Apple Ultra-Portable MacBook Rumor Roundup

[winterspan]

Are you kidding me??

Maybe someone who does not need a lot of disk space and doesn't feel like lugging a full-size laptop around?

Seriously, there is really a big market for ultramobile. I've currently got an EEEPC myself with 4GB disk space and that's plenty for emailing, websurfing and editing documents on the road. Of course it's not a desktop replacement, but it's nice and handy on the road for those basic computer needs and much more convenient than a smartphone when you really need to do something.

I'd *love* to have a Mac this size. Too bad though the pricing will be way out there if the rumours are correct - the EEEPC is only 299 (euro or dollar depending on your region). That would make the ultrasmall Mac 5 times as expensive. But the other manufacturers (such as sony) that make laptops that size charge even more so I guess it's ok.

Are you kidding me?? You are SERIOUSLY comparing a high-end subnotebook to an EEPC? I think you are totally missing the point.

I'm already sick of people comparing this to the stupid EEPC and saying "Apple is a ripoff, I can get an EEPC/Fooleo/[insert cheap POS here] for $300..."

This laptop will be comparable to the Panasonic R6/T5/W5 or Sony Vaio TZ90/G1 type subnotebooks that actually use decent laptop components including Intel Core 2 Duo chips, 1-2GB RAM, flash SSDs, high resolution screens (high DPI - like 1366x768/1440x900/+ in a 9-11" screen ) that are LED backlit, Gigabit LAN/Wifi/bluetooth/3G, DVI, Firewire, Carbon Fiber /aluminum cases, etc. These are already huge sellers in Asia, especially in Japan.

You can hardly compare on of those to a EE-PC with a 900mhz celeron chip, 256MB ram, 4GB HDD, 7" screen. Thats like a "my first laptop" childrens toy compared to what Apple will bring out.

</rant>

 

[archer75]

Are you kidding me?? You are SERIOUSLY comparing a high-end subnotebook to an EEPC? I think you are totally missing the point.

I'm already sick of people comparing this to the stupid EEPC and saying "Apple is a ripoff, I can get an EEPC/Fooleo/[insert cheap POS here] for $300..."

This laptop will be comparable to the Panasonic R6/T5/W5 or Sony Vaio TZ90/G1 type subnotebooks that actually use decent laptop components including Intel Core 2 Duo chips, 1-2GB RAM, flash SSDs, high resolution screens (high DPI - like 1366x768/1440x900/+ in a 9-11" screen ) that are LED backlit, Gigabit LAN/Wifi/bluetooth/3G, DVI, Firewire, Carbon Fiber /aluminum cases, etc.

You have all that in a macbook. Is shrinking the screen by 1" really going to make a difference?

 

[Clive At Five]

Well there is an elsewhere for laptops, its called every other computer company.

Some things are more important than hardware alone... like overall user experience. Now I can tollerate using Windows XP w/ SP2... but I'd rather not.

It seems like they are limiting options to save money at the expense of new customers.

Sadly, I agree. Apple's priorities aren't in converting Windows users. It's about making a product that sells. After years of clinging onto 3% market shares, Apple has become paranoid and is being overly sure not to make the same mistake more than once. One of their mistakes was having too complex of a product line for too few people. However, nowadays, as they've grown, they haven't expanded their product line accordingly. What started as the neatest product matrix ever (iBook, PowerBook, iMac, PowerMac) has only only grown by one unit (the MacMini) to accomodate an additional 2.5 times (and growing) as many people.

Lame, Apple. You have $15 Billion in cash. Develop an xMac, a MacBook Mini, and while you're at it, a tablet. You have the cash to screw up if it's a bust.

-Clive

 

[Clive At Five]

True, but that would then interfere with iMac sales.

Not true at all. My wife would want an iMac. She likes things simple and elegant. I would want an xMac because I like dependable hardware, but I also like to upgrade and customize. Why shouldn't I be able to? Or maybe I should ask, why should I have to pay $2500 for Apple's introductory upgradeable machine????!?! That's insane.

You could fit two 18-wheelers in the gaping hole between iMac and Mac Pro... three between the Mini and Pro.

-Clive

 

[law guy]

"- 2.25 lbs
- 0.7 inches thick
- 14 hours battery life
- NAND Flash
- WiMax, Cellular, WiFi support

As a concept design with no regard to cost, all of these features may not be included in a theoretical Mac laptop, but it does provide an idea of what might be possible with current technology."

Doesn't Toshiba's R500 notebook with 64 GB SSD that's been shipping since July "provide an idea of what might be possible with current technology" or... an idea of what folks expected last Summer from Apple.

From: http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/cmod.to?coid=-33781
The Ultimate Ultraportable
With its ultralight design and stunning silhouette, the feather light 1.72 pound*† Portégé® R500 Series is the transcendent expression of executive mobility and style. Offering the world's lightest* widescreen 12.1" notebook PC in one configuration, and the world's thinnest widescreen 12.1" notebook PC with an integrated DVD-SuperMulti drive in another, the Portégé® R500 Series represents an uncompromising synthesis of portability and productivity that's meticulously engineered for the demands of executive computing.Lightest model configuration of 1.72 lbs is based on a 64GB solid state drive (SSD), a 3 cell battery and no optical disk drive. The Portégé® R500 with the solid state drive will not be available until the end of July 2007.

 

[Schtumple]

Not true at all. My wife would want an iMac. She likes things simple and elegant. I would want an xMac because I like dependable hardware, but I also like to upgrade and customize. Why shouldn't I be able to? Or maybe I should ask, why should I have to pay $2500 for Apple's introductory upgradeable machine????!?! That's insane.

You could fit two 18-wheelers in the gapping hole between iMac and Mac Pro... three between the Mini and Pro.

-Clive

I want an xMac too, I just can't see it happening, I'd like to see a Mac Pro with a single Xeon or 2 C2D's but I can't see apple ever doing it, they've made it clear what product is for who

 

[Krissanda]

Updated iPods, too?

Ok, all this talk about flash memory and incorporating it into a laptop has got me thinking. Since there are higher capacity flash drives out there now, do you think they'll update the ipod touch at MacWorld in January? Say a 32GB Ipod Touch? I was thinking about a Ipod touch for Christmas but what if they update the line! That would make me very frustrated... and this whole "ultra-portable" thing kind of has me annoyed. What about the people who need updated MBP that have large hard drives and are powerful enough for video editing/photoshop work? I am one of those people, lol

 

[WhiteShadow]

I'm surprised it has taken so long for a desktop supplement computer to come out. Something I can edit documents on when I travel that is super light weight and can sync what I want easily before I leave the house.
This will have a huge demand.
And especially with dotmac if you forgot to sync a file before you left you can access it from the web on the subcompact, brilliant!

 

[MacPhilosopher]

Actually...

I reckon that it will be a laptop version of the mac mini as there is the mb & mbp which are the imac & mac pro but there is no mac mini laptop.

The Mac Mini and the MacBook are one and the same. My understanding is that the Mini is the MacBook without monitor, keyboard, etc.

 

[Manatee]

You have all that in a macbook. Is shrinking the screen by 1" really going to make a difference?

Perhaps another way to approach this thing is, "How would you want it to be different from the MacBook?"

My answer to that (for my own needs) is pretty simple: I want it to be about two pounds lighter than the MacBook. How do you make a MacBook two pounds lighter?

I'll gladly give up the optical drive, so that saves maybe half a pound at most. Beyond that, I'm not sure what it takes to make it lighter -- but I know it can be done because my Sony TX weighs 2.8 pounds _with_ an optical drive. I want a faster processor than the Sony has, and a better keyboard, and a more polished "Apple-like" design, but that's about it. And of course its OS needs to be OS X.

 

[Zadillo]

Ok, all this talk about flash memory and incorporating it into a laptop has got me thinking. Since there are higher capacity flash drives out there now, do you think they'll update the ipod touch at MacWorld in January? Say a 32GB Ipod Touch? I was thinking about a Ipod touch for Christmas but what if they update the line! That would make me very frustrated... and this whole "ultra-portable" thing kind of has me annoyed. What about the people who need updated MBP that have large hard drives and are powerful enough for video editing/photoshop work? I am one of those people, lol

What else do you want Apple to do with the MBP exactly? They already recently added a 250GB hard drive as a configurable option, as well as a 2.6GHz C2D CPU.

What changes exactly do you think they could or need to make to make it "powerful enough for video editing/photoshop work"? As it stands, the current MBP is just about as powerful as a mobile platform is going to get.... especially with its weight and size and thickness.

 

[Schtumple]

What changes exactly do you think they could or need to make to make it "powerful enough for video editing/photoshop work"? As it stands, the current MBP is just about as powerful as a mobile platform is going to get.... especially with its weight and size and thickness.

I think they want a Xeon MPB

 

[LeviG]

What else do you want Apple to do with the MBP exactly?

Well I'd go for a mobile workstation (quadro or firegl) graphics card as a build to order option as the graphics are pretty lacking for 3d work (in my opinion) - pretty please apple

 

[redsox]

I suppose I should ask like this....

So having spent my first $$ on a MBP and seeing the iPhones trumphed as well as the new 2.2, 2.4, 2.6 sort of trounce the 2.16 MBP's, will I get burned with a MBP 2.2 that is 3 months old? i.e. sell now or should I just hold on and be productive as I have friends that have lots of $$$$ and they work FULL TIME at home using a g4 Powerbook.

Just want to make sure if I were to sell, it would be timed perfect.

Thanks.

 

[Sijmen]

Just use your Mac, and when it dies or at one point doesn't do what you want it to anymore, you buy what you want at that time. Then you'd have a rev-C tablet or something.

 

[winterspan]

You have all that in a macbook. Is shrinking the screen by 1" really going to make a difference?

Um.. you are only looking at one small value. First of all, that 12" screen could have a smaller bezel thus making it maybe 1.5->2" smaller diagonally. More importantly, based upon reports and other subnotebooks on the market, this laptop will be *MUCH* thinner and *MUCH* lighter than a corresponding 13" Mac Book. Thickness and total weight are more important than the rectangular height*width. A couple of inches in width/height won't matter in someone's bag/case/backpack nearly as much as thickness and especially every pound.

If you don't believe me, go to a Bigbox and compare holding your standard 13-14" / 4.5-5.0lb laptop with a < 3lb smaller model. It makes a huge difference. Even better just take out the battery on your current laptop, and feel the difference when put in a bag.

Not true at all. My wife would want an iMac. She likes things simple and elegant. I would want an xMac because I like dependable hardware, but I also like to upgrade and customize. Why shouldn't I be able to? Or maybe I should ask, why should I have to pay $2500 for Apple's introductory upgradeable machine????!?! That's insane.

You could fit two 18-wheelers in the gapping hole between iMac and Mac Pro... three between the Mini and Pro.

-Clive

Totally agree. Your previous point about Apple's growth vastly exceeding their product diversity was a good one also. It's about time they started to appeal to a broader market. They definitely need a lower cost desktop that comes head-less and with a decent graphics card for the gamers. This same model (xMac or whatever) would also be good for other home/small business users who don't want an iMac, but wouldn't dream of buying a Mac Pro.

I want an xMac too, I just can't see it happening, I'd like to see a Mac Pro with a single Xeon or 2 C2D's but I can't see apple ever doing it, they've made it clear what product is for who

Contrary to what alot of people believe on these forums, Intel's Core2 Quad and Xeon quad-core chips do not cost much more than the dual core variants. This is especially true in regards to the new Penryn chips which are coming out at a price even cheaper than when the original quad core Xeons came out. This is precisely why many assume that the whole line of Mac Pro's will now have only quad core chips (x2 of course).

Additionally, the price falls dramatically as you go down from 3.2ghz to 2.0ghz. 2.33ghz quad-core penryn Xeons are only going to be $250 (lots of 1000) and the 2.5Ghz only $300. In other words, you can get FOUR 2.5Ghz quad-core penryn Xeons for the price of ONE at 3.2Ghz. If apple increases the base price of the Mac Pros just because they all have quad core chips, then you know they are just ripping everybody off as always.

and this whole "ultra-portable" thing kind of has me annoyed. What about the people who need updated MBP that have large hard drives and are powerful enough for video editing/photoshop work? I am one of those people, lol

What? Didn't they just update the MBP? Are you saying that a current MBP cannot handle photoshop work or video editing? HA.
Besides the graphics card, the Macbook Pro is available with top-of-line components and specs. It's routinely found to be one of the fastest "Big Brand" laptops around.

Perhaps another way to approach this thing is, "How would you want it to be different from the MacBook?"

My answer to that (for my own needs) is pretty simple: I want it to be about two pounds lighter than the MacBook. How do you make a MacBook two pounds lighter?

I'll gladly give up the optical drive, so that saves maybe half a pound at most. Beyond that, I'm not sure what it takes to make it lighter -- but I know it can be done because my Sony TX weighs 2.8 pounds _with_ an optical drive. I want a faster processor than the Sony has, and a better keyboard, and a more polished "Apple-like" design, but that's about it. And of course its OS needs to be OS X.

Yep, shed the optical drive, make parts of the case out of carbon fiber (I think some Sony's do this), offer a 3-cell battery along with the standard 6-cell, thin bezel screen, and whatever else magic Apple has in its labs..

 

[Cloudsurfer]

"- 2.25 lbs
- 0.7 inches thick
- 14 hours battery life
- NAND Flash
- WiMax, Cellular, WiFi support

As a concept design with no regard to cost, all of these features may not be included in a theoretical Mac laptop, but it does provide an idea of what might be possible with current technology."

Doesn't Toshiba's R500 notebook with 64 GB SSD that's been shipping since July "provide an idea of what might be possible with current technology" or... an idea of what folks expected last Summer from Apple.

From: http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/cmod.to?coid=-33781
The Ultimate Ultraportable
With its ultralight design and stunning silhouette, the feather light 1.72 pound*† Portégé® R500 Series is the transcendent expression of executive mobility and style. Offering the world's lightest* widescreen 12.1" notebook PC in one configuration, and the world's thinnest widescreen 12.1" notebook PC with an integrated DVD-SuperMulti drive in another, the Portégé® R500 Series represents an uncompromising synthesis of portability and productivity that's meticulously engineered for the demands of executive computing.Lightest model configuration of 1.72 lbs is based on a 64GB solid state drive (SSD), a 3 cell battery and no optical disk drive. The Portégé® R500 with the solid state drive will not be available until the end of July 2007.

I've quoted the R500 several times before... I think it's what we can expect of the new MacBook. With optical drive, of course. If Toshiba can, Apple can too.

 

[Llewellyn]

MacBook Mini

What I’m hoping for is a MacBook Mini — basically a 12” iPhone with all the power of a regular MacBook. I think this is technically possible, .7 inches (about twice the size of an iPhone) is certainly thick enough.

It will have a full size touch screen and nothing else. Multitouch is the future. (There could be a stylus to make it easy to take notes in class or at meetings, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.)

It would have no keyboard, only the virtual kind similar to the iPhone and a cool virtual thumb pad in the corners for typing on the go. (Apple has a patent for this already.) Apple’s new wireless Bluetooth keyboard will be a perfect accessory.

It would have a webcam, which would also be able to take pictures. (1.3mp like the current iMac camera, or better.)

It will have an Intel Core Duo processor — the latest and greatest.

It will NOT have an optical drive. Media will be downloaded from iTunes. (There is software available to have your DVDs copied onto the NAND drive available from third parties now that don’t break the copyrights. Apple may add something like this or license it or just let you figure it out on your own.)

It will have a 32gb or 64gb NAND drive. NO conventional hard drive will be required.

A copy of the OS will be in a protected portion of the NAND drive like the AppleTV (does the iPhone do it this way?) and will be updated through iTunes.

It will be very light on ports, relying on wireless connectivity. Perhaps wireless USB. Certainly Bluetooth and 802.11n. There may be additional ports in its dock. Firewire and higher is very unlikely due to size and power constraints.

The dock will stand it up like a monitor for use with a conventional keyboard — either Bluetooth, wireless USB or a via port in the dock.

No cellular technology. It will be more like an iPod Touch that way. This will avoid having to make any partnerships.

It will not have GPS (although I wish it would). A third party Bluetooth GPS would be your best bet. A built in one would draw too much power and a cell tower GPS would probably require cellular technology and a partnership.

There are many excellent business and marketing reasons for selling this kind of laptop, but I’ll only go into those if asked. Before you say it’s not going to happen, think back to last years MacWorld. Did you see the iPhone coming? Most thought it would be a very good, but conventional cell phone. Few thought it would be the rule changing mega success that it was. Apple could easily be planning to do it again.

Llewellyn

 

[awgoo]

is it just me or does a flash only notebook sound weird? i mean, what's the largest capacity flash card that's available right now? not that big right? it seems to me that apple could use the ipod classic hard drives. (80 & 160 gb) i hope apple will supply an external cd/dvd drive or at least sell it seperately as an accessory. i've been waiting for a slim macbook for about two years now. i hope apple doesn't disappoint us. a new laptop and a new iphone? can't wait till january!!

 

[Clive At Five]

I want an xMac too, I just can't see it happening, I'd like to see a Mac Pro with a single Xeon or 2 C2D's but I can't see apple ever doing it, they've made it clear what product is for who

Pardon?? "Prosumer" is a well-documented demographic.

Apple's stubbornness is not a good excuse for why there *shouldn't* be a computer for one, although it's an adequate explanation for why there isn't. Apple needs to pull its head out of its ass and realize that we exist and that we WANT TO SPEND MONEY ON THEIR HARDWARE.

And as for your stats: IMO, a single desktop-class C2D would be JUST FINE. If it's not soldered and socket-compatible with Penryn, bonus. It's the expanadbility inside that I care most about though. I truly fail to see what Apple's big hangup is on limiting this to "Pros" is. Something so simple as adding a second HDD... warrants buying a $2500 dual-dual Xeon FB-DIMM-using beast?

Ridiculous.

-Clive

 

[olternaut]

tablet

TABLET!

 

[RoDe]

These ultra portable are nice but not for me. Not powerful enough. Wonder how they will tackle the heat issue. With the Hd gone they loose one major contributor when it comes to heat creation. But if their going to squeeze a 2,0 C2D Ghz processor in there, it will become one hot little machine.

I still hope Apple will squeeze in an optical drive. It will make it so much more appealing to many people.

Hope the aluminium casing doesn't suck as hard as the casing on the MBP 15 and 17.

Well I'm just gonna wait till they do something better than the current MBP's, before I'll buy a new MBP. Have a 2.4 MBP right now and it just doesn't do it for me. Really not satisfied with it. Had it for 6 month's now and it's going up for sale.

 

[TurboSC]

TABLET!

highly doubtful... I don't think they've refined the technology enough yet.

Possibly in a few years

 

[lazyrighteye]

Wow... slow day?

 

[iPoodOverZune]

I suppose I should ask like this....

So having spent my first $$ on a MBP and seeing the iPhones trumphed as well as the new 2.2, 2.4, 2.6 sort of trounce the 2.16 MBP's, will I get burned with a MBP 2.2 that is 3 months old? i.e. sell now or should I just hold on and be productive as I have friends that have lots of $$$$ and they work FULL TIME at home using a g4 Powerbook.

Just want to make sure if I were to sell, it would be timed perfect.

Thanks.

Helleluiah! i have PB G4 from 2003 and with leopard (1GB RAM, one RAM slot dead, HDD replaced to 160 GB 5400.3 seagate) and going pretty nice. And I do a lot of MS Office, simulations and editing work on it. Surprisingly, Leopard work pretty nicely on it. Still good to go for another year. Will jump next perhaps at the end of next year, once I get a clue where mobile penryn is headed or what mobile intel "gets inside" in a year.
If you will keep looking at technological advancements, either you will never buy anything or you will always salivate to sell your just last version to buy just the latest version!!