And back here in the REAL world...
OK, enough Star Trek....
1. It is NOT the G5 - unless Apple has been doing a LOT of secret dev work to take advantage of the new G5 architecture, there would be no advantage (and a lot higher cost) in going to the G5 right now...stay tuned for MWNY this summer for a major demo and fall release date.
2. It is NOT a bigger Cinema display... 22" is just about as big as you'd ever want a computer monitor, and the LAST thing Apple would ever do is to get into the insanely competitive consumer TV marketplace.
3. It is NOT the holodeck or the transporter, either...
So what IS it?? I think a combination of things, all with a 'Where no PC has gone before' theme ...
1. All Macs move to G4, with faster speeds on the top models (well over 1GHz, probably). With the upcoming PhotoShop for OS/X, a 1GHz+ Mac would KILL a 2GHz Winbox running the current PC PhotoShop 6. So...SPEED where no PC has gone before...
2. Flat-panel iMac -- very small, light weight, easy to move from room to room, connecting to the net with AirPort (with the hub at a new lower price). G4 chip, maybe wireless keyboard and sound outputs for a stereo(?) So... go to ROOMS in your home where no PC has gone before...
3. POSSIBLY an Apple-label iPod/Palm combination, like the 'iWalk' (terrible name) videos we've seen. Basically a Sony-built Clie PDA combined with the iPod. The videos look real -- Apple ALWAYS has a bunch of neat prototypes floating around, but the build/finish quality is rarely that good on internal prototypes.
So...go out into the world with your Mac/Palm (well, this is not exactly 'where no PC has gone before').
If this Apple/Palm is real, watch out for a high price... $500+ US, and the market for PDAs now is BRUTAL. Don't know about this one... Apple still remembers Newton - great idea, too expensive, too early...It would be cool, though, to get some of the Enterprise cast (Scott Bakkula) to intro it, though, or maybe Jeff Goldblum with Vulcan ears ..
Other miscellaneous bits .... DVD/CD-RW drives on every new Mac, more memory, FireWire 2/USB 2 interfaces and (hopefully) a much faster bus on the top models to match those faster G4s ...
We'll see Monday...
OK, enough Star Trek....
1. It is NOT the G5 - unless Apple has been doing a LOT of secret dev work to take advantage of the new G5 architecture, there would be no advantage (and a lot higher cost) in going to the G5 right now...stay tuned for MWNY this summer for a major demo and fall release date.
2. It is NOT a bigger Cinema display... 22" is just about as big as you'd ever want a computer monitor, and the LAST thing Apple would ever do is to get into the insanely competitive consumer TV marketplace.
3. It is NOT the holodeck or the transporter, either...
So what IS it?? I think a combination of things, all with a 'Where no PC has gone before' theme ...
1. All Macs move to G4, with faster speeds on the top models (well over 1GHz, probably). With the upcoming PhotoShop for OS/X, a 1GHz+ Mac would KILL a 2GHz Winbox running the current PC PhotoShop 6. So...SPEED where no PC has gone before...
2. Flat-panel iMac -- very small, light weight, easy to move from room to room, connecting to the net with AirPort (with the hub at a new lower price). G4 chip, maybe wireless keyboard and sound outputs for a stereo(?) So... go to ROOMS in your home where no PC has gone before...
3. POSSIBLY an Apple-label iPod/Palm combination, like the 'iWalk' (terrible name) videos we've seen. Basically a Sony-built Clie PDA combined with the iPod. The videos look real -- Apple ALWAYS has a bunch of neat prototypes floating around, but the build/finish quality is rarely that good on internal prototypes.
So...go out into the world with your Mac/Palm (well, this is not exactly 'where no PC has gone before').
If this Apple/Palm is real, watch out for a high price... $500+ US, and the market for PDAs now is BRUTAL. Don't know about this one... Apple still remembers Newton - great idea, too expensive, too early...It would be cool, though, to get some of the Enterprise cast (Scott Bakkula) to intro it, though, or maybe Jeff Goldblum with Vulcan ears ..
Other miscellaneous bits .... DVD/CD-RW drives on every new Mac, more memory, FireWire 2/USB 2 interfaces and (hopefully) a much faster bus on the top models to match those faster G4s ...
We'll see Monday...
