More Analyst Expectations of an Apple Ultra-Portable

[Tara Davis]

Can you folks just not let this stupid concept go already?!?

Why would you want a smaller screen, less storage space, lower data throughput performance, and an external box optical drive you'd have to remember to take with you "just in case"? I'm sorry, but this whole notion is just so counter-intuitive and retarded. Apple should be learning lessons from Sony on this one. It's just a problematic solution looking for a problem to solve.

I would want the smaller screen, etc., because hauling around a full-size laptop is a pain. A fully-functional computer that fits in my purse would be a godsend, because I would take it with me everywhere.

As for the optical drive, not only would I not tote one around "just in case", I wouldn't bother with owning one, period. With today's network speeds, plastic optical disks are going the way of the floppy drive. I'd rather not bother with it. I'll download any apps I need, and use wireless network storage for my files.

For 90 percent of my computing needs, an iPod Touch with a full-size (or nearly full-size) keyboard would be adequate. Make it run a full version of OS X and support 3rd party apps, and there's the other 10 percent right there.

Take that concept, make the screen *just barely* big & hi-res enough to browse without using the "zoom" feature, and it's the Best Laptop Ever as far as I'm concerned.

 

[neilford]

How do you connect an external hard drive through Airport?

neilford

I have all my media on a 250gb External Drive, which I connect to via Airport. So 32gb would be just perfect for me. Some pictures, School Stuff. etc....

I'll be at Macworld this year, really looking forward to it.

 

[MarkWayne]

But an Ultra P is a multi-touch opening

It's true Apple has little reason to cram a tinier keyboard into a tinier clamshell. But what if the ultra-port had a UI more amenable to reduced size? Jobs hates buttons, and MT is the ultimate button-killer, liberation from all buttons, including little square keys arranged in rows.
The small form = an affordable size for multi-touch. I can think of ONE function that would suck in multi-touch - typing. But there would be a huge tradeoff for other potentials. Photo editing of course. Numbers is graphically driven, not just charts but even the conventional "spreadsheet" part, as all reviewers noted, very easy to use with multi-touch.
MT would be totally superior for Garage Band or Logic - touchable synths, transport controls, compressors, clips moved with your fingers. Drawing or design apps - paint a narrow line, wide line, straight line, circle, airbrush, border, fill, all with your fingers.
As other contributors have pointed out, if you need to type a lot, you need a big ol' keyboard. But our concept of the "natural" way to run many apps has been defined by familiar hardware. Maybe no MT breakthrough at this MacWorld, but ultra-p is a natural for MT, and it's only a matter of time.

 

[jayeskreezy]

I'm hoping Apple will offer an option to choose either a ~150GB hard disk drive or SSD, similar to what Dell offers with their XPS series. I'll gladly trade a few extra minutes of battery life for the ability to store more information and on a more reliable source. This is my first post, so I'm going to state what I'm hoping for, just if anybody wants to compare, and for those who don't, stop reading. I'm really looking forward to this, as it'll not only be my first Mac, but it'll be a laptop I can actually take with me everywhere since right now I (regretfully) have a mammoth 17" Sony Vaio I purchased about three years ago that dies on me after being disconnected for about 35 minutes

- gunmetal/black aluminum finish, similar to new iPod Nano and Classic, respectively (I'm assuming that's what those rumors were relating to, if they are true)
- ~13" LED screen with thin bezel
- no optical drive since I personally don't have much use for it
- at least 2GB RAM
- NO multi-touch, just traditional keyboard and touchpad (I'm not too worried about that one)
- decent battery (would like at least 3 hours of average work)
- 150GB+ hard disk drive
- good processor (just so I can do Photoshop stuff and play StarCraft II when it comes out)

2 things that if this happens would cause me to keep my current macbook pro...i don't want a hard or flash drive less than 120gb and I DO want an optical drive in my laptop

 

[bobob]

2 things that if this happens would cause me to keep my current macbook pro...i don't want a hard or flash drive less than 120gb and I DO want an optical drive in my laptop

I really don't understand why people are so attached to an optical drive in this wireless/internet age?

Especially in an ultraportable!

If it really is a critical task to have an old school disc readin' machine with you at all times, then there's certainly plenty of great hardware in the rest of the Mac portable line...

 

[Macula]

Here's a bitter truth that we all know and desperately try to repress:

This Keynote will be entirely iPhone, iTunes and AppleTV related. Cross "computer" out. Sorry.

 

[Abbie Rosie]

Mac Book Air

I've heard that the new Mac Book Air is going to blow the doors off anything ever put on the market before. It's one of the best kept secrets ever for Mac. I've heard it will be one of the Best Class Acts of Mac.

Anyone who appreciates a Mac knows the quality of Mac is the Mercedes of the industry, the Mac Book Air will not disappoint.

 

[themadchemist]

I've heard that the new Mac Book Air is going to blow the doors off anything ever put on the market before. It's one of the best kept secrets ever for Mac. I've heard it will be one of the Best Class Acts of Mac.

Anyone who appreciates a Mac knows the quality of Mac is the Mercedes of the industry, the Mac Book Air will not disappoint.

I always enjoy these "confident assertions."

 

[zedsdead]

I always enjoy these "confident assertions."

It does seem almost definite that the Ultra-Portable Mac is coming...Macbook Air...I actually like that name...must be ridiculously light...

Which means no hard-drive or optical bay...at least I hope...I want Flash Memory...this is supposed to be a companion, not a main computer...that is my hope anyway...it will compliment my iMac nicely...the Powerbook G4 17" is getting annoying to lug around...

 

[themadchemist]

It does seem almost definite that the Ultra-Portable Mac is coming...Macbook Air...I actually like that name...must be ridiculously light...

Which means no hard-drive or optical bay...at least I hope...I want Flash Memory...this is supposed to be a companion, not a main computer...that is my hope anyway...it will compliment my iMac nicely...the Powerbook G4 17" is getting annoying to lug around...

Oh, I believe it's coming, but the "I heard this is going to be the best thing ever created by a human hand" seems unlikely to be based in any actual information. Hope turned into speculation is one thing; hope turned into a suggestion of special intelligence is something else.