Mac Soda’s Official “Brick Event” Predictions (Updated)
September 30, 2008
As you all probably know by now, there will be an Apple event on October 14th (it will be announced “officially” October 7th, but we know its coming). It is widely expected for Apple to update their MacBooks and MacBook Pros at this event. Mac Soda offers all of its predictions for the event.
MacBook
The MacBook has been trapped in a plastic enclosure throughout its life, seemingly begging to be placed into a nice, cool, aluminum shell. It will finally get its wish… sort of. The MacBook is going to adopt a lot of its looks from the aluminum iMac. While it will be aluminum on the sides and the front, the back will adopt the plastic backing from the iMac, to differentiate it from the MacBook Pro. While that description may not sound appealing, I think we can all trust Apple to pull it off. The enclosure will also be substantially thinner and tapered, as all of Apple’s products have been as of late.
The screen will migrate to a 16:9 aspect ratio, with a new 14.1 inch screen size, closer to the edges. The keyboard will adopt the MBA’s black, backlit (finally!), chicklet keyboard. While this is all fine and dandy, the real story is the trackpad. In order to prepare for a multitouch future, the new MacBook will gain a glass (or at least glass-looking) trackpad to accommodate much more advanced gestures. The possibilities are tantalizing. Whether this trackpad will have a screen or not is uncertain, but the odds say no.
As far as the guts are concerned, the MacBook will receive the Intel Centrino 2 processor. Expect similar speeds in Mhz, but better power management and a faster front size bus (1066). In a Mac Soda exclusive, we revealed the graphics card that will be used in the new MacBooks (click for more info). Also, there will likely be no removable battery
Other possibilities include HDMI output, a redesigned compact power adapter, iChat HD, and Blu-Ray (though that will probably be exclusive for the MacBook Pros).
As far as price is concerned, we believe the price will drop enormously: anywhere from 400-600 dollars. This will help explain the conference call quote “state of the art products at prices our competitors can’t match.”
MacBook Pros
The MacBook Pro has been milking practically the same enclosure for the past 5 years. Today, its design is still the best in the industry, second only to the MacBook Air. Redesigning the best designed computer on the market is going to result in one amazing computer. The MacBook Pro will stay aluminum, will be even thinner than it is now, with the tapered edges Apple is currently fixated with. It also will add a magnetic latch, replacing the current, pain-in-the-a**, cheap push latch it currently has. The power button also will resemble the MBA’s, rather than the one it has now, that always, without a doubt, dents inward after enough use.
The MacBook Pro’s screen will migrate to 16:9 as well, with a 16 inch screen on the base model, along with an amazing 18.1 inch option (an option I am going to get!). Like the iMac, the screen with receive a black bezel. The MBP will also adapt the MBA’s keyboard, which should complement the design perfectly. I also expect better and louder speakers to be included, as Apple has seemed to be interested as of late in good sound quality. The trackpad will be glass just like the MacBook.
Inside this beautiful monster will house a processor from the Centrino 2 Platform, with an option for 4 cores. Internal memory will probably be expandable up to 8 GB, and the graphics card will improve as well, though the specific card was not revealed to us. For connectivity, I expect more USB and Firewire ports, alongside an introduction of a new faster Firewire standard. Also, Blu-Ray will be an option. Apple, despite how much they want digital downloads to win, will have to adopt Blu-Ray for its professional clients, and now is the time. It probably won’t be standard, but rather BTO.
Other possibilities, like the MacBook, are HDMI, iChat HD, and a redesigned power adapter. The battery may be removable, but odds are, no.
As for the price, expect a large price drop for the same reasons as I already posted.
MacBook Air
While I doubt we will see many physical changes to the MacBook Air, I am sure we will at least see the glass trackpad on the Air, along with spec bumps, and a major price drop. Expect the MacBook Air to start at from 1299-1499.
MacBook Mini
Did you see Apple’s stock yesterday? They don’t have a choice but to release this. As the Mac Mini is to desktops, the MacBook Mini will be to laptops. At 599, this is a computer that will be hard to ignore. It will boast 11 inch screen, just so that Steve can make fun of the other guys’ small screens, be fairly thin, made of aluminum, feature a relatively large keyboard, Wi-Fi, glass trackpad (maybe), good connectivity, a combo drive (super drive option), and an iSight camera.
Another possibility is that the MacBook will be the low end model, seeing a substantial price drop (down to 800-1000 dollars). Whichever scenario comes to fruition, whether it be the MacBook Mini, or a large MacBook price drop, one thing is certain: with the economy the way it is, Apple can’t ignore the lower-end marker any longer.
UPDATE: Mac Soda believes there will be no MacBook Mini. Instead, we feel strongly that the MacBook will see a big enough price drop to qualify for the low-end market while still offering a high end product. This will probably be what Apple said at the conference call… “We’ll offer state of the art products at price points our competitors can’t match.” The MacBooks will see a 300-600 100-300 dollar price drop in the next revision.
Mac
This is not a prediction, it is a long-shot possibility. While we probably won’t see this at this event (more likely we’ll see it at MacWorld), Apple may finally decide to address their lack of a mid-size tower, and release, as I call it, the Mac. Fairly cheap, and enormously expandable, this combined with the MacBook Mini would complete the grid of computers Apple would like to ship (see below).
UPDATE: Mac Soda no longer believes this is Apple’s product matrix. We instead believe the MacBook will instead see a price drop, removing the need for a MacBook Mini.
Overall, I think we are in for an exciting keynote. I’m in the market for a new MacBook Pro, so what they announce is what I get!
October 14th can’t come soon enough…
I believe Apple, Inc.’s product matrix looks more like this:
Portable:
a) Consumer (MacBook)
b) Professional (MacBook Pro)
Non-Portable:
a) With Screen (iMac)
b) Without Screen (Mac Mini)
Corporate:
a) Server (Xserve)
b) Workstation (Mac Pro)
Handheld:
a) With GSM (iPhone)
b) without GSM (iPod Touch)
Music Player:
a) Large (iPod Classic)
b) Small (iPod Nano)
c) Entry Level: (iPod Shuffle)
The Music Player market is the only place where they have an “Entry Level” device. Everything else is mid-range and high-end. The Mac mini is mid-range, NOT entry level. There is no bare-bones Mac. The iMac is high-end, not mid-range. (It’s “low” high-end aka “pro-sumer” level)
Currently there are gaping holes in their product matrix. The MacBook Mini will be addressed at the event, while the plain Mac may not appear until later (Macworld?).
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[...] October 2, 2008 at 3:45 pm (Everyday Life) Tags: Apple, art, computer, contentment, design, discontentment, job, Macbook Pro The rumor is spreading… Apple’s having another event October 14th. {Source} [...]
This article is quite a failure to be honest.
Firstly you assume that Apple would be able to create a laptop like the Macbook for $600 let alone sell it for a reasonable profit.
There is a reason Apple has ignored the low end market:
No one makes a sweet dime off it. The profit margins are abysmal and the competition is fierce. Companies like Dell only make a profit here because they sell so many to home users and companies. Many of the companies within this market are not even in it for the money. Sony for example uses the Vaio line just to add another notch to their belt.
Apple on the other hand are currently well within the top 5 OEM’s in the world, and as it stands are making the most profit per computer sold (about 30%). Dell would be lucky to scrape 5% on their budget boxes. The only OEM making more than Apple is Dell, and thats simply because they sell so many of the damn things especially within the corporation space. Why pay $1200 for an iMac just for word processing and email when you can pay $400 for a Dell.
Just some general follow up comments:
Why would you want a 16:9 screen? I like as much screen real estate as I can get thanks.
Non removable battery? In a professional computer? If Apple knows what’s good for them they wont.
Centrino is not a processor, its a platform, like Santa Rosa, Montevina et al.
Blu Ray is a useless endeavour if you want more than 1 hour battery life.
You have pulled a substantial amount of this information from your ass, and are now spouting it as truth.
@ Hannah
http://9to5mac.com/macbook-brick
That’s how they’re gonna make it cheap and still make a profit.
I’m not saying I’d want a 16:9 screen. I’m saying they will put it on the computers. This is not a wish list… its a prediction sheet.
Non-removable battery is very likely for the MacBook. As for the MacBook Pro, I said the odds lean toward no. Go back and read carefully.
I know. The new processors will be from this platform.
Blu-Ray seems very likely at this point for the MacBook Pro. Not the MacBook, but the MacBook Pro. As a film editor, I would love the option to burn HD discs on my laptop.
These are predictions: not facts. Based on what has been going around the web, and what I’ve heard from my sources, I put together this prediction list.
We’ll see next Tuesday how much of it is pulled out of my ass, and how much is truth.
Under the Macbook Pro you have stated
“The battery may be removable, but odds are, no.”
As for the whole Brick idea. its quite feasible yes, however would not reduce the price. Not paying Chinese kids 50c a day reduces the Macbook by $600 does it?
Blu Ray will likely happen. However in some form of hot swappable bay I hope. I can assure you now if the Macbook Pro has a built in non removable Blu Ray drive you will despise your computer after you realise it carries a puny 1 hour battery life.
Again I”m not saying the price of the Macbook definitely will not drop by $600. I’m just saying that if it did I will go elsewhere, as I like to pay more for a decent computer than a poorly made piece of junk. And that if Apple did they would cut their profit margins on each unit to around 30 dollars.
Unfortunately (wait what am I saying)… Fortunately you can’t have OS X and a cheap computer. You get what you pay for.
First, I agree with Hannah on a lot of her points.
Second, why will Apple make the MacBook’s battery non-removable? I understand that the MacBook Air has a non-removable battery, but the target markets for the MBA and the MB are completely different.
I see no reason for the MB to have a battery you can’t remove. Currently, user-servicable upgrades are done by removing the battery to gain access to upgradeable components.
Why will Apple move to 16:9 ratio screens? None of the other manufacturers are moving to 16:9 – sure, they may offer it, but they all remain committed to 16:10. I’m not saying the screens won’t be 16:9, but you haven’t justified why they will be that ratio.
As for the abandonment of the 13.3 inch form factor, I’d like to point out that Apple was a leader in making that size popular. Sony may have done it before Apple, but it was after Apple popularised it that Dell and HP (for example) created products with that form factor – the dv3500 and the XPS M1330, plus the Inspiron 13 and the 13 inch Vostro (I think).
Apple has gotten rid of 12 and 14 inch sizes from their lineup – 13 inches presents an excellent balance between portability and power/usability. Many find 12 inches to be too small to use on a regular base, although it is very portable. 14 inches becomes bigger and more usable, but it less portable.
I’m not honestly convinced there will be huge price drops on MacBooks. Sure, it could happen but it’s unlikely. Apple is a premium brand/manufacturer, and studies have shown that part of the allure of premium brands comes from their price.
Apple likes big, thick profit margins and a price cut of $600 means smaller margins. Apple is not a low-end manufacturer, they do not market to the low end and I feel that it will remain this way.
To be honest with you, this article isn’t very well written and doesn’t communicate your points very well. Case-in-point: the battery comment. It reads as if you are saying the battery will not be removable.
Having said that, you’re better than 9to5mac who have been hit-whoring recently. Your site does offer some interesting content, this particular article just isn’t very good.
I apologize. Its hard for me to write prediction articles without giving away what sources have told me. Sometimes I state things as fact because I have been informed that they are facts, and, from a reader’s perspective, you may view this as just overconfidence. I’ll try and clean it up.
[...] everything you read out there is speculation, but a buddy of mine over at macsoda put together a wishlist/rumor list that is pretty on the money to what everyone else is saying. We will know in two weeks. I can barely [...]