Apple Will Soon Announce a MacBook Pro Revison - Here's Why

Sep
14

By: switchtoamac at: 8:50 AM on September 14, 2006 | Comments (3)

There's a good chance that we'll see Apple announce a revision to the MacBook Pro line very soon. My hunch is that we may see the announcement as early as September 24 at Apple's special event for Photokina. In the past, Apple has used tradeshows to announce new Macintosh models, most recently at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) trade show in Las Vegas, Nevada in April 2006.

Apple's MacBook Pro (which was announced in January 2006) is currently referred to by Apple as "Early 2006". This simple naming scheme would indicate that a revision at some point in 2006 is very likely. An example that demonstrates the naming convention is the Apple document that refers to the April 2006 firmware update for the MacBook Pro. Note the reference to "early 2006" at the top. Apple's most recent update to the iMac is referred to by Apple as "Late 2006" whereas the prior models are referred to as "Early 2006".

Note that in 2005, Apple released two versions of the iMac, Mac mini, and PowerMac G5. Apple's documents of interest:

iMac

The early 2005 models were referred to by Apple as "Ambient Light Sensor" and/or "Second Generation. Then Apple started to use the "iSight" classification for the iMac released in October 2005, it's also referred to as the "Third Generation".

Mac mini

The Mac mini was first relesaed in Janaury 2005. The revision in September is referred to by Apple as "Late 2005".

Scroll down to Mac mini to view

PowerMac G5

Apple released two versions of the PowerMac G5 in 2005 the April release is classified as "Early 2005", the October release is classified as "Late 2005"

A MacBook Pro revision prior to the 2006 holiday shopping season would not only be a strategic move but also makes sense based on the reasoning outlined above. Apple would then have a revamped iMac, Mac mini, and MacBook Pro lineup. It's speculated that Apple will use Intel Core 2 Duo (Merom) processors in the updated MacBook Pros.

Updates

September 14, 2006

Added evidence of Apple product revisions and naming for 2005

3 Reader Comments

John C on: September 14, 2006 9:49 AM said:

Nice reasoning, especially when you tie it to the way Apple has named both the iMac and MacBook Pro models.

Dan on: September 14, 2006 11:45 AM said:

oh, please... this could maybe, might, mean something, but is just as likely to be entirely meaningless

Joe Mama on: September 18, 2006 3:53 PM said:

It's not like in January they are going to say "We are definitely not 100% going to update the MBP until 2007 so lets not use the word 'Early' this time." Of course they are going to leave their options open. What about if they planned earlier in the year for an update but then some technical problem caused it to be delayed? Would they go back and remove the word early from all the previous 2006 MBPs? This has no bearing on the chances of an update happening at any specific time. Now I personally think an update will be soon, so of course you'll end up being "right." But it's really kind of a silly arguement.