Waiting for Obsolesence

Since March of 2008, I’ve been the proud owner of the latest version of the current MacBookPro model knowing full-well that it would probably be the last iteration of its current form factor. With the latest rumors circulating about a new MacBook, I feel a little like Mark Spitz must have felt at the 2004 Athens Olympics watching Michael Phelps taking his first shot at usurping his record. Right now, it seems like most of the new form-factor rumors have been centered around the MacBook and little has been heard about possible MacBook Pro revisions. But that doesn’t really mean anything because even when legitimate leaks occur, which, according to Nicholas Ciarelli, Apple seems to be softening on, Apple has gotten real good at at least keeping some surprises close to the vest even when they know the cat has been partially let out of the bag. And with the rumors of a possible aluminum brick cutting new laser-manufacturing process that would be used across product lines, it increases the likelihood it might carryover to the MBP too. But, if they do announce new form-factor MacBook Pros along with the new MacBooks later this month (maybe), well then, instead of the 2004 Olympics, it will be like the 2008 Bejing Olympics where Phelps shatters all Mark Spitz records. OK, maybe not quite that dramatic, but I’m waiting and watching just the same.

My MBP is the first laptop that I’ve owned. I don’t do a lot of travel and I’ve always been a desktop workstation, power-user kinda guy, so my need to be mobile never outweighed my need for speed. That was, until the last iteration of the MBP came out. While not a Quad Dual 3.2GHZ Xeon, at 2.5GHz, (I opted not to get the extra 100MHz) the Intel Core2Duo chip seemed plenty fast for normal, everyday work and loaded up with 4GB of RAM and with a 512MB Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT card pushing around 2,304,000 pixels (1920×1200) on an HD, matte-finish 17″ screen with a DVI out to power my 24″ external monitor with ease. I finally felt the speed had caught up with my “power-user” needs and haven’t regretted taking the plunge into the mobile world.

But alas, as with all new purchases, time marches on, and while those specs mentioned above at this writing still have bragging rights, within 10 years, they will be a laughingstock. Ten years ago, I was blazing away on a “blistering” 266MHz Beige G3 Tower, loaded with a “mind-boggling” 128MB of RAM and a “huge” 6GB HD with an 8MB ATI Rage video card powering a 21″ Radius PressView monitor (CRT for you kiddies). Hah! But I will have you know, that the above-mentioned system is still running OS X 10.4 (albeit hacked to the max with processor, video, RAM and HD upgrades to be able to run–but it still runs!)

All that is to say, that my bragging rights days are numbered, and Jonathan Ives and the rest of the Apple development team have been diligently at work getting ready to make my current configuration, hopelessly obsolete. Not that I will give in to the temptation to upgrade right away (after all, I’m now over $700BN in debt and my days of bleeding-edge are over), but I know, I’m going to be looking at a new shiny “work of art” and won’t be able to help but notice that my keys don’t “glow” quite as well, or its ability to read my mind and perform work for me doesn’t work quite as fast as this yet-to-be-revealed beauty will undoubtedly be. Yeah, it’s a bummer being Mark Spitz.