Pictures: Fantasic mockups by Miguel Surez
This is guesswork, but here’s the likely feature list of the new MacBooks due October 14:
* Penryn Core 2 Duo chips: 2.4GHz, 2.66GHz, 2.8GHz, and 3.06GHz.
* 2GB of RAM (MacBook); 4GB of RAM (MacBook Pro).
* Hard drives: 160GB — 320GB.
* Glossy widescreen TFT screens. On the MacBook: 13.3-inch (1,280×800 resolution); MacBook Pro: 13.8-inch (1,366×768).
* Integrated NVIDIA graphics system.
* New, all-aluminum enclosures, white, black and silver. (Would love to see multiple colors, but think its unlikely — it’s an inventory nightmare, especially for high-priced products).
* Enclosure is tapered: very thin at the sides, thicker inthe middle, like the iPhone 3G and MacBook Air.
* Magnetic lid latch on all models (replacing mechanical clasps on the MacBook Pro).
* All ports on left side — including FireWire 800.
* Slot-loading optical drive on right (no Blu-ray).
* Extra-large battery pack running full width of computer at the front, under the touchpad.
* Recessed keypad like MacBook Air. Keys are Chicklet style on MacBooks, black and backlight on Pros.
* Price: Starting at $800. This is the mysterious “product transition” that Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer said in July would impact Apple’s gross margins.
“We will be delivering state-of-the-art new products that I cannot discuss today that our competitors will not be able to match,” Oppenheimer said during the Q308 conference call.
Leander Kahney is the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac.
Leander is a longtime technology reporter and the author of six acclaimed books about Apple, including two New York Times bestsellers: Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple’s Greatest Products and Inside Steve’s Brain, a biography of Steve Jobs.
He’s also written a top-selling biography of Apple CEO Tim Cook and authored Cult of Mac and Cult of iPod, which both won prestigious design awards. Most recently, he was co-author of Cult of Mac, 2nd Edition.
Leander has been reporting about Apple and technology for nearly 30 years.
Before founding Cult of Mac as an independent publication, Leander was news editor at Wired.com, where he was responsible for the day-to-day running of the Wired.com website. He headed up a team of six section editors, a dozen reporters and a large pool of freelancers. Together the team produced a daily digest of stories about the impact of science and technology, and won several awards, including several Webby Awards, 2X Knight-Batten Awards for Innovation in Journalism and the 2010 MIN (Magazine Industry Newsletter) award for best blog, among others.
Before being promoted to news editor, Leander was Wired.com’s senior reporter, primarily covering Apple. During that time, Leander published a ton of scoops, including the first in-depth report about the development of the iPod. Leander attended almost every keynote speech and special product launch presented by Steve Jobs, including the historic launches of the iPhone and iPad. He also reported from almost every Macworld Expo in the late ’90s and early ‘2000s, including, sadly, the last shows in Boston, San Francisco and Tokyo. His reporting for Wired.com formed the basis of the first Cult of Mac book, and subsequently this website.
Before joining Wired, Leander was a senior reporter at the legendary MacWeek, the storied and long-running weekly that documented Apple and its community in the 1980s and ’90s.
Leander has written for Wired magazine (including the Issue 16.04 cover story about Steve Jobs’ leadership at Apple, entitled Evil/Genius), Scientific American, The Guardian, The Observer, The San Francisco Chronicle and many other publications.
Leander is an expert on:
Apple and Apple history
Steve Jobs, Jony Ive, Tim Cook and Apple leadership
Apple community
iPhone and iOS
iPad and iPadOS
Mac and macOS
Apple Watch and watchOS
Apple TV and tvOS
AirPods
Leander has a postgrad diploma in artificial intelligence from the University of Aberdeen, and a BSc (Hons) in experimental psychology from the University of Sussex.
He has a diploma in journalism from the UK’s National Council for the Training of Journalists.
Leander lives in San Francisco, California, and is married with four children. He’s an avid biker and has ridden in many long-distance bike events, including California’s legendary Death Ride.
You can find out more about Leander on LinkedIn and Facebook. You can follow him on X at @lkahney or Instagram.
26 responses to “Likely Feature List of New MacBooks”
i hope the enclosure is not this one… it’s horrible…
MacBook:-
2.4GHz Intel Penryn Core 2 Duo Up to 2.8GHz
2GB to 4GB
250GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm
SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) no BulRay
Utilize the newer 16:9 ratio screens also to come in two sizes 11.1″ and 13.3″
MacBook Pro
Nehalem-based Core i7 processors would be nice, But 2.8GHz Penryn Core 2 Duo to 3.6GHz more likely
4GB to 16GB
400GB Serial ATA @ 5400 rpm
SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) with BluRay
Utilize the newer 16:9 ratio screens also to come in two sizes 18.4″ 16.4″
This is my perdiction for what its worth. I also think the Pro will have a recessed keypad like MacBook Air. But I think the keys will be metal with backlight in the Chicklet style on Pros.
How will the tapered edges work with all the ports and dvd? The air uses the “drop down” port. The spy shots found yesterday show a squared off chassis so I’m not sure about this one.
I think you’re pretty much on, except for:
* Screen: I know many like the glossy screen, but why would they drop the matte option when many others absolutely hate it? Also, 13.8″ MBP? Maybe same size as MB.
* Enclosure: I agree that they will all be aluminum (no colors). Won’t be tapered as much as mock-up at top.
* Optical Drive: I’m really holding out for the Blu-Ray, so I hope you’re wrong here!
* Price: I think the price will start at $949, not $800. I just don’t think it would happen.
Can’t wait to see, though. I’m sure there will be something really cool that no one has really considered. Apple always surprises!
MacBook Pro with 13.8″ screen? Nonsense! Who came up with that silly idea?
How about a real Apple docking station? How about internal 3G?
PLEASE have a non-glossy monitor option!! Glossy is a nightmare for designers. Also yea, the tapered look isn’t so pretty.
I’ve been desperate for a few months for these! Hopefully CS4 comes out very soon too :)
MacBook Pro with 13.8 screen would be absolutely useless.I’m also worry about discontinueing matt screens.I would say 15-17 mac book pros,15 macbooks and 13 and 11 mac book airs.you can’t work on 13 inch screen ,unless you just want to check your emails on a cafe.but the $800 staring price is really necessary if apple wants to stablish a bigger laptop market.
Since when does a price drop translate into a product transition? Sorry, don’t see it. Many seem to think the product transition was the ipod touch going from media player to game system but alot of Mac folks seem to have missed that.
Not that I’ve spent much time thinking about this:
– 13.8″ MBP? Deal killer for a $2K computer.
– Black keys? Why make your new model look like a 7 year-old Titanium?
-Taper on MB maybe, but can they shoehorn an MBP in there?
– Aluminum colors (even black or white)? I think they’d have learned from Dell’s mess with painted metal cases.
– They might go to all glossy, but only if the screen manufacturers are killing them in the next couple of years. They’ll be ahead of the curve when everybody else changes over – “We’ve been all glossy since 2008!”
– Integrated graphics? Not on the Pro.
– Battery in the front is good, if just heat protection for your thighs. Battery size shape may be harbinger for next generation of better batteries, if only lighter.
– Price sounds reasonable, but $849 preserves some caché. I think a bigger profit hit would be a BIG drop in MBP price ($1249 start? $1599 top?) (13.8″ still a killer)
– Fewer models: Low and High for each. Besides reducing cost, keeps MB from cannibalizing Pro sales.
Not noted:
– a change to 1.8″ drives. It likely means 120GB to start. Besides space savings, using one form factor makes a lot of sense economically. It also makes the next iPod classic refresh a no-brainer.
– SS Drive for idiots (though the Dow may have already killed that niche).
– Choice of white for all MB models. Apple never offered it for high end MBs, so they don’t know if they lost some sales to the cheaper white model. If there’s a shakeout they’ll drop the color that lags at a refresh.
– blu-ray option at first minor refresh – gets the fence-sitters to jump.
– It’s not a MB, but possible addition of FW800 to iPhone at next iteration (why else bother? If you need a giant RAID ethernet is probably as good or better). If it’s popular then add it to the classic and touch.
– A SATA port? But that could be a FW800 killer.
– Single USB. If you want more spend 8 bucks on a hub.
– More magnetic cable connections. Negates the need for a docking port.
Oh, if they can actually do aluminum colors, a shiny black (REALLY SHINY) MB Air.
if the MBP screen drops below 15.4″, i’ll probably be forced to switch back to PC. i agree 13.8″ would be completely useless. i like the idea of a 16.4″ screen though, or better yet, a hi-res 15.4″.
I hope it’s not a glossy screen. Nothing is more difficult to see in strong light than anything on a glossy screen.