“I actually use my mac for work and not as an accessory to sit in starbucks.”

Seriously. I owe you a beer.

If these new “air modeled versions” are to bare, then they will not be in lieu of current features that, unlike the optical drive, are difficult to manufacture. 

While we intuitively imagine it difficult… there are some actual engineering challenges I think too difficult to circumvent. 

It’s not the GPU or the CPU that restricts the width, as they MLB of a MBP isn’t much thicker (ports maybe) than a MBA. What IS however, substantially different, are both the need for thick heatsinks (which are actually too thin on MBP in the first place) and, the heat generated that’s needed to be moved via the heatsinks… is added power draw; i.e., battery!

What I wouldn’t be surprised by is the removal of the ODD, standardization of the proprietary(ish) SSD as in the MBA (just because they’re assholes and would do that), and worst of all, the soldering of the RAM to the logic board – something other manufactures DONT do because it’s the PRIMARY cause for failure!!! This means, the number one thing any tech who begins diagnosing a computer – that starts with RAM… will have to just say, “You need a new “logic” board.” What… did you think a modular design in which any of the GPU, CPU, RAM, or circuit board should be allowed to fail and only pay for that part which did? Seriously? Naaaah! Why? When you can re-purchase parts that HAVEN”T failed. Best of all… apple DOES repair logic boards – but not [for] it’s consumers – only for itself! To resell as “new”. 

The trend is the continued abuse of their ignorant customers… not the pejorative ignorance… just the type prone to exploitation over the kinds of customers who’ll pay 1200 for the repair of a 2008 MBP that needs only a $400 part… because the customer assumes the HDD can’t be put in any other mac – but is rather ‘infused’ in to the keyboard and LCD. Yes – they’ll spend more repairing a computer worth 800 repaired… than to just buy a new unit. 

Point is, you cant fit a discrete gr. card or anything worth talking about in an air profile laptop. Therefore killing the pro line to make way for a 17” Air makes no sense what so ever. I actually use my mac for work and not as an accessory to sit in starbucks.

You bought the 15” and 17” cause they were the workhorses. A 15” Air is a possibility, but a 17” no way! its supposedly a desktop replacement!

Coming to the MacBook Pros, I’ll probably wait for Intels 2013 chips. The one that’s supposed to come out after Ivy Bridge with supposedly much lower power consumption and heat. Hopefully by then Apple will have released OSX 10.8 fixing the mess that Lion brought about.

Then again, I’m expecting Lenovo to have a pretty badass ultra-thin ThinkPad out by then anyway. Always preferred laptop keyboards with trackpoints/nipples. All this modern multi-touch nonsense doesn’t quite do it for me on touchpads. I like to move the pointer without taking my fingers off the keys.

alas, I still don’t like you OSX…