New Time Capsules to Run iOS on A4/A5 Processors?

[snberk103]

I'd like to see the reverse. Give them the complete AppleTV treatment. Tiny $99 black boxes, no onboard storage. Put a bunch of USB ports on the back, all compatible with external hard drives or printers. Kill the Airport Extreme (or Time Capsule, depending on which name Apple wishes to keep.)

What if they used Thunderbolt instead of (or along with) USB? Or maybe TB enabled units would be an option?

For strictly wireless access, TB doesn't make much sense over USB. More expensive, less options, wireless speeds won't let you take advantage of TB's throughput. But... if you had some systems hooked up via gigabyte ethernet, having a TB attached HDD would make sense.

If download caching was being built in, imagine how fast an update would appear when wired into the TC/AE?

Next week is going to be very interesting indeed, eh?

This could be big.

I know at least one person who considered an iPad as her only computer at home but she gave up on that idea because of the need to sync it with a full computer.

If a time-capsule really could sync/update/backup an iPad then I can think of 3 or 4 people I'd suggest an 'iPad-Time Capsule-Bluetooth Keyboard-Apple TV' home system to. *

As iOS grows there will be more and more people who fit that profile.


* These are people who currently own a single Macbook and only use 1/10th of its potential. So yes, that sort of customer does exist.

I think you are onto something here. I think this is Jobs real dream. That for many many people, an Apple iPad and an Apple "device" that attaches your iPad to the internet is all the computing power you need. Then you just need external storage for all the Apple provided content you are going to buy. I give your comment 3 thumbs up!!

 

[Hellhammer]

I'd like to see the reverse. Give them the complete AppleTV treatment. Tiny $99 black boxes, no onboard storage. Put a bunch of USB ports on the back, all compatible with external hard drives or printers. Kill the Airport Extreme (or Time Capsule, depending on which name Apple wishes to keep.)

Apple wants you to buy the storage from them. Considering that the price difference between 1TB and 2TB TC is 200$, it's super easy money for Apple.

 

[morespce54]

Wirelessly posted (Opera/9.80 (iPhone; Opera Mini/6.13548/24.871; U; en) Presto/2.5.25 Version/10.54)



I know, right!

I love this time of year.

Your banker (and CC company) too!

 

[Menopause]

Wireless iOS device sync: WANT WANT WANT !!!

 

[mmcxiiad]

MOST IMPORTANT - i want to be able to administer an airport expresss, base station, and/or time capsule from iOS devices. It is ridiculous that you can't view or edit setting on apple networking devices from apple iOS devices.

 

[Cougarcat]

What if they used Thunderbolt instead of (or along with) USB? Or maybe TB enabled units would be an option?

For strictly wireless access, TB doesn't make much sense over USB. More expensive, less options, wireless speeds won't let you take advantage of TB's throughput. But... if you had some systems hooked up via gigabyte ethernet, having a TB attached HDD would make sense.

Yeah, TB is unlikely for these reasons. It would be expensive and not very useful. Maybe in a "Pro" model.

Apple wants you to buy the storage from them. Considering that the price difference between 1TB and 2TB TC is 200$, it's super easy money for Apple.

They killed the "super easy money" AppleTVs, so they could do it here too.

 

[OllyW]

What if they used Thunderbolt instead of (or along with) USB?

If they used Thunderbolt instead of USB you would have to wait a long time for affordable storage to become available.

 

[kas23]

I really don't see how all these devices are going to work together; Airport Express/Extreme, TC, and ATV. Seems like Apple should be consolidating all these devices into one, not adding more bling to existing devices (which Apple will likely throttle anyways).

 

[ten-oak-druid]

Apple TV with game coming soon.

Perhaps when Apple buys Nintendo in a few years, this will be the new wii?

 

[BeachChair]

All of these rumors are talking about what Apple is going to do with the Time Capsules... What about the Airport Extreme Base Station? Are they going to do away with them entirely and make me buy a Time Capsule if I want these new features?

Seems like it. A lot of these rumored features requires a fair bit of onboard storage on the router itself. Of course they could offer two models, one with 16 gb of flash memory and one with 16 gb of flash memory + 2 terrabyte spinning drive.

 

[Žalgiris]

This could be big.

I know at least one person who considered an iPad as her only computer at home but she gave up on that idea because of the need to sync it with a full computer.

If a time-capsule really could sync/update/backup an iPad then I can think of 3 or 4 people I'd suggest an 'iPad-Time Capsule-Bluetooth Keyboard-Apple TV' home system to. *

As iOS grows there will be more and more people who fit that profile.


* These are people who currently own a single Macbook and only use 1/10th of its potential. So yes, that sort of customer does exist.

Price wise it would be just as expensive as having a MacBook. What if this is where iCloud comes in? Would be much less expensive and would inject milions of new iPad users, because they could sync with cloud without need for a computer.

 

[toddybody]

Apple wants you to buy the storage from them. Considering that the price difference between 1TB and 2TB TC is 200$, it's super easy money for Apple.

Unfortunately thats true.

Personally, Id love to see this A5 driven TC with a unibody enclosure and 1 user accessible SATA III bay...IMHO, it would be a much better storage option than the iCloud rumors.

 

[eroyce]

YES! I will be selling my current AirPort Extreme when these new ones come out. Trying to decide if I want an Extreme or a Time Capsule, though.

What would be really awesome is if Apple provided an off-site backup option from the Time Machine to iCloud.

If the products are similar to what they have been, definitely go the AE + hard drive route over time capsule. There are better hard drive options and you don't lose both if one fails (plus you may be able to save money).

 

[Lesser Evets]

Hopefully these will operate as a deluxe AppleTV too. No need for two pieces of hardware.

I wrote yesterday on comments of another TM thread that they should just roll them together and have a Time Machine-Base Station-Apple TV as one device. There's nothing stunningly expensive, unique, or tricky to making a device as such. It would be the perfect thingy for home computer use and bridge computer and TV perfectly. Hope they do it--I'd actually buy that if the ATV part works well with 1080i.

Bring it. I could use all of that stuff in one package.

 

[Cougarcat]

If the products are similar to what they have been, definitely go the AE + hard drive route over time capsule. There are better hard drive options and you don't lose both if one fails (plus you may be able to save money).

Does Apple fully support Time Machine over Air Disk in this manner, and does it work just as well as Time Capsule?

 

[Apple...]

Wirelessly posted (Opera/9.80 (iPhone; Opera Mini/6.13548/24.871; U; en) Presto/2.5.25 Version/10.54)

Seems clunky. Require a $200 piece of hardware to enable WiFi sync on iOS devices?

Yeah. I'm hoping it will be MUCH more cheaper. $200 + is a bit ridiculous.

 

[Dr Kevorkian94]

This is cool, ther eare so many possibilities now. I can't wait to see what they come up with.

 

[lazyrighteye]

Hopefully these will operate as a deluxe AppleTV too. No need for two pieces of hardware.

I too would like to see them move to a lone box that handles, tomorrow, what three boxes handles today.
Maybe that is one reason they priced TV2 at $99 so the bitching & moaning would be a tad less when the "one box to rule them all" is released (and priced at $299).

 

[fat jez]

Hopefully these will operate as a deluxe AppleTV too. No need for two pieces of hardware.

That was exactly the thought that occurred to me. One of the biggest complaints about ATV is you need a running iTunes to serve up media from your own network. I'd have thought that it would be fairly trivial to stick an HDMI port on that thing and get a nice video out, giving you an ATV with a stonking big local disk for media storage and backups.

 

[Žalgiris]

I wrote yesterday on comments of another TM thread that they should just roll them together and have a Time Machine-Base Station-Apple TV as one device. There's nothing stunningly expensive, unique, or tricky to making a device as such. It would be the perfect thingy for home computer use and bridge computer and TV perfectly. Hope they do it--I'd actually buy that if the ATV part works well with 1080i.

Bring it. I could use all of that stuff in one package.

Also it would simplify production/packaging and support and so on (all stuff).

 

[Small White Car]

Price wise it would be just as expensive as having a MacBook. What if this is where iCloud comes in? Would be much less expensive and would inject milions of new iPad users, because they could sync with cloud without need for a computer.

Yes, but for these people having a tablet computer when they leave home is a big advantage over having a laptop.

That's a plus in their minds and it's $30 cheaper for all that stuff than the Macbook. (Not a lot, no, but cheaper is cheaper.)

And that's based on all those things staying the same price. I susepct there will still be a $99 Apple TV, but I would be surprised if a new Time Capsule doesn't also act as one.

So that's another $100 of the price of the setup if something like that happens.

 

[BeachChair]

I wrote yesterday on comments of another TM thread that they should just roll them together and have a Time Machine-Base Station-Apple TV as one device. There's nothing stunningly expensive, unique, or tricky to making a device as such. It would be the perfect thingy for home computer use and bridge computer and TV perfectly. Hope they do it--I'd actually buy that if the ATV part works well with 1080i.

Bring it. I could use all of that stuff in one package.

I would love this. But is the A5 fast enough to do routing, serving iTunes, harddisk I/O and HD movie decoding at the same time?

The NAS space is very interesting, it is what all the geeks rave about. Apple has the vision and ability to bring the power of NAS to the masses.

 

[fat jez]

What would also be nice is a Time Capsule with a slot where you could slide in your own storage, i.e. sell it bare, open a flap, slide in your own disk and format it. Every other NAS lets you do that, would be sweet if Apple followed suit.

 

[eroyce]

Does Apple fully support Time Machine over Air Disk in this manner, and does it work just as well as Time Capsule?

Yup, I have this running at home now. Wife opens laptop and everything backs up without her every knowing or thinking about it. Very slick. With a USB hub, I have two other drives also connected to the AE that work as media servers.

 

[davidwarren]

I'll buy one, I was just thinking about another extreme last month.