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Apple Sub-Notebook Nearing Release?

Wwdc '07

If there are no major product announcements before June, then WWDC this year will be very expensive...

- iPhone
- Leopard + iWork
- 'MacBook mini'

Guess Apple will keep updating the other product lines before June tho. I still think that this is gonna be an amazine year for Apple, Inc.
 
devilot said:
Figures this rumor solidifies the week I buy a MB. :eek: Sigh. Would definitely prefer a smaller, lighter notebook.
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There were also heavy rumours of a 12" mbp the week after I bought my macbook (a 12" pb replacement).

The way I dealt with it was to think that I wouldn't want a Rev A machine :)

I still think this macbook is a little big.
 
I think it's a great idea. My sister recently bought a 3 yr old second hand 12.1" IBM Thinkpad ultraportable notebook for £150 (couldn't afford a mac :( ). Stay with me here, I know the OS stinks but the hardware has some really cool features.

It's really compact and light because IBM has done away with the optical drive and the touchpad.

The keyboard has a red nipple in the middle called a TrackPoint which is the pointing device. Let me tell you this thing rocks. In my opinion its so much quicker and easier to use than a touchpad (comparing it to my other sister's MacBook touchpad). You don't have to move your hand away from the keyboard to move the mouse pointer. I love this thing :D Did any Apple notebooks ever have a TrackPoint?

The optical drive is in the dock.

Hopefully Apple has something equal to TrackPoint or buy the rights to use it. Anyway have a look for yourself at http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/...-category-id=135A781CA29B4ECB9ADAD8E72CF6FD61 and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trackpoint
 
pizzacake said:
Hopefully Apple has something equal to TrackPoint or buy the rights to use it.
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No. The trackpoint seems to be a very polarizing love-it or hate-it thing, at least, more than a trackpad. I'm a bit of a fan myself, but I must say, the IBM trackpoints that I've used were a lot better than those on Compaqs and (especially) Toshibas. But Apple does have a NIH syndrome about these things, so unless it's unambiguously superior than the alternatives, forget it. They even ditched the Synaptic licensed trackpad an in-house implementation.

As far as optical drives are concerned, ditch it ASAP. In a subnotebook like the PBG4 they are the biggest component in there. It made the PBG4 bigger and heavier than almost any competing 12" laptop on the market. I'd much rather they make the machine smaller or spend the room on a bigger battery. For those who need it, a slim-line FW drive can be very compact. No need to force everybody to carry an optical drive all the time, even those who rarely need it.
 
Docking station.

Are Docking stations still useful? I know on older models and some of other companies more poorly designed laptops may need one because you had a lot of plugs to plug in Monitor, Keyboard, Mouse, Network, Printer, Zip Drive... But Now all you really need is a USB Hub and plug that in and the display. Seeing how most docks are very clunky and picky and difficult to get docked, Plugging in 1 USB Port and a Monitor on the side seems very easy.

Making a Dock 3rd party for a MBP isn't that hard either. if you have like a C-Clamp and some guides then all the connections just plug right in.
 
ero87 said:
no optical drive would be ridiculous! no way apple would take such a huge step backwards.
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No kidding. I mean USB flash drives are great, but even on a subnotebook, I want to be able to watch a movie, rip my music, and install software. Nobody wants to screw around with an external USB CD, but I might not mind if my optical drive had a non-standard placement....

Arrrgh no! not the dreaded nipple!

Admittedly I've not really given IBM's implementation of this a go (I had one on a Dell machine, the IBMs are meant to be ok).

Trackpad please Apple.
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I have given IBM implementation of this a go, and it is terrible. No way apple does this - they'll use a trackpad. If it isn't a trackpad, a multi-touch interface is more likely.
 
Now here's the million dollar question, are we talking about a lighter full featured notebook like the 12" Powerbook or the dell XPS in the 4lbs range or a slower low voltage machine in the 3lbs range.
 
dernhelm said:
No kidding. I mean USB flash drives are great, but even on a subnotebook, I want to be able to watch a movie, rip my music, and install software. Nobody wants to screw around with an external USB CD, but I might not mind if my optical drive had a non-standard placement....
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Goes back to my plan for wireless docking - let's have a wireless drive as well... :cool:
 
spicyapple said:
I predict this sub-notebook will have a touch control screen instead of a traditional keyboard.
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Oh, puhlease. Try using one of those "laser projection" keyboards that project onto a tabletop and let me know how useful you think it is to have ZERO tactile feedback.
 
freddiecable said:
Specs:

1. 10 - 12" widescreen OLED.
2. 32GB NAND + 80 GB 1.8"-drive.
3. Regular keyboard (multitouch can't replace this as I see it).
4. Multitouch-enabled larger touch/mouse-pad for enhanced interaction with adapted applications like iPhoto? (don't believe the screen is going to be multitouched since it's going to be ruined and it's not properly fixed so it will be pushed back all the time).
5. No optical drive.
6. Very slim and light.
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Yes... magically fit keyboard and a multi-touch touch pad in 10" space. Yeah right.....
 
Philsy said:
A Duo-type dock is so last century.

How about a mini notebook computer that automatically and wirelessly links to your full size keyboard, mouse and screen whenever it is in range of them?

That, I'd like. :apple:
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Ehhh I rather have on dock port that connect to a little monitor port, power, extra USB and Firewire. But the instant bluetooth would be nice. I would also love a switchable bluetooth. Like to switch ur bluetooth keyboard/mouse between computers instantly like a KVM.....but wireless. Its purely software so it would be easy to do.
 
NewSc2 said:
Does anybody seriously think Apple's "doing away" with optical drives? What is Apple going to do, sell Leopard pre-mounted onto flash drives? Download it?

We still use spinning hard drives, and spinning optical drives will be around for a long, long time. When we get affordable 60GB flash-based hard drives, we'll have cheaper 500GB or even 1TB laptop hard drives.
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There's no reason they can't include a slim external drive (or sell it as an option). PC subnotebooks have been doing that for years. Anyway, I hope they DO get rid of the internal optical drive. Like many here, I rarely use my MacBook's drive. Since I got it in July, I've used it maybe 10 times total. And almost never while travelling.
 
jouster said:
In other words, because you don't want one, no one should be able to have one?
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Essentially, yes. I do not want Apple to waste the time and money on a tablet. If they do, I will eat my phone.

I needn't worry about it because a tablet would not sell well compared to a mini MBP. So no worries.

Tablets are crap for any kind of work involving lots of text inputs. This is why we will not see a mac tablet.
 
DTphonehome said:
There's no reason they can't include a slim external drive (or sell it as an option). PC subnotebooks have been doing that for years. Anyway, I hope they DO get rid of the internal optical drive. Like many here, I rarely use my MacBook's drive. Since I got it in July, I've used it maybe 10 times total. And almost never while travelling.
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Yeah I know, but that all just seems so inelegant. Messing about with cables, and "where'd I put my drive" and all that. Apple in the past has made some pretty proud statements about the fact that they don't ship crippled laptops in order to ship light laptops. It'd be interesting if they viewed having no optical drive in your subnotebook as crippling it.
 
koobcamuk said:
Essentially, yes. I do not want Apple to waste the time and money on a tablet. If they do, I will eat my phone.

I needn't worry about it because a tablet would not sell well compared to a mini MBP. So no worries.

Tablets are crap for any kind of work involving lots of text inputs. This is why we will not see a mac tablet.
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060309_origami_hmed_6a.standard.jpg


Umm well heavy text input maybe hard but thats what bluetooth keyboards are for.

If you want to do light to medium typing, a keyboard like in the origami would be great. Since typing on a hybrid tablet and inputing using pen is a pain. So, this would be even easier for light-to medium typing.

Light typing like search words or changing titles is easily done with on screen non-dynamic keyboards.

So lets see keyboard less tablets would actually be easier for up to medium typing, but higher than that would need a keyboard. But usually those situations only arrive at an office or at home withere a bluetooth keyboard would be easy to keep.

I say go slate. Get an on board keyboard. Ditch the keyboard. Ditch the optical drive.

Now that makes for a light computer. Make it 12"-13" and suddenly you have what people have always been hoping for..... a virtual notepad. Plus battery life would be a lot more. Sans optical, sans keyboard.
 
Please make it smaller not thinner.

I really don't see the point of making thinner laptops. They could be a bit thinner yes, but a 11x8" laptop is going to require the same room no matter its thickness. It doesn't matter if it's 2 inches thick or 0.25 inch thick, it still takes 11x8" room to use, carry around, etc.

Sub-notebook is about overall size and weight, not about how thin it can be.

If Apple makes a sub-notebook I hope it's really ultra-portable, not only ultra-thin.

Edit: I'm also with the "we don't need optical drive in sub-notebooks" crowd. In these days of internet downloads, wi-fi networking and external USB and FireWire drives, it's not needed anymore. At least not in a sub-notebook.
 
BenRoethig said:
Now here's the million dollar question, are we talking about a lighter full featured notebook like the 12" Powerbook or the dell XPS in the 4lbs range or a slower low voltage machine in the 3lbs range.
Click to expand...

Good question.

Personally I'd like a small machine but much smaller than the pbg4 12" is possbly a little too cut down for me. I'd probably need something above the ULV level. maybe the LV chip that Intel have just come out with (2x1.5GHz with decent cahce size....will be upped to 1.6 for santa rosa) would suffice for my needs.

As for the trackpad, apple has some nice features on their trackpad that they'd be daft to ditch.


Optical media: I hardly ever use mine but I don't know how represntative I actually am of the market. I'd be very happy with an external drive.
 
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