I am leaving for a two and a half month stay in Japan in three weeks. I’ll need some sort of laptop while I’m there, for photos, blogging, and communication. I do, as readers of this blog might know, have a 300mhz Clamshell iBook running Tiger, but 300mhz is awfully slow. It definitely needs a larger hard drive if I intend to store anything on it, and copying photos to it will surely be a pain.

I’m going to need a new computer for school in Fall of 2007, so now would be a perfect time to buy. I’d prefer a MacBook Pro, as I can’t stand integrated graphics. Problem is, Apple hasn’t updated the MacBook Pros in half a year, and all other laptop companies have already released Core 2 Duo versions of their laptops. Upgrades are sure to happen soon. How soon? No one seems to know. It’s a toss up as to whether they are put in standard MacBooks. I doubt it.

Let’s look at the facts and rumors:

• The Inquirer reports that Intel is having supply issues. I don’t buy this rumor. They are in the iMac, and other laptop manufacturers are shipping in the next one to two weeks.
• Some people have been arguing that the Merom Core 2 Duos actually do not increase battery life, as Intel advertises, and instead sap it away. I don’t buy this either. Reviews have reported a small decrease in battery life at most, nothing Apple would really worry about.
• Some people have been arguing that the Merom Core 2 Duos are hotter than the Yonah Core Duos. This is probably true, and with Apple’s present heat problems, some re-engineering would be necessary. This is a possibility for the delay, but Apple has had plenty of time to work out any problems. Unlikely this is holding things up.
• Members of the Macrumor’s forums have reported (in the past week) that the customer service reps available for internet chat on the Apple Online Store have told them to “keep checking back” in regards to Core 2 Duo MacBook Pros. Normally they dismiss these kinds of questions.
• Apple might be waiting until they sufficient stock before they announce them. Possible.
• More points to be added as I think of them or read them…
• An Apple Special Event on the 25th. Clearly an Aperature update, and something else. Like MacBook Pros!

Conclusion
Given what we know, I feel the release is imminent. Probably not next Tuesday, September 19th, as new products were just released this past Tuesday. I predict September 25th. Or I will be one angry customer. There is no logical reason for Apple to hold them back longer than that, if they are not encountering any engineering problems. I think it’s very unlikely they are doing a significant redesign.

edit: Well the 25th has come and gone. I will wait until tomorrow, the 26th, if nothing, I’ll buy a MacBook and use it for two months. It makes no sense for them to be released tomorrow, however, so I doubt we’ll see anything. The Aperature event was strange, as the revision was relatively insignficant.

This whole delay is quite perplexing. I can’t possibly imagine that they’ll be released in more than two weeks from now if they do indeed see release at some point. The turmoil will be quite significant if not tomorrow or next week. Perhaps they are skipping the Merom Core 2 Duos?

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 14th, 2006 at 02:13 CEST and is filed under Apple talk, Rants & Raves. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.