Rampant Speculation: New 15-inch MacBook Pros Sept. 5th?
Posted by Dr. Macenstein
Astute Apple shopper and faithful Macenstein reader Hendry pointed us to the online Apple Store, where for some reason the ship time on 15-inch MacBook Pros has slipped to 7-10 days. The 17-inch model, and all “normal” MacBooks seem to have ship times of 24 hours.
Such a supply delay would normally not be overly suspicious in and of itself, however, Apple has coincidentally set up a “Special event” (aren’t they all?) to be held 7-10 days from now (Sept 5th). Most people feel the focus will be iPod-based in nature, but perhaps there will be something more? (For the record, Amazon.com, whose inventory shortages have a long history of spoiling upcoming surprise Apple product refreshes seems to have a healthy supply of the 15-inch MBP ready for same day shipping).
The MBP is not necessarily due for an update, but it’s been about 90 days since the last refresh, so it isn’t entirely out of the question either.
So, make of it what you will. But you know us and our conspiracy theories. We’re now predicting 15-inch touchscreen MacBook Pros in 8 colors! What else could it possibly mean?!?
There are rumors, and then there are hare brained conjectures that are a total affront to reality. The MBP’s were updated what, three months ago?
http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/#MacBook_Pro
And those colors are absolutely fugly. Maybe the Macbooks, on the other hand…
It could mean apple are having difficulty getting hold of 15″ LED backlit displays….
Pretty sure he’s kidding about the colored Macbook Pros…
This may just be wishful thinking on my part, as I have a perfectly functioning 1.33 G4 17″ that I’m just *waiting* to replace with a brand new pro machine…
But I think that a COMPLETELY redesigned MBP has to be coming.
Sure, the line has been refreshed regularly, and there’s lots of nifty new features (compared to my G4) like camera, multi-touch trackpad, magsafe, etc, etc. in the current MBP.
But it’s still basically the same machine I have. Same basic design anyway.
I’ve resisted upgrading for this very reason. I want something NEW, and SUPER COOL.
(and a matte screen option!)
So, and as I said this is wishful thinking, I have a gut feeling that brand-new MBPs may be coming at the Sep. 5 even, perhaps as the One More Thing… after a bunch of music/tv/ipod announcements.
Seems to me they are trying to get their ducks in a row, hardware-wise, in time for the Leopard release.
The 15″ MBP’s have had a 7-10 day ship time for several weeks if not months. The general consensus is that it’s due to shortage of LED displays. Sorry to burst your bubble.
Yep, Alberto is right. I ordered mine a month and a half ago and it was on a wait. Damned annoying that.
“The MBP is not necessarily due for an update, but it’s been about 90 days since the last refresh”
90 days… what about the quad core Mac Pros that haven’t seen a single update in over 365 days!
Yeah they just could not get enough MB Pro’s 15 since the last update straight from the introduction.
IF at all, the Macbook is due for a good updage now the student sales are over…
They’re not going to update the MBP’s in September.
They’ll do it in October again like they did last year and then do the MB’s a couple of weeks later. They have to update them sometime this fall because the Macbooks also need refreshed (they’re older than the MBPs) and they can’t refresh the Macbooks without refreshing the MBPs first because they’re already at neck and neck clock speeds. My guess is they’ll ship a new MBP the same day they launch Leopard.
It’s been a month (maybe more) since Apple Store have displayed 7-10 days shipment time as same as UK store. I know because I had an order to buy one from Apple’s IMC (Apple’s Official Independent Marketing Company) here in Turkey and kept compare their shipment time for that while. Inspite of US and UK stores still announcing 7-10 days, Turkish IMC hasn’t imported any 15″ MBP for a month and I reduced to cancel my order by final decision.
I think that shortage is because of higher cost price of LCD screens that force Apple order by demand occasionally against qualified orders instead of buy in bulk as they are expecting further price drops if its not a necessarily real production shortage.
This would make sense if I could received my MBP in several phase of 7-10 days. But Turkish IMC still waiting for a supply. They are out of stock for a exceptionable of time. Sure, this may be because of their impractical administration or any other marketing decision which is very bad customer experience as a result.
I believe that, there will be no refreshed Mac without Leopard installed. So, you all should keep waiting until October, maybe more. You can easily do that if you remember the customers from this part of the world who must wait even extra one month at least.
There won’t be an MBP update until Intel releases faster chips, the 2.4GHz C2D is already the fastest mobile processor that Intel makes.
Charles: What about the 2.8 GHz ones in the new iMacs?
What about 12″ MacBooks? That’s what I’m waiting for!
Snorri, it’s true that the x7900 used in the iMacs is nominally a mobile chip, but it uses 44W of power compared to the 35W TDP of the current line. MBPs already have problems with heat, and I can’t see this as a viable chip for anything but a monster ‘desktop replacement’ notebook.
Intel is supposed to be releasing the T7800 2.6GHz part soon (in fact the rumour sites were saying it would be released yesterday, but no sign so far). An MBP refresh will be waiting for that.
The MacBook Pros have had 7-10 day ship dates since early August. It’s because of the back-to-school promotion and the LED-backlit screens being in tight supply. I wouldn’t expect much more than iPod updates.
I’m an RA at a college. I’ve seen a bagillion new MacBook Pros in the dorms, so that’s probably where they all went.
With it’s apparent popularity (MBP15″) I as an outsider would think they’d put their upgrade energies on something more needy like the macbook. My vote is that delay is LED supply.
While I’m here, though…
I am planning to buy an MBP15 but have been trying to get clear info to time purchase for maximum benefit. Not accustomed to the total control Apple has on their products and the resulting secrecy and impending doom environment of upgrades.
Concluded that I would wait until Oct/Nov to get it with the Leopard.
Any other enhancements by that time would be great. Configuration question though:
I usually get the most power I can afford to extend max product lifetime (hopefully 4-5 years). I know I can add the RAM myself for less $ so my question is this –
Is the diff between 2.2 and 2.4 significant?
Will the 7,200 rpm hard drive be more responsive?
No-one ever seems to tell the truth or give stats to back them up. The std. response I almost always get when asking about performance options is “Only professional developers and Gamers would ever see/feel a performance difference.
Help/answers/ advice appreciated.