KitGuru KitGuru.net – Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards
AppleInsider have some juicy information today as they have found out that Apple are apparently going to refresh their professional notebook range with a late 2011 release.
According to their sources, the Macbook Pro refresh machines will be faster than the current models, offering ‘marginal' speed bumps. Appleinsider say that the new range might hit retail before the end of this month, possibly after the close of their ‘Back To School' promotion ending on September 20th.
This happens as Intel have refreshed their Sandy Bridge processors, adding four new Sandybridge Core i7 chips.
They add “Although the new models may come as somewhat of a surprise for industry watchers given that there has been no indication that Apple is drawing down inventories of existing models, the refresh is likely geared towards assuring the Mac maker's top-selling notebook family remains competitive in the market until Intel releases its next-generation Ivy Bridge platform at some point in 2012.”
Kitguru says: The refresh would ensure the Macintosh range remains competitive, but do we really need it ?
I really don’t see how this is a “surprise” for people.
The production of the 2.3 GHz Quad with 8MB Cache which was replaced by the new 2.5 GHz Quad with 8 MB Cache was stopped, so either Apple sells as many MacBook Pros as they have ready with the old Chips and then have “Out of Stock” signs until next year’s Ivy Bridge Mobiles, or they move to the new Chips.
You don’t need to be a genius to figure this out. Although, the Xtreme Series CPU in an MBP would be a BIG surprise, seeing as Apple has so far always shied away from the XTreme Processor Series.
Funny though, some people are taking this opportunity to swat down rumors and claims that the next MBP Re-fresh would be a major one, claiming that “hey look, all they did was boost the speed.” No. Just no. All Apple is doing is adjusting now that Intel is no longer developing the older CPUs. Simple as. Seriously…..
I mean, they did stop production of the older chips the new ones replaced didn’t they? A Site mentioned it a few days ago, but can’t recall it exactly. The 2.5 GHz Quad carries the same price tag as the 2.3 version I believe, so unless they lowered the price tag on the 2.3 version, I’m not sure what reason it has to exist anymore.