To all those who think that 9to5 is pulling a publicity stunt...
They have no reason to do this. Know why?
1. They've established themselves as GOOD. How good? They've gotten REAL pictures before release. They've had stuff that Apple Legal made them take down.
2. The general consensus, therefore, is that they have a guy inside Apple itself who is leaking this info. Unless he is being directly misinformed by Apple, and provided he IS in there, he's going to know what they're doing.
3. Provided they do have a guy inside Apple, what would be the point of making things up? If you already have insider access to new products, why would you waste time with the misinforming business when the truth generates far more "hits"?
9to5mac is the go to place for Mac rumours. Whilst its not straight from Seth, he wouldn't let an article basically saying "this is huge" without knowing it was legit. 9to5mac wants to do this rumour by Monday. Tuesday is a week away from the proposed Mac laptop refresh event. 9to5mac doesn't need to hoare themselves.
Ideas:
Communication - Laser/IR/other wavelength for communication. Speakers, Screens etc.
Wireless USB is pretty much wrapped up, as is USB 3, and also Firewire update - Will Apple bring these in to the laptops?
Displays:
Apple Cinema Displays with added bonuses?
Laser screens?
(Depth perception from iSight (I know it's a few years away really :/ )
Media Station
Drobo from Apple with mini thrown in - Swap and change HD. Replaces mini
(ZFS next year remember, so this might come after ZFS is added to OS X)
Power:
Wireless transmission (induction, or even the at a distance technology (though you think you would have heard if Apple had bought those IP rights))
'Brick' sounds like a reference to the form factor (unless it's something to do with the power supply, which I doubt). Perhaps the Apple TV mark II is going to be some kind of gaming platform?
Possible - Is 9to5mac hinting at formfactor?
Yeah. I think it may be an External Video Card.
Their will be 1 line of MacBooks, Combining the MacBook and MBP into 1 line, all aluminum. 3 Sizes, 13, 15, and 17....
All will come with a Integrated Intel GMA x4500HD, AND an External Good Video Card in "The Brick" which will connect via some Proprietary connector/Cable. This way, Laptops can be thinner, cooler, more battery when on the go and whatever.... and when you want to play games, you plug in "The Brick" and instantly have like a Desktop class videocard (At least High End Mobile Video Card, with lots of memory) I think this makes sense.. and is purely a guess... but something I would totally enjoy.
Kind of like a Performance booster: For a desktop, laptop, whatever - like the graphics cards in a box for laptops, this baby plugs into your Mac, and provides GPU, possibly memory, Hard drives etc. This could then be used as a power house add on, if hooked up to a Snow Leopard OS.
dambro1978's take could be true - a connection hub brick - for ports, inbuilt graphics card etc.
So clue 2 is a green what looks to be a laser, on top of a book, looking like it's hitting an Apple symbol, that may or may not be on something.
They mus have got info fairly recently:
Wed,
10th September 2008 - 11:10 — Cleve Nettles:
What is 'The Brick?'
There is nothing I love more than Apple rumors. So, in that respect, I have some great news for everyone. One of our tipsters has a bit of a riddle for us.
S/he says that the MacBook update event in a few weeks (you know the one with the glass trackpads) is 'all about the Brick'. What does "The Brick" mean? Can anyone out there help us out? This is one of those tipsters that has a solid track record so we want to go along for the ride.
Maybe we can figure out this riddle together?
Update: John Gruber from Daring Fireball
says the announcement will occur October 14th
..those of you holding out for a new lineup of MacBooks will have to wait until October 14, according to sources who, as they say, are familiar with Apple’s hardware plans.
Update: The two best guesses so far (links to Wireless USB hub Seth
article
and Macstein's
article saying the Brick "is Apple’s code word for its “Windows-killer”"
26th September Andy Space asked:
Fri, 09/26/2008 - 03:31 — Andy Space
"Well, we should know soon enough, come October, - and we're curious about the 'brick'..."
27th September, Andy Space is asking if the Brick is about ATV:
Apple TV replacement looms?
Is this related to the brick?"
(Updated it later)
Thursday 2nd October 2008 - 20:32 — Cleve Nettles
The second 'Brick' clue
We have received more information. This will be huge.
We'll have more for you this weekend....
(What's the actual laser, what's it hitting - if it wawss strong enough, wouldn't that be burning that Apple thing's logo?)
(sorry guys, this isn't about the book...just came with the other stuff)
What does Clive mean when he says about it not being about the book: "just came with the other stuff"?
As for Cleve - is it his/her source? (It's strange, why wasn't it Andy Space who does a lot for the 9to5 articles, or Seth himself?)
Liking
OMG you guys...
SuperDrive on entry-level MacBooks! This is going to be HUGE!
Edit: What was the tech coming to laptops that could allow you to whilst using your laptop, swap from a simple graphics, to a decent graphics card depending on it being hooked up to power/having a graphics card box add on?
Xkcd: Unrelated, but heck. "Although ... who else can't wait for them to incorporate that Wiimote head-tracking stuff into games? Man, the future's gonna be *awesome*"
on the clouds. And we'll meet AppleMan. Defender of Data. Protector of Portables. Who will lay down his foes like bricks, break some windows, play a tune, and fly off again, shouting from the heavens:
