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Apple Planning Entirely New Mac Product Line?
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Why would you wish to live through all the headaches of an architecture yet again ? Especially to an architecture known for its low power/performance ?
Even if it were only in the planning (or better yet, prototype) stage, it would still be news.
As I think I pointed out once before, that article is from 2007. Which is about when, unfortunately, that that idea died.
If there were an "OS 11" planned for 2-3 years from now, we would have heard something about it already.
I had a 230 and a 2300 Duo and loved the concept, still do. However the reliability was awful for both the dock and the Duos. Moved to a 2400c and like that even more - even upgrade the processor on that. Still have that one around here somewhere, couldn't bring myself to sell it.
New line up until 2012
I don't expect a new line-up from Apple this year. With the upcoming iPhone/iPod event coming in September (October release) it would too many new products coming in at the same time. Christmas season is driven by consumer products, so i don't expect a major PC announcement (Not from Apple anyways).
The line-up for 2012 I would suspect could be the following:
+ Smaller redesigned Mac Pro (New Xeon processors). One optical drive bay, rest internal bays for HDs)
+ New iMac with no optical drive May look more like the Cinema displays (no chin)
+ Both the 13" & 15" MBP will have the same look of the MBA. The difference would be that the MBP would have a discrete graphics card to differentiate it.
+ The MBA would add an entry level 11" MBA at $799 using a Quad Core A6 chip. May have a different name though since it would be IOS centric.
+ iPad 3 with Retina Display, A6 chip, 1 GB of RAM, better cameras (3 mp at least), thunderbolt compatible (An adapter for the ipod connector to use the Thunderbolt port).
+ iPhone 6, with A6 Chip, 10 mp camera, 4G compatible (in case they don't introduce it this Fall).
+ AppleTV with A6 chip, 1080p output for new iTunes video service.
Possible, but not likely:
+ TV set, with integrated Apple TV and iCloud. 50" minimum screen size. Sharp contracted to build the sets.
+ iCar. Initiative to integrate IOS into cars (for GPS, music, video, web)
+ iSpace, Apple's solution to NASA abandonment of space exploration and hyperfast transcontinental travel. Use of Railgun propulsion technology.
+ Funding of CR technology to deploy next generation 802.22 wireless. The use of this technology will allow Apple to get rid of the dependency of cell phone carriers by using next generation wi-fi.
I don't expect a new line-up from Apple this year. With the upcoming iPhone/iPod event coming in September (October release) it would too many new products coming in at the same time. Christmas season is driven by consumer products, so i don't expect a major PC announcement (Not from Apple anyways).
The line-up for 2012 I would suspect could be the following:
+ Smaller redesigned Mac Pro (New Xeon processors). One optical drive bay, rest internal bays for HDs)
+ New iMac with no optical drive May look more like the Cinema displays (no chin)
+ Both the 13" & 15" MBP will have the same look of the MBA. The difference would be that the MBP would have a discrete graphics card to differentiate it.
+ The MBA would add an entry level 11" MBA at $799 using a Quad Core A6 chip. May have a different name though since it would be IOS centric.
+ iPad 3 with Retina Display, A6 chip, 1 GB of RAM, better cameras (3 mp at least), thunderbolt compatible (An adapter for the ipod connector to use the Thunderbolt port).
+ iPhone 6, with A6 Chip, 10 mp camera, 4G compatible (in case they don't introduce it this Fall).
+ AppleTV with A6 chip, 1080p output for new iTunes video service.
Possible, but not likely:
+ TV set, with integrated Apple TV and iCloud. 50" minimum screen size. Sharp contracted to build the sets.
+ iCar. Initiative to integrate IOS into cars (for GPS, music, video, web)
+ iSpace, Apple's solution to NASA abandonment of space exploration and hyperfast transcontinental travel. Use of Railgun propulsion technology.
+ Funding of CR technology to deploy next generation 802.22 wireless. The use of this technology will allow Apple to get rid of the dependency of cell phone carriers by using next generation wi-fi.
Why would you wish to live through all the headaches of an architecture yet again ? Especially to an architecture known for its low power/performance ?
Just because I dream of a MBA with 24h battery life
and since the only think I do on a laptop is LaTeX / browsing / reading article I don't need powerful CPU and I'm sure I'm not the only one .Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_10 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8E600 Safari/6533.18.5)
They just canned their rack-mountable product because nobody bought it.
HawkEye40 said:
They just canned their rack-mountable product because nobody bought it.
Well, in order for you to get the Thunderbolt external GPU, the computer must be built within the last year (to have a thunderbolt connector) so any dedicated graphics card will definitely blow away any thunderbolt GPU in performance (due to its limited bandwith). As far as intergrated graphics solutions go, I would say it wouldn't be too far behind any thunderbolt GPU options (since it has to be relatively new computer). But the benefit while not substantial could be pretty cool if used in conjunction with the intergrated graphics card.
However, these thunderbolt GPU CAN'T feed the power back to a laptop's screen in conjunction with the intergrated graphics card. You can only connect to an external monitor, meaning you wouldn't get the power of your intergrated card + the external thunderbolt card. So the cost for the external thunderbolt GPU isn't really worth it. It may support 1920x1080 apple resolution for normal activity, but I don't expect it to be able to handle any type of rendering for 1080p such as games (even if they are older) I'm not even talking about demanding ones like crysis...
However, I am not saying Thunderbolt is garbage. I think it has a great potential, just not for external GPU's I don't think is the answer.
Media Server
I like the idea of the "Mac Media Server" tied to iCloud and/or iTunes Also, it may have a "Back to My Mac" feature, whereby a Mac or iPad can access the Mac Media Server similar to GoToMy PC. All your files, music, photos, video, etc. stored on your own Mac server synced with iCloud and accessible on any device.
It would be a completely new product line, geared toward consumers, and ties in their new "big three" - iCloud, iOS, and Mac.
I like the idea of the "Mac Media Server" tied to iCloud and/or iTunes Also, it may have a "Back to My Mac" feature, whereby a Mac or iPad can access the Mac Media Server similar to GoToMy PC. All your files, music, photos, video, etc. stored on your own Mac server synced with iCloud and accessible on any device.
It would be a completely new product line, geared toward consumers, and ties in their new "big three" - iCloud, iOS, and Mac.
ARM-based MacBook?
Here's my silly will-a** guess:
A6-based 13" MacBook with an extra-big touchpad. No touchscreen or optical drive.
Aluminum, thinner than 13" MacBook Pro, but not as thin as MacBook Air.
$799 because Apple doesn't need to pay off-the-shelf prices for Intel CPUs.
Here's my silly will-a** guess:
A6-based 13" MacBook with an extra-big touchpad. No touchscreen or optical drive.
Aluminum, thinner than 13" MacBook Pro, but not as thin as MacBook Air.
$799 because Apple doesn't need to pay off-the-shelf prices for Intel CPUs.
I think it's a SMF tower also. Mid level professionals need an upgradable Mac.
- Mac Mini not good enough for mid level users
- iMac not upgradable and monitor attached. Most mid level users have their own monitor or display. Most want the ability to upgrade the video card.
-Mac Pro too high end for most mid level users. Don't need 2 opt slots, 4 raid slots, 8 mem slots, etc. Too much bang for mid level users.
SMF tower could have Quad cores (same iMac specs) with Thunderbolt with.
1 Opt Drive slot (if that)
1-2 HD slots
4 Mem Slots
3-4 PCIE slots
Just my thoughts. It's the model they are missing..and could really get gamers into the 'game'..literally.
I would buy one of these but it's not where the market is at. Steve has already flatly said that we are in a Post-PC world. I don't see any way that Apple goes this direction now.
Wow, ". . . kicking and screaming all the way to wherever Apple takes us next."? Is Steve your dad or guy who runs a computer/content company? Those of us who don't like Apple's new direction. If a user's computing needs aren't fullfilled by Apple's vision of a post-PC world where they provide acceptable-quality content and devices to for the masses to purchase and play it on then the user moves on.
It's not a question of who's good or bad, or which systems rule. The question is really about needs. A person whose needs require a Mac Pro-like machine might move on in the face of no more Mac Pros.
I doubt there is enough profit in it to pursue the desktop market further than they already do, so it would have to be in the mobile space. If this rumour is true, my money (placing bet of 50p) would be on a dual screen notebook.
Something like ...they'll call it a Mac but it'll run iOS and they'll forever blur the line between what is a Mac and what is an iOS device.
or something!
Something like ...they'll call it a Mac but it'll run iOS and they'll forever blur the line between what is a Mac and what is an iOS device.
or something!
Oh my... this is cool news.
My speculation.
Based on what was reported, I don't see this is an addition to existing lines (15" air, thinner pro, etc) but rather a WHOLE NEW product line.
Possibilities I'd like to see:
1. Mac mid tower. Upgradeable, sleek, more affordable than a mac pro, more capable than a mac mini. This would be great but I really don't expect this based on Apple's direction in recent years.
2. iMac touch. Something I've pined for since the iPad came out. A big-ass tablet (15" or BIGGER). Depending on how they chose to cross-market it with their existing products, I think it could be a niche hit. I would buy one in a heartbeat.
3. iTV. Snooze-fest by comparison but probably the most likely in my opinion. A TV with built in ATV functionality that allows them to market it as 'more than a TV' or 'this is how Apple thinks a TV should be' with the mac name. I've never really been a TV guy, but I'm sure it would be cool if they could price it competitively.
4. A curveball. Something completely new that blows our minds and carves out a completely new market as Apple has enjoyed doing in the past.
In any case, I hope it's not just a phony rumor because I think we'd all welcome the idea of a new Apple product to drool and speculate over
My speculation.
Based on what was reported, I don't see this is an addition to existing lines (15" air, thinner pro, etc) but rather a WHOLE NEW product line.
Possibilities I'd like to see:
1. Mac mid tower. Upgradeable, sleek, more affordable than a mac pro, more capable than a mac mini. This would be great but I really don't expect this based on Apple's direction in recent years.
2. iMac touch. Something I've pined for since the iPad came out. A big-ass tablet (15" or BIGGER). Depending on how they chose to cross-market it with their existing products, I think it could be a niche hit. I would buy one in a heartbeat.
3. iTV. Snooze-fest by comparison but probably the most likely in my opinion. A TV with built in ATV functionality that allows them to market it as 'more than a TV' or 'this is how Apple thinks a TV should be' with the mac name. I've never really been a TV guy, but I'm sure it would be cool if they could price it competitively.
4. A curveball. Something completely new that blows our minds and carves out a completely new market as Apple has enjoyed doing in the past.
In any case, I hope it's not just a phony rumor because I think we'd all welcome the idea of a new Apple product to drool and speculate over
How does this work in the Sony Viao Z given that this type of docking station is available for the intended purposes as I described?
Supposedly, third parties are developing thunderbolt to PCIe connectors to facilitate external GPUs via thunderbolt as well.
Does thunderbolt impose that much of a performance deficit or it this deficit largely hypothetical?
Just because I dream of a MBA with 24h battery life
What makes you think it would have 24h of battery life ? My iPhone sure doesn't and yet it doesn't even come close to having the components a MBA does.
Yet slower than a 200$ netbook with comparable battery life. An atom based MacBook Air would make more sense (and it doesn't at all).