My Expectations From The Upcoming MacBook Pro Refresh

All, Macbooks, Opinions

The 2012 MacBook Pro line-up is yet to be unveiled and it is expected that they would be out at WWDC along with an OS X update. This WWDC would also be roughly two years since I got my first and only MacBook Pro. Since then I have edited and uploaded hundreds of videos, thousands of photos, wrote over a thousand blog posts and have browsed for endless hours. The 13.3″ MacBook Pro with a Core 2 Duo processor has been a strong companion, but it is aging and aging fast. At the same time there are several things that I didn’t see two years back but I see them as essential now. So here is my wish list from the 2012 MacBook Pro line-up:

  • Unibody Please, but! 

 Unibody MacBook Pros are awesome and that’s certainly a thing that I love. A great design and strong body is the given with the MacBook Pro, however after two years of use, I see scope to improve on an already great design. The aluminum lid at the bottom is operable and thus even relatively small drops at times leaves it badly deformed (see pic). Perhaps the construction can be altered a bit to ensure that the bottom piece of aluminum is more tightly integrated into the main shell.

MacBook Pro Unibody Design

Any more enhancements are welcome, but I feel the aluminum used can be stronger. I have seen several MacBook Pros catch a dent easily. It never breaks the system or affects the functionality, but looks do matter.

  • Thinner & Lighter Please

At 2 kg, the MacBook Pro isn’t very heavy, but add a charger, a case or some cables and it is pretty heavy to move around with. Yes the MacBook Air might have spoilt us, but a thinner and lighter MacBook Pro is necessary. It is 2012 after all! Unable to remember when I last used it, I would definitely expect the optical drive to go out. Apple may continue to maintain a separate Air line-up, but the pro can easily shed a few hundred kilograms.

  • USB Ports
One of the biggest frustrations of owning a MacBook has been the USB ports. The USB 2.0 nature works, but the placement of these ports are horrible. On a daily basis I struggle to connect two USB gadgets simultaneously and this is something I expect to be fixed for me to ever consider a MacBook Pro again (ok perhaps I am exaggerating, but I am damn pissed about the USB ports). At the same time, we would do well with more than 2 USB ports and preferable USB 3.0 ones.
  • Display
Retina or not, the display resolution on the MacBook Pro sure needs a bump. 1280×800 the current 13.3″ Display is at the end of its life. Any new MacBook pro with 1280×800 would be labelled as carrying a seriously old config.
While that’s a basic list, I feel with new internals and fixing the obvious, the MacBook Pro can pretty much retain its tag of being the best notebook around. Looking forward to the Ivy Bridge love and the announcement!