Apple’s upcoming notebook line may have a built in SSD upgrade option across the board. While this does make sense, we believe it may be held for the Macbook Pro and Air specifically, separating both lines from the standard Macbook.
Apple is widely expected to be releasing some overhauled notebooks next month, possibly sooner. Previous information has led MacBlogz to believe that Apple has built an SSD option into more of its upcoming notebooks. Currently, the Macbook Air is the only notebook that Apple officially offers an SSD upgrade for. Although the SSD market has been extremely shaky lately, a solid move by Apple could generate more consumer interest and increase sales, thus increasing demand for Solid State Drives.
While it would surely be an expensive option for consumers, it should still be an option none-the-less. A much more realistic upgrade/enhancement to some, or all of the notebook line would be an optional SSD upgrade. Even in the Macbook, if a customer really wants the speed, reliability and security of a solid state drive, but only has a $1,500 budget, he could get a $999 Macbook with an optional $500 SSD upgrade (built-to-order). Makes sense to us.
Back on August 22nd, Digg Founder Kevin Rose revealed some rumors and possible enhancements that Apple would be unveiling at a, then unannounced, special media event.
MacRumors’ Arnold Kim points out that “Specifically, Rose expects that Blu-ray support will finally be built into Mac OS X 10.5.6. Blu-ray is the next generation high definition video disc format that only recently “won” the format battle after major studios decisively chose it over HD-DVD. Apple has been a member of the Blu-Ray consortium for years but has not yet revealed their plans for Blu-ray support.”
Most of the rumors that Rose outlined, did come true. However, this particular one about Mac OS X 10.5.6 has not materialized. Apple just released Mac OS 10.5.5, which clocked in at 321 MB with 11 listed fixes, and though this rumor is simply speculation on behalf of already presented information, it is safe to assume that Apple is working on Mac OS X 10.5.6. Blu-Ray has been a highly requested feature among customers, for Apple to build into its hardware.
It would make sense for Apple to deliver Blu-Ray support in an OS X upgrade, and require new hardware to utilize it. However, the battery life that a Blu-Ray drive would deplete on a notebook, would not be a good experience (if you could even get through one movie). Our guess is that Blu-Ray drives will be reluctantly built in by Apple at some point, in response to demand from the market. Much like the iPhone 3G, and the iPhone SDK.
