probably will have blu-ray but will have to have it externally because Apple is trying to move away from cd drives... why on earth would they take a step back wards? i'm just excited about the T.V. i really hope they come out with one.
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MacBook with Blu-Ray, Networked HDTV from Apple?
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probably will have blu-ray but will have to have it externally because Apple is trying to move away from cd drives... why on earth would they take a step back wards? i'm just excited about the T.V. i really hope they come out with one.And I think 16:9 ratio looks more "natural" to the human eye than 16:10 ratio. Just my opinion.
I'd wait til you hear it in full context. Kevin could have said it was a less credible rumor, but everyone went ape **** over it and started spreading it.Kevin Rose is usually right on the money, so I am very excited about this!
Networked HDTV via a new Apple TV device is something Apple might do. But to design and sell a TV itself? IMHO, Apple should keep its eye on the ball and keep beating up the Windows market steadily. We don't need Apple televisions, Apple toasters, Apple refrigerators, Apple clock radios, Apple lamps, Apple dishwashers, Apple toilets, etc. More importantly, it would distract them from their assault on the Windows domination!
16:9 is NOT an upgrade! I don't get why everyone wants this. And, if you are watching movies on it, you STILL will have black bars on the top and bottom of a 16x9 display, for most films. 16:10 is wonderful.
I vote for 16:10 makes more sense with the4 shape of the laptop unless Steve is going to come out and claim to have the thinnest screen ever.
Maybe A BD in a Macbook is that little something the competitors wont match?
and Wow, a HDTV, if its true, so basically it would have to have Front Row of course?
As in the notebook range that MacBooks come under and their competition dont usually carry BDs
and Wow, a HDTV, if its true, so basically it would have to have Front Row of course?
As in the notebook range that MacBooks come under and their competition dont usually carry BDs
I look at it this way. You will always have to scroll up and down, but side to side scrolling is a pain for me. I prefer more horizontal space than vertical space. Personal preference.
Besides, the wider screen would allow Apple to put a number pad on their laptops due to the increased width.
I couldn't care less for smaller letterboxing as I do not watch movies on my MBP.
i have yet to watch a blu-ray movie on my PS3 but meanwhile i have about 300 backup DVD-Rs (single layer) full of data taking up a shelf in my apartment. blu-ray support is really going to be useful for all computer users soon. but i don't think it's necessary to see a blu-ray movie at an airport or backing up 30GBs of your iTunes Library at the laundromat. so yeah i would expect blu-ray support but not necessarily a drive. i personally have no experience with blu-ray drives but i do see that it is an option on Toast 9 (as is HD-DVD).
as far as a networked HDTV? i really doubt you'll see anything like that since there is nothing to really add to the tv viewing experience. apple made a great mp3 player with the iPod and a great phone with the iPhone - but if you want a great TV Display there are already tons of good models to choose from.
however they could do a lot of good by improving the Apple Cinema Display.
as far as a networked HDTV? i really doubt you'll see anything like that since there is nothing to really add to the tv viewing experience. apple made a great mp3 player with the iPod and a great phone with the iPhone - but if you want a great TV Display there are already tons of good models to choose from.
however they could do a lot of good by improving the Apple Cinema Display.
I hope the
Right. Put the Blu-ray in Apple TV. Make it an HD DVR and Blu-ray player.
Regarding Blu-ray in a MacBook, internal option maybe. But I guess I'd rather have an external drive because I would use it primarily for writing to a Blu-ray disk for backup and archival.
One thing on the AppleTV HDTV thing...TV, TV, TV
Better have a better remote than the damn Apple Remote.
TV.
TV.
Better have a better remote than the damn Apple Remote.
TV.
TV.
I think they could do BluRay in the Macbooks now...then add it to the iMacs and Mac Pros at Macworld
Apple could build HDTVs, no problem. Someone mentioned sizes
32", 42" and 52" would serve consumers very well. As it stands, LCD panels, most likely what Apple would use, hit a wall at 52" in terms of acceptable pricing.
There are more problems than just building the things though:
- Freight. The gross majority of larger televisions are shipped to consumers via freight. These companies are tasked with appropriate handling. Currently, Apple drop ships via large freight carriers to get their equipment to a country, then rely on local delivery services (DHL, FedEx, UPS) to get to the consumer. This would all change with TVs. Apple themselves would need to have a number of reliable freight carriers on hand to deliver the TVs, and indeed to get them physically into people's homes. They'd also need to keep an eye on resellers to make sure that they're using appropriate freight carriers - not so much a problem for say, Best Buy, but a problem for remaining smaller resellers. It's a problem with a solution, but it's a huge task.
- Repair. I can bring an Apple TV for repair in my shoulder bag. Not so much a 42" TV. Apple would again need to recruit a number of local TV repair houses, get them up to speed on the products and how to repair them (read: "Apple Authorized Repair"), and again deal with the freight situation, this time in reverse - getting the TVs to repair depots and if necessary, all the way back to Apple's own repair depots. Huge task.
- Customer Service. Apple would need to train a large number of customer service reps to help with equipment that they've never had to deal with before. DVD players, Blu-Ray players, game consoles, cable TV boxes, satellite boxes, surround sound systems, anything that can be hooked up to a TV. Signal problems, cabling problems, reception issues, etc. Huge task.
Before you say "But the iPhone, that's a phone, and they did a pretty good job," remember that Apple controls the iPhone top to bottom. There's a limited number of external components that can be hooked up to it. And they work closely with carriers on issues that are not related to Apple's kit. A TV is designed for one thing - taking input from external components. By making a TV, they'd need to expect to be troubleshooting a large number of different external components, each with their own temperaments.
Quick case in point: friend has a Sony TV and a Sony PS3. He can't get them working together via HDMI. And that's two components, from the same company!
Apple wants to deliver ease of use. A TV hookup, for the non-technical, is a big problem. Go whip out the manual for your TV and see if you think a non-technical person could get it fully hooked up with just their cable box. This is why there's a big market for added services, people that come hook things up for you when you buy a TV. It's just too much for a lot of folks.
So, could Apple do it? Sure. Would they? I don't see why. The TV market is saturated, and there are companies that have years upon years of experience making good TVs. A TV is a dumb box, it's a whore, designed to take whatever it gets and display it. That's it. Why make a move to build-in an AppleTV when you can leave the heavy lifting to someone else?
Frankly, what they *should* be doing, is making the AppleTV an indispensable experience. That means:
- Drag and drop. It should appear on my computer (Mac OR PC) as a drive that I can just throw content onto. iTunes should be an *option*, and not the only way, to get content onto the thing.
- Codec support. They need to go nuts. Every codec you can think of, should be supported by the thing. As it stands, I can't find any hardware media player that will play every codec I come across. But Techspansion managed to put a massive number of codecs into their VisualHub product, for conversion purposes - with Apple's engineers on this, they could have a genuinely universal *playback* device. Alright, WMV might be a problem, but one they could surely overcome. The goal would be, if I have a video, even if I have no *idea* what format the it is in, I should be able to drop it onto my AppleTV and have it play. It needs to require zero thought on the part of the consumer.
These are just two things that come to mind. If they make the AppleTV as necessary as say, a cable or satellite box, then their job is done.
There are more problems than just building the things though:
- Freight. The gross majority of larger televisions are shipped to consumers via freight. These companies are tasked with appropriate handling. Currently, Apple drop ships via large freight carriers to get their equipment to a country, then rely on local delivery services (DHL, FedEx, UPS) to get to the consumer. This would all change with TVs. Apple themselves would need to have a number of reliable freight carriers on hand to deliver the TVs, and indeed to get them physically into people's homes. They'd also need to keep an eye on resellers to make sure that they're using appropriate freight carriers - not so much a problem for say, Best Buy, but a problem for remaining smaller resellers. It's a problem with a solution, but it's a huge task.
- Repair. I can bring an Apple TV for repair in my shoulder bag. Not so much a 42" TV. Apple would again need to recruit a number of local TV repair houses, get them up to speed on the products and how to repair them (read: "Apple Authorized Repair"), and again deal with the freight situation, this time in reverse - getting the TVs to repair depots and if necessary, all the way back to Apple's own repair depots. Huge task.
- Customer Service. Apple would need to train a large number of customer service reps to help with equipment that they've never had to deal with before. DVD players, Blu-Ray players, game consoles, cable TV boxes, satellite boxes, surround sound systems, anything that can be hooked up to a TV. Signal problems, cabling problems, reception issues, etc. Huge task.
Before you say "But the iPhone, that's a phone, and they did a pretty good job," remember that Apple controls the iPhone top to bottom. There's a limited number of external components that can be hooked up to it. And they work closely with carriers on issues that are not related to Apple's kit. A TV is designed for one thing - taking input from external components. By making a TV, they'd need to expect to be troubleshooting a large number of different external components, each with their own temperaments.
Quick case in point: friend has a Sony TV and a Sony PS3. He can't get them working together via HDMI. And that's two components, from the same company!
Apple wants to deliver ease of use. A TV hookup, for the non-technical, is a big problem. Go whip out the manual for your TV and see if you think a non-technical person could get it fully hooked up with just their cable box. This is why there's a big market for added services, people that come hook things up for you when you buy a TV. It's just too much for a lot of folks.
So, could Apple do it? Sure. Would they? I don't see why. The TV market is saturated, and there are companies that have years upon years of experience making good TVs. A TV is a dumb box, it's a whore, designed to take whatever it gets and display it. That's it. Why make a move to build-in an AppleTV when you can leave the heavy lifting to someone else?
Frankly, what they *should* be doing, is making the AppleTV an indispensable experience. That means:
- Drag and drop. It should appear on my computer (Mac OR PC) as a drive that I can just throw content onto. iTunes should be an *option*, and not the only way, to get content onto the thing.
- Codec support. They need to go nuts. Every codec you can think of, should be supported by the thing. As it stands, I can't find any hardware media player that will play every codec I come across. But Techspansion managed to put a massive number of codecs into their VisualHub product, for conversion purposes - with Apple's engineers on this, they could have a genuinely universal *playback* device. Alright, WMV might be a problem, but one they could surely overcome. The goal would be, if I have a video, even if I have no *idea* what format the it is in, I should be able to drop it onto my AppleTV and have it play. It needs to require zero thought on the part of the consumer.
These are just two things that come to mind. If they make the AppleTV as necessary as say, a cable or satellite box, then their job is done.
so out of the three models of macbook the 3rd highest one will come with bluray and for extra the two lower ones will come as an option? i guess it doesnt really matter cause im happy with 720p hd downloads.
Why is it funny? You're not thinking laterally enough. If a Blu-Ray drive is in included in the MacBooks, it wouldn't be the first time that Apple has upgraded their consumer computers before their pro computers, and just update the rest in the next couple of months.
Not only that, but Apple sell more of their consumer computers than their pro computers, particularly MacBooks. What better way to entice more people to buy or upgrade their MacBooks than by including Blu-Ray? It may not happen, but it certainly isn't a funny suggestion, and I think it is quite possible.
Apple don't only care about making innovative and quality products, but they also care about units sold, and selling MacBooks for Christmas is something I'm sure they're thinking about. Adding Blu-Ray to a MacBook would be great for that reason. Time will tell.
I don't get your point. No one would want to watch a distorted image surely? If you have a 1920 x 1200 screen you can watch a 1920 x 1080 video with some narrow bars. In any case, as has been pointed out about a gazillion times on these forums already, most films are not made in 16:9 anyway.
You know, many people say what Apple really sells is lifestyle...
I think it's more likely some of us will have Apple-almost-everything than that everyone will have a Mac. And I'd prefer it to stay this way - usually mass means crap...
You know you can get a USB numpad, right?
The spotlight is on the notebook!
But yeah, HDTV with Apple TV built-in would be really nice at some point in the future. Hopefully someone important is reading this.