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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Mac 17inch may be no more

Speculation by a single analyst does not the truth make. If anything it is probably a contra-indicator. I am more concerned about the rumors that the next MBPs will only have solid state storage and no hard drives. The optical drive can go away. I hardly ever use that any more. I really want to see a retina display. And I want USB3.
 
Thanks for the link to the article Michael.

Seems like Apple's 'lean product line strategy' portends to alienating the 'Pro' market. Recently, this is seen with ditching the XServe, ceasing production on the 30" display, then the slow MacPro refresh cycle, and now supposedly the 17" (the only one left in the MB line with a PCIe34 slot). Then again, perhaps it is just the evolution of the product lines. However, without a looking-glass into their product roadmap it only leaves one to speculate that the underperforming 'Pro' devices are headed for near-term demise.

It is also part and parcel of the cyclical trend of centralization/decentralization. With a recent shift toward 'cloud' (read: centralization) computing and storage, the apparent need for high-horsepower devices for the masses is lower than what it used to be. Apple's push toward that and their significant capital investment into iCloud is demonstrative of that principle. For those on the so-called 'bleeding edge' we are left to devise our own solutions or find others that better cater to our use case. IMHO, the barrier to adoption of the contralization model is the bandwidth consumption required to facilitate it. This increase in bandwidth consumption is evidenced by the exploding mobile data usage trends in just the last few years, with the domination of iPhone/Android and tablet devices like iPad.


Typed on my 2011 MacBook Pro 17" 2.5GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 (8,3) with anti-glare screen; 240GB SSD (OS) and 750GB spinner (DATA) in the optical bay :)
 
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Jon Thomasberg said:
Thanks for the link to the article Michael.

Seems like Apple's 'lean product line strategy' portends to alienating the 'Pro' market. Recently, this is seen with ditching the XServe, ceasing production on the 30" display, then the slow MacPro refresh cycle, and now supposedly the 17" (the only one left in the MB line with a PCIe34 slot). Then again, perhaps it is just the evolution of the product lines. However, without a looking-glass into their product roadmap it only leaves one to speculate that the underperforming 'Pro' devices are headed for near-term demise.

It is also part and parcel of the cyclical trend of centralization/decentralization. With a recent shift toward 'cloud' (read: centralization) computing and storage, the apparent need for high-horsepower devices for the masses is lower than what it used to be. Apple's push toward that and their significant capital investment into iCloud is demonstrative of that principle. For those on the so-called 'bleeding edge' we are left to devise our own solutions or find others that better cater to our use case. IMHO, the barrier to adoption of the contralization model is the bandwidth consumption required to facilitate it. This increase in bandwidth consumption is evidenced by the exploding mobile data usage trends in just the last few years, with the domination of iPhone/Android and tablet devices like iPad.


Typed on my 2011 MacBook Pro 17" 2.5GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 (8,3) with anti-glare screen; 240GB SSD (OS) and 750GB spinner (DATA) in the optical bay :)
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The article is complete nonsense, if anything they would axe the Mac Pro in favor of the 17 inch macbook pro.
 
Who knows... the article could be true. I was surprised that they only sold 50k 17 inchers out of 3.1 million laptops.
 
Jon Thomasberg said:
It is also part and parcel of the cyclical trend of centralization/decentralization. With a recent shift toward 'cloud' (read: centralization) computing and storage, the apparent need for high-horsepower devices for the masses is lower than what it used to be.
Click to expand...

Apple may indeed believe that the need for high power machines is on the decline, but I don't subscribe to the community assets model. I want the horsepower on my desk, available for me when I need it. I don't care to be waiting in line to access computing cycles, or worse yet have my computing power throttled down by my ISP because they would like a bigger piece of the subscription based computing pie. I'm no socialist.

I have always preferred to work on Mac OS on their hardware, but if they cut the high end machines for the cloud, I'm out of here.

I have been on the perverbial fence while choosing my next NLE, and if the ability to have a worthy Apple workstation really comes into question, my choice will become much easier. I don't think we are quite there yet but if their cloud takes off as they hope it will then I don't doubt that their high end lines' days are numbered.

In three to five years the writing on the wall will be brighter, higher resolution and easier to read. How's that for marketing speak?
 
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Andrae Palmer said:
Who knows... the article could be true. I was surprised that they only sold 50k 17 inchers out of 3.1 million laptops.
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I'm not. I used to sell those things for a living when Apple had their Macbook boom and nobody really jumped for the larger models. Larger laptops just don't sell well except amongst certain demographics which are certainly not the average consumer.
 
Would be a damn shame if so. As a Onset VFX, editor and DIT, the extra screen real estate available on the 17" MBP makes working in AE, Ppro, FCP and others... that much more practicable and it's really not that heavy a machine to lug around.

My first Apple computer ever. 17" Macbook Pro. And I loved it. Certainly if they discontinue the 17" I'll be replacing my current 17" MBP pronto before they disappear from the channel...
 
This is stupid. I think people are reading into this the wrong way here... It seems that the MacBook Pro systems as we currently know them are going away. They're redesigning them to be more compact, sleeker and lighter. We've been reading rumors of this for months regarding the 15" model and now the rumors over the 17" are popping up. Some of them credible. IMO, I'm betting they're going to make them more like the Macbook Air in away -- no optical drive, solid state storage, that sort of thing. If the new flagship Macbook Pro comes with a 16" or larger screen, 512GB 6Gbps SSD and I can put 32GB RAM in it with a quad-core i7 Ivy Bridge CPU, and if it also has USB3 and dual Thunderbolt ports... Done, I'm sold. With all the new displays hitting the market for notebooks, I already see a trend to move away from the 17" screen size. looks like we can expect more 14" and 16" instead of 15" and 17". And with more pixels. We're talking 2560x1440 on the 14" displays here.


speculation... I know...
 
Andrae Palmer said:
Who knows... the article could be true. I was surprised that they only sold 50k 17 inchers out of 3.1 million laptops.
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Well that laptop is the most over priced product in the history of computers so it doesn't come as a surprise to me.
 
Jeff Kilgroe said:
looks like we can expect more 14" and 16" instead of 15" and 17". And with more pixels. We're talking 2560x1440 on the 14" displays here.


speculation... I know...
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Does it come with microscope?
 
Josh Snyder said:
Does it come with microscope?
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454471.jpg


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Josh Snyder said:
Well that laptop is the most over priced product in the history of computers so it doesn't come as a surprise to me.
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I don't know, this 17" MBP that I'm typing on right now is from 2007, still works really well, and has paid for itself many times over. Anyone here typing on a PC laptop from 2007 that runs just like it did when you got it?
 
Steve Sherrick said:
I don't know, this 17" MBP that I'm typing on right now is from 2007, still works really well, and has paid for itself many times over. Anyone here typing on a PC laptop from 2007 that runs just like it did when you got it?
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I have a Thinkpad T41 from 2003 which has been abused over the years and it still works great with Windows 7, although with restrictions. It has a superb 1400x1050 matte screen which has better viewing angles and resolution than most of the displays in this range (13" to 14") even 10 years later. I also have a Thinkpad W700 from 2008, which is pretty special. Core 2 Quad Q9000, Quadro FX 2700M, 2 x 7200rpm drives in RAID0, an amazing 1920x1200 screen, etc. It cost the equivalent of $3200, and what an investment it was! Even today it can play 5K footage in Premiere Pro at 1/8 res. Did I mention it has survived a 5 feet fall? Thanks to its shock absorbing roll-cage. I have owned 4 Thinkpads over the years, and not a single issue of any kind, whatsoever. Can't say the same for any other product range, including Powerbook/Macbook, although I haven't dabbled into Latitude, Elitebook, Toughbook etc.

I get the feeling when you are alluding to "PC laptop", you are thinking of cheap laptops that cost 1/5th as much as your MBP 17. Considering laptops that are similarly priced - there are some excellent options out there.

On a related note, the Thinkpad W7xx line was suspended last generation. The 17 inch non-gaming market is a tough one with very limited demand.
 
Subhadip Sen said:
I have a Thinkpad T41 from 2003 which has been abused over the years and it still works great with Windows 7, although with restrictions. It has a superb 1400x1050 matte screen which has better viewing angles and resolution than most of the displays in this range (13" to 14") even 10 years later. I also have a Thinkpad W700 from 2008, which is pretty special. Core 2 Quad Q9000, Quadro FX 2700M, 2 x 7200rpm drives in RAID0, an amazing 1920x1200 screen, etc. It cost the equivalent of $3200, and what an investment it was! Even today it can play 5K footage in Premiere Pro at 1/8 res. Did I mention it has survived a 5 feet fall? Thanks to its shock absorbing roll-cage. I have owned 4 Thinkpads over the years, and not a single issue of any kind, whatsoever. Can't say the same for any other product range, including Powerbook/Macbook, although I haven't dabbled into Latitude, Elitebook, Toughbook etc.

I get the feeling when you are alluding to "PC laptop", you are thinking of cheap laptops that cost 1/5th as much as your MBP 17. Considering laptops that are similarly priced - there are some excellent options out there.

On a related note, the Thinkpad W7xx line was suspended last generation. The 17 inch non-gaming market is a tough one with very limited demand.
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I know there are good ones out there, but they are also expensive like the MBP. I was referring to the cheaper ones, the not "overpriced" ones that don't seem to last very long. I won't argue, pound for pound I know PCs can often outslug Macs. I guess for what I have got out of this MPB I feel I got good value.
 
Steve Sherrick said:
I don't know, this 17" MBP that I'm typing on right now is from 2007, still works really well, and has paid for itself many times over. Anyone here typing on a PC laptop from 2007 that runs just like it did when you got it?
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Yes. Using Sony Vaio from early 2006 right now and runs just as well as it did when I bought it.

Every laptop works just as well as it did in 2007 if you know how to use a computer.
 
Steve Sherrick said:
I don't know, this 17" MBP that I'm typing on right now is from 2007, still works really well, and has paid for itself many times over. Anyone here typing on a PC laptop from 2007 that runs just like it did when you got it?
Click to expand...

I'm sitting here with an HP G60-125NR. It works better than it did when I bought it because it has 8GB of RAM and an SSD. Runs Windows 7 better than it did Vista. Just invest in your hardware and it will pay you back.
 
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