Apple Touchscreen Netbook to Launch in October at $800?

[macFanDave]

Looking for clues

Yesterday my daughter and I went to the Apple Store to see how she likes the 13" MacBook Pro. It is only $1199 ($1099 at the online education store) and still carries the Pro moniker.

There is only one MacBook left, the $999 white one. It seems to me that Apple is going to need to create some more models that they can call MacBook and they don't have much room, in terms of price, to create more expensive models.

My prediction, therefore, is that Apple will create MacBooks that are cheaper than the existing one. I doubt it will be a me-too netbook type computer. Remember, this is Apple we are talking about -- if they jump in an area, it will ceratinly be with a product that is different and superior.

 

[baleensavage]

I agree with the other posters that said that it won't be a netbook, it will be in a class of it's own. Just look at what Apple did with the "smartphone" market when they released the iPhone.

Also, as a Netbook owner myself, IMHO the people that say that Netbooks suck are totally missing the point. The majority of what most people use computers for is simple, internet browsing and word processing with a little photo editing thrown in for good measure. And none of those require 1/10th of the computer that most modern laptops or desktops have. I use my Mac for anything that requires serious computing. But for those times when I want to kick back and just look at Facebook or write my novel, the netbook is perfect. It's small, lightweight and does exactly what I need it to without all the bells and whistles that just get in the way.

As for the $800 price point? If Apple is making a netbook they might as well not bother. I paid $400 for my HP netbook with a printer. I wouldn't pay more than that for anything with an Atom processor, even if it was from Apple. But I think Apple's "netbook" will be something completely different. Heck, even if it was an iPod touch that was twice the size of the current model and twice as fast, it might be worth $500 IMHO. But if it's gonna cost $800, I'll just pay an extra $200 and buy a Macbook.

 

[Michael CM1]

my guess is that this will take over the macbook name. i dont know what will happen to the current white macbook. all im hoping for is a touchscreen and a physical keyboard. maybe even an adjustable screen that fold over the keyboard and become a tablet.

That's what I was thinking as well. With the MBP taking up everything but the one low-ball model, Apple seems to be hinting like crazy that there will be more models coming at cheaper prices. Now I don't expect Apple to get something under $500, but somewhere in the $700-800 isn't crazy. I honestly don't see the advantage of a touchscreen in a netbook (vs. a tablet), but maybe Apple knows something I don't.

 

[Eric S.]

$800? Using what processor? Like all Apple tablet rumors, I'll believe it when I see it.

 

[MRU]

Just when you got sick of waiting and bought a macbook pro instead...



Oh and I'd expect it to be more expensive than the cheapest Macbook at least. €950

 

[LagunaSol]

I really don't see why Apple is so resistant to the idea of making a netbook.

Razor-thin margins that are eaten up by support costs for an underpowered device that ultimately hurts your brand image with consumers?

Apple has no reason to compete with vendors who are cutting each others' throats over nickels and dimes.

 

[ob81]

Well of course you wouldn't pay that for a netbook.
It's a good thing then that Apple's product won't be a netbook!
It will be a product category unto itself. *sigh* Please try to keep up people. It has only been proclaimed for YEARS now that Apple's product won't be a netbook or a "tablet" in the traditional sense but because we have no other words to describe what Apple is doing we have to use "netbook" or "tablet" to refer to Apple's new product.

I can agree with this... if we knew what Apple was building, or if we knew that they were building anything at all. At this point, it is all speculation. You have one side that thinks they know exactly what is going on, and they don't. You have the other side that is going on what they already know. Both sides have no clue what apple is doing. What we do know is that Apple, if they are working on something smaller than their current lineup,
will be dancing very close to that netbook area.

One would hope that it will be awesome. One would hope that it will be something that we all couldn't have guessed.

I do know that we will find out together, because we don't know.

 

[Airforcekid]

Has anyone considered it to be the new ipod touch? Maybe to replace the iPod classic and put a 160GB+ hard drive inside? Making a touch pro while keeping the smaller version flash?

 

[wizard]

Complain all you want, what we don't want is a half assed machine.

You know there is a difference between a chipset and a motherboard, right? If you meant motherboard, then sure, I'm sure it would fit; it's the size of a mouse. Literally.

Anybody that has looked at a tear down knows that is BS. It does make me wonder though if people think Apple has magicians working for them. For a given technology level there is only so much that can be stuffed into a case.

Oh, an I forgot to mention that I will not buy anything that runs the iPhone OS other than the iPhone and iPT. I'll also be the first to complain here about it if it is true.

To bad for you!!!! Oh and frankly I don't want to hear your whining especially if you are building up to an unwelcomed public display of ignorance.

There are a number of things to consider but number one is that any OS used on the device is likely to be a hybrid of user space libraries. Where those libraries come from is an open question but at least some of them could come from iPhone and be used to good effect.

In any event the OS will likely be tied to the underlying hardware. If the device is an ARM based tablet then certainly an iPhone OS derived system is the way to go. If it is an i86 based clam shell then Mac OS is where we should derive the OS. It is all about target audience and frankly I see about equal demand for an ARM device and an i86 device.

It all depends upon how Apple wishes to market the device. They just need to realize that many of us are looking for an ARM based device with very long battery lifetimes. The tech simply isn't there yet to do a i86 tablet that can perform equivalently. Especially considering intels ignorant marketing of Atom and thier reluctance to release dual core Atoms to this market. Of course this may be Apples work around with the slightly smaller screen. That is to get dual core Atom in under Intels size restrictions.

Atom is nice and all but I still believe Apple could do a much better machine with ARM. Further such products tie in better with the ARM & PA Semi rumors. It all comes around again to the idea if you have ARM you might as well use an OS derived from the iPhone. Combine the iPhone OS with something like SL dock and you end up with a powerful platform for executing programs on a small screen.


Dave

 

[olternaut]

Who says it's going to be 100% touch screen? What if it looks like a miniature unibody MacBook with a keyboard and a touch screen? I figured it was going to have a keyboard because it's not a phone, it's a computer. All of Apple's computers have hard keys. The iPhone is an exception because it is a phone. I can't imagine having to use a touch screen-only computer... that would be way too much touching to get any real work done.

It's going to be 100% touchscreen. Again, all of you need to pay more attention to what Apple is doing.
And again, Steve Jobs will have to introduce to the market something the market was too dimwitted to realize it needed.

 

[3247]

my guess is that this will take over the macbook name. i dont know what will happen to the current white macbook. all im hoping for is a touchscreen and a physical keyboard. maybe even an adjustable screen that fold over the keyboard and become a tablet.

I expect a whole product line that's Atom-based and carries the MacBook name—the first models to be released along with Snow Leopard.

 

[Mac21ND]

MacBook Touch

Here's my guess (I haven't read the past 6 pages of comments)

It'll be called the MacBook Touch, part of a new lower cost MacBook line along with a sole MacBook notebook. When Apple renamed the 13 MacBook the "MacBook Pro" they tipped their hand at some type of lower level MacBook line expansion.

 

[Tallest Skil]

It's going to be 100% touchscreen. Again, all of you need to pay more attention to what Apple is doing.
And again, Steve Jobs will have to introduce to the market something the market was too dimwitted to realize it needed.

Unfortunately, the device will be somewhat crippled in no less than two and no more than four ways, and within two years, there will be four competitors, two of which from the other major PC manufacturers, but it won't matter, as Apple will have had a year's advantage (minimum) and people will want their device over the thoroughly uglier PC counterparts.

 

[mac jones]

Just goes to show you

The Taiwanese are dreamers too

 

[ToeCutter]

Razor-thin margins that are eaten up by support costs for an underpowered device that ultimately hurts your brand image with consumers?

Apple has no reason to compete with vendors who are cutting each others' throats over nickels and dimes.

Care to take a crack at explaining AppleTV then?

 

[kingtj]

re: think Kindle.....

I could easily see this device being similar in shape and design to the Kindle readers. Perhaps they'll even put a mini-keyboard at the bottom of it, like the Kindle has -- but make the touch-screen the primary method of interaction?

It won't just be a "me too" Kindle clone device, because the Kindle is positioned as a single-purpose device, not a full-blown computer (even though it could have been a lot more).

It's going to be 100% touchscreen. Again, all of you need to pay more attention to what Apple is doing.
And again, Steve Jobs will have to introduce to the market something the market was too dimwitted to realize it needed.

 

[iMacmatician]

If memory serves, there was a rumor of a large purchase of either 10.1 or 10.4 inch screens. So 9.7 inch doesn't sound right.

Well of course you wouldn't pay that for a netbook.
It's a good thing then that Apple's product won't be a netbook!
It will be a product category unto itself. *sigh* Please try to keep up people. It has only been proclaimed for YEARS now that Apple's product won't be a netbook or a "tablet" in the traditional sense but because we have no other words to describe what Apple is doing we have to use "netbook" or "tablet" to refer to Apple's new product.

I use "mini-tablet" for the rumored iPhone OS-based larger-than-iPod touch with possible additional features device, is that close enough?

Man, with a 9.7 inch screen it will be probably like an iphone user interface, bunch of icons but much more powerful.

I can see that happening but 9.7" almost seems too big for the iPhone OS. It does seem a bit cramped for Mac OS X unless they go high-dpi. The price is too high for iPhone OS too.

T2. If it's a touch screen, What OS would it run? Ideally you'd like to be able to tap in to the wonderful work done by 3rd party developers on the iPhone OS, but then the screen wouldn't really fit those apps. And running Mac OS X might be a bit awkward without a keyboard...

I've always said iPhone OS with additional features/apps. Not really a hybrid OS but something more than what is on the iPhone / iPod touch. I'm thinking of a few ways out of the display size problem.

• Apps could zoom to fill the display, so each GUI element increases 9.7/3.5 times in length and width
• Apps could extend to fill the display, this works like resizing Mac OS X windows
• Apps could work in a windowed or split-screen environment (a mini-tablet "additional feature") for multiple-app viewing. Not all visible apps have to be the same size either. For example, one app could be extended to fill half the display while two others could fill 1/4 the display (closer to iPhone size).

T3. If it's an "in-between" OS, I don't think Apple would want to fragment the App Store with ANOTHER platform, and I don't think they'd want Mac OS X Developers to have to consider a "touch-exclusive" interface in their apps either.

That was my first thought when I heard that rumor. Plus, if the hybrid OS is a stripped-down Mac OS X, it would have to lose something, and then applications that require that "something" to run won't work.

It is all about target audience and frankly I see about equal demand for an ARM device and an i86 device.

That's true, and is there any reason why Apple couldn't release two devices? Or do they want to just release one for simplicity?

 

[frjonah]

Click wheel instead of keyboard...

Well, just to throw my 2 cents in, I think the new tablet thingy that Apple is making will have a giant click wheel only on the base part of the device like the one featured in this informative and innovative news article:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BnLbv6QYcA

...hope those of you that haven't seen that enjoyed it

I don't know what it'll really have, but the following would be pretty cool:

1. Touchscreen keyboard (that can become anything else) on the "base" of the device... top can fold and swivel to turn the touchscreen into a giant iPod touch. The display is non-touch, only the "base part" is touch, and maybe it'll have that tactile feedback technology that was recently described in an Apple patent.
2. BT/USB keyboard may come with the device...
3. Apple launches a new store (or "department" of the app store) to provide kindle-like book downloads... Built in "free" cell connection a-la-kindle
4. Full OSX/SL to provide touchscreen support (w/ Core 2 duo, at least 1gb RAM, Decent SSD, SD Slot, etc)
5. A $300 iTunes gift card to prevent fruit-rage
6. A big, fat, glowing, pulsating apple logo on it to force us kool-aid drinkers to shell out the dough

Here's to waiting and seeing

 

[droz]

a tablet is not a netbook

I'm getting exhausted by all these journalists that can't figure out that a tablet is not a netbook. Apple clearly won't go down the netbook road. The netbook market is already starting to show weakness. A recent report found that 60% or more of respondants said that they were unpleasantly surprised by the lack of power, screen real estate, and OS functionality in their netbooks. Apple isn't going to follow suit. If they are developing anything it will be a tablet, and it won't have a physical keyboard at all.

Stop using netbook and tablet interchangeably. They are not the same thing. Apple is not developing a netbook.

 

[LagunaSol]

Care to take a crack at explaining AppleTV then?

Razors and razor blades.

 

[optophobia]

I wonder if it will be called an Applet.....

 

[kingtj]

re: AppleTV

Umm, AppleTV is just a tool to entice more people to purchase iTunes store offerings. It's kind of difficult to sell a lot of people on digital movie purchases if you're going to say "The only devices you can watch them on are your computer screens and iPods or iPhones." AppleTV gives a "no brainer" way to allow the media to view on a standard TV set.

Care to take a crack at explaining AppleTV then?

 

[olternaut]

Unfortunately, the device will be somewhat crippled in no less than two and no more than four ways, and within two years, there will be four competitors, two of which from the other major PC manufacturers, but it won't matter, as Apple will have had a year's advantage (minimum) and people will want their device over the thoroughly uglier PC counterparts.

*sigh* Yes, I see that happening as well. I'm sure Apple will build in some cripplizations (is that a word? LOL) which will be addressed in future revisions. No cut N paste from the get go perhaps? haha
But yeah, it wouldn't matter cause once Apple lays the foundation the ENTIRE market will wait a whole friggin year to get their act together but by then it will be too late.

 

[Compile 'em all]

From trusted sources

The name will be Macbook Touch.

remember folks, you read it here first

 

[gibbz]

I'm getting exhausted by all these journalists that can't figure out that a tablet is not a netbook. Apple clearly won't go down the netbook road. The netbook market is already starting to show weakness. A recent report found that 60% or more of respondants said that they were unpleasantly surprised by the lack of power, screen real estate, and OS functionality in their netbooks. Apple isn't going to follow suit. If they are developing anything it will be a tablet, and it won't have a physical keyboard at all.

Stop using netbook and tablet interchangeably. They are not the same thing. Apple is not developing a netbook.

+1 Apple will never release anything with the monicker of netbook. Hell, M$ doesn't even want the term netbook to be used anymore. The word netbook infers a low-powered piece of junk machine.

Apple will do what Apple does best. They will move into an area that competitors have dabbled in but not committed to, then completely redefine the market. Competitors will be forced to up their game but will remain hopelessly behind.