can be discontinued.

Totally agreed. The plastic book sticks out like a sore thumb, but I can understand why Apple keep it around. Students probably buy the shit out of it.

 

[badcrumble]

Totally agreed. The plastic book sticks out like a sore thumb, but I can understand why Apple keep it around. Students probably buy the shit out of it.

Yep. If you check the MacRumors buyer's guide, the MacBook is just as due for a refresh as the MacBook Pro, and yet we're hearing nothing about it. I suspect that Apple's going to start slowing down the MacBook refresh cycle while continually and aggressively upgrading the MacBook Air to take over its spot (and rumors of a substantial Sandy Bridge upgrade to the MBA this June would fall perfectly in line with that line of speculation).

 

[mrkgoo]

I say get rid of the 13" pros. Since when were the 12"/13" models really all that 'pro' other than portability? The current macbook airs are awesome for that job, so the current 13" just seems like a bit of 'in betweener' not really exceling at either job.

 

[Burger]

I say get rid of the 13" pros. Since when were the 12"/13" models really all that 'pro' other than portability? The current macbook airs are awesome for that job, so the current 13" just seems like a bit of 'in betweener' not really exceling at either job.

I don't think the Pro moniker really means much these days, not as much as it used to anyway. I'd say the majority of Macbook Pro's sold are not being used in a professional manner.

Would Apple drop 'Pro' from the name if they binned the plastic Macbook? I doubt it.

 

[Dreams-Visions]

hmm. to sell my 2010 17" or not to. that is the question.

that will depend fully on the GPU and USB3/lightpeek integration. Nothing else can convince me to upgrade.

 

[Chris R]

Why wouldn't apple use usb 3.0?

Offer light peak as an option, don't make it standard. Same goes for ssds, and no optical drive.

 

[Firestorm]

I say get rid of the 13" pros. Since when were the 12"/13" models really all that 'pro' other than portability? The current macbook airs are awesome for that job, so the current 13" just seems like a bit of 'in betweener' not really exceling at either job.

Getting rid of the only reason I bought a Mac doesn't seem right. The MacBook Airs would be annoying for me to use for my work (Photoshop, Premier, Flash, etc) while the 15" are too large to be portable and too expensive for what they offer.

The 13" Pro is likely also their most popular laptop.

 

[Dreams-Visions]

Why wouldn't apple use usb 3.0?

Offer light peak as an option, don't make it standard. Same goes for ssds, and no optical drive.

Intel wants lightpeek to be the standard, not USB3. USB3 certainly doesn't have any kind of commanding presence in the market such that not going with USB3 would be detrimental to anyone but very early USB3 adopters.

 

[cooljeanius]

I don't think the Pro moniker really means much these days, not as much as it used to anyway. I'd say the majority of Macbook Pro's sold are not being used in a professional manner.

Yeah, MacBook Pros are really popular at my school, and I mostly just see other students using them for browsing the web and other stuff like that.

 

[dmshaposv]

Getting rid of the only reason I bought a Mac doesn't seem right. The MacBook Airs would be annoying for me to use for my work (Photoshop, Premier, Flash, etc) while the 15" are too large to be portable and too expensive for what they offer.

The 13" Pro is likely also their most popular laptop.

I honestly hope they get something better for the 13" - Core 2 duo just doesn't cut it for me.

I want to do photo/video editing (Photoshop/illustrator/final cut) and am hoping for something like lightpeak and a better CPU than core 2 duo. I don't want the 15" as my only as I like the weight and size of the 13" much better (I walk around a lot).

P.S. its also cheaper!

 

[Firestorm]

yeah, it definitely needs a processor upgrade. Cheaper would be nice but $1099 on a student discount (+free ipod touch and printer in the summer) is pretty decent.

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

Phew. If the $2000 (after education discount) 15" Macbook Pro is Quad Core, I'm going to be spending an extra $300. :/

 

[Dreams-Visions]

you guys might want to stay away from those cool Momentus XT hybrid drives for awhile.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/20/momentus-xt-hybrid-drive-causing-headaches-seagate-working-to-f/

 

[mrkgoo]

I don't think the Pro moniker really means much these days, not as much as it used to anyway. I'd say the majority of Macbook Pro's sold are not being used in a professional manner.

Would Apple drop 'Pro' from the name if they binned the plastic Macbook? I doubt it.

I didn't mena 'pro' literally for professional. Just that the 13" seems to cross over the Airs' target market a little. Do they really offer that much more power over the Airs? Of course, more hard drive space and disc access, but in many ways those two specs are slowly becoming irrelevant in different ways for different users. The 13" seems to be only a design spec away from the plastic MacBook in most regards.

That said, as mentioned, it is likely they ARE the most popular MacBooks overall, and that's a big factor for Apple.

 

[Jasoco]

I don't think the Pro moniker really means much these days, not as much as it used to anyway. I'd say the majority of Macbook Pro's sold are not being used in a professional manner.

Would Apple drop 'Pro' from the name if they binned the plastic Macbook? I doubt it.

Do you really not remember the 2008 unibody MacBooks? They did exactly what you doubt they'll do. They dumped the white MB's and the 13" Pro and released what is essentially the current 13" Pro sans SD slot as the new MacBook. It lasted a cycle before being replaced by the white plastic unibody they have now.

Would they do it again? Probably not.

 

[Burger]

I didn't mena 'pro' literally for professional. Just that the 13" seems to cross over the Airs' target market a little. Do they really offer that much more power over the Airs? Of course, more hard drive space and disc access, but in many ways those two specs are slowly becoming irrelevant in different ways for different users. The 13" seems to be only a design spec away from the plastic MacBook in most regards.

That said, as mentioned, it is likely they ARE the most popular MacBooks overall, and that's a big factor for Apple.

Sorry, I knew what you meant, I just went off on a tangent a little.

Anyway, I think Apple see's the 13" Pro as a very temporary thing, will miniturisation technology advance quick enough for the 13" Air to replace the 13" Pro? Apple have already stated that the MacBook Air is the future of the Macbook...

The fact that these pallets of new computers are arriving at stores wrapped in black PVC with very strict embargo's hints at a design change, not just a spec bump.

Do you really not remember the 2008 unibody MacBooks? They did exactly what you doubt they'll do. They dumped the white MB's and the 13" Pro and released what is essentially the current 13" Pro sans SD slot as the new MacBook. It lasted a cycle before being replaced by the white plastic unibody they have now.

Would they do it again? Probably not.

Yeah I remember. I assume the word 'Pro' meant more to customers than Apple realised.

 

[mrkgoo]

you guys might want to stay away from those cool Momentus XT hybrid drives for awhile.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/20/momentus-xt-hybrid-drive-causing-headaches-seagate-working-to-f/

Damn. I have one of those. I don't think I've had any issues, though, but can be hard to tell. Safari crashes related to HD? I doubt it. Anyway, I've had no MAJOR crashes or freezes, but minor delays, mostly in Safari, so I dunno.

Maybe I lucked out? I swear, however, that it did chirp at me a couple times.

Maybe he's holding it wrong?

It says they have some firmware updates, but how do you update a hard disk firmware?

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

So if this update actually happens, will this be when they update the iPad also? That was rumored for february also right?

 

[jts]

So if this update actually happens, will this be when they update the iPad also? That was rumored for february also right?

The iPad update is rumored for every single month of the year, will happen around April though.

 

[LCfiner]

So if this update actually happens, will this be when they update the iPad also? That was rumored for february also right?

it would not be very Apple-like to have updates to two different product lines in one day. so I say it's unlikely. iPad update will be its own thing so there's nothing to distract from it.

 

[mrkgoo]

Problem:

My wife's MacBook no longer plays YouTube videos from YouTube.com. It's just a blank place where the video should be. No controls, nothing.

I've reinstalled Safari, reset preferences, reset Safari, reinstalled Flash 10.2. Nothing. Weirdly, youtube-embedded files (ie from TouchArcade) seem to play. Videos work fine in Chrome.

If I join the html5 beta, they also load.

Why do they not load otherwise? How do I fix?

 

[Burger]

Problem:

My wife's MacBook no longer plays YouTube videos from YouTube.com. It's just a blank place where the video should be. No controls, nothing.

I've reinstalled Safari, reset preferences, reset Safari, reinstalled Flash 10.2. Nothing. Weirdly, youtube-embedded files (ie from TouchArcade) seem to play. Videos work fine in Chrome.

If I join the html5 beta, they also load.

Why do they not load otherwise? How do I fix?

All signs point to Flash. Try deleting /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Flash Player/Flash Player.plugin and reinstalling Flash again.

and... /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/Flash Player.plugin

 

[Chris R]

Intel wants lightpeek to be the standard, not USB3. USB3 certainly doesn't have any kind of commanding presence in the market such that not going with USB3 would be detrimental to anyone but very early USB3 adopters.

I'm just guessing here so I might be entirely wrong, but wouldn't pure USB 3.0 be cheaper than anything Lightpeak related (right now at least)?

 

[Dreams-Visions]

I'm just guessing here so I might be entirely wrong, but wouldn't pure USB 3.0 be cheaper than anything Lightpeak related (right now at least)?

oh I have no idea either. could be.

 

[SnakeXs]

I'm just guessing here so I might be entirely wrong, but wouldn't pure USB 3.0 be cheaper than anything Lightpeak related (right now at least)?

Word is the first lightpeak rendition will use copper anyway, so it shouldn't be a big issue price wise. As they turn up the speeds and reach copper limits they'll switch to optical.

 

[mrkgoo]

All signs point to Flash. Try deleting /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Flash Player/Flash Player.plugin and reinstalling Flash again.

and... /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/Flash Player.plugin

Thanks, tried it but unfortuantely no dice.

Oh, and the Flash Player.plugin doesn't exist in the Applications SUpport folder (it doesn't on my computer either and my computer is fine).

 

[Anticitizen One]

question about the student discount. I used my discount to get my mom a macbook pro back in August 2010. Will I be able to use it to buy a new macbook pro now or do I have to wait until August 2011?

 

[Burger]

Thanks, tried it but unfortuantely no dice.

Oh, and the Flash Player.plugin doesn't exist in the Applications SUpport folder (it doesn't on my computer either and my computer is fine).

Might be a relic of an older plugin on my computer then (this OS has been migrated across 3 computers including a G5 iMac)...

I still think it's Flash. Chrome uses it's own plugin, probably why it's working...

 

[jts]

question about the student discount. I used my discount to get my mom a macbook pro back in August 2010. Will I be able to use it to buy a new macbook pro now or do I have to wait until August 2011?

I think you can get one per school year. If they consider the school year to start in september, you can get a new one already.

 

[Jasoco]

Yeah I remember. I assume the word 'Pro' meant more to customers than Apple realised.

I have a theory that they thought they could streamline the lineup so they dropped the 13" Pro thinking it was just fine as a normal MacBook and dropped it into the regular consumer line. But yeah, people liked the word "Pro" even though the aluminum MB was exactly what a Pro would be. They just wanted the word Pro. So in that time it took to upgrade and bring it back they were able to devise a unibody method for the plastic MB's and bring them back. The original white MB's had a lot of case problems I assume they wanted to put behind them. ("CrackBook" anyone?)

In short, it was an experiment, and they fixed it pretty fast. I mean, look at the Pro and the white MB now, they're pretty close in specs. Main difference being the SD card slot and 2GB extra on the Pro. Which is nothing if they ever did go back to what they did. The SD slot is a throw-in these days and RAM too. They just keep them off the MB to make the two machines different. Everything else is the same. 2.4GHz, video card and HD space. And right now, screen resolution. (Until the next update I am 99% sure.)

 

[mrkgoo]

Might be a relic of an older plugin on my computer then (this OS has been migrated across 3 computers including a G5 iMac)...

I still think it's Flash. Chrome uses it's own plugin, probably why it's working...

Yeah, I think so.

I just checked out some video on Yahoovideo (they have flash videos too?), and they work. So it's just on the YouTube site.

Weird.

Tried moving the Macromedia folder in user/library/preferences and starting up safari regenerates the folder, but still no luck with YouTube videos.

SO at the moment, it appears that YOUTUBE FLASH Videos don't work, but other things do. I'm afraid I don't know enough about how interwebs works to figure much else out.

edit: Odd. It doesn't work on my sister's MacBook either. Works totally fine on my MacBook Pro.

She has a slightly older version of Flash Player installed too. Can something with Youtube be incompatible with a certain hardware setup? It was working a few days ago. Networking? Can a network issue prevent the video from playing?

 

[mrkgoo]

Yeah, I think so.

I just checked out some video on Yahoovideo (they have flash videos too?), and they work. So it's just on the YouTube site.

Weird.

Tried moving the Macromedia folder in user/library/preferences and starting up safari regenerates the folder, but still no luck with YouTube videos.

SO at the moment, it appears that YOUTUBE FLASH Videos don't work, but other things do. I'm afraid I don't know enough about how interwebs works to figure much else out.

edit: Odd. It doesn't work on my sister's MacBook either. Works totally fine on my MacBook Pro.

She has a slightly older version of Flash Player installed too. Can something with Youtube be incompatible with a certain hardware setup? It was working a few days ago. Networking? Can a network issue prevent the video from playing?

Seems it's not just my wife and sister:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1098882

It appears to be a 32-bit/64-bit issue, but only for YouTube Flash, and only for Safari, and only for some configurations.

Edit: Yup - setting Safari to 32-bit makes it work fine.

Whew. I'm not crazy. It's a YouTube server-side problem.

oddly enough, if you go to the video through the user's channel, the video works fine.

 

[Burger]

I have a theory that they thought they could streamline the lineup so they dropped the 13" Pro thinking it was just fine as a normal MacBook and dropped it into the regular consumer line. But yeah, people liked the word "Pro" even though the aluminum MB was exactly what a Pro would be. They just wanted the word Pro. So in that time it took to upgrade and bring it back they were able to devise a unibody method for the plastic MB's and bring them back. The original white MB's had a lot of case problems I assume they wanted to put behind them. ("CrackBook" anyone?)

In short, it was an experiment, and they fixed it pretty fast. I mean, look at the Pro and the white MB now, they're pretty close in specs. Main difference being the SD card slot and 2GB extra on the Pro. Which is nothing if they ever did go back to what they did. The SD slot is a throw-in these days and RAM too. They just keep them off the MB to make the two machines different. Everything else is the same. 2.4GHz, video card and HD space. And right now, screen resolution. (Until the next update I am 99% sure.)

Yeah I agree. Although I'm not sure you can 'unibody' a plastic MacBook as you can with Aluminium. Plastic needs to be injection moulded, I'm not sure of the reasons why you cannot mill plastic (and remelt the filings) but I'm sure the reasons exist (my guess would be the speed of manufacturing).

I'm sure if Apple could offer the current plastic model in Aluminium for $999 and still retain the margin they would. The problem then becomes, what value does the 13" Pro offer? Does the MacBook exist only to show value in the 13" Pro and drive customers to spend an extra $200?

Whew. I'm not crazy. It's a YouTube server-side problem.

Wow, strange problem, good job diagnosing it.

 

[mrkgoo]

Yeah I agree. Although I'm not sure you can 'unibody' a plastic MacBook as you can with Aluminium. Plastic needs to be injection moulded, I'm not sure of the reasons why you cannot mill plastic (and remelt the filings) but I'm sure the reasons exist (my guess would be the speed of manufacturing).

I'm sure if Apple could offer the current plastic model in Aluminium for $999 and still retain the margin they would. The problem then becomes, what value does the 13" Pro offer? Does the MacBook exist only to show value in the 13" Pro and drive customers to spend an extra $200?

The current MacBook IS a plastic Unibody, at least in finished product (the same parts). But I guess you mean in manufacturing process. Actually, maybe not. What's the inside of the plastic unibody look like? Are all the bits fixed into the casing as the alu-unibodies?

Wow, strange problem, good job diagnosing it.

Well, if by diagnosing you mean spending the better part of today updating, reinstalling, removing bits and pieces trying to figure out the issue on this end, only to find a forum post that others have the issue....then, yeah

It boggled me because my computer had no issue, so I thought the problem was on the end-computer. As it turns out, it's more likely the other end, but only affects certain set-ups. :/ I hate computers sometimes. Thankfully, it's a mac. If it's a wider issue, then it's relatively easy to find others with the problem, because there are millions of people with the exact same hardware/software configuration.