mbp More Claims of MacBook Pro Adopting MacBook Air Form Factor in 2012 Redesig

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More Claims of MacBook Pro Adopting MacBook Air Form Factor in 2012 Redesign

In two report back in April and July of last year, we reported that Apple was working on an ultra-thin 15-inch Mac notebook, with the suggestion being that the existing MacBook Pro line would evolve to take design cues and many of the features from the popular MacBook Air. But whether the larger notebooks would be branded as MacBook Pros or MacBook Airs has been unclear.

Many had hoped that the redesigned 15-inch notebook would debut by the end of 2011, but Apple apparently elected to squeeze in one final minor spec bump as it waited for Intel's Ivy Bridge platform to launch in 2012. Reports late last year continued to suggest that Apple was finishing up work on the redesigned 15-inch MacBook Pro ahead of a 2012 debut.

AppleInsider now weighs in with its own claims essentially mirroring much of what was previously reported, but emphasizing that the shift will likely see a unification of Apple's notebook lines under the MacBook Air design aesthetic, covering the full range of 11-inch to 17-inch sizes by the end of this year.

This will include new, ultra-thin unibody enclosures that jettison yesteryear technologies like optical disk drives and traditional hard drives in favor of models with lightweight chassis that employ flash-memory based solid-state drives, instant-on capabilities, extended battery life, and rely on digital distribution for software and media.

"They're all going to look like MacBook Airs," one person familiar with the new MacBook Pro designs told AppleInsider. Meanwhile, existing MacBook Pro designs are expected to be phased out over the course of the year.

The report suggests that Apple may not shift the entire MacBook Pro line at once, instead beginning with the 15-inch model and then following with the 17-inch model "shortly thereafter". Apple followed a similar pattern with its transition to the present unibody design back in late 2008 and early 2009.

The fate of the 13-inch MacBook Pro remains murky, and may depend on just how closely the new MacBook Pro designs mirror the smaller MacBook Air and whether Apple brings the whole notebook line under a single name. With the MacBook Pro redesign and a boost to the 13-inch MacBook Air, there may simply not be enough differentiating the two 13-inch machines and Apple may opt to consolidate its notebooks down to essentially a single line in four different sizes.

Source: Mac Rumors

[DrCheese]

The 13ins MBP as it stands is a joke of a machine. Costs more than the MBA, has an awful screen res (1280x800 wat) and ships with a 5400RPM drive by default. So yeah, I expect it to be thrown under a bus when the entire MBP range gets the MBA look/size.

[Tech Star]

Sounds awesome. :D If they can fit in the existing 15" into an Air body with Ivy Bridge and a better GPU then I will buy it day 1 with my student discount.

[Rudy]

I would be interested in a thin 15" macbook

[dknm]

That's all nice, but if it comes with a stock capacity of 128 GB, no matter how you put it - it's insufficient nowadays. And their storage price is scary.

Needed to upgrade my old faithful 15" anyway :) !

[Pink Floyd Veteran]

that is nice, unless they reduce the power of MBP to fit them in the MBA unibody. I don't want to trade power for portability. Otherwise, I'd have a MBA right now.

[The_Observer]

interesting. i would like to have a quad core mac book air. BUT i would like to have the option of upgrading the memory myself. Im sorry but im not paying apple prices on memory when i can do this myself.

[Rudy]

interesting. i would like to have a quad core mac book air. BUT i would like to have the option of upgrading the memory myself. Im sorry but im not paying apple prices on memory when i can do this myself.

In that form factor it's doubtful you'll be able to upgrade the ram

[The_Observer]

In that form factor it's doubtful you'll be able to upgrade the ram

Mac Book air dont let you upgrade the memory. You are stuck with what you order.

[Astra.Xtreme]

Packing that much power into a small form factor will probably result in some pretty bad heating problems.

[Elliott]

interesting. i would like to have a quad core mac book air. BUT i would like to have the option of upgrading the memory myself. Im sorry but im not paying apple prices on memory when i can do this myself.

While I thought the same thing about the MBA, it's pretty amazing how little memory you need when you have an SSD. I only notice a very slight difference in speed when things are coming out the page file. I'd take 4GB and an SSD over 8GB and a platter-based HDD any day of the week.

[The_Observer]

While I thought the same thing about the MBA, it's pretty amazing how little memory you need when you have an SSD. I only notice a very slight difference in speed when things are coming out the page file. I'd take 4GB and an SSD over 8GB and a platter-based HDD any day of the week.

True that, thanks for the input. ill look at the MBA, 128gig drive is more than enough for me. i give just what i need on there and have a portable drive on the side.