Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Netbook Touchscreen Rumors Continue to Gather Steam
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
A ten inch Touch with 3G data. A 10" touch? Let the jokes begin.
I was gonna say... haha
Anyways, I guess I will continue to use my 3yr old MBP for the time being. Depending on what's released a Mac Mini for home to display on my 56" DLP and a 10" Mac "netbook" for school and mobile computing might be the way to go.
If this screen is a denser res., I wonder how long before denser res. comes to notebooks across the Apple line. They could probably get a 30" Studio res. on the larger notebooks.
Expect a monitor revolution soon.
If this rumor is true and the screen part is being delivered in Q3, I imagine Apple wouldn't actually introduce these until Jan 2010. Apple doesn't do major product introductions at the end of the year. I suppose a Sept/Oct introduction with November (pre-Thanksgiving) delivery is possible.
I doubt it'll use an Atom-based CPU for battery life concerns. I'll bet they use a new generation of Apple-designed ARM chips.
I would LOVE this...........assuming its powerful enough to handle slingbox. Surfing the web (without squinting) while listening to tunes would be awesome. I assume I would use it over Wifi at home but would be interested in a data plan for on the road, if the price is reasonable.
Q3 is anytime after June. It wouldn't be hard to get an August delivery sent out manufactured by September. September= trad. iPod release dates.
New, giant iPod. Bah.
All speculation, naturally.MAXI-POD!
Problem with ARM would be loss of compatibility with most existing OS/X applications.
I can't see a "bigger iPhone" as being compelling. But an "ultra-small" OS/X device? That's much more compelling.
Probably because the screen size "fits" a netbook.
That makes sense to me.
Some rumors on a (mini-)tablet/netbook if anyone's interested:
"Embedded Mac OS X for Apple Consumer Electronics?" (19 December 2006)
"Full Video iPod in 2007 and Mac Tablet in 2008?" (17 January 2007)
"The Return of the Newton (Apple PDA)?" (26 September 2007)
"Apple Working on a Tablet Mac?" (6 November 2007)
"Apple Mac Tablet with Docking Station in 2007?" (26 November 2007)
"Details on Apple's Portable Mini-Tablet Device?" (26 December 2007)
"No Mini-Tablet at Macworld?" (14 January 2008)
"iPhone Started as 'Safari Pad'?" (3 March 2008)
"Tablet Mac Coming in Fall 2008?" (23 May 2008)
"MacBook Touch?" (22 July 2008)
"Speculation About a 'MacBook Touch' Builds" (25 July 2008)
"Jobs on Mac Netbooks: Not Yet, But..." (21 October 2008)
"Unannounced Apple Product Found in Web Logs?" (22 October 2008)
"'Large Screen iPod Touch Device' in Fall of 2009?" (30 December 2008)
"Mac Tablet/Mega iPod Touch due fall 2009 who knows when" (1 January 2009, has links to other tablet rumors)
"Apple Answers Questions About Low-end iPhone and Mac Netbooks" (21 January 2009)
"Tim Cook: 'Ideas' for a Netbook, iPhone Price Changes, iMacs?" (17 February 2009)
…those and the three latest rumors.
I agree you salty old seadog!
I just got my wife a refurbed 3G and I still have my first gen iPhone and I could really use a pretty good update besides a higher res screen or faster Atom processor that I fear is all that will happen.
My wish list for next gen iPhone:
#1- A forward facing iSight camera in the bezel with an iChat AV app for use over 3G and WiFi.
#2- 2-4 MP camera with software that actually allows a decent picture to be taken in any light condition without the fear of motion blur.
#3- Draft N WiFi chipset for connecting to 5GHz only WiFi locations. (I'm sure Apple's band aid for this was providing the APEXT and TC dual broadcast update but not gonna fly in the LINKSYS world.)
#4- Slightly better ergonomic feel to the iPhone when holding in your hand up to your ear.
#5- More powerful BT so that when I have an ear piece in my right ear and the iPhone is in my left pocket my body doesn't render the connection all but unusable. No fat jokes please....
Prediction
I think this device will be using the new version of the Atom processor with integrated graphic capabilities. Intel plans to release these for the 4th quarter of this year. As usual Apple will get these new chips earlier and will release a product for the Holiday season. I am guessing it will be a touch pad like device (think large Ipod touch). I am wishing for handwriting capability with a stylus but I have little hope. This Ipads will be weighing around 2 pounds and have integrated non changeable batteries like Iphone, and new 17 inch MacBook Pros.
Sean
I think this device will be using the new version of the Atom processor with integrated graphic capabilities. Intel plans to release these for the 4th quarter of this year. As usual Apple will get these new chips earlier and will release a product for the Holiday season. I am guessing it will be a touch pad like device (think large Ipod touch). I am wishing for handwriting capability with a stylus but I have little hope. This Ipads will be weighing around 2 pounds and have integrated non changeable batteries like Iphone, and new 17 inch MacBook Pros.
Sean
Pity.
The rumors point in no definitive directions aside from backing up the screen size. Some point to a Maxi-pod, others point to a full OSX tablet.
Perfect (as far as Apple is concerned).
They'd LOVE for this platform to be brand new, the same as the iPhone was. So they'll have 3 types of app: iPhone/iPod - Netbook - and Mac.
Why? Well because using multitouch on programs designed for a mouse is awkward at best. How do you fix that? By making the developers do the work of re-doing their programs, of course! After the iPhone's success, I'm sure most developers will rush towards re-working their apps for a netbook or tablet. Let THEM do the work that needs to be done to make a multi-touch device the best it can be.
This has the added benefit that they'll probably cut down on un-needed parts of their programs. Will Photoshop CS4 run well on this thing? Doubt it. Will Photoshop, Netbook-Eddition work well after they trim out the fat (things that wouldn't be useful on a tiny screen anyway)? You betcha!
Forcing developers into doing that would be exactly what Apple wants.
EDIT: I bet we'll see the hardware announed at the developer's confrence, but shipping in 4 months. And, of course, some wonderful Apple-way of "easily" turning Mac apps into Netbook-apps that they'll be showing developers.
EDIT 2: I wonder if this will be the start of a "Finder Store." Exactly like the iTunes store, but runs in Finder instead of iTunes. It would be for Netbook and Mac software. Since these devices don't sync with iTunes it makes little sense for their software to live there. But the "Finder Store" could work exactly the same, and download apps to the Applications folder.
EDIT 3: It's probably obvious from what I've said, but I believe an Apple netbook will be more "Mac-Like" than the iPhone is, but it will be closer to the iPhone than to OS X in terms of the way it looks and works. Yes, there will be a Finder, and more customization, but don't think you'll get Mac OS X on this thing. It will most certainly run its own "Netbook OS X." I'd actually expect that it won't have the word "Mac" anywhere near it. It will be the "Apple Something-or-other."
We're missing something.
What exactly is the market for this? Multimedia device? With a 10in. screen, will it fit in your pocket? Can you even use something with a screen slightly smaller than your foot as a phone? If it's not a phone, would at&t allow 3G connectivity?
Will it be some sort of supplement to a laptop? Will it have an optical drive? Or be app-store only?
Finally, have any of you ever tried typing on something that's not a keyboard? I'm not sure how that will be without any sort of tactile feedback.
There are just a lot of pieces to this puzzle that are not fitting together just yet. My best guess is that this will tie in with the iPods and related announcements in September.
What exactly is the market for this? Multimedia device? With a 10in. screen, will it fit in your pocket? Can you even use something with a screen slightly smaller than your foot as a phone? If it's not a phone, would at&t allow 3G connectivity?
Will it be some sort of supplement to a laptop? Will it have an optical drive? Or be app-store only?
Finally, have any of you ever tried typing on something that's not a keyboard? I'm not sure how that will be without any sort of tactile feedback.
There are just a lot of pieces to this puzzle that are not fitting together just yet. My best guess is that this will tie in with the iPods and related announcements in September.
Q3 is anytime after June. It wouldn't be hard to get an August delivery sent out manufactured by September. September= trad. iPod release dates.
New, giant iPod. Bah.
MAXI-POD!
If they don't announce it in time for back to school we probably won't see it until Just before Christmas.
"He added that he did not know what the final product would be, or who would make it."
So then why is it on our front page?? This stuff annoys me.
so we know that the same company that makes apples iphone screens have orders for another screen from someone... WOW, it must be a netbook then!
So then why is it on our front page?? This stuff annoys me.
so we know that the same company that makes apples iphone screens have orders for another screen from someone... WOW, it must be a netbook then!
Have to guess that the Atom will NOT make it into this device. A mobile quad-core CPU like the whole reason Apple has ARM... I believe ARM processing for certain. If anything, Apple would be moving away from Intel and not towards it ANYTIME it can. And here, is a perfect way to move away from it and use its own ARM processors which are extremely capable and seem ridiculous for a phone but not so ridiculous for a larger "netbook" capabilities device more like a large tablet iPhone.
Maybe I am wrong... I just think based on everything I have read, this Apple product is the perfect use for the ARM processors.