More Sources Point to a Touchscreen Apple Netbook in 2009

[Lesser Evets]

Either way, I can imagine Apple's flirtation with cloud-based computing is an important aspect of this project.

You are probably right. I just don't want that option (totally personal preference) because I want to do Photoshop with stylus on the new computer. Even if the device is a "lame Air" it will still work into "the cloud".

Apple knows the big bucks truly comes from the hassle free sale of data--music, movies, app--avoiding manufacture of goods, packaging, distribution, loss of unsold product, theft, etc. They are chomping at the bit to get the OS downloaded instead of disk'd.

Somehow it seems improbable that Apple would start to lure in the kiddie-crowd and make a mere iPT 10" maxi. I suspect they will do the "retarded Air" as a tablet instead, so they step up and offer something for their swanky, professional customer base. ...then again, the iPhone/iPT negates a lot of potential for professionals which Palm and others cater to.

 

[jackfrost123]

I would consider that a very fair deal as well.
However, I suspect a LOT of PC users would consider that a total rip off.

I consider iWork to be an absolute STEAL, but when I wrote product I meant hardware.

probably, nowadays things have gone further and further down in lappie pc prices so they would, but back then, and this is part of my personal conversion to apple history, two years or so ago or more, that's why i said hey this has got it all, it's got a very practical 13.3 inch screen while most ultraportables where limited back then in screen/capacities and the rest where 14.something inchers, it has a webcam (not standard back then- wifi, great intel specs and it comes with a great os a, like you said, dirt cheap yet capable office suite, and ilife gratis with things like garage band etc. - that was my defining moment where I said to myself heck I am so sick and tired of windoze, I ve had it with these guys I dont want to give them a single penny more and apple seemed a heck of a good deal - rest is history as they say.😛

 

[cg0def]

Exactly how does an unnamed source add ANY credibility to any story?

Sure Apple is about to use touch screens for something if they are ordering them but there is nothing to say that it'll be a netbook. For one, a netbook CPU has problems with speed and OS X runs really slow on all of them. I am really curious as to what exactly Apple has planned but when it comes to new Apple products I've learned not to expect anything. Plus the most probably product right now is an iPhone replacement and that the info about the size of the ordered displays is completely wrong.

 

[fleshman03]

Really? An iMac dock that apparently takes up about 20-25 square inches of iMac interior space, not counting the actual dock connection? Not likely.

Yeah I corrected that. I'm not thinking 1.6 Ghz Ion, 32gb SSD...

That dock would be more money. (like 1.5k) But it would hold an extra processor, GPU, HDD.

 

[jackfrost123]

btw something that has not been mentioned is the ebook market, I recently became the owner of an irex reader which I love, takes away all the eye strain off reading, and I wish that epaper technology was advanced enough for apple to give it a go, like sony has and amazon, but I think this can serve as their foray into this domain, even on the lesser -in terms of reading- tec of a led screen, it can be a crossover device..

Plus a vote for the user who said they might re-use the ibook name.

 

[Lesser Evets]

... dirt cheap yet capable office suite, and ilife gratis with things like garage band etc. - that was my defining moment where I said to myself heck I am so sick and tired of windoze, I ve had it with these guys I dont want to give them a single penny more and apple seemed a heck of a good deal - rest is history as they say.😛

The several hundred dollars you save on the almost identical but better office suite and iLife bundle with Apple really does make the Macbook worth the price. People probably never factor that in. When I looked at the price of Office in the past I always wanted to cry. It's an utter rip off for a functional but simple set of programs.

Here's what I'm thinking we'll end up with.

Take an iPod Touch, Pinch it to make it 10". Add a slightly different version of OSX. One that will run desktop apps (iWork/iLife) + AppStore Apps. Also, throw in 1 USB + 1 MDP + BlueTooth. Use an Ion Processor and make it dockable.

Maybe we are thinking of two different devices? I'm hoping for one that is simply an extension of a desktop. Are you thinking of a Stand Alone computer? Something more like a MB?

I have thought of that device you claim, but it will still cost well over $600 without a doubt. It won't be cheap but you are then spending a lot of money for something slightly better than an iPT while all other netbooks in that price range can do SO much more including run OSX. I bet it would have a camera/iSight, Bluetooth, Airport, one USB, a dock connector, and everything welded into a unibody design.

Apple's netbook (tablet, hopefully) is probably shoving into the market to shut down the OSX rip going on with PC netbooks. If they make something the price of a netbook with far less function it will bomb quite hard.

So I think there is a greater possibility this netbook/tablet will be a limited Macbook Air with quite a spread of app function. "They have THAT junk, but we have something wonderful and better," tends to be Apple's subtext. The larger function netbook/tablet will have to be thin and light and so it will probably only have one USB, a dock connector/power/video connector combo, better drive space than any iPod/iPhone, limited OSX but not by much, and will be above your price desires.

I would hope for a limited stand alone computer, which is what I believe the higher end possibility is. The lower end version is a possible disaster because it can only sell to someone with a computer but is just a slightly larger iPT.

We'll see.

 

[drlunanerd]

You've got to laugh

The Mac rumor sites spring into action. Liberally quoting “reliable” sources inside Cupertino, irrelevant “experts,” and each other, they quickly transform baseless speculation into widely accepted fact.

In a matter of days, a third-hand, unsubstantiated rumor blossoms into a hand-held device that can do everything except find a girlfriend for a fat, smelly nerd.

😀

 

[MrCrowbar]

Think Macbook Air, thin, lightweight, not everly powerful, but powerful enough.

- Now shrink it from 13" to 10", keep the flap with the SUB, DP and headphones port
- Remove the display along with the hinge-
- Replace the keyboard and trackpad by a 10" touchscreen.
- Add a home button and a sleep/wake button like on the iPhone. You need to be able to sleep/wake the device (complete with the iPhone "Slide to Unlock" gesture) quicky. A small 1.8" SSD would work great here because RAM content can be flushed to the main disk very quickly compared to an HDD (safe sleep).
- You can enter text via a USB or bluetooth keyboard, or use the virtual touch keyboard, or just draw the letters with your finger.
- Use the motion sensor: When opening a PDF in Preview, show one page maximized when holding it upright, facing pages when holding the device horizontally.


...someone please do mockups? 😀
Basically imagine the Macbook Air and the iPod Touch had a child. 😛

Thin, light, portable, touch-based, full Mac OSX.
Atom processors run Leopard pretty well actually, I wouldn't mind an Atom in the base model of an Apple tablet.

 

[3goldens]

rehash

dow is just reporting on what we already doing, they are just trying to appear to be the first to break the news. there is no new information.

I hope it happens but it will happen whenever apple is ready for it to happen.

good for the stock prices of these companies though!

 

[farmboy]

Whatever the price, we need thousands for our University. We do not need to work on it. We just need it for the full blown presentations (made on Mac, then saved to the Mac iTablet).

Thanks. I was waiting for your post.😀

 

[Ping Guo]

Translation: true or not, this confirms the failure of the MacBook Air.

Remember launch day? When I said, "Cube 2.0," everyone thought I was crazy. 🙄

Cheap, small laptops are where it's at... especially with the weakening economy.

-Clive

The MacBook Air is a failure? Apple says otherwise:
(From Apple Store)

Top Sellers
Mac

1.MacBook
2.MacBook Pro
3.iMac
4.MacBook Air
5.Mac mini
6.Mac Pro
7.AppleCare

 

[fleshman03]

The Mac rumor sites spring into action. Liberally quoting “reliable” sources inside Cupertino, irrelevant “experts,” and each other, they quickly transform baseless speculation into widely accepted fact.

In a matter of days, a third-hand, unsubstantiated rumor blossoms into a hand-held device that can do everything except find a girlfriend for a fat, smelly nerd.

😀

AS a fat, smelly nerd I can attest to the fact that finding a GF is not as hard as you might think...

Also, this was on the Dow Jones Newswire service. They don't publish BS stuff. If you heard it there, you heard it for real.

 

[mault89]

Definately a must buy...

If it were to cost no more than the Base Mac Mini Model, i would definately buy this...but even if it were to cost up to $799 i would still seriously consider it...🙂

Assuming this "rumor" is fact and will happen...i hope that it would be able to run the apps from the app store-i don't know about everyone else, but SimCity on iPod Touch, although a great game, Just isn't as fun as it possibly could be due to the limited viewing area and the constant need to zoom in and out.

 

[CalPoly10]

I would love one of these netbooks. Pair this, with a desktop imac, and you've got a killer computing combo. I just don't see how it won't be identical to the iPhone.

 

[farmboy]

You are probably right. I just don't want that option (totally personal preference) because I want to do Photoshop with stylus on the new computer.

See, this is what I mean. There is NO possibility Apple can make a netbook/tablet that is designed and priced "just for email, browsing" and still have the horsepower to run Photoshop as it's supposed to be run. That's a ridiculous demand, and THAT'S the reason Apple has thus far failed to jump in---nobody would be satisfied with a low cost, low power machine, even tho that's what they say they want, they lie. They really want to run all the apps they use on their main computer. And what do you think the battery life would be?

 

[arfwedson]

We can say this about it right now:

1. everyone will complain about features the device is missing 😕
2. everyone will bitch about the price 😡
3. everyone will proceed to buy it anyway 🙂

you got that a 100% right 🙂

 

[Jayomat]

which appstore apps do you want to run exactly? maybe 5% of the apps are usefull. remember the article some weeks ago, about the usage of downloaded apps? only a few were used over day 1.... AND, would you pay, let's say 40€/$ for an, maybe even usefull, app that only runs on your "tablet-whatever-thing" or your iphone/touch? seems like a waste of money to me. This "device", if it's going to be a new product line, is more like an additional device, not a stand alone product. Are you really saying you would sit at your desk at home with that 10" device and do some serious work on it?

 

[GotMyOrangeCrus]

This is hands down the smartest move Apple can make at this point in time. That comment Apple made awhile back about netbooks being a type of market that Apple simply wasnt interested in was one of the most ridiculous statements I have ever heard come out of Apple and its nice to see that it was just a smokescreen for a later announcment. Netbooks are simply too big of a market for Apple to ignore especially with the ecomony hurting like it is. I have no doubt that Apple will now make the best netbooks on the market and it will become a valuable addition to Apples lineup.

I just picked up a nice chunk of Apple stock a few weeks back so this announcment makes me very happy indeed!

 

[Luke1robb]

$499 or less and I am def there.

The 32GB iPod touch costs $399 right now, you're dreaming if you're thinking $499 or less. I'm thinking at least $699, probably $799. Then EOLing the White MacBook and dropping the base unibody macbook would leave you with this step approach ($399, $799, $1199).

Thoughts?

 

[AxelFlei]

Digital Audio

A lot of DJs spin digital media (mp3, m4a, wma, wav, aiff) through vinyl emulation programs such as Traktor or Serato with turn tables and a laptop. Problem is you need to use a mouse and keyboard to search through and load tracks from your library. The interface is cumbersome, and you get a real "checking-your-email" stage effect, not good. Not to mention carrying around another 1000+ piece of equipment to clubs and parties is not always fun either.

If this thing could support a usb external audio interface and an external harddrive, the compact size and touch screen interface would be an ideal device for DJs spinning digital media.

 

[kresh]

There seems to be two netbook camps here on MacRumors.

Camp 1 is all about price. It does not matter if the thing is an utter piece of plastic crap so long as it is under $299. Camp 2 expects Apple to shoehorn a MacPro into a 10" mini super computer.

Yes I am kidding. It is amusing to see all the responses, all these wild expectations are doing nothing but ensuring that no one will be pleased with what Apple releases.

 

[IJ Reilly]

See, this is what I mean. There is NO possibility Apple can make a netbook/tablet that is designed and priced "just for email, browsing" and still have the horsepower to run Photoshop as it's supposed to be run. That's a ridiculous demand, and THAT'S the reason Apple has thus far failed to jump in---nobody would be satisfied with a low cost, low power machine, even tho that's what they say they want, they lie. They really want to run all the apps they use on their main computer.

No matter how Apple approaches this market, many will gripe loudly and vociferously. We don't really know what this product will look like, but no matter what else it may or may not be, it's easy to predict the threads filled with disappointment, disillusionment, anger, frustration, rage, fear, loathing, ridicule, geeky comparisons -- but most of all, dire predictions of imminent failure, not just for the product, but for Apple. That's what makes this place so much fun.

 

[GotMyOrangeCrus]

You sure? Apple says otherwise:
(From Apple Store)

Top Sellers
Mac

1.MacBook
2.MacBook Pro
3.iMac
4.MacBook Air
5.Mac mini
6.Mac Pro
7.AppleCare

This is absolutely not a sign of failure for the Air and I have no idea how someone can even come to that conclusion. The Macbook Air was not in anyway aimed at the type of market that netbooks are and besides the Air isnt doing as bad as some people claim. I have no doubt that the Air will continue to be apart of Apple's lineup right along side the netbooks. Again they are aimed at 2 totally separate consumer groups. These types of comments make no sense whatsoever.

 

[lord patton]

With VGA-out port for full-blown Keynote and PowerPoint presentations (wired).

uhmm... VGA.... really, dude?

 

[Lesser Evets]

...That's a ridiculous demand, and THAT'S the reason Apple has thus far failed to jump in---nobody would be satisfied with a low cost, low power machine, even tho that's what they say they want, they lie. They really want to run all the apps they use on their main computer. And what do you think the battery life would be?

Battery life -- 10 minutes 23 seconds maximum.

No, I get your point and agree for the most part. But, there is a market for low end , low priced computers....called netbooks. I just can't see Apple making a low priced anything. So logically they will need to add features. So logically they would have to build a neutered Air. Which means it will be expensive.

Then again, maybe they are going to go limited and force a market they see and understand. I'm not studying the markets as well as they are.

I, and most, don't want all the stuff from their main computer. I frankly couldn't care about a FPS game, Flash animation, 3D rendering, video editing, etc. iLife, iWork, image manipulation with a trimmed down Photoshop allowing for art/coloring, DONE. A limited form of the floor computer, but not so limited it is merely a web browser, iPod, type entry machine. That would just be my iPT with better resolution and the ability to type up data easier. Big wooptie-doo: a marginal benefit for 2-3x the price.