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32GB 600Mhz Video-Capable Next Gen iPhone? MacBook Pro Rebranding?
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Gruber has been wrong more than right
John Gruber has often been wrong ... It's just the cool thing to do to link to him ... mentioning his name is like talking up a facebook page or twitter name.
I just think he's smart and hangs around like minded people ... eventhough he curses up a storm, doles out extreme liberal links and opinions, and talks about twitter seemingly 40% of the time nowadays.
Even if the things he mentions haven't been rumored about ... they are pretty obvious steps forward for the iPhone.
John Gruber has often been wrong ... It's just the cool thing to do to link to him ... mentioning his name is like talking up a facebook page or twitter name.
I just think he's smart and hangs around like minded people ... eventhough he curses up a storm, doles out extreme liberal links and opinions, and talks about twitter seemingly 40% of the time nowadays.
Even if the things he mentions haven't been rumored about ... they are pretty obvious steps forward for the iPhone.
Quoted from John Grubers article :
"Two other significant internal additions frequently mentioned in rumors are indeed accurate: a magnetometer (a.k.a. a compass) and an improved camera that will shoot video (and improved still images, thanks to an auto-focus lens; the existing iPhone camera lens is fixed-focus). Video, in fact, will be one of the major features Apple plans to tout regarding the new model"
If true ---> Finally auto-focus. About time i guess. But wondering how it will be controlled. Additional button or by the screen ?
"Two other significant internal additions frequently mentioned in rumors are indeed accurate: a magnetometer (a.k.a. a compass) and an improved camera that will shoot video (and improved still images, thanks to an auto-focus lens; the existing iPhone camera lens is fixed-focus). Video, in fact, will be one of the major features Apple plans to tout regarding the new model"
If true ---> Finally auto-focus. About time i guess. But wondering how it will be controlled. Additional button or by the screen ?
32GB and faster processor for iPhone are obvious.
Magnetometer and video recording, they would be great, but I won't hold my breath.
Reclassifying aluminum Macbooks as MBP? I doubt it. For one, Macbooks don't have Firewire, contradicting the target market of MBPs. However, a smaller 14/13" MBP would be awesome (a redesigned aluminum Macbook with Firewire port, dual GPU, and Expresscard slot plus built-in battery).
The white Macbook seems very odd now, contrasting the all aluminum lineups. I'm guessing its days are numbered, maybe a price drop. I'm not sure Apple will do a "netbook," but with more and more netbooks creeping up in prices (~$500-$600), Apple might entice buyers to "upgrade" to the white Macbook for a "bit" more (~$700-$800 price range).
Here's an idea, sell the aluminum Macbooks in colors!
Macbookchromatic. More and more PC manufactures are selling their lineups in multiple color option. Colored anodized aluminum Apple laptop would look much sexier than a colored plastic drap that most Win laptops are now.
What I'm really waiting for is for Apple to simply sell the iPhone unlocked, or force AT&T to unlock the iPhones, especially older ones. I mean c'mon, there will be tons of 1G iPhones out there. What would those users do to those 1G iPhones if they want to upgrade to the new iPhone? Apple is trying to have its image as a "green" company. Having 1G iPhoens in landfills won't help. Have AT&T unlock them so people can sell those as 2nd hand phones, or refurbish them and sell them unlocked out of the box. C'mon Apple, you said you're "changing" the wireless market. You already sell iPhone 3G unlocked out-of-the-box in some countries. It's 2009 for God's sake.
Magnetometer and video recording, they would be great, but I won't hold my breath.
Reclassifying aluminum Macbooks as MBP? I doubt it. For one, Macbooks don't have Firewire, contradicting the target market of MBPs. However, a smaller 14/13" MBP would be awesome (a redesigned aluminum Macbook with Firewire port, dual GPU, and Expresscard slot plus built-in battery).
The white Macbook seems very odd now, contrasting the all aluminum lineups. I'm guessing its days are numbered, maybe a price drop. I'm not sure Apple will do a "netbook," but with more and more netbooks creeping up in prices (~$500-$600), Apple might entice buyers to "upgrade" to the white Macbook for a "bit" more (~$700-$800 price range).
Here's an idea, sell the aluminum Macbooks in colors!
Macbookchromatic. More and more PC manufactures are selling their lineups in multiple color option. Colored anodized aluminum Apple laptop would look much sexier than a colored plastic drap that most Win laptops are now. What I'm really waiting for is for Apple to simply sell the iPhone unlocked, or force AT&T to unlock the iPhones, especially older ones. I mean c'mon, there will be tons of 1G iPhones out there. What would those users do to those 1G iPhones if they want to upgrade to the new iPhone? Apple is trying to have its image as a "green" company. Having 1G iPhoens in landfills won't help. Have AT&T unlock them so people can sell those as 2nd hand phones, or refurbish them and sell them unlocked out of the box. C'mon Apple, you said you're "changing" the wireless market. You already sell iPhone 3G unlocked out-of-the-box in some countries. It's 2009 for God's sake.
I think they should really diversify the MBs and MBPs by letting the MBPs get faster and faster whilst keeping the MBs pretty much at the speed they are now but vastly increasing the battery life towards more netbook levels.
MBs are already powerful enough to easily handle amateur video-editing, which is probably the most demanding consumer-level task, and consumers would derive greater productivity from not having to lug around a power brick if they think they might need to do prolonged work, nor have to search for somewhere with a plug socket. It would be a good way for Apple to respond to the netbook trend, I think.
MBs are already powerful enough to easily handle amateur video-editing, which is probably the most demanding consumer-level task, and consumers would derive greater productivity from not having to lug around a power brick if they think they might need to do prolonged work, nor have to search for somewhere with a plug socket. It would be a good way for Apple to respond to the netbook trend, I think.
Arghhh! Why do people keep repeating this? It isn't true.
The FCC need to do an approval, but they will happily keep it commercially confidential and unpublished until launch if asked.
(the iPhone probably will hit in mid-July, but for no more reason that getting it to the phone companies and having them train up their sales staff without leaking it pre-Apple annoucement takes a month).
Phazer
A faster iPhone is a given, right? I mean, the current config in the iPhones is getting a tiny bit behind the times as far as the processor goes. The rebranding is the easiest and most irritating way Apple can answer the "Tiny Macbook Pro" demands. 12" PB rise again!! (But lack of discrete graphics still makes it a no-deal for me).
Apple needs to do something to get a less expensive 15- and 17-inch notebook into the market. If you look at the competition, they beat Apple soundly in this area. The Microsoft ads are exploiting this. I would like to see Apple drop the 15-inch model in price by at least $400 to $1,599.
"Hey John, what's wrong with your iPhone?"
"It's rendering out a clip, should be done in 2-3 years"
"It's rendering out a clip, should be done in 2-3 years"
And a price point.
It's just Apple's way of telling you to pay attention to your professor.
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5H11a Safari/525.20)
It would be even more confusing to first time buyers to have almost every machine in Apple's lineup called a Macbook pro. If they are going to change the name at all, they ought to all be MacBooks, for the simple reason that it's easier to say. I kind of wish they would bring back the old PowerBook name for the pro machines, along with MacBook for the consumer machines.
monke said:
It would be even more confusing to first time buyers to have almost every machine in Apple's lineup called a Macbook pro. If they are going to change the name at all, they ought to all be MacBooks, for the simple reason that it's easier to say. I kind of wish they would bring back the old PowerBook name for the pro machines, along with MacBook for the consumer machines.
I so can't wait to get the new iPhone this summer. I just AT&T doesn't want an arm and a leg to upgrade from the 3G version I got last July.
I do wonder about what affect this will have on the App Store? Applications that will be made for a chip "more than 1.5x more powerful" certainly won't work well on the 2/3G iPhones... So I imagine there will be some initial confusion regarding just what will work with what
I imagine this could be easily overcome if the appstore just utilizes one tiny bit of information telling it what version you have, thus removing automatically any app not compatible with your current hardware. I assume it's as easy as the app store auto-detecting 1,2 for example, and filtering results.
And just so your not trying to find an app and it never appears due to filtering, maybe the apps should populate, but the price box/buy now is just grayed out due to the filter.
Rebrand everything aluminum to be called a pro. I thought it was enough that they started including gimmick features in their pro notebook line-up, but unless the aluminum macbook drops integrated graphics I think it will be even more confusing to the average consumer. They will walk in, see the price difference between a 13" and 15.4" MBP and just pick the 13" because they won't understand the performance difference since they look identical. I really wish the Pro line was in fact a Pro line. This trend worries me for my next MBP replacement.
On the calling all unibodies MBPs...
It's rather curious since Apple has said it wants to move away from plastic. If all unibodies are going to be called MBPs then there will be just one MB. That makes zero sense, either logically or from a marketing perspective. There will no longer be a clear line between "pro" and "consumer," not that the MBPs are all that "pro-ish" with its glossy screen.
Perhaps what is going to happen is a reincarnation of the old 12" Powerbook in MBP form, complete with upgraded screen, video card, and FW. Then Apple would kill off the MB unibodies and upgrade the current plastic one to 2.4Ghz. That would be an interesting intermediate compromise to the netbook conundrum -- except for the price since I'm sure a 12" unibody MBP would cost 3x what a netbook costs.
It's rather curious since Apple has said it wants to move away from plastic. If all unibodies are going to be called MBPs then there will be just one MB. That makes zero sense, either logically or from a marketing perspective. There will no longer be a clear line between "pro" and "consumer," not that the MBPs are all that "pro-ish" with its glossy screen.
Perhaps what is going to happen is a reincarnation of the old 12" Powerbook in MBP form, complete with upgraded screen, video card, and FW. Then Apple would kill off the MB unibodies and upgrade the current plastic one to 2.4Ghz. That would be an interesting intermediate compromise to the netbook conundrum -- except for the price since I'm sure a 12" unibody MBP would cost 3x what a netbook costs.
They just won't let this go, will they? It's a phone with a camera built in, stupid. Thanks for making the camera suck less, but if I need good pictures, I'll use a real camera with real lenses, thanks. There's only so much the iPhone lens and lack of flash can do for photographs. "The best camera is the one you have with you" is probably one of the lamest pitches I've heard lately about the iPhone and its camera. Spontaneous photography is not professional or even serious photography.
I do doubt him. The notion of the branding changes seems pretty far fetched. However, I wouldn't mind a price drop and sacrifice of the plastic MacBook.
Or ... could they be more expensive because Apple "generally" prefers a wider profit margin per product than most other ultra-portable laptop manufacturers in the genre?
I'd rather that Apple's innovation be a tad riskier (read: less profit margin) than it is today. Trust the consumer with more upgrade options after-market, and offer more economical choices on existing product lines.
Oh, and maybe - put some of this advanced technology to use in a shocking, new product line. Collaborate with DELL to make a Aluminum Unibody Mini 9 running OS X as an option.
The Pro vs. not really Pro argument is valid for the current product lines. I don't know if rebranding is necessarily stupid, however. If they were willing to upgrade the MBPs with more powerful hardware, it'd be a start.
Any which way, a laptop refresh would be definitely appreciated
+1 as I'm patiently waiting to see what Back-to-School specials Apple has in store before I relieve my wallet of its weight in cash.
... One thing always bother me constantly, which is the cooling system inside MB / MBP... Maybe liquid cooling system will do some job. So, please surprise us Apple!
IMO, if the Next generation Pro-Line with Liquid Cooling System, that will be a Spot news!
Yes, a liquid cooling system would be a Spot, but expensive surprise.
The MBPs do run too hot and there don't seem to be very many options available to substantially mitigate this heat.I don't care what they call it, I just want the upgrade already. I figured I was so close to the next bump that I would wait. Amazing how long the wait feels when you really want something.
I feel your pain. Once WWDC is over and the Back-to-School specials are introduced, that's when the water will be as comfortable as it's gonna get. Dive in then.
LOL!
You probably are (the only one). This would be a cool change for the phone. I hate to break this to you, but you are already a beacon to anyone who wants to roll you for your iPhone and other geek toys. Stay in public places, or keep the toys out of view if you're that paranoid of perception or aren't sure of your surroundings. Most Mac enthusiasts enjoy the adulation that that glowing apple brings from strangers.
Besides, I'm sure if this feature was ever implemented, there would probably be a way to disable or reduce the intensity of the illumination of the Apple logo.
ROFL. This made my morning!
Cheers!
if they rebrand the macbook unibody to macbook pro they would have to add a better screen quality and maybe firewire. if they leave the prize at 1599 with those improvements i would imagine it could work out calling it macbook pro. with the current screen being of lesser quality than the mba's i don't think this will fly.
I disagree with the white one needing to be eliminated, as the new mac mini still has a white top, not black. This means the white macbook still fits in with the product range, white still indicates a consumer product and aluminium is mainly higher end/pro.
I do think that the white macbook will be eliminated in perhaps a year, and when it does, I wonder if the 13" unibody will lose "pro" in its name, if this will even happen?
