Despite rumors that Apple next MacBook Pro may feature an ultra-thin MacBook Air-like design, SlashGear has received a tip suggesting that Apple in fact will not slim down the MacBook Pro, but will instead eliminate the optical drive, add a dedicated boot SSD, and a significantly larger and longer-lasting new battery.
As it turns out, the space for the optical drive is large enough two 2.5″ hard drives side-by-side, which Apple would use to include a dedicated SSD in each machine as a boot volume, in addition to a larger traditional hard drive to store files on. This, in contrast to the MacBook Air, which uses a blade-style PCI-based SSD. Apple would then be able to use the space that the hard drive used to fill to dramatically increase the size of the battery.
It’s an interesting concept, but if the illustration to the right is any indication, it’s unlikely that Apple would make such a design change. Why? Because it looks sloppy. Apple is all about style. And as far as space savings is concerned, Apple would be much better off adding a blade-style SSD to the MacBook Pro rather than including a second 2.5-inch drive.
Add to that the fact that there’s really very little need for Apple to increase the battery size in the MacBook Pro that much – it already gets pretty great battery life. Because of these reasons, and the fact that there have been absolutely no analyst reports, part leaks, or credible claims to back this up, as opposed to the large number of reports suggesting that Apple will release an ultra-thin MacBook Pro, I think this rumor is very unlikely.
Not to mention that SlashGear’s tip is nothing more than common rambling from a thread over at Reddit…
Nevertheless, nobody knows what will happen until Apple spills the beans. As for me, I wouldn’t bet the farm on this.
