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'MacBook Air' Design Considerations

Maldini said:
Even if the MBP design is classic, its still awesome....how can you make it any better?! :D
Click to expand...

They could make it much better by including the better features of the Macbook. The user replaceable HDD and magnetic latch for starters, and if you must add it the keyboard (but keep it backlit). Then they could include some of the features from other makers such as the built in Sprint broadband, and an extra FW400 or 800 port... and that wonderful HDMI connection.

Just to name a few. :)

devonelle said:
it's going to be something very similar to the asus design:

http://usa.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=24 :)

but with all the mac programs you've come to love.

If it's less than 1g mem than I won't bite. This asus is actually upgradeable to 2g...
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I like the Eee PC, but I wouldn't go as far as saying that Apple would copy its design or specs. It's a far better concept than the Foleo though.
 
devonelle said:
it's going to be something very similar to the asus design:

http://usa.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=24 :)
Click to expand...
Well the Eee PC at least has what I consider to be necessary ports. I'm on the fence, waiting for whatever comes out tomorrow, but if it does not at least have: USB, RJ45, power, (headphones) then I'd rather go with a 15" MBP.

I don't see them using the collapsible ports on any ultra-slim notebook, seeing as the ethernet connectors have a physical minimum size as you can see here
Quest_Technology__NKJ-5102__0.jpg


They're almost square, so no matter how you put them in, you're hands are tied.

I don't see any way of this working to their benefit in an ultra-slim notebook.
There is a reason any network hardware is still at best as "thin" as the base of a normal Macbook.

I'm not holding my breath. If they've managed to get a notebook slimmer than the Macbook and still managed to implement the idea well (without flaws like "oh, my retractable port-drawer's hinges just broke :(") then I'm all for it.
I'm just saying: without going for any spacial distortions there's not going to be anything revolutionary thin. Don't forget there will need to be sufficient space for the heatsinks (and fans) too.

Anyway, should they go with a USB dongle, then it's a good idea, but back when I had my first laptop in 2002 (which was a really old - even for those days - 400MHz Compaq) I had to make do without an ethernet port too. I ended up getting a PCMCIA ethernet card, and despised using it every single time.
I started having one with a little PCMCIA-Ethernet adapter cable, which just ended up having a loose connection. Then I got one with an integrated Ethernet port extending beyond the laptop, which was much better, but ended up breaking due to being strained too much over the years. So I'd rather prefer not needing any dongle or adapter at all.
 
mirffy said:
So I'd rather prefer not needing any dongle or adapter at all.
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Which to me is the finer points of modern technology. I love being able to just pull my MacBook Pro out of my bag and getting to work. If I need power I just pull out the power cable and plug it in. My biggest annoyance comes when I have to do serious work and I need my external HDD. Now I have to pull that out and plug it in, that's two cables now. If I can't get WiFi or the WiFi sucks but there is ethernet I plug another cable in. Worst case scenario is needing a wired mouse/second HDD/compact flash card reader and having to plug another cable in.... that's just too damn much.

I would love to see a much more versatile machine from Apple. So far the current lineup is great, but I am still going to yearn for that second HDD in the 17" MacBook Pro to alleviate the need for an external drive. I can get by the mouse issue by sucking it up and buying a wireless one. The CF reader is going to still be an issue unless I get an SD to CF adaptor to use in my gear.

Having an ultra portable with dongles, external optical drives, no ports, a slow as hell 1.8" HDD, all resting outside of the case isn't going to happen, it's not Apple's way and it's not the progression of technology. This new book will be light, and won't have an optical most likely, but has to have at least some real connectivity to it. Give me more to use in the same package no matter how small.
 
Maybe it's possible to put the Ethernet port in the plug end of the Apple Power adapter using a new combined power/data magsafe cable to connect to Mac??
That way it can be it's a one cable docking station :D
 
The new product is called "Apple Air", and is a small pocket device shown in
this banner with the heading " Your home in your pocket".
 

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Would it be crazy to think they might do away with ethernet altogether on this model and go the route of the USB Modem if anyone needed it. It's very rare that I actually use a wired connection for a laptop and I feel it is probably the same for much of us.
 
jumpinjoe said:
The new product is called "Apple Air", and is a small pocket device shown in
this banner with the heading " Your home in your pocket".
Click to expand...


Wow where did you find this ? did you take the photo ? oh my gawd..... mate its a fake and has been proven so on another thread...... calm down with the exclusive....
 
jumpinjoe said:
The new product is called "Apple Air", and is a small pocket device shown in
this banner with the heading " Your home in your pocket".
Click to expand...
I love Photoshop.

Anyways, that looks like a complete fake. What would a house on the screen of something looking very similar to an iPhone have to do with air?
 
jumpinjoe said:
The new product is called "Apple Air", and is a small pocket device shown in this banner with the heading " Your home in your pocket".
Click to expand...

Except said banner violates fire codes so the Fire Marshall would be all over it and why would Apple, after being so effective at keeping stuff secret, unfurl a huge banner with a new product in the middle of the day in the middle of a wall of glass windows with everyone standing in front of said wall with a camera?
 
At the very least it must function as a computer

Assuming the MacBook Air or whatever it may end up being called is actually a computer and not a glorified iPhone/tablet, Apple is welcome to streamline it any way it can but it must not remove all functionality such that the average person needs another computer to get by on everyday tasks.

If that were the case, then Steve Jobbs may as well take out a hammer during the keynote and drive a nail deep through his foot. If this thing can only be used effectively as a 2nd computer, then Apple will be cornering itself into a very niche market. Only the likes of some hardcore business users (who would actually need a second computer anyway to do most of their work) and Mac fans such as you and me would buy the thing.

I fully expect that if the MacBook Air is a computer (which I believe it will be), then it will still meet the very minimum requirements (in Apple's eyes) for a computer. Those goals may have changed since the PowerBook 12" came out - that means they are free to drop the optical drive and even ethernet (which could be solved by way of a dock very nicely).

But Apple isn't going to have spent the last 5 years trying to set up the Mac as the centre of your digital life if this thing can't run iTunes... or hold your photos, etc. This thing will be more powerful than people are crediting here - and I fully expect to be buying one to replace my ageing 12" PowerBook so that I can give it to my sister, not have to keep it for myself to run Garageband, etc.

If it can't run iLife properly, or there is no way to perform simple computing tasks, then this thing will not be classed by Apple as a Mac. And then it will just be something way too overpriced. If the only thing I want to do on it is browse the internet and read email, I might as well buy an iPhone or, goddamit even an iPod touch these days.

My prediction, or rather, gut feeling:

- Small single display (10-13" ish)
- Mega thin - all this effort cannot be just to shave a couple of mm - what's wrong with an inch thick anyway? It's got to get eyes staring, i.e. 1cm or less
- Flash or HD storage - probably the latter due to cost but maybe Apple has pulled some mega deal out of the bag
- Dock - as someone else said - this will be the magic and it will work seamlessly in the way only Apple could come up with. To include ethernet, DVI, Firewire and optical drive, etc - possibly an HD so that flash could be used on the go
- No collapsable ports - too flimsy. This is a Mac after all and they add clutter.
- Headphones and USB on the device itself, plus wireless I/O
- Something else revolutionary that is wireless-related: the 'killer app'
- Price around £800-1000 ($1500?) - includes dock because you couldn't function without
- Magsafe power cord also

Have faith in Steve. He will deliver. :)
 
Knowing Apple, they would make a special port for their Ethernet Adapter. This way, you can't buy 3rd party. I love Apple to death, but I wouldn't be surprised.
 
canucks-17 said:
Knowing Apple, they would make a special port for their Ethernet Adapter. This way, you can't buy 3rd party. I love Apple to death, but I wouldn't be surprised.
Click to expand...

Apple are hardly alone in the use of proprietary interfaces. I saw a propietary USB interface on some Dell hardware a while back. I think it had extra pins for bus power, but I could be wrong. Suffice to say it looked like a mangled USB port.
 
numediaman said:
I've been looking for opinions about this (http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/01/breaking-macboo.html) here, but didn't see anything.
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It's garbage... don't worry about it looking like that awful mockup. I don't think Apple is too interested in taking the bezel from the iMac and making a laptop out of it. It seems that even the mockup artists from semi-major websites have no creativity or imagination as well. Some of the ones i have seen on this site are better.
 
Dell is compatible

headfuzz said:
Apple are hardly alone in the use of proprietary interfaces. I saw a propietary USB interface on some Dell hardware a while back. I think it had extra pins for bus power, but I could be wrong. Suffice to say it looked like a mangled USB port.
Click to expand...

Dell's "D-Bay" port is a standard USB 2.0 connector with an adjacent power connector.

You can use the USB port with any USB device.

Dell's external optical drives for the subnotebook come with a "double" plug that connects to both the USB port and the power port. This lets the external drive support devices that require more than the 2.5 watt max permitted by the USB spec.

4429.jpg


ps: Note the 1394 jack as well....
 
My concept of it

I know I know... not so excellently drawn, but you get the concept.
2001294231947038014_rs.jpg
 
jjc09 said:
I know I know... not so excellently drawn, but you get the concept.
Click to expand...

The mockup is pretty much the same as everyone else's, sorry, I don't mean to be offensive. The iMac bezel isn't the answer all to screen bezels, the MacBook keyboard isn't the answer all to keyboards, the iPhone case isn't the answer all to handheld devices, etc etc etc.

I really hope that mockup artists and photoshoppers get the idea that you can't just pull parts from one machine to make the next one in it's entirety. Apple doesn't do this EVER. The closest we get is the iPhone to the iPod touch, and the Power Mac to the Mac Pro and Power Book to Mac Book Pro, but those are just updates and not new machines.

STOP USING OTHER PARTS IN YOUR DESIGN.... BE CREATIVE AND ORIGINAL.... FLEX THAT BRAIN MUSCLE GOD GAVE YOU, please. :( For the love of all that is good in design just use the time to think about design.

Another thing... I think the ports on your machine are far too small. They make the book look like some 15" MacBook Pro Hybrid thing.
 
mirffy said:
I don't see them using the collapsible ports on any ultra-slim notebook, seeing as the ethernet connectors have a physical minimum size as you can see here
Quest_Technology__NKJ-5102__0.jpg


They're almost square, so no matter how you put them in, you're hands are tied.
Click to expand...

Here is an image of one for RJ-11 (phone plug).

Large linked:

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6832920-0-large.jpg

Small inline:

6832920-0-display.jpg


The contacts are on a thin plane and the plug extends above and below the plane.

Rocketman
 
well i hope its as thin as a tray so i can mistakenly take it to work in the restaurant :and show off when i get one...lol....:D
 
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