Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
There is no such thing as a netbook that is "junk".

Sure there is. The Asus 1000H. It is cheaply built, and feels like a toy. The entire keyboard flexes when you type. It's a very disappointing machine, especially given its cost at the time ($400).
 
Of course Steve Jobs isn't interested in making ****.

Apple has so far resisted the release of such a device and has publicly denied interest in the market.

Let me fix that for you. So far Apple has refused to make a pathetic piece of **** device that cannot do what Steve Jobs feels a basic device should be able to do.

I think that is a better headline and a LOT more accurate.

Think of cell phones and smart phones and then look at the iPhone. Anything that Apple would put out in the netbook market is going to, a VERY MINIMUM, have that big of a jump in quality and usability. PS: I've always hate the bloody blackberry and Palm keyboards on their devices. Once you are used to something and accept it, it is always hard to change. Thank goodness I always hated them. Is the keyboard on the iPhone/iTouch great? Well it doesn't suck as much the bb and Palm's do. And at least it isn't locked into one format like physical keyboards are.

My hope for the closest thing to a netbook that Apple comes out with is an iTouch type product that is twice the width which folds in half and turns on automatically when you open it. There should be ZERO on/off switches. If it is open, it is on. Closed, low power mode).

As for the unit and the screens, it should not be a ugly piece of **** that the Nitindo DSs are. They look like they were designed in the 70s and released only when the screens could fit.

The screens should appear to be one screen. You should have to squint to see the second screen as it opens up. It should react as one screen. For all intensive purposes, when it is opened it should be exactly as if it didn't open. It should look and act like one screen and be exactly like the iPhone/iTouch but with a bigger screen and a faster processor.

You should be able to do everything that you can do with the Mac Mini. I'm not joking and I don't think Steve Jobs jokes when he is in meetings either. Not with something like this.

I think he has made it very clear to people that work at Apple. It is either a computer (minimum Mac mini capabilities) or it won't be a computer in that vane at all. Instead it will be a large iTouch.

I would like to be able to connect a wireless bluetooth keyboard (and maybe mouse) to it. This is different than having a physical keyboard for bb and Palms. I can two finger type on those but I can touch type on a full size keyboard at 70+ wpm. Not even close.

Oh, and the last thing it will NEVER be. One of this poorly designed tablet pcs. There is a market for maybe 50,000 of those things. The people where I work (over 10,000 person company) that you would think should love them, HATE them. We have them from multiple companies and nobody has gotten them right. The biggest problem? Microsoft and Windows. They apparently need several more years to come close to getting Windows ready for these things.

As for the price of a Netbook from Apple. Look at the pricing for the iPhone and iTouch and Mac Mini. Anyone thinking this is coming out less than 7-800 dollars is thinking wrong. Look at the Mac Book Air. This thing, if it exists and is coming out at all, could be over $1,000.
 
Tablet, not netbook

My prediction is that Apple will leverage their significant investments in multi-touch by releasing a tablet that will potentially do several things:

- compete for the netbook audience
- expand multi-touch as a computing interface
- bolster the struggling print publishing industry by offering a product (tablet) and infrastructure (iTunes store) to revitalize yet another industry that is struggling with the digitization and demonetization of their product. (See iPod, music industry.)
 
The baseline iMac probably costs $500 to make. Steve Jobs was talking BS out of his butt when he said "We don't know how to make a $500 computer that is not a piece of junk." He said that because it makes macs look even better that they are so expensive and overly priced.

And the whole point of a Netbook is to purchase it CHEAP, and they are popular now because of the awful economy. I'm doubtful that Apple will make this Netbook cheap.
 
The cheapest netbook I could find that wasn't a refurb or open box was an Asus with a nearly useless 12GB SSD drive for $280.

I have a Lenovo S10 1GB/160GB HD which cost me $309 shipped after Live Search cash back. It's a decent machine though the keyboard sucks and the trackpad buttons are little stiff. The trackpad is multi-touch on the PC side, though I don't boot that up too often.

In my netbook research I've found plenty of decently equipped machines under $350.
 
What do they mean? Take the ipot touch internals (250) and place it with a 10'' screen and a keyboard. use a hd instead of ssd to keep price down.
I bet they can easily make something as thin as a mba for 500$.

They are full of themselves, they just want to make it LOOK difficult.
I think they are talking about a full-fledged computer with Mac OS X.

why don't they make a low spec computer? I mean it's telling the customer that this is a computer that can't do heavy load, + if HP computer can run vista i think then it should run os x just fine as it need less resources spicily with snow leopard coming
System requirements for Snow Leopard dev builds aren't less than Leopard release's (unless things have changed since WWDC 2008).
 
The market for portable music players was very small when Apple entered it. Such a market has huge potential for profit. The netbook market is full of competitors all aiming at the lowest possible price. There is nobody in that market making a decent profit.

Right because unless apple makes more than 50% on each device then is not worth it. And in Apples eye such device would be Junk.

The cellphone market was full of even more competitors yet Apple managed to release a product that was years ahead of anything currently available.

They can do that with the netbook with out having to charge an arm and a leg. They just gotta make sure they do not cannibalize Mackbook sales.
 
Yes, but the teeny tiny trackpads on netbooks/sub-notes are nearly useless unless you have ant leg sized fingers. A touch pad would be a huge boost to i/o productivity in this case, especially when traveling where the extra weight/clutter of a mouse defeats the purpose of a netbook.

Its a freaking netbook people. Do not over engineer a netbook. Of course use the same track pad you use on the mackbook./pro with no need for a button you will have a larger tracking surface.
 
My hope for the closest thing to a netbook that Apple comes out with is an iTouch type product that is twice the width which folds in half and turns on automatically when you open it. There should be ZERO on/off switches. If it is open, it is on. Closed, low power mode).
That makes perfect sense.

It should look and act like one screen and be exactly like the iPhone/iTouch but with a bigger screen and a faster processor.
Plus more RAM and more flash storage.
 
Touchscreen, check, but will it also have a keyboard? How about something really clever, like an optional detachable Bluetooth keyboard that snaps on top of the screen and has a little battery that charges along with the rest of the machine?

I doubt Apple is going to want to use a 32-bit Intel Atom CPU, since that would unnecessarily prolong 32-bit support in their operating system. If Apple is going to use an Atom, it'll be a new 64-bit netbook flavor of the chip, special delivery from Intel. The 64-bit Atom (a slight variant of the 2 GHz Atom Z550) will be paired with the NVIDIA Ion chipset, to boost things like video support.

I'm going to guess a final price point of $739, plus $60 for the optional keyboard.
 
I think they are talking about a full-fledged computer with Mac OS X.

System requirements for Snow Leopard dev builds aren't less than Leopard release's (unless things have changed since WWDC 2008).

they have clearly said in the Snow Leopard page:

"Snow Leopard dramatically reduces the footprint of Mac OS X, making it even more efficient for users, and giving them back valuable hard drive space for their music and photos."
 
The baseline iMac probably costs $500 to make. Steve Jobs was talking BS out of his butt when he said "We don't know how to make a $500 computer that is not a piece of junk." He said that because it makes macs look even better that they are so expensive and overly priced.

And the whole point of a Netbook is to purchase it CHEAP, and they are popular now because of the awful economy. I'm doubtful that Apple will make this Netbook cheap.


Not true at all. Apple can't built a decent $500 that retains a 25-30% profit margin. Such a machine would have to cost them $250 before taxes, marketing, distribution and other expenses.

I'd also disagree that Macs, in general, are overpriced. They are more expensive, but then again the build quality and user experience of a $1000 iMac is superior to that of a $1000 Dell or HP. There is a 30% or so premium on Macs just as there is a 100% premium on BMW 328 compared to a Chevy Malibu. I don't think the BMW 328 is overpriced either, it's just a superior product with a better engine and build quality.
 
They can do that with the netbook with out having to charge an arm and a leg. They just gotta make sure they do not cannibalize Mackbook sales.


and that is why people will complain... I get the impression that people want this product to REPLACE another (ie a macbook) but I think that whatever they come out with with COMPLEMENT (complIment?) a person who has another computer (likely a desktop). I think that Apple might cripple the device OR just create a device that won't completely replace a macbook.
From a logical point of view, they won't be a fully-functional ultra-portable or else it will cut into macbook air sales (sure they appeal to different people, but there is a segment that would buy the macbook air because it's portable regardless of price.. if there is another option, even at 1000-1200 they'd buy that instead) and they likely won't make a fully functional laptop at the $800 point because that would cut into macbook sales.

Of course I could be wrong, but I just think they're going to fill a gap around $1000 that will let you browse the web, e-mail, IM, and likely run iLife apps (but not Aperture, Adobe CS, etc). If they can create a computer that price you can get a mac mini and whatever this is for the price of a top-end macbook or base model macbook pro (give or take a couple hundred).
 
10" touchscreen would be very nice but Apple may make the price very high and not be a very competitive competitor in todays market.

A 10" touchscreen device combined with an app store would create its own market.

The netbook crowd won't like what Apple ends up selling, and it won't matter.
 
Maybe Apple shouldn't post childish ads about PCs locking up (something they hardly ever do these days) when their own $2000 top of the line iMac with a higher end GPU is freezing up left and right.
 
and that is why people will complain... I get the impression that people want this product to REPLACE another (ie a macbook) but I think that whatever they come out with with COMPLEMENT (complIment?) a person who has another computer (likely a desktop). I think that Apple might cripple the device OR just create a device that won't completely replace a macbook.
From a logical point of view, they won't be a fully-functional ultra-portable or else it will cut into macbook air sales (sure they appeal to different people, but there is a segment that would buy the macbook air because it's portable regardless of price.. if there is another option, even at 1000-1200 they'd buy that instead) and they likely won't make a fully functional laptop at the $800 point because that would cut into macbook sales.

Of course I could be wrong, but I just think they're going to fill a gap around $1000 that will let you browse the web, e-mail, IM, and likely run iLife apps (but not Aperture, Adobe CS, etc). If they can create a computer that price you can get a mac mini and whatever this is for the price of a top-end macbook or base model macbook pro (give or take a couple hundred).

I totally agree. Best way of crippling a device like this is with storage. Make them solid state. make a device that can have about 8 to 16 GB of storage, 1 GB of system ram. Ilife applications support. Let the user access their iphoto library from their desktop.

The main thing 5that I am looking for here is a portable computer for me to check my e-mail and surf the net.

Obviously Apple could market the netbook as being the fastest booting netbook out there. How about some instant on love?
 
As for the unit and the screens, it should not be a ugly piece of **** that the Nintendo DSs are. They look like they were designed in the '70s and released only when the screens could fit.

Never thought about it that way, but it's pretty true. I don't know if it's just that I'm used to iPod touch/iPhone eye-candy, but seeing the low-resolution screens on the DS can be pretty startling at times. I was hoping that the DSi would have much higher screen resolution, but no. Same huge pixels as before. :rolleyes:

Oh, and the last thing it will NEVER be. One of these poorly-designed tablet PCs. There is a market for maybe 50,000 of those things. The people where I work (over 10,000 person company) that you would think should love them, HATE them. We have them from multiple companies and nobody has gotten them right. The biggest problem? Microsoft and Windows. They apparently need several more years to come close to getting Windows ready for these things.

That's exactly what I hear from people who have to use them for work. They always tell me that a tablet PC with a stylus looks cool and is fun to use the first time, but it quickly turns into a PITA when you have to use it every day. Same goes for many of those smaller PDAs with styluses. But I don't think it's the form factor that's the problem, no not at all. I've always said that Apple should ignore the netbook thing and go for a full-sized, full-power Mac tablet that you can run "normal" apps on. Hey, Apple perfected the touch-screen handset, so they could certainly do the same with a tablet PC (or in this case, a tablet Mac.) ;)
 
If Apple releases a shrunk MacBook Air, I'm sold. It would rekindle the same-thing-at-half-the-price flame war on the internet, though.

Re-Kindle - superb joke. If the new thingie isn't a netbook, I'd expect that it's an Ipod Touch blown up to e-reader size.


A 10" touchscreen device combined with an app store would create its own market.

App-store would be the kiss of death for a "netbook", but not for an e-reader.

A netbook should run Photoshop, Ilife, and all the other full OSX applications.
 
I find it hard to believe a tablet/touchscreen device would run full Max OS. As has been stated by Apple, in order to provide a quality user experience, reaction times for touchscreens need to be almost instantaneous.

Imagine working a tablet (atom processor?) running full Mac OS with many apps opened - it's not gonna be too responsive. The iPhone OS allows the system more control over how many apps the user has open, and thus will not get bogged down and unresponsive.
 
The baseline iMac probably costs $500 to make. Steve Jobs was talking BS out of his butt when he said "We don't know how to make a $500 computer that is not a piece of junk." He said that because it makes macs look even better that they are so expensive and overly priced.

And the whole point of a Netbook is to purchase it CHEAP, and they are popular now because of the awful economy. I'm doubtful that Apple will make this Netbook cheap.

Look at the price of the iPhones (taking into consideration the FULL price and not the subsidized price), the iTouch, and the Mac Mini. Based on these, what do you think the price is going to be. My guess is not lower than any of these.
 
Apple has said that "[they] don't know how to make a $500 computer that's not a piece of junk
Nonsense. They know exactly how to make a $500 piece of junk, the difference is that they also know how to stick a $1000 pricetag on it.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.