Macworld San Francisco 2006 Rumor Roundup

[DavoMrMac]

You know I think some of you might be onto something.

Apple not releasing an iBook or PowerBook replacement might be the answer.

A one range Intel based laptop, the 'iNTBook' could be the answer.

New form factor, new chips, all singing, all dancing, fully specced.

Then you can decide to stick with PPC for now or upgrade and be merry!

 

[McScooby]

QT system requirements

Hi all, Long time user and reader, but finally first post.

Don't know if it means anything, but can't really remember noticing it before, but on the QT page at apple.com

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/guide/hd/recommendations.html

it mentions that for 1080p video, min spec should be 3GHz Pentium D (Dual Core), my question being how would this typically compare to Yonah and at what speed?

Point being, apple surely wouldn't intro a new PB not capable of dealing with highest HD rate a year after the year of HD, would they?

Thanks in advance,

 

[yoak]

Hi all, Long time user and reader, but finally first post.

Don't know if it means anything, but can't really remember noticing it before, but on the QT page at apple.com

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/guide/hd/recommendations.html

it mentions that for 1080p video, min spec should be 3GHz Pentium D (Dual Core), my question being how would this typically compare to Yonah and at what speed?

Point being, apple surely wouldn't intro a new PB not capable of dealing with highest HD rate a year after the year of HD, would they?

Thanks in advance,

Interseting question. I can´t help you on the Yonah equivalent, but I too would be very surprised if they release a PB that can´t handle everything HD.
Here´s too hope (and that someone can tell you more about the Yonah)

 

[yankeefan24]

so wait... no G5 Powerbooks

I'm still trying to figure out why apple would make a dual core ibook before a powerbook. we all kno that a mac mini will be coming, so that would leave the powerbook the slowest mac in the mac line. does any one agree that having the powerbook the slowest is a bad idea? Maybe update both ibook and powerbook, but i think it would be a mistake for apple to make the ibook faster than the powerbook.

EDIT: I just looked on the apple store, and realized that in over a year, the powerbooks have only been upgraded .17 GHz!!! Another reason to upgrade the powerbook. if they do upgrade the iBook, it will be WITH the powerbook NOT instead.

 

[solaris]

does any one agree that having the powerbook the slowest is a bad idea? Maybe update both ibook and powerbook, but i think it would be a mistake for apple to make the ibook faster than the powerbook.

I agree!
Lets hope Apple dont even go there...

EDIT: I just looked on the apple store, and realized that in over a year, the powerbooks have only been upgraded .17 GHz!!! Another reason to upgrade the powerbook. if they do upgrade the iBook, it will be WITH the powerbook NOT instead.

The 1.5GHz PB was released april 19, 2004, so its actually over 20 months and only 0.17GHz! What a shame!
No wonder they decided to leave IBM and Motorola for Intel.

 

[yankeefan24]

By this day NEXT YEAR, I will be running VISTA and LEOPARD (AT THE SAME TIME) at full speed, with what I'm buying hopefully next week.

i agree, the only reason i would get a windows (i don't but am thinking ab it) is for GAMES. almost all of the best games are windows-only. Have quick-os switching, and i will…um…already buying powerbook day 1…so…im not sure.

EDIT: thanx solaris, i knew they were older than a year but not sure. that is sad. just sad. now im saying that powerbooks are almost definite.

 

[d.f]

am worried...

i am of the thinking that we'll see a Core Duo iBook released and a Core Duo Powerbook announced (to ship at a later date - all of the Powerbook comparable Core Duo laptos announced at CES all have shipping dates of around end feb / March).

i am worried that Apple's 'old trick' of under powering the iBooks to save Powerbook sales might be played again. it would be such a dissapointment.

 

[kenaustus]

This would be a good time for Apple to break another tradition of the second Jobs reign.

Don't replace the PPC PowerBook with the Intel, but add the Intel PowerBook to the lineup alongside the PPC.

Apple did this with the PM when the G5 PM came out. Kept the pros happy as they could still run their older stuff - studio equipment & hardware in my son-in-law's case.

 

[SwiftLives]

Upgrades to Optical Drives

I'm wondering if we will perhaps see an upgrade to the optical drives. And I base this on nopother reason than Apple being ever so slow to ship out a replacement Superdrive for my Dual-Core 2.3/G5. A service request, I might add, that I placed on December 28th.

(The worst part is I got Creative Suite 2 for Christmas...and I can't install it until I get a Superdrive that will actually cooperate.)

Anyway, the status of my order is "Part Shipment Pending," and it's been that way since December 28th. I've been attemping to call back to see what's up with the delay, but I'm just not willing to wait 10 minutes to speak to someone.

Anyone else experience a delay with a DIY part before Macworld?

 

[AidenShaw]

above the table, not hidden

Apple did this with the PM when the G5 PM came out. Kept the pros happy as they could still run their older stuff - studio equipment & hardware in my son-in-law's case.

I was thinking of something more than a hidden page - make PPC and Intel both headliners.

For example, I thought that Apple was still selling PCI-X PM G5 systems for the people who have PCI-X devices. If so, it's hard to find at the Apple store.

 

[Goldfinger]

I'm still trying to figure out why apple would make a dual core ibook before a powerbook. we all kno that a mac mini will be coming, so that would leave the powerbook the slowest mac in the mac line. does any one agree that having the powerbook the slowest is a bad idea? Maybe update both ibook and powerbook, but i think it would be a mistake for apple to make the ibook faster than the powerbook.

EDIT: I just looked on the apple store, and realized that in over a year, the powerbooks have only been upgraded .17 GHz!!! Another reason to upgrade the powerbook. if they do upgrade the iBook, it will be WITH the powerbook NOT instead.

The iBooks will have the current crop of Centrino Pentium Ms in them and the PowerBook will go with Yonah dual core if you ask me.

I don't see why everybody insists on Yonahs in the iBooks. The current Pentium M is a great chip.

 

[WindowsSUCKSX5]

The iBooks will have the current crop of Centrino Pentium Ms in them and the PowerBook will go with Yonah dual core if you ask me.

I don't see why everybody insists on Yonahs in the iBooks. The current Pentium M is a great chip.

I highly agree with your statement. After seeing yonahs dual core, i find it hard to believe apple would totally put a new chip in the ibooks that would totally wipe out today's ppc powerbooks. My assumption after doing a decent amount of research is that we will likely see 1.5/1.6ghz centrino pentium m's in the ibooks and the yonahs in the powerbooks. I also think that with this new deal between apple and intel u will see more than just intel processors in the ibooks/powerbooks. You will likely see graphic cards etc. I think apple and intel are cutting eachother special deals right now. Especially after microsoft decided to run ppc chips instead of intels in the xbox 360.
All this will result in cheaper apple laptops. I am guessing ibooks and powerbooks will probably get a price drop of 100-200$. Then you will have a slightly different situation in the computer world. Apple will attract more people because they will now be a bit more consumer friendly price wise. Plus, all there consumer products will likely outperform those computers of its competitors. Intel gave apple the oppurtunity to make apple computers cooler,cheaper, but even higher quality. This will be a fantastic year for apple if they can pull off these new intels.

 

[Ensoniq]

Unlke some others here, I actually think it would be a GOOD idea for Apple to stop selling PPC machines immediately and upgrade the iBooks, Mac mini, PowerBooks and maybe even the iMacs all to Intel chips simultaneously.

Why? Because developers (especially the major ones like Adobe, Microsoft, etc.) have a habit of dragging their ass on some upgrades. Developers knew Tiger was coming for about a year, and how many programs were NOT Tiger ready when it was released in April? Too many.

By switching almost the entire lineup (except the PowerMacs) to Intel simultaneously, I think it will force the developers to speed up their Intel progress more than if we have a slow scattered transition period.

All of the "we can't go Intel right away because the pro apps aren't ready" talk is a little off base. ALL of Apple's apps are ready to go Intel. You can bet on it. And anyone running some pro app that only works on the PPC Macs already HAVE a PPC Mac. People going out to buy the Intel Macs today will be willing to put up with Rosetta, or they will wait to buy until some apps transition. But for Apple to delay the whole transition process because Macromedia and Adobe and others won't get moving is a big mistake.

Go, Intel, go! (What a difference 6 months make on perception, huh? Steve's Reality Distortion Field really is amazingly powerful...)

 

[AidenShaw]

Unlke some others here, I actually think it would be a GOOD idea for Apple to stop selling PPC machines immediately and upgrade the iBooks, Mac mini, PowerBooks and maybe even the iMacs all to Intel chips simultaneously.

Why? Because developers (especially the major ones like Adobe, Microsoft, etc.) have a habit of dragging their ass on some upgrades.

Doesn't that shaft your customers in order to spite your partners?

Apple has been prone to arrogant behaviour in the past, but they'd tick off a lot of people if they did what you suggest....

 

[Daveway]

Does anyone remember what day the Apple murals are put up? I'm waiting for our undercover operatives to snap some pictures of the black sheet covered murals.

Remember last year some of the contractors forgot about the black cover and revealed what the ipod shuffle looked like to passers by.

 

[applemax]

MWSF '06 transcript:

10:00 am

==========================

Steve appears on stage. He does the 3 acts thing.

--Act One--
--Media--

iPod shuffle has been successful. Charts / marketshare appear. All that stuff. Talks about the new iPod shuffle. Says its 1GB only. Due to the sucess of the black iPod, it will be in black aswell as white. He says he wants to move away from the lego type feel to something better. He shows a picture of the new shuffle with a black front, with same navigation and a chrome back. It has been made slightly wider too. This is because they have dropped the USB connector and are now using the dock connector.

Moves on to playing music. So far we have 4 places to playing our tunes. Car, Computer, Living Room and iPod. The car has been a brilliant success with over 30% of all cars in the US to have iPod features. Announces new car companies. Computer. Talks about iTunes. Talks about new feature. It's called MyTunes. This is where you have your own page on iTunes which is essentially a blog about music. Does a demo. iPod. Talks about success for iPod. He says: Now there was a rumour of a certain iPod a while back, but it was never done and it was forgotten about. Now we're doing it. He shows a photo on the screen of the iPod shuffle, Nano and Video. All in black. Suddenly he talks about the success of the U2 ipod and says that another artist is here. "Hung Up" starts playing, and all the iPods crossfade into glossy pink with black clickwheels with pink xbox 360 type rings on it. "The new Madonna iPods". They all include a poster of Madonna with her sig on the back. It includes a voucher for $50 off the Complete Madonna. The video Madonna ipod comes free with all available Madonna music videos on the ipod. Moves onto Living Room. Talks about AirPort Express. Very original, brilliant success. New model announced. Comes in white and black. Same thing but now does video. It also comes with the Apple Remote. New express has IRDA port for remote. Video is sent over 108mbps. Announces a new AirPort extreme too. 2 models. One with router and one with ADSL modem + router. White/black and comes with AirMedia (the new Airtunes + video).

Then, the screen changes back to a picture of the living room. The words, One more thing, appear. He announces a second Airport system. He calls it AirHome. This new device comes in white and black and is about the size of a slimline DVD player. It has an iPod dock on top and two harmon/kardon speakers attached. This connects wirelessly via AirMedia to your Mac to send video (connect AirHome to tv for this) and audio. It has a iPod dock for a sort of iPod boombox system. Does a demo. Moves on. Moves onto iLife and iWork. Announces new suites. Same iLife apps with new features and a new app called iCast. This is a dedicated podcast maker. $99. New iWork. New Pages, new keynote. 3 more new apps in iWork. Cells, Webpages and Mail Pro. Cells = spreadsheet. Webpages = WSIWIG web editor. Mail Pro = Outlook type client. Webpages has it's pages published through another app included in iLife that adds photos, music and movies to the website. It's called iWeb. One more thing. Announces Front Row for iLife

And that's Act One...

==Act 2==
==The Mac==

Talks about new OS. Leopard. Talks about new features. One of them is the ability to run two OSs at once. i.e OSX and Vista. Makes joke about vista launchdate. Then talks about Macintel. Says this," We said we would have no Intel systems until 2006." Talks about portables. Introduces new Macintels. iBook and Powerbook. Both have swivel screens to form into tablets. And one special feature. The laptop screens have built in scanners for documents. . All laptops have backlit keyboards. New portables also have a MightyPress. Similar to mighty mouse. The mouse button has pressure sensors. Then introduces new intel Mac Mini. Now comes with Mighty Mouse. Shows new Mac ad showing the iBook, powerbook, mac mini. And a small preview of the iMac and Powermacs. You dont see much of the iMac and Powermac. Just a shot of the word iMac on the casing and the famous G5 aluminium holes. Although you see the inside of the powermac and instead of G5, it has the Intel swish logo (the new one) but instead of Intel it has the apple logo. Talks about home intergration. Intros new Front Row ViiV enabled screens. LCD 37inch and Plasma 42inch. Both are HD ready (1080p) running Mac OS X x86 Tiger: Front Row edition. AirPort and Bluetooth enabled. Controlled with laser pointer.

==Act 3==
==Retail==

Announces new store. Calls it the iPod Shop. Just sells iPods. Each store is about the size of a toilet. Just consists of a kiosk. 50 of these are opening around the US, 20 in Japan and 40 in Europe. New Apple Stores too. 15 new stores opening in UK. 40 in Europe. New improved online store too. New payment system called AppleCash. Similar to iTunes gift certifacates, these credits can be used for music, prints, photo albums and items on the Apple Store. They also announce a new Reward Card called iSwipe. Collect points for products.

Thank you all for coming, and we'll see you in WWDC. Walks off... Music begins, Black Eyed Peas or summin'



Music cuts. Steve runs back on. Shouts out, there is one more thing. Apple announce partnership with Nintendo. Shigsy walks on and talks for ages. They demo the new Revolution console running on a cutdown version of Tiger. Revolution comes with iPod dock and it has iTunes on it. More special products between Nintendo and Apple promised for the near future

 

[manu chao]

Hi all, Long time user and reader, but finally first post.

Don't know if it means anything, but can't really remember noticing it before, but on the QT page at apple.com

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/guide/hd/recommendations.html

it mentions that for 1080p video, min spec should be 3GHz Pentium D (Dual Core), my question being how would this typically compare to Yonah and at what speed?

Point being, apple surely wouldn't intro a new PB not capable of dealing with highest HD rate a year after the year of HD, would they?

Thanks in advance,

A rather conservative rule of thumb is that a 2 GHz Pentium M equals a 3 GHz Pentium 4, so it should work with high-end Yonahs.

 

[manu chao]

Interseting question. I can´t help you on the Yonah equivalent, but I too would be very surprised if they release a PB that can´t handle everything HD.

Not that any of the current Powerbooks could handle HD.

 

[Peace]

Unlke some others here, I actually think it would be a GOOD idea for Apple to stop selling PPC machines immediately and upgrade the iBooks, Mac mini, PowerBooks and maybe even the iMacs all to Intel chips simultaneously.

Why? Because developers (especially the major ones like Adobe, Microsoft, etc.) have a habit of dragging their ass on some upgrades. Developers knew Tiger was coming for about a year, and how many programs were NOT Tiger ready when it was released in April? Too many.

By switching almost the entire lineup (except the PowerMacs) to Intel simultaneously, I think it will force the developers to speed up their Intel progress more than if we have a slow scattered transition period.

All of the "we can't go Intel right away because the pro apps aren't ready" talk is a little off base. ALL of Apple's apps are ready to go Intel. You can bet on it. And anyone running some pro app that only works on the PPC Macs already HAVE a PPC Mac. People going out to buy the Intel Macs today will be willing to put up with Rosetta, or they will wait to buy until some apps transition. But for Apple to delay the whole transition process because Macromedia and Adobe and others won't get moving is a big mistake.

Go, Intel, go! (What a difference 6 months make on perception, huh? Steve's Reality Distortion Field really is amazingly powerful...)

You'd be surprised at how fast developers are porting right now.I know a couple that are currently porting WINDOWS apps to the new MacIntel..

enuf said

 

[jaw04005]

Let's just hope Steve's One More Thing is not a freaking iPod again this year. It's Macworld not iPodworld.

All products still report 24 hour shipping at the Apple Store. *SIGH*

 

[WindowsSUCKSX5]

Let's just hope Steve's One More Thing is not a freaking iPod again this year. It's Macworld not iPodworld.

All products still report 24 hour shipping at the Apple Store. *SIGH*

I guarantee you you will see some sort of updated ipod or something, but it won't be at all a prominent part of mac world. The majority of mac world will be focused on the the new mactels. Plus the new updated programs will have a significant part aswell.


BTW i would assume they may still sell the current notebooks at he apple store even after the switch so dont take the 24hour thing as serious as people did in previous years.

 

[PetRock]

In fairness to the developers, shouldn’t the Intel-based Macs be announced a few months in advance of their release? If so, we should expect an announcement this week and shipping in the spring, or an announcement in the spring and shipping in the summer.

 

[yoak]

Not that any of the current Powerbooks could handle HD.

So hopefully that never happens again.
Remember, last year was the year of HD, wonder what this year is

 

[WindowsSUCKSX5]

In fairness to the developers, shouldn’t the Intel-based Macs be announced a few months in advance of their release? If so, we should expect an announcement this week and shipping in the spring, or an announcement in the spring and shipping in the summer.

You don't know that mac software devlopers at many of these haven't been given some clue to speed up. If you are partially correct, I would still expect consumer mac lines such as mac mini and ibook to go intel and get shipped right away, due to the success of rosetta. Rosetta supposedly works plenty fast with more consumer end products/software. therefore allowing jobs to release the consumer level macs.

You may here something about powerbooks at macworld, but they wont start shipping for at least 1-2 months.

 

[amateurmacfreak]

MWSF '06 transcript:

10:00 am

==========================

Steve appears on stage. He does the 3 acts thing.

--Act One--
--Media--

iPod shuffle has been successful. Charts / marketshare appear. All that stuff. Talks about the new iPod shuffle. Says its 1GB only. Due to the sucess of the black iPod, it will be in black aswell as white. He says he wants to move away from the lego type feel to something better. He shows a picture of the new shuffle with a black front, with same navigation and a chrome back. It has been made slightly wider too. This is because they have dropped the USB connector and are now using the dock connector.

Moves on to playing music. So far we have 4 places to playing our tunes. Car, Computer, Living Room and iPod. The car has been a brilliant success with over 30% of all cars in the US to have iPod features. Announces new car companies. Computer. Talks about iTunes. Talks about new feature. It's called MyTunes. This is where you have your own page on iTunes which is essentially a blog about music. Does a demo. iPod. Talks about success for iPod. He says: Now there was a rumour of a certain iPod a while back, but it was never done and it was forgotten about. Now we're doing it. He shows a photo on the screen of the iPod shuffle, Nano and Video. All in black. Suddenly he talks about the success of the U2 ipod and says that another artist is here. "Hung Up" starts playing, and all the iPods crossfade into glossy pink with black clickwheels with pink xbox 360 type rings on it. "The new Madonna iPods". They all include a poster of Madonna with her sig on the back. It includes a voucher for $50 off the Complete Madonna. The video Madonna ipod comes free with all available Madonna music videos on the ipod. Moves onto Living Room. Talks about AirPort Express. Very original, brilliant success. New model announced. Comes in white and black. Same thing but now does video. It also comes with the Apple Remote. New express has IRDA port for remote. Video is sent over 108mbps. Announces a new AirPort extreme too. 2 models. One with router and one with ADSL modem + router. White/black and comes with AirMedia (the new Airtunes + video).

Then, the screen changes back to a picture of the living room. The words, One more thing, appear. He announces a second Airport system. He calls it AirHome. This new device comes in white and black and is about the size of a slimline DVD player. It has an iPod dock on top and two harmon/kardon speakers attached. This connects wirelessly via AirMedia to your Mac to send video (connect AirHome to tv for this) and audio. It has a iPod dock for a sort of iPod boombox system. Does a demo. Moves on. Moves onto iLife and iWork. Announces new suites. Same iLife apps with new features and a new app called iCast. This is a dedicated podcast maker. $99. New iWork. New Pages, new keynote. 3 more new apps in iWork. Cells, Webpages and Mail Pro. Cells = spreadsheet. Webpages = WSIWIG web editor. Mail Pro = Outlook type client. Webpages has it's pages published through another app included in iLife that adds photos, music and movies to the website. It's called iWeb. One more thing. Announces Front Row for iLife

And that's Act One...

==Act 2==
==The Mac==

Talks about new OS. Leopard. Talks about new features. One of them is the ability to run two OSs at once. i.e OSX and Vista. Makes joke about vista launchdate. Then talks about Macintel. Says this," We said we would have no Intel systems until 2006." Talks about portables. Introduces new Macintels. iBook and Powerbook. Both have swivel screens to form into tablets. And one special feature. The laptop screens have built in scanners for documents. . All laptops have backlit keyboards. New portables also have a MightyPress. Similar to mighty mouse. The mouse button has pressure sensors. Then introduces new intel Mac Mini. Now comes with Mighty Mouse. Shows new Mac ad showing the iBook, powerbook, mac mini. And a small preview of the iMac and Powermacs. You dont see much of the iMac and Powermac. Just a shot of the word iMac on the casing and the famous G5 aluminium holes. Although you see the inside of the powermac and instead of G5, it has the Intel swish logo (the new one) but instead of Intel it has the apple logo. Talks about home intergration. Intros new Front Row ViiV enabled screens. LCD 37inch and Plasma 42inch. Both are HD ready (1080p) running Mac OS X x86 Tiger: Front Row edition. AirPort and Bluetooth enabled. Controlled with laser pointer.

==Act 3==
==Retail==

Announces new store. Calls it the iPod Shop. Just sells iPods. Each store is about the size of a toilet. Just consists of a kiosk. 50 of these are opening around the US, 20 in Japan and 40 in Europe. New Apple Stores too. 15 new stores opening in UK. 40 in Europe. New improved online store too. New payment system called AppleCash. Similar to iTunes gift certifacates, these credits can be used for music, prints, photo albums and items on the Apple Store. They also announce a new Reward Card called iSwipe. Collect points for products.

Thank you all for coming, and we'll see you in WWDC. Walks off... Music begins, Black Eyed Peas or summin'



Music cuts. Steve runs back on. Shouts out, there is one more thing. Apple announce partnership with Nintendo. Shigsy walks on and talks for ages. They demo the new Revolution console running on a cutdown version of Tiger. Revolution comes with iPod dock and it has iTunes on it. More special products between Nintendo and Apple promised for the near future

Awesome, awesome, awesome prediction/scenario, haha. Wouldn't it be beautiful? AppleCash would be really beautiful. Combined I got $220 dollars for iTunes from people for Christmas, and I would love if it could be cash for anything Apple. That would be awesome, for future Christmases....haha. It actually does sound like a really good idea to me, haha, even though I've never thought that many people thought about it... only me.
Of course, Powerbooks, iBooks, able to run both OSs.... wow. Would be amazing.
But I know you're just painting an idealistic dream, haha. But it sounds so good it should just be truth....