The missing hardware...

[Wyrm]

Ok... well if I was a product manager at Apple, I'd look through some forums to see if there was any nuggets out there... so let's give em some nuggets!

While we are all waiting for USB2 (which is flaky btw - Firewire 1 is much better - why not make a Firewire mouse and keyboard?), Quad channel DDRII, a mouse with 2 Buttons (woah - that's a toughy) and a REAL cpu (sorry Motorola... but when the Nintendo GameCUBE gives competition, it might be time to call it a day)...

What about ideas of h/w that Apple should make?

Probably no PDA, or Phone... a Tablet would be cool but have the same sales as the Cube...

What about:

Macs for Kids?
<MyFirstMac?>
The first iBooks were sortof a step in this direction, or you could almost call it a Mac for girls - oooh strawberry red! Even though I don't think the original iBooks were all that durable (and as Fisher Price can tell you, industrial strength plastics are the game). But if you can make a portable that is durable, easy to use for kids - and a more simplified desktop enviro (ok ok AQUA is pretty simple - but maybe more appliance like) - then a software pack for kids... a homework package that can organize subjects, present a good Q&A form, search for information and allow submittal, as well as the regular office tools? Doesn't have to be fast - just durable, cool, easy to use, and the BEST graphics accelerator that can go into it (kids have their priorities after all - and it's all visual). I think parents want something to help their kids out, but shelling out $1000 - $2000 for a generic laptop - even if it is a Mac - that looks nice for the first 10 minutes... even the best intentioned parent will think twice.

I like the current portable lineup - but if you want to use it in a rough environment... 1 inch thick stuff can be snapped in half, much easier than 2 inch think stuff... how about a...

Durable Mac Portable Line.
Steel reinforced, waterproof, EF shielded and modular (don't need that DVD drive 99% of the time - do need an extra battery). Can sell it to the military - heck it can be endorsed by the military... could be called the GI line, in camo jungle or desert warfare paint! Or maybe just special forces: BLACK.

Then there are philes out there that have the money, and are willing to pay for quality... so...

Perfection Line
Class I (no defects) TFT screen (seems enough people have this problem)
Top class electronic parts, perfect finish. Laser etched, alloyed keyboard, and carbon-fibre backing. Compute in style.
Comes with Premium Apple Care included. Comes in colors to match your Mercedes, or BMW.

-Wyrm

 

[NavyIntel007]

Someone hit that crack pipe a little too hard tonight...

 

[voicegy]

Apple "sort of" did something very close to these ideas years ago:

Macs for Kids
(MyFirstMac)

 

[voicegy]

...and the Mercedes-Benz of Macs, the 20th Anniversary Macintosh, which I had the pleasure of owning for a few years:

 

[voicegy]

I, for one, would LOVE for Apple to come out with some outrageous, expensive, fantastically designed limited edition machine again. I miss the excitement that was generated by the 20th, but I suppose in this economy, and the speed at which technology marches on, it would be folly. Too bad, really...I'd certainly go for it...


Back to the crack pipe....and pipe dreams...

 

[cb911]

hey, voicegy, are you serious?!! is that really a Mac!!?? i've never even seen anything like that. that sure would be cool if Apple did something like that again.

and wyrm, if you were product manager at Apple... well. i guess they would then have lots of interesting products.

 

[mim]

Re: The missing hardware...

Originally posted by Wyrm

Probably no PDA, or Phone... a Tablet would be cool but have the same sales as the Cube...

Ok, I know the topic has been done to death, but the tablet would be huge - if only it's not a 'tablet'.

Think digital hub.
The 'tablet' is the interface for the digital hub. The age of sitting down at a desk infront of your computer is over. However, the age of massive processing power in the palm of your hand is still a long way off. So the tablet is not a stand alone computer that competes with laptops for market space. It's the screen to your Mac, that you happen to be able to carry around with you.

You can sit on your bed and scribble an email on the tablet, and check your email. You walk to the living room, call up your itunes list and set off some tunes on your stereo. You sit on the sofa and do some photoshop work on those images, and quark them into that document you're doing. While you're doing that you record the 9-o-clock movie to watch later.

Ok, so your mac - the processor is doing all the work. It sits where your stereo, dvd, & vcr are - and does the job of all of them. You don't need any of them anymore, 'cause your mac does them all. It's probably in a box, similar to the x-serve at the moment. You plug your plasma screen into it too - but otherwise everything is contolled through the tablet.

All your light switches have airport in them too. You control your whole house wirelessly, via your mac.

What this thing is then, is a really powerful, cheapish box - kinda like an eMac spec without a screen (and with a 970 of course...!). Now, this box and screen thing is >great< for your home. DO all the stuff you do at home now infront of the computer, but do it in the bath instead. The box also satisfys another big market of apples' (or should be..) - render farms. The cheapo box is perfect for render farms, it's powerful, and it doesn't have usless **** like a screen built into it. Although these things look really sexy in your home, they also screw into a rack. And you can by one tablet for the 20 of them, so you can check on their status as you potter around the server room. You use the tablet to check the status of the x-serve & x-raid too, while you're sitting on the toliet. And then check your own email again while you're at it. All the modelling is done on the powermac with a kick-ass graphics card.

just my thoughts...
a.

 

[Wyrm]

Re: 20th anniversary Mac
EXACTLY - wonder why they don't have something like this - y'know every year or so?... I wonder how the 20th edition Macs did in sales - were they a worthwhile venture? Due to the fact that business rarely kills the goose that lays the golden egg I'd have to believe they were up there with the cube... er.... oh well.

While there are people complaining that Macs are too expensive, I think there are also people out there who would pay a premium for their computer just like people do for cars. Get better materials, finish, no-stuck pixels, etc... hey I'd pay another $1000 for a super powerbook (hey, wonder if the same people who claim Macs are too expensive, also claim thats Mercs and Beemers are too expensive?).

I must admit, the PowerMac line is already the Mercedes of tower computers - the case is the best I've ever seen... but that might not be saying much considering the general x86 oem, pc case market is quite blah.

I hear you on the Tablet. I think I'd like a tablet - well not those WindowsXP tablets. In fact, I think Apple would have to show the industry how to do it right - <sigh> so unless the undying rumor of a tablet is actually based in fact, we'll have to wait until the PC tablet market is a little more vibrant - before Apple goes there.

I have to think that with more people going wireless, the wear and tear would make a rugged laptop more viable. At least piece of mind? I mean if you look at the PowerBook, iBook line - yes they are beautiful... but they also seem too frail. Anyone dropped their Apple and had it unscathed? My laptop fell off a table, which earned it a trip to Apple service... it landed perfectly parallel to the ground and on carpet... otherwise I would've had to ship the pieces in a plastic baggie.

-Wyrm