apple's laptops are the best...is there anything they can do to even make them better

[jefhatfield]

my dream laptop, let's say in 2004 would have:

g4 at 1.25 ghz chip
gig of ddr ram
14 inch lcd with high resolution
superdrive, slot loading
have a titanium shell
be .80 inches thick
and weigh under five pounds

and cost under two grand

since apple has dazzled us with the current lightweight ibook, then the tibook being 1 inch thin, and now with the two new aluminum powerbooks, i say the sky is the limit for apple inc and their portable lineup

[melchior]

that's nice and i would be up for that purchase.

what i would really like apple to make is a sub-notebook. on par with the Toshiba Portege or (wishfully) Libretto

the feature i would like to see included are modular video cards. (in the imac too please) obviously not "usor serviceable" and doubtful apple would offer a service but i would be very happy to do it =)

[MacCoaster]

Originally posted by jefhatfield
my dream laptop, let's say in 2004 would have:

g4 at 1.25 ghz chip
Bleh. ONLY 250 MHz in OVER a year?!

They better move to the PowerPC 970 first, or at least the "supposed" 7457's that run faster.
gig of ddr ram
Really pointless when DDR can't be utilized by the G4.
14 inch lcd with high resolution
Why 14? Bump to 15. :)
superdrive, slot loading
Hopefully at 4x
have a titanium shell
Bleh, why? Aluminum alloys are stronger and no paint needed. Titanium was a flop. I hope they never go back to titanium.
be .80 inches thick and weigh under five pounds
Would be sweet. :)
and cost under two grand
Under $2,000, and it's immediately on my lap.

[jefhatfield]

Originally posted by MacCoaster

Bleh. ONLY 250 MHz in OVER a year?!

They better move to the PowerPC 970 first, or at least the "supposed" 7457's that run faster.

Really pointless when DDR can't be utilized by the G4.

Why 14? Bump to 15. :)

Hopefully at 4x

Bleh, why? Aluminum alloys are stronger and no paint needed. Titanium was a flop. I hope they never go back to titanium.

Would be sweet. :)

Under $2,000, and it's immediately on my lap.


ok, 15" inch lcd
2 ghz ppc 970 chip
superdrive 4x
under 4.5 lbs
under 2 grand
aluminum casing .70 inches thick

12" lcd model
2 ghz ppc 970 chip
external superdrive 4x
under 3 lbs to be there with the PC world's libretto
under 2 1/2 grand
aluminum casing .50 inches thick

but give apple until summer of 2004 for this one

[jefhatfield]

Originally posted by jefhatfield



ok, 15" inch lcd
2 ghz ppc 970 chip
superdrive 4x
under 4.5 lbs
under 2 grand
aluminum casing .70 inches thick

12" lcd model
2 ghz ppc 970 chip
external superdrive 4x
under 3 lbs to be there with the PC world's libretto
under 2 1/2 grand
aluminum casing .50 inches thick

but give apple until summer of 2004 for this one

and to answer sony's amazing c1 mini laptop

9" inch lcd
built in camera
external superdrive 4x
2 lbs
under 2 grand
polycarbonate casing
20 gb hard drive

[benixau]

why LCD???

if apple really wanted to beat the rest of the market they could put OLEP/Ds in them

longer battery life, thinner screens, higher res's and better contrast and brightness.

now that would surely smash the opposition. apples laptops already have the longest battery life in their category. any longer would be even better.

[Wano]

I think the ultimate PowerBook would be:

970 1.8Ghz Processor
1Gb PC800 RDRAM(standard), expandable to 2gb
80GB 5400rpms at least
128mb DDRAM graphics card with DVI and ADC out
4xSuperdrive
2 firewire 800 ports
2usb 2.0 ports
Ariport extreme
10 hour battery
17"screen
and all the features i left out that already exist.

[Timothy]

I for one do not like that Apple has made the optical drive a permanent part of the laptop. I LOVED the dual battery confirguation of my pismo. I use the CD drive much more rarely than I use the power consumed in dual batteries.

Personally, I'd like to see a return to the bay options...allowing me to load dual batteries and leave the optical drive on the desk...

[Ifeelbloated]

Yeah, I'll be in the market for a laptop when they do come out with OLED displays. Right now portability is just not enough of a selling point. When we start seeing stuff like we saw in the movie "Minority Report" then maybe.

[benixau]

Originally posted by Timothy
I for one do not like that Apple has made the optical drive a permanent part of the laptop. I LOVED the dual battery confirguation of my pismo. I use the CD drive much more rarely than I use the power consumed in dual batteries.

Personally, I'd like to see a return to the bay options...allowing me to load dual batteries and leave the optical drive on the desk...

bays are good. but they are expensive. why? they require a universal interface for batteries, optical drives HDD. then the OS has to be wirtten to support them. that limits the number of OS' that can be used on a system.

then the signals either data or power have to be routed to the correct chips.

they also take up more space in a laptop then their fixed counterparts. That would make apples laptops go beyond their current thickness.

a good idea, just not practical, at the moment. :)

[Timothy]

Again...once my laptop is set up, the ratio between use of the optical drive versus use of the extra battery time is about 20 to 1 in my case. So, if Apple ever makes a sub-notebook (which I consider the new 12" Alubook) then perhaps they should consider making the optical drive an external or attachable drive, such as other manufacturers do.

[iShater]

Originally posted by melchior
that's nice and i would be up for that purchase.

what i would really like apple to make is a sub-notebook. on par with the Toshiba Portege or (wishfully) Libretto



I used to think the same, however, after playing with 12" PB in person, I am not so sure any more. That thing is light, and small. Have you gotten a chance to try them out yet?

[jefhatfield]

Originally posted by Timothy
Again...once my laptop is set up, the ratio between use of the optical drive versus use of the extra battery time is about 20 to 1 in my case. So, if Apple ever makes a sub-notebook (which I consider the new 12" Alubook) then perhaps they should consider making the optical drive an external or attachable drive, such as other manufacturers do.

i think the 12" albook is still a fully featured laptop, even at 4.6 lbs

they could make a sub-notebook model with a 10.4 inch screen, optical drive an external accessory, use a G4 chip, 256 mb ddr sdram, 20 or 30 gb hard drive, os x, and everything else and hopefully shave the main system weight to 3 lbs

...and do this to mainly comptete with dell, gateway, hp-compaq, sony, and toshiba...who all have a true sub notebook under 4 lbs.

perfect for school and travelers and anybody else who only use their optical drive at home or on a rare occassion going out

[Kid Red]

They would be better if they were free.