Will Apple Kill The MacBook Pro?
We recently covered how Apple killed off the classic white MacBook and launched two new MacBook Air versions. Apple simultaneously killed the DVD drive in their latest revision of the Mac Mini. Detecting a trend? Yup, it’s the death of physical media. But is Apple also planing on killing the MacBook Pro line as we know it? Maybe…
Rumors are flying around (according to sources close to MacRumors.com) that Apple is set to launch two new MacBook Airs set for 15 and 17 inches, the same size as the MacBook Pro counterparts. Why would Apple do this? The better question: Why not? The optical drive likely causes the biggest problems with design since it consumes lots of space. It’s also not exactly energy efficient and the printing of physical media isn’t ‘green’ either.
Thus, Apple may see a true market for customers who want the large desktop real-estate, without the bulk. Drop the optical drive in the MacBook Pro, pop in an SSD and suddenly, you have a super-thin “Pro”-styled MacBook Air. The new MacBook Airs are already coming with Core i7 CPUs, so power users don’t have to fret — these machines could be very beefy and provide all the under-the-hood power a video or photo editor would need.
Even if the rumored machines aren’t as thin as their 11- and 13-inch counterparts, they would still be considerably thinner and lighter that the existing MacBook Pro line. If Apple truly was nodding to the needs of a professional user, the company may even include user-replaceable RAM that isn’t soldiered to the main board like the smaller MacBook Airs, in addition to extra USB and Thunderbolt ports. The current 17 inch MacBook monster weighs 6.6lbs. so an “Air” version could weigh easily half that with an optical drive gone. That extra space also means Apple has a lot more room to shove batteries, so a 15- or 17-inch MacBook Air could have legendary battery life up to 10 hours or more. The 13-inch MacBook Air already has two hours over its 11-inch counterpart.
How soon can we except Apple to make the new MacBook Airs available? Some sites say that we can expect to purchase them by the late 2011 holiday season.
What does this mean for the future of the MacBook Pro as we know it? I’m betting in the next year or two, the MacBook Pro will be a special item, a single item, or a custom order item, specifically for professionals who need everything, much like the Mac Pro. And like I alluded to recently, Apple may do the same thing with iMacs, making them thinner and lighter, too.
Ask yourself: How often do you really use that DVD drive? When was the last time you copied media off a CD? I have a draw full of flash drives and USB hard drive adapters that see more action than my entire DVD collection. Optical media is dying, and the MacBook Pro — as we know it — might be dying with it.
If they give Mac Air the same stuff put into pro such as 8GB ram and faster processor than sounds good to me!
I would love a thin MB Pro without DVD drive.
Even though the MacBook pro honestly seems a lot better than the MacBook Pro. It has more ports, and is amazing for video/photo editin as I feel the MacBook air is too small. MacBook pro is more of a professional. College students also (from what I’ve seen) prefer the pro because of it’s high performance, internal storage. The Pro is 5 months old, so it’s a bit soon to say it will die since it’s now a little old and will definatelty get much better features in it’s next update in a few months. In my opinion it isn’t very bulky, sure it’s thinner than the MacBook air, but it’s suppose to be thinner in order to make sales for the air
Please note that the Pro is 5 months old, the air was just playing catch up. When the pro gets an update, people will wonder why apple still sells the air…This is really dumb since the pro is targeted at professionals, plus cnet named it a better value for college kids (which is what’s happening now), while air is really just for basics and storage is REALLY small
David@1: The VAR Guy’s key concern about MacBook Air is video editing quality. Our resident blogger hasn’t tried iMovie on the Air, but the app runs incredibly well on a MacBook Pro…
RepV@2: If blog author David Courbanou is correct you may get your wish.
Cris@3 and @4: Generally speaking, The VAR Guy thinks MacBook Pro and MacBook Air will remain separate brands for years to come. So The VAR Guy actually disagrees with the blog author, David Courbanou. But that’s the beauty of this blog — our company believes in promoting multiple views and open discussions.
-TVG