my macbook 2008 refresh predictions

by Justin Horn on Oct 13th, 2008 @ 12:45 am

Well rounding up all the rumors and “news” in my head here is my best guess as to what we will see at Apple’s event tomorrow, October 14th. These are just my gut feelings based on the same rumors that everyone knows, but I have a blog and figured why not let everyone know what I’m thinking…so here it goes.

Also, this is your last chance to vote in the macbook refresh release poll for a chance to win a $50 apple store gift card!

UPDATE @ 11:00PM EST:
There are some last minute rumors [via Macrumors] coming out with a price list from apple. No one knows for sure if it’s true, but the numbers do seem reasonable and in line with earlier speculations.

Macrumors Breakdown of rumors:
- K29, MB382LL/A $899.00 – MacBook?
- M97, MB466LL/A $1,299.00 – MacBook
- M97, MB467LL/A $1,599.00 – MacBook
- M96, MB543LL/A $1,799.00 – MacBook Air
- M96, MB940LL/A $2,499.00 – MacBook Air
- M98, MB470LL/A $1,999.00 – 15″ MacBook Pro
- M98, MB471LL/A $2,499.00 – 15″ MacBook Pro
- M88, MB766LL/A $2,799.00 – 17″ MacBook Pro

So these numbers seem in line with my idea that they would lower the cost on the base unit and let users configure upgrades to give you something similar to the current $1099 model, but filling in that all important sub $1000 model gap.

UPDATE @ 12:30AM EST:
Latest rumors suggest the $899 model is actual a LED display

Macbook Release Date
Well here is a big one. Is this going to be like the iPhone announcement and later release or more like the recent iPod announcement with immediate online availability and store availability within a week. Since the iPod event passed just about a month ago I think they will stick with pretty much the same format; immediate online availability following the press conference. I think it will probably be more than a week before you can walk into an Apple Store or BestBuy and pick one up though.

Macbook Prices

There have been a lot of rumors including some from bigger name news sources that the new macbooks will be priced lower to compete more with the mainstream market owned by dell. I agree and my prediction is that we will see the most basic model of the macbook line at $799. I think the way they will approach it is not to drastically cut the price, but rather just limit the “power” of the base model. For a hypothetical example based on the current macbook line if you take the $1099 base model it comes with 2.1GHz CPU, 1GB of ram, and a 120GB hard drive. So I’m suggesting that they aren’t going to take this and make it $799, but rather make the base start with a 2.0 GHz CPU, 512 MB of ram, and an 80GB hard drive and then sell it for $799. I’m sure there will be some actual decrease in price for what you get, but I think it will be more about filling the model gap between the ultra cheap dell laptops and apple base model.

More Advanced Multitouch Touchpad
Right now the macbook does have a bit of multitouch support such as the two finger “right click” and two finger scroll. I think Apple will expand on this to offer a lot more multitouch support like the current Air and Pro lines…or maybe even a ‘touch’ better. Although I see the multitouch support increasing I don’t feel that with the prices coming down they are going to make the touchpad an advanced glass multitouch screen, like having an iPhone as the touchpad. It would be really cool to have a multitouch screen where you could have virtual buttons that change depending on the application you are using, but I just don’t see this showing up on the macbook just yet. One thing Apple might do is bring the multitouch down to the macbook line and give the Air and/or Pro an iPhone like touchpad with the extra cost covered with their already premium pricing, but somehow I just don’t really see this happening just yet either.

All Aluminum Case
I don’t think we’ll see an all aluminum case for the macbook line, but it does seem likely based on the “leaked” photos that macbooks will have some aluminum built into the design. There have also been rumors of a two tone look which I think makes sense. My guess is from the outside the new macbooks will look similar to the current version and not just have the all aluminum color/look the current macbook Pros/Airs have.

Nvidia graphics to replace Intel chipsets
This has been “confirmed” by AppleInsider. Although I’m not sure how they have confirmed this it does seem very likely and I would place my bets that AI is correct on this one and we will see the new Nvidia graphics chipsets built into the new macbooks.

FireWire Removed From Macbook
There have been rumors more recently with the supposedly leaked photos of the new macbook case that suggest the FireWire port has been removed. Apple is one of the big backers of FireWire, but I think they have figured out that USB dominates the average consumer market the macbook is geared towards. Some suggest that there will be a backlash against Apple (if this is true) by users that use video editing software and rely on this FireWire connection, but you can’t please everyone. The macbook pro is still rumored to have the FireWire port so I think this is classic Apple making a move that best fits the majority of users for a particular device. I mean if you are going to be doing real video editing you should probably have a macbook pro anyway right?

Macbook Colors
I don’t think we are going to see macbook-chromatic ads anytime soon. I believe Apple will stick with the current color scheme of black or white, with the black being a more premium version as with the iPhone 3g. Right now you can get a Macbook in black in only the highest end version which is $400 more than the base model of $1,099. Going from the middle model in white with a price tag of $1,299 to the high end model in black for $1,499 all you are getting for you $200 is the color and a hard drive upgrade of 160GB to 250GB. The hard drive upgrade on the mid model is $100 so you are paying a $100 premium to get it in black. Hopefully with the new version the black gets a little more reasonable, but probably not. The Airs and Pros will likely keep the same basic design and color scheme.

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View 3 Comments
MacBook

1.
1. daNgo

   October 13th, 2008 11:51 pm

   

   a 400 gap price difference is kinda stiff though…. maybe the 899 model doesnt have a screen? LOL

2.
2. dizzy

   October 14th, 2008 12:22 am

   

   I guess we’ll find out tomorrow

   But I’m sticking with the thought that they just won’t set the “starting at” price as high and give you less ram and hard drive space. This will let the users that want a $899 laptop get it and also allow users that want the $1099 get that as well.

3.
3. dizzy

   October 15th, 2008 11:33 pm

   

   Hey, I got one guess right with the touchpad. And I guess the did kind of lower the price, but I was expecting at least $899. I guess I don’t win a prize now

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