Apple's iPhone OS X on Subnotebook

[Avatar74]

Hey, I was looking at this with the idea of such a product being released in 2007-Q4, and also what it would imply with regard to current technologies and prices.

I was saying how it would be possible, not impossible!

Maybe I misunderstood what you were trying to say.

 

[lazyrighteye]

Too cool, maybe. But what would you really use it for? I don't see how it is useful in any other market than the current ultra-mobile products. No one wants to move their hands from the keyboard/mouse to go touch something on the screen on a desktop. And I hardly ever leave the keyboard for the trackpad on my powerbook. A touch screen on either of those makes no sense to me as it would actually slow me down because of the large amounts of hand movement.

Many continue to think of this multi-touch surface as a small, trackpad sized form factor (which is roughly the same size as the iPhone's surface - I said roughly).

I could see the next gen MacBook dropping the keyboard all together in favor of a large multi-touch surface. This could allow for a thinner, lighter 'Book.

Could be interesting...

 

[calculus]

I could see the audience being people who give presentations / travel a lot and just need something with internet access, word and presentation capabilities. Thats all I use my laptop for; no need for it to be so big.

There are a lot of people like this. I'd love something like this that I could carry around with me at work from meeting to meeting.

 

[hottyson]

WIFI device please!!!

I need mobile web Browsing.
I need mobile iTunes.
I need mobile Skype.

Currently, only UMPC with windows can do all this.
If apple device can do all three, I must have it.

Or sacrifice iTunes and go with a cheap $350 Nokia N800 Internet Tablet.)

 

[lelereb]

an iphone with a physical nano-keyboard

 

[Peace]

First off this shouldn't be called "iPhone OS X " OR "sub-notebook"..

PDA is closer except using multi-touch.And it would have a built-in camera because it would be needed to send/receive those Skype type calls.

12" display.Wall mountable, table stand or in hand.

The libraries of photos,music and movies could be stored on "community servers" that it would connect to wirelessly so 4 gig flash would be good.

Can you imagine a classroom filled with these? Very useful.

Or a meeting room filled with them in the corporate arena.Very useful.


Wu is close on this one except he doesn't really have a grasp of what it could really do for the technology community.

 

[nagromme]

Sounds like a confused rumor that has SOME grain of truth behind it, so small as to be unrecognizable

For instance: this could be combination of subnotebook rumors with rumors of some other iPhone-related device like a mini-tablet/PDA. We've seen rumors cross and combine like that before--it happened with the nano for instance.

I assume Mac software would not run on the iPhone's processor without a recompile, though, and Intel has some nice low-power chips anyway, so I expect any subnotebook to have much more in common with a Mac than an iPhone.

 

[ChrisA]

In terms of software, our sources indicate that Apple is leaning towards using the same "mini" version of Mac OS X used in the upcoming iPhone.

Could it be that he is only slightly mis-informed. Many people do not know the difference between the user interface and the operating system. After all how many Mac users know where a system library ends and the kernel begins? Uusers don't see either of these.

Given that, could it be that a new extra-small notebook uses a new window manager that uses "muti-touch" while using the full-up Leopard OS? This seems more resonable than putting a cell phone OS in a notebook. And mistaking a user interface shell with an OS seems like a reasonable grounds for rumor.

Could a new optional multi-touch user interface be one of Leopard's "secret" features?

 

[ulyssespdx]

Jesus.

Shaw Wu is to "analysis" what Pee Wee Herman is to art films.

C'mon, guys. Even Apple employees make fun of Wu and his "sources". HE DOESN'T HAVE ANY. his "predictions" are usually wrong, and are generally things you and i already can figure out just by reading the news.

it's getting tiresome to read Apple "news" that's basically regurgitated Shaw Wu crap.

let's do some journalism, shall we?

 

[quandmeme]

Battery life is the bane

I'm one of those that wants one now (for legal work). My concern is not that it wouldn't be worthwhile, but that it will be so useful that the battery life would be too much of a limiting factor. I'll need a few swappable batteries. Would it be dreaming to have the dock for it drive a large monitor for comparing multiple documents. Too much to ask of portable video hardware? Okay okay, but I still want one (more than a 12" mac book, for example.)

 

[peharri]

Hey, I was looking at this with the idea of such a product being released in 2007-Q4, and also what it would imply with regard to current technologies and prices.

I was saying how it would be possible, not impossible!

Don't worry, it was perfectly obvious to anyone reading it that you were implying it was possible.

At the risk of stating the obvious, beware of trolls whose MO is to pretend to be far sighted by pretending anything said by anyone else is in some way denying the inevitable, luddism, or whatever, regardless of what is actually being said by those people. It's an interesting technique, and at least one Macrumors "regular" has recently been throwing a lot of threads into bizarre arguments by doing exactly this.

Macrumors has an "ignore list" feature. It is often a good idea to use it.

 

[Poff]

...seems I might have to think twice about buying this...

not being able to run programs like parallels or rapidweaver would be a deal-breaker for me..

 

[whatever]

I'm trying to imagine where in the market this product would fit that wouldn't be merely a novelty item. Any ideas?

Business travelers who really don't need to lug around a full-size notebook, but also need something bigger than a iPhone.

I've seen more travelers lug (I say lug, because as a frequent traveler and someone who tore up their rotators cup by carrying a heavy computer back and garment bag on his shoulder, I look at anyway possible to reduce the amount of stuff I have to carry with me onto a plane) their laptops on a trip only because they need e-mail and to run a Power Point presentation. Give me something just large enough to see a spreadsheet and watch a movie.

There is a huge market for this.

 

[whatever]

Why would it have to support CS3? Your argument seems to be that "if it doesn't run PhotoShop, why not get a real computer instead?". Well, not everyone uses Photshop. There would still be tons of uses for such device.

I also know quite a few executives who are opting to leave their laptops behind at the office and live off of their Blackberries on the road. Their main problem with this is:
1. they hate their blackberries and are waiting for their iPhones
2. they need to run presentations once in a while
3. sometimes they need to view an attachment

 

[Surreal]

i would justify the purchase of an apple PDA sans phone if it was a little cheaper (300-500) but pretty much the same form factor.

i would love a nice mobile interface with my calendarand contacts.

 

[grumpy]

So, we *know* 2 things:
- Apple is releasing the iPhone with a stripped OS X
- Apple wants to hire a panel engineer.

There's lots of things that can be done with that. Not necessarily consumer products, and maybe not even things Apple cares about. Not everything has to be a sub-notebook.

- The next Newton/iPod
- photo/video/audio editing (30" multi-touch screen could make an interesting sound board)
- industrial apps/controls (such as interfaces on assembly lines)
- home/service apps/controls (home automation, kiosk apps)
- scientific visualization (I'm thinking 3D/4D data models)
- NASA (face it, the LCARS Star Trek interfaces were just that)

I'm sure we could come up with more ideas with some free thinking.

 

[jjthomps]

As a biznizz traveler....

I would like something that had:

Email
Web
QuickTime Engine
Office Suite (appleworks and keynote is fine)
Small DVI port
Headphone Jack
USB 2.0 Port
Wi-Fi
Cell Phone

With these options you can do whatever multimedia you may want (quicktime), you could present through the suite and the DVI port, Use periph's with USB2, check email, and web and view attachments.

 

[rtdunham]

"...leaning towards using the same "mini" version of Mac OS X used in the upcoming iPhone...as it has a much smaller footprint and runs with as little as 4 GB of space"

what am i missing here? the system folder on my MB is 1.82 GB.

 

[TheAnswer]

I think the student market is looking for something in the 8-10" range...a lot of them want to take notes in class but they don't want to lug around even a 12" or 13" notebook in addition to their books. They are mainly looking to type notes in class, write papers, search the web, visit social websites, play media, and use chat/SMS.

 

[uv23]

I will buy a aubnotebook the day it comes out, but only if it's a fully featured machine. If I wanted a dumbed down OS, I'd get the iPhone. I'm gonna say this rumor is bunk.

 

[Carefulle]

This is An Apple Newton Messagepad.

In reading all the posts most of the people want wifi, internet, music, sms ect... and well my apple newton can do wifi,sms, internet (although it is nothing close to what we would expect today) my point here is that this would be a revision of one. considering the joint recent buisness agreement with cingular it is not out of the realm of possibilities that a "new" newton emerges. it would have the wifi bluetooth(think built in phone, all you need is the bluetooth headset) color screen and with the LED backlighting think of the battery life you save. Also, the newton was flash based as well which when paired with some energizer lith batteries lasted with the backlight on everytime I used it about a month. This usage indicated that given the recent price drop of memory it would also increase batterylife if it was flash based
I currently use mine for the same reasons some of the people would want, i.e note taking in class, calculating in math. and with the new updated set of features we can expect this would be an easy market for apple to have. I can hear the homes of millions of students justifying their needs. "Mom you don't understand this ipad/inewton/whatever will help me with my grades, I can take notes way faster(Handwriting recognition is the best by far I have had a ton of different palms and they were crap) you can call me whenever, i have my music so now you dont have to borrow my ipod all the time, you dont have to buy that 150$ ti-89 graphing calculator, please mom"... you get the gist.
To close most of the programs on the newton are all saved on a 32mb flash card. talk about well written code.
Apple WILL come out with a redone newton 2100 it's market potential is big not too.

 

[grendel9]

multi touch

Many continue to think of this multi-touch surface as a small, trackpad sized form factor (which is roughly the same size as the iPhone's surface - I said roughly).

I could see the next gen MacBook dropping the keyboard all together in favor of a large multi-touch surface. This could allow for a thinner, lighter 'Book.

Could be interesting...

I would hope they would not immediately drop the keyboard, I would love a 17" or 15" MBP with a keyboard and multitouch, especially if they cahnged aperture to use multitouch kinda like the demo from perceptive pixles. That would be a wonderfull addition to aperture, a great way to organize and work on your photos.I would be lin line to get one for sure.

 

[shelterpaw]

I'm trying to imagine where in the market this product would fit that wouldn't be merely a novelty item. Any ideas?

Well it could be that tMac everyone has been waiting for. Something you can used to control your entire home entertainment system and partially use as a computer. Maybe a wide screen iPod remote control entertainment device. Who knows. Fun to speculate about nonetheless.

 

[whooleytoo]

Text entry on devices this size are the killer. Touch-screen displays are pretty horrible for extended periods of text entry, and the miniture keyboards on most sub-notebook devices aren't much better to be honest.

In areas/businesses with Wifi coverage, this could be very useful.

 

[50548]

Jesus.

Shaw Wu is to "analysis" what Pee Wee Herman is to art films.

C'mon, guys. Even Apple employees make fun of Wu and his "sources". HE DOESN'T HAVE ANY. his "predictions" are usually wrong, and are generally things you and i already can figure out just by reading the news.

it's getting tiresome to read Apple "news" that's basically regurgitated Shaw Wu crap.

let's do some journalism, shall we?

Exactly...Wu has no "Clu" at all, he's just full of speculation and empty in facts.

Besides, anyone who believes Apple is gonna release a OS X mobile on a subnotebook is simply daydreaming...no chance at all. The PDA is already there and it's called iPhone...forget about anything else similar for the moment, including vPods and reborn Newtons...