MacWhispers reports that Apple is preparing a new enclosure: a 5x7x1 inch white plastic enclosure.<P>
It's unclear exactly what this will be used for.
It's unclear exactly what this will be used for.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
New Plastic Enclosure?
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
What do you mean, anything ?
We are definitely in iPod2/Newton/Tablet/"The Gizmo that everybody is going to want" territory. Simple
NicoMan
Let's see... it'll take 6months for apple to figure out a name and start gearing advertising. It'll take another 6months to make the final decision and start the hype. Then about a month later and they'll "introduce" it.
Oh yeh.. and then there's a 4month wait for them to actually produce the thing.
June 2004.
iWalk baby!
Oh yeh.. and then there's a 4month wait for them to actually produce the thing.
June 2004.
iWalk baby!
Yeah 7 inches is way too big for an iPod. If anything those should be made smaller.
I would agree with the tablet idea. I personally would love a small handwriting and touch-pen enabled product that i could carry wih me to college for notes but that would operate all of my full featured apps.
There is a HUGE gap in the market right now: Most tablet PC's still have the same footprint as a regular laptop and PDA's are just too small for anything major. 5x7 translates to a roughly 8 inch diagonal wide screen which would be perfect for taking notes on and viewing documents!!! That is the one thing that i think PDA's have wrong. the screen should be wider than it is tall so you can view full formatting across a full line of text without having to scroll sideways or shrink it down to a microscopic unreadable size.
The only thing I can think of that is even close in size is sony's vaio with the built in webcam.
I would agree with the tablet idea. I personally would love a small handwriting and touch-pen enabled product that i could carry wih me to college for notes but that would operate all of my full featured apps.
There is a HUGE gap in the market right now: Most tablet PC's still have the same footprint as a regular laptop and PDA's are just too small for anything major. 5x7 translates to a roughly 8 inch diagonal wide screen which would be perfect for taking notes on and viewing documents!!! That is the one thing that i think PDA's have wrong. the screen should be wider than it is tall so you can view full formatting across a full line of text without having to scroll sideways or shrink it down to a microscopic unreadable size.
The only thing I can think of that is even close in size is sony's vaio with the built in webcam.
Originally posted by cr2sh
It'll take another 6months to make the final decision and start the hype. Then about a month later and they'll "introduce" it....
June 2004.
iWalk baby!
If we take this rumor at face value then "being prepared for production tooling" means that the final decision has already been made and you could subtract 1 year from your estimate which means your looking at approximately mid 2003..... in time for the next MacWorld????....hmmmmm????
Whatever happened to the rumors of an apple branded digital photo frame? iFrame perhaps?
5x7 would be perfect for 4x6 photos with a half inch border. The multiple ports could be USB, firewire, various memory card slots...
5x7 would be perfect for 4x6 photos with a half inch border. The multiple ports could be USB, firewire, various memory card slots...
My guess
It will not be a palm-type device running a palm-type os. I predict that it will be a full functioning computer, with the guts of an iBook, that takes pen input, or you can plug in a monitor keyboard and mouse. It will be the ultimate digital hub. It will have dense resolution 640 X 480 and the whole top side will be a display. It has all of those ports for usb, fw, fw2, monitor, and a airport extreme built in.
It will not be a palm-type device running a palm-type os. I predict that it will be a full functioning computer, with the guts of an iBook, that takes pen input, or you can plug in a monitor keyboard and mouse. It will be the ultimate digital hub. It will have dense resolution 640 X 480 and the whole top side will be a display. It has all of those ports for usb, fw, fw2, monitor, and a airport extreme built in.
Re: My guess
Right. Palm is too crude. Newton, for all of its greatness, is too difficult to develop for, and segments the market. Apple cannot afford to segment the tiny development community they have. Ergo, a G3, some small amount of RAM, tiny hard drive, firewire and mac os X. Run iCal on this baby and sync it with your main Mac. Credit card is warming up for this cute little baby!
Originally posted by matty8r
It will not be a palm-type device running a palm-type os. I predict that it will be a full functioning computer, with the guts of an iBook, that takes pen input, or you can plug in a monitor keyboard and mouse. It will be the ultimate digital hub. It will have dense resolution 640 X 480 and the whole top side will be a display. It has all of those ports for usb, fw, fw2, monitor, and a airport extreme built in.
Right. Palm is too crude. Newton, for all of its greatness, is too difficult to develop for, and segments the market. Apple cannot afford to segment the tiny development community they have. Ergo, a G3, some small amount of RAM, tiny hard drive, firewire and mac os X. Run iCal on this baby and sync it with your main Mac. Credit card is warming up for this cute little baby!
Icamera
It would be nice if it was an apple branded camera with a 40GB harddrive.
Or...And the most likely would be a PDA.
NOT a new Ipod!!! Way too big.
It would be nice if it was an apple branded camera with a 40GB harddrive.
Or...And the most likely would be a PDA.
NOT a new Ipod!!! Way too big.
Most PC tablets aren't evens tablets. How on earth can you possible sell a laptop with a swivel screen as a tablet ??? The whole concept behind a tablet is keyboard-less computing.
The fujitsu and viewsonic are true tablets, the others are shamelessly trying to cash in on what little hype there is surrounding tablets at the moment.
If Apple were to release a tablet that was simply a PB with a swivel screen I'd change professions. I'd be embarrassed to use it outside of the house.
When will PC manufacturers stop releasing such hideous cheap crap ?
My grand Idea
I think the missng link for home computing is a remote...
Hear me out.
Why not have a RF device that has the functionality of a remote control for your computer..
This is the one devise that has been completely absent from the computing industry.
Icontrol
I think the missng link for home computing is a remote...
Hear me out.
Why not have a RF device that has the functionality of a remote control for your computer..
This is the one devise that has been completely absent from the computing industry.
Icontrol
WHOA! WHOA!
I have been a frequent visitor to Macrumors, but I only read the forums I have never replied to any of them. I had to register and break my silence, when I began reading this thread.
This plastic "thingy" is propably the vent piece on the rear of an emac. You people are doing exactly what got MacWhispers into trouble for, over speculation. Sure it is fun to talk about what "future gadget" Apple might produce, but...
Someone tells you Apple is making a small plastic enclosure, and its PDA/Tablet/iPod2 frenzy.
I'm sorry I used my 1st post to yell at you, in fact I DO like to wish upon an "Apple Gadget" star, but this just went too far.
I have been a frequent visitor to Macrumors, but I only read the forums I have never replied to any of them. I had to register and break my silence, when I began reading this thread.
This plastic "thingy" is propably the vent piece on the rear of an emac. You people are doing exactly what got MacWhispers into trouble for, over speculation. Sure it is fun to talk about what "future gadget" Apple might produce, but...
Someone tells you Apple is making a small plastic enclosure, and its PDA/Tablet/iPod2 frenzy.
I'm sorry I used my 1st post to yell at you, in fact I DO like to wish upon an "Apple Gadget" star, but this just went too far.
I wholeheartedly agree. I've not bought a Mac or other computer or PDA since Clinton was in office because I've been waiting for such a device and my credit card is primed to buy three. Powerbooks and iBooks are nice, but I and my family simply don't need that much power on-the-go. What we do need is some portable device that enables us to move easily between the various Mac, Windoze, and Unix-type environments we use in different roles in our lives. Such a device would make our lives easier, not a hemispherical enclosure for a computer (eg the new iMacs).
Handwriting recognition, Airport Extreme, FW400, USB2, and Bluetooth ... though I'd prefer a stylus that was also a Bluetooth pen ala OTM Technologies VPen so that a tablet like this could record writing on any surface (such as capturing the data we enter into paper forms everywhere). Make it easy to sync with my G4 digital hub, but let me move files between other platforms. Allow an external keyboard, mouse, display, microphone (for audio recording meetings, etc. hopefully linked to the notes we might be taking). Firewire cameras, telephones, etc should also be connectable. Provide enough OS X to support QuickTime, iChat, Safari, Mail, TextEdit/AppleWorks, Filemaker Pro Mobile. and Keynote.
We're waiting for you, Apple .... the ball's in your court ...
Wrong.
I'll admit that Palm is really crude (I hate Grafitti!), and despite how great the Newton OS was, Apple isn't likely to jump right back to a five-year defunct system.
That said, Apple won't make a tiny G3 tablet running OS X. "Some small amount of RAM" is a very bad idea. We all know that OS X is probably the most RAM consuming OS around these days. People are complaining about the 12" AlBook's 600-some MB max.
Would there even be a real market for a product like this? You'll buy one, and I'll probably wind up buying one, and so will many other Mac-faithful. But many more might not. I don't think something like this would just have the selling power Apple would need it to have.
I think we'll see something like the Newton. The size is right, and the timing couldn't be better. More and more people are snatching up Newtons and using them.
It wouldn't run OS X, but probably an Aqua-based, X-ish system. How about Newton OS V? While I said up top that Apple shouldn't go right back to the Newton OS, they should incorporate what made it such a great system in whatever they develop.
Then again, maybe this is just a digital paperweight...
Let's say I'm a potential "Switcher"... but I own a Pocket PC and now I'm pretty sure I have to switch to a Palm if I want to use a Mac. This might be the determining factor in my decision to switch. It's smart of Apple to recognize this and not parlay it on to Palm... which by the way layed off 19 percent of its work force today.