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...where are all the photoshop'd fantasies?
If I wasn't such a clutz with the Crayons I'd happily knock one out for you, and it'd be fan-f**king-tastic.
...EDIT: Quick mockup; bottom: Superdrive (fictional), top: Airport Extreme
superdriveiv5.png
Very similar to something I proposed months ago on these very forums.

...Why couldn't they use regular philips screws is beyond me...
So that the average user doesn't/can't rush into taking their laptop apart without at least stopping to think about what they're about to do?
 
People: Assume Apple can offer a superdrive in a sleek, tiny and beautiful package that uses bluetooth (completely wireless and can sit on your desk) or a superdrive that can draw enough power off the USB to be battery free.

Who would not prefer that if it saves you a 1lb of weight?

I suspect the answer is simple - 95% of users. Unfortunately the 5% have a big presence here :)

Hmm, bluetooth would take at least 5 hours to just transmit a DVD.
Bluetooth 2.0 EDR:
2.1 Mbit/s = 0.2625 MB/s = 15.75 MB/m

DVD = 4700 MB

1 DVD = 298.41269841269841 minutes
= 4.9735449735449735 hours


Don't forget about good old Firewire, that would do the job just fine. :)
 
I agree that 13" is not ultraportable, nor imho is 12" (although 12" is a great form factor for Ableton Live users as it fits in a record bag ;) ).

If these screens are for a simple transition for the Macbook line to LED backlighting and not a part for a 13" addition to the Macbook Pro line there's gonna be a lot of disappointed people when "One more thing" turns out to be an aluminium iPod sock. :p
 
My take on it is Apple is going to be ditching one of the 15” Macbook Pro models and will be introducing a new 13” model , so there will be a 13”, 15” 17” giving the pro line a much more varied selection. I do also believe that an ultra potable 12" is on the way in the near future with the base model of the Macbook being ditched to make way for it, the ultra portable obviously wont be in that same price range as the base Macbook but it will fill the void.

As for a tablet I am just not too sure, as when have tablets ever had a demanding market? For me a iphone should be sufficient enough to make the quick note, memo etc, I mean talk of a 8 ultra portable is mind bogging, how on earth can you do serious work on something of that size.
 
*Hmm... I'd still say something the size of a paper 8.5 by 11ish and close to 2lbs would be pretty portable. Fits in my knapsack. I can't fit anything with 7 or 10 in anything smaller than that. For women, there are purses where the 7 or 10 is preferable.

*I hope the market can support both 10 and 12 inch systems and that Apple would introduce. I really believe there is NO real market for 7inches. Just falls into the zone where an IPOD touch does almost the same and the screen is too small for real work. I'd hope I am wrong, but do not assume that to be the case.

*I believe a lightweight 13inch will beat or match an ultraportable in sales. Whether the margins would be the same would be a different issue. Cannibalization of the 13.3 PB might be an issue, but sense the margin gains would make this less of an issue. We can have rough a sense by March of the sales numbers. We will just compare to ultraportable sales from Sony and Toshiba as those have the bulk.


You know, I think I was wrong about the market wanting a true ultra portable rather than a thinner MacBook.

I posted a poll question in the forum and it's 10:1 in favor of the thinner MacBook design!

Though I still think a true, tiny ultra portable would do well, I have to admit I was off about the interest level for a larger, thinner laptop!
 
I thinks its plainly obvious whats happening, steve made a big issue of aluminium and glass over plastic when introducing the new imac, as apple are going green.

next step = get the plastic out of the macbook:apple:
 
I thinks its plainly obvious whats happening, steve made a big issue of aluminium and glass over plastic when introducing the new imac, as apple are going green.

next step = get the plastic out of the macbook:apple:

That seems reasonable to me...
 
LED Baclighting - When?

I thought in Steve's open letter, ALL Mac displays were supposed to be LED by the end of 2007. :confused:


I thought he said as soon as practical & when screen manufactures can produce larger & enough screens. To me it was open ended as far as time is concerned. Also the delivery or lack ther-of would go to the screen manufacturers.

I'm waiting for a 17" or larger portable with LED back lighting.

Bill the TaxMan
 
Where is FireWire

Hmm, bluetooth would take at least 5 hours to just transmit a DVD.
Bluetooth 2.0 EDR:
2.1 Mbit/s = 0.2625 MB/s = 15.75 MB/m

DVD = 4700 MB

1 DVD = 298.41269841269841 minutes
= 4.9735449735449735 hours


Don't forget about good old Firewire, that would do the job just fine. :)


Apple has forgotten FireWire on most new things. Thouse of us that like FireWire will have to keep our old rather than be buying new.

Bill the TaxMan
 
New standard in laptops

Here's my take:

13" Macbook Pro, very slim, trim, and thin. OLED screen with higher resolution than current Macbooks. No optical drive, but a bay that allows either 1) an additional battery for super-long battery life or 2) an additional hard drive (allowing Time Machine backups on the go.)

We also hear rumors about something special with the trackpad, so maybe some additional gesture capabilities would be coming too?

Since the mobile Penryn chips are coming out in January, this might be included in the new MacBook Pro line?

And I'm guess that this new, smaller MacBook Pro might start off $200-$500 more expensive than the highest-end Macbook?

Anyway, should be a cool machine whatever they do.
 
Why does everyone think this is going to be an ultra-portable? It also too soon for them to be put in the MacBooks as they were just refreshed. I see this being a 13.3'' MBP to fill the spot that the 12'' PowerBook had.
 
Yes--it seems odd that at best it would be a slimmer macbook. If it's going to be something different and "ultraportable" I would think it's (as next poster mentions) 9-10" screen or so (maybe 11).

I can't help but feel that this doesn't really have anything to do with the story that Apple are buying a **** load of 13.3" high end laptop displays.

Are you suggesting that Apple will be trimming them?
 
I thinks its plainly obvious whats happening, steve made a big issue of aluminium and glass over plastic when introducing the new imac, as apple are going green.

next step = get the plastic out of the macbook:apple:

Here here, I 100% agree, also look at the fact that they have used a black frame around the screen with a black apple logo - this is very different to previous and I strongly think that the entire range will sport this design by the end of 2008, I for one think the iMac re-design looks stunning.

Just bought my first macbook but i'd update for this design by June if it carried off similar design ideas as the iMac.
 
Ultraportable...

Here's a question. What if this 13.3" screen isn't for a standard-form-factor machine, but rather for an Apple-designed tablet model? This would make it fractionally larger than a standard legal pad and if in an ultra-thin design, it's obvious you can't have a conventional keyboard and monitor notebook shape. On the other hand, by using a virtual keyboard (i.e. multitouch controls similar to iPhone and iPod Touch) this could become very easy to carry and compete strongly against Amazon's ebook reader conventional PDAs by eliminating dedicated keys and having more universal functionality than Palm or Windows Mobile devices.

Personally this is bigger than I want for a combined ebook/PDA device, but I've been wanting a true tablet Mac for a while. This, if it is what I conjecture above, would meet my needs and my wants.
 
Apple has forgotten FireWire on most new things. Thouse of us that like FireWire will have to keep our old rather than be buying new.

Bill the TaxMan

What do you mean they've forgotten Firewire? Every Mac I have, including my 24" aluminum iMac, has a firewire port on it.
 
P.S. If Apple does end up releasing multi-colour MacBooks, please, please, please don't advertise your ignorance by lauding it as "an exciting industry first!" because even Dell's doing it these days... (not that I'm suggesting that they're doing it well, mind you...)

Actually, Apple did do it first with the first "Hello, Kitty makeup kit" iBook in Bondi Blue and Tangerine Orange that came out right after the Bondi Blue iMacs. Ok, maybe they didn't sell a lot of them, but I do remember that the people that did buy them still use them, or at least some of those people do.
 
more speculation

speculation about differentiation.

apple has had tremendous success by differentiating the laptop line into 2 clearly identifiable lines - 'pro' and 'consumer'.

my expectation will be for apple to continue this approach. thus, i would expect the macbook to continue to be in plastic (a really fine casing that can stand a lot of rough handling). the macbook pro will continue to be aluminum, or perhaps a different metal.

a new ultraportable would thus logically reinforce the two-tier pro/consumer lineup and would not be a stand-alone new 'third' range, which would be confusing.

for an ultraportable to fit into the scenario, it makes little sense to market it as a 'consumer' model, as the only way to make it attractive, would be to sell it cheaper than the macbooks. this makes no sense.

the ultraportable however, makes much more sense as an extension of the pro line. its appearance and pricing could fit nicely.

furthermore, my reasoning tells me that the new ultraportable will be a design evolution of the macbook pros. these new design elements would then be incorporated into revised 15" and 17" models, which are in need of a refresh.

as mentioned by -koshper- above, there are many new elements in the imac that could be easily incorporated into the macbook pro range.

i also believe that -Unspeaked- above is right when he says that more people want thinner (and lighter) in a laptop. yes the japanese really love tiny - just see the tiny nibs on their gel pens and the tiny characters they write on the pages of their tiny notebooks- but speaking for myself, i'll take the usability of a larger screen any day, but please make it lighter.

apple has a way of surprising, so anything is possible, but i could anticipate (and hope for) a new line of thinner and lighter, elegant macbook pros, based on an amazing new and light 13". (remember, apple hired many engineers from sony about 2 years ago that were working on sony's ultrathin models -and we haven't seen anything from them yet.)

mwsf of course would be a great time to knock us off our feet.
:)
 
speculation about differentiation

it's all about differentiation.

apple has had tremendous success by differentiating the laptop line into 2 clearly identifiable lines - 'pro' and 'consumer'.

my expectation will be for apple to continue this approach. thus, i would expect the macbook to continue to be in plastic (a really fine casing that can stand a lot of rough handling). the macbook pro will continue to be aluminum, or perhaps a different metal.

a new ultraportable would thus logically reinforce the two-tier pro/consumer lineup and would not be a stand-alone new 'third' range, which would be confusing.

for an ultraportable to fit into the scenario, it makes little sense to market it as a 'consumer' model, as the only way to make it attractive, would be to sell it cheaper than the macbooks. this makes no sense.

the ultraportable however, makes much more sense as an extension of the pro line. its appearance and pricing could fit nicely.

furthermore, my reasoning tells me that the new ultraportable will be a design evolution of the macbook pros. these new design elements would then be incorporated into revised 15" and 17" models, which are in need of a refresh.

as mentioned by -koshper- above, there are many new elements in the imac that could be easily incorporated into the macbook pro range.

i also believe that -Unspeaked- above is right when he says that more people want thinner (and lighter) in a laptop. yes the japanese really love tiny - just see the tiny nibs on their gel pens and the tiny characters they write on the pages of their tiny notebooks- but speaking for myself, i'll take the usability of a larger screen any day, but please make it lighter.

apple has a way of surprising, so anything is possible, but i could anticipate (and hope for) a new line of thinner and lighter, elegant macbook pros, based on an amazing new and light 13". (remember, apple hired many engineers from sony about 2 years ago that were working on sony's ultrathin models -and we haven't seen anything from them yet.)

mwsf of course would be a great time to knock us off our feet.
:)
 
Perhaps a revamp of the whole notebook line?

MB gets: LED backlight, thinner and aluminum enclosure
MBP gets: Magnetic Latch, MB style but backlit keyboard

There is still plenty to differentiate the line if MB gets aluminum:
Screen Size
Processor
Video Card
Express Card Slot
Firewire 800

I sure would LOVE an ultraportable though, a tablet
even - only it's gotta run a full featured OSX.

But alas, I really don't believe the ultraportable rumor. We are simply
getting a lighter/thinner 13.3" MB or MBP...
 
How are the MBP models in need of a refresh? Their current design is barely two years old. Sure it's based off the PowerBook, but the differences are significant enough to last at least another year.

If there's anything here that needs a redesign, it's the Mac Pro. I think that's the main reason it's taking Apple so long to push out another update.
 
differentiate

Perhaps a revamp of the whole notebook line?

MB gets: LED backlight, thinner and aluminum enclosure
MBP gets: Magnetic Latch, MB style but backlit keyboard

There is still plenty to differentiate the line if MB gets aluminum:
Screen Size
Processor
Video Card
Express Card Slot
Firewire 800

I sure would LOVE an ultraportable though, a tablet
even - only it's gotta run a full featured OSX.

But alas, I really don't believe the ultraportable rumor. We are simply
getting a lighter/thinner 13.3" MB or MBP...

excuse me for not being a total nerd, but you have referred to 'specs'. what sets the 2 lines apart in a more elemental way, is the design. (though obviously specs, especially screen size are not insignificant.)

often on this forum one reads of 'wanting an alu macbook'. in other words, an alu enclosure at macbook price. a large part of the desirability of the macbook pro is in fact the aluminum. hence apple has underscored the 'must have' factor of the pro and the incentive to buy their up-market offerings.

-Cloudsurfer- i think in fact you confirm my point. if you look at how long the 'design' of the current macbook pro+powerbook (identical in design) has been around, which is about 4 years i think, and you see the direction of the new imac, it is time to freshen the line. lucky for the designers of our world, THE NEW is something we just can't seem to live without.

are (slightly) better specs really going to blow anyone away? a brilliant update of a successful design, now that will.
:)
 
* Apple doesn't even offer interchangeable hard-drives on their desktops (except for the MacPro) - and considering interchangeable hard-drives are a rarity on laptops anyway, I wouldn't be holding my breath.
* The latch could certainly switch to the MacBook style, I agree that it would be better - but that's more of a minor change than a re-design.
* Ditto for the keyboard
* If the display folds back far enough for you, why does it need to fold back further?
* Whilst I can't speak to the structural strength of the current MacBook Pros, I would be surprised if they were less than par for a typical laptop. Extra-strength laptops, like the Toughbook remain a niche market - hardly appropriate for Apple's flagship laptop class.
* Changing the look just so that it "looks new" is exactly the wrong reason to redesign a product. If you can offer a superior design, then I'll happily agree with you, but as it stands, the current MacBook Pro design is elegant and clean, and I've yet to see anyone arguing for a redesign actually present any sort of superior design - where are all the photoshop'd fantasies?

I think there are two elements to a redesign... a technological upgrade, and an aesthetic and user-oriented re-think. Sometimes it's a big change, sometimes it's just evolutionary. Often, it requires the new technology to facilitate the aesthetic changes.

It doesn't necessarily mean there's anything especially wrong with the previous design, just that there might be a better way of making the same sort of product.

For an MBP redesign, these seem like realistic possibilities:

Technology:
* Faster processors etc (mobile Penryn? Slight graphics upgrade?)
* LED backlighting on all models, make the screen thinner in the process.
* Higher-res screens? Although looking at how small some of the text in Apple's Pro apps is already, perhaps not. Although in the case of a 13" I'd much rather have small text than too little real estate to be useful. Aperture's cramped enough on the 15 as it is.
* A few tweaks to the I/O (separate, full-speed FW800 bus, pleeease...)
* Possibly (but no better than 50/50 I'd say) some kind of Flash disk caching for faster boot and fewer disk accesses.

Aesthetic changes
* Thinner, lighter components (screen, keyboard) means a thinner, lighter machine
* Sleeker lines - get rid of the cheese-grater speaker grilles and find a way to eliminate the non-matching grey plastic border around the case, use a MacBook-style latch which gets rid of four gaping holes and a button that sticks a lot, use MacBook-style keyboard (which I think looks cooler, unifies it with the rest of the range, collects less crud, and I personally find it super-fast to touch type on.)
* make the hinge go back a few more degrees. I know I don't have a problem with it, but lots of other people clearly do.
* Make that HD interchangeable. Everyone runs out of HD space at some point, especially on laptops where capacity is limited by what the drive manufacturers can manage at the time. Being able to swap it out later on is way better than not being able to.
* We might see some black creep into the colour scheme. Right now I wouldn't say I'm keen, but maybe it would look great, who knows. It's like when they release a new version of a car, initially you think the new one looks ghastly, two years later the older model looks really out of date.

I'm not saying the current MBP isn't good, but certain changes would make it better, potentially much better. I don't understand the argument for leaving it as it is. You have to keep pushing forward, or you get left behind.
 
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