Apple to Refresh MacBook Pro Line-up this Week

To those prepped to make a MacBook Pro purchase… wait. It’s been reported that Apple will be refreshing its line-up later this week, and that brand-new models will be shipping to customers within the next two weeks. Nothing much is known about the performance-related specs, but there are a couple of aesthetic changes and an interesting storage solution.

MacBook Pros have long had larger-than-usual trackpads, but the upcoming refresh is reported to use glass touchpads that are even larger than current offerings. Perhaps Apple will also be unveiling some technology to allow you to effectively use your palm to navigate your PC? Alright, probably not.

According to the same report, Apple is said to be including an 8-16GB internal SSD that will house OS X and likely some applications, while a mechanical drive is to be included for everything else. This to me seems a little strange, and I’m not quite sure whether to believe it or not.

A design like this would be a little strange of Apple, because it’s not exactly an elegant solution. But, due to how the Unix underbody works, Apple could mount the OS X drive to one partition and the storage one to another, and users wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. But the upside is that OS X would work really well, and the small SSD wouldn’t add a lot to the price of the device.

It’s also been rumored that this refresh will introduce Intel’s Light Peak technology to the world, and if true, that’s awesome. It’s cool technology, and the sooner it gets to market, the better.

It’s worth noting that not all phone-call-related behaviors are the same between the AT&T and Verizon iPhones thanks to the limitations of CDMA. Apple has posted a support document to outline the differences when dealing with things like call waiting, caller ID, conference calls, and putting a call on hold. (“CDMA networks do not offer the ability to place a call on hold,” Apple writes. So, hope you weren’t planning on doing that on your Verizon iPhone anytime soon.)