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I so hope this is true! I can't wait to sell my MacBook and get one that is actually light enough to be carried to school on a daily basis.
 
And what does the financial community think of this Munster fellow?

TheStreet said:
Dumb-o-meter score: 95. Munster and Olson are "senior" research analysts, raising the question of what the "junior" folks are up to at Piper Jaffray./QUOTE]

http://www.thestreet.com/s/the-five...-this-week/newsanalysis/dumbest/10392262.html

Why do anyone pay any attention to him, really?

It's one thing to pay or not pay attention to him, that is up to you, and frankly MOST analysts are WRONG a lot.

But this:

But to say an analyst Let's get real here and realize that Gene doesn't actually have more info than any of us. His sources are Apple rumors sites! See?

Is silly and wrong.
 
I'm assuming that the announcement is referring to a ultra-portable MB, not MBPro. From that assumption, I'd guess that the capabilities of the new ultra-portable MB would be very limited compared to the current line up of "not-so-ultra-portables."

I'll be perfectly content with a new and improved MBP in January.
 
I know, I know

*sputter*

You don't ask for much, do you?

Excuse me while I wipe coffee off my monitor.

I know I'm asking for a lot :eek: but you have to admit, a tablet that could do all of that would be *way* cool.

The thing I worry about with an ultrathin MacBook is how they'll cool it. When you're streaming videos which is what a lot of people want to do these days, your chips really generate a lot of heat. My MacBook Pro already runs hot. I can imagine a thinner laptop will feel like a bagel toaster if I spend more than a few minutes on YouTube.
 
No, you are wrong

Actually he talks to people in the supply chain, China, Taiwan etc. And makes judgements based on supply inventory and other parameters.

So you are wrong.

Actually, the reason given for this conclusion is the rumors themselves:
As Macworld approaches, reports of an ultraportable MacBook are following patterns of previously expected products that eventually materialized," analyst Gene Munster wrote in a note to clients. "We believe these reports are legitimate and continue to expect Apple to introduce a MacBook with a significantly smaller form factor.

No mention of supply chains or other parameters here.

So you are wrong. :p

EDIT:
...Is silly and wrong.

...and silly :p
 
It's kind of funny. The analyst claims his prediction is based on rumor sites. The rumors sites then post his prediction. Next, the analyst will write another article talking about the increased flurry of posts about an ultra-portable. Then, the rumors sites will post his story once again.

This, my friends, is called a feedback loop.
 
??

I so hope this is true! I can't wait to sell my MacBook and get one that is actually light enough to be carried to school on a daily basis.

I never understand this. It's like 3-4 pounds lighter. Is that really so much weight that you can't take it to school? Don't you have books? I read recently that the average student bookbag was 30-40 pounds, and giving many students back problems...
 
not that excited. few weeks ago this guy said 75% now it's 85%. hmmm...

but still, i do want a slim, aluminum MB/MBP with a NAND drive and a decent GPU. so i'll continue to wait for it, i got time.
 
it sounds great. but only what I am concerned is the price. because Sony ultra portable laptop (11.1 inch screen) is very expensive now. so I hope that Apple will offer reasonable price for us.
 
Is there any chance that this potential product line will have both pro and consumer products?

Macbooks are quite heavy. Could they make a thinner DVD-less version for less money? Or would flash memory bump the price right back up. I wish we could get some for my school but the base model is still too much for us.

Macbook Pros obviously lack even a Macbook sized model. Could they max something tiny out with a serious processor, 320 GB HD, 4 GB RAM?

How would OS X handle a SSD if it was in addition to a traditional HD? Just a separate partition or something a bit more integrated and smarter?

If a Pro version with a 13" screen came out that I could Max out I would be prepared to spend a fair bit I suspect...
 
Tablet media device.

This news doesn't excite me in the least. We don't need another laptop; we've got laptops. What we really need is a Mac tablet!!! I want a tablet, 8.5" x 11" or smaller that I can carry around with me. Here's what it would have:

Wi-Fi
EVDO support
Built in webcam and microphone
USB ports
Web browsing
iTunes
View TV shows and movies
Download and read books and magazine articles (think Kindle)
Touch keypad like iPhone (optional handwriting recognition)

Just out of curiosity, what industry do you work in where a Tablet PC would be appealing? :)
I wouldn't want a tablet for work. I'd want a tablet computer for play. I'm not a gadget guy and therefor have forgone the iPod Touch or the iPhone. I have a shuffle for running or cycling, but the other's don't interest me.

I'd like a tablet with most of the above specifications, but also included 3G and GPS. I don't want a full blown Leopard, but a beefed up larger form factor iPod touch. Something I could lazily surf the web while on the couch or in bed reading an ebook. Something I can put in my car for directions or let one of my nephews watch a movie on while driving to Tahoe.

The Nokia N800 and N810 come close to the ideal device, but I think the screen is too small. I like the nokia because it runs certain Linux applications, but it's not a full blow version of Ubuntu or something like that.

Apple has everything in place to produce one of these devices and I believe it would be better than any of the current Tablet PC's or the Nokia N810. It's not a device for everyone, but it wold be a lot better than a Kindle or the like.
 
It's one thing to pay or not pay attention to him, that is up to you, and frankly MOST analysts are WRONG a lot.

But [Clive's accusations are] silly and wrong.

Blind faith in an Analyst's findings is silly and wrong. Unless he shows us, first-hand, the findings of his supply-line checks, I don't think any of us have any good reason to believe him.

Were you one of the folks convincing people the 3GHz G5s are right around the corner because Steve Jobs said so? Sometimes people pull "facts" out of their posterior. Until Munster justifies himself to his clients, they (nor we) have no reason to believe him, much less invest in AAPL based on his "findings."

-Clive
 
This is a hunch, but I suspect this new device is going to be more of a media device than a full fledged laptop. If that's the case, then I also suspect it will fall into the sub-$1000 range.

I thinking it will be more like a giant iPod Touch, but geared a bit more toward visual media (i.e. books, movies).

I tend to think that the components required to make an ultraportable laptop/device equivalent to a low-end MacBook would end up making it cost as much as a high-end MacBook Pro.

That's why I'm leaning toward a media device.
 
I am just wondering...I am thinking about purchasing a Macbook Pro, but the buying guide on this site says to wait, because they are at the end of their cycle. This ultraportable Macbook that is 85% for sure coming out in January - is that a Macbook rumor, or a Macbook Pro rumor? Anyone have any information or advice on purchasing a Macbook Pro in the near future? I will need one by March/April of 2008.
 
Another thing about a tablet...

From the response my post has gotten, I know I'm asking for the moon but just imagine if you could sit in bed at night, knees up with a Mac tablet resting against them, and you're surfing the web, watching a TV show (with earphones so you don't disturb your partner who's sleeping next to you), or answering an email. You didn't have to open a note book and balance it somehow. You just had a slender tablet the size of a magazine that would allow you to connect to anything and view any type of media... with Apple's ease of use.

Imagine sitting there and reading a book that you downloaded. Or subscribing to magazines and having the latest issue automatically downloaded to your tablet that you can read anywhere (on the sofa, at the kitchen table, in a diner, in the bathroom even!). There's an magazine article that you want to save so you download a PDF version (think O'Reilly Safari) to your tablet that Spotlight can index and that you can refer to later. Maybe there's a third party app that will allow me to easily annotate my copy (no, not bloated Acrobat please).

C'mon folks, let's dream a little!
 
Is silly and wrong.

if you care to check the track record of gene munster, i think you'd agree that it's neither silly or wrong. even if analyst get things wrong, few if none get things so wrong as munster.

sadly it appears that the most likely reason for his bad track record is that the guy just makes things up. that's why i wonder why anyone still pays any attention to him. that, or he does indeed call around and ppl just lie to him.
 
Triangulate the tech

This is the best forum for me to throw this out. I personally am buying into the theory of an ultra portable device--heck, why not two: a tablet and a lighter laptop. For me it is based on other releases. Building the best mobile phone produced the ipod touch, because after they had done all the work on the phone version they could see how great an ipod it is and made it without the voice capability.

I think the new iMac keyboards were spin offs in the same way. They were designing tablet MBs and came up with the most portable blue tooth keyboard they could imagine. It was so sexy they sold it with the iMacs too, but it was designed as a tablet accessory. The iPhone has been a great learning tool for Apple. They waited on the sdk because it is going to be a mobile architecture for the tablet. They are forking the OS, but I think it is looking a lot more elegant than the WinMobile/Vista fork.
 
all i want to know is will it be powerful enough to:

-Handle HD home movie content on the go comfortably through imovie
-run leopard extremely efficiently
-handle the next OS comfortably

and will it:

-have an easily upgradable HD like the macbooks
-provide enough features/performance to take as your "personal machine" on business trips without having to have need for a larger comp to sync to/work on.

I want something i can take for a week and use for perhaps an hour a day on one charge (? maybe). Then sync all my work to my iMac at home eventually.

If all of the above, i'm in.

AMEN to that.
 
Since we are all guessing here,

I think also it will be close to 1900 if it is using NAND, and 1300 if using hard disk, it will be much lighter, and underpowered, probably dual core 2.0 or less to keep the heat down.

Closer to the mini in power and expandability, very dense screen to make the images and text super sharp.

Forget video card, this is for the road, not for gaming.
 
Weren't early reports that this was part of the macbook line?
Like the whole macbook line was going to go silver
and black aluminum?

Anyhow, assuming the existing MB and MBP lines are
pretty much staying the same, than I expect this
product to sit right between the upper end MB and
low end MBP:

13" WS aluminum LED backlight
2.2 ghz C2D
2gb ram
120 gb hdd (no solid state, to $$$ now, sorry maybe BTO)
???Superdrive???
$1799

However, part of me thinks whole new product line
if the design ends up being radically different. We'll see...
 
Imagine sitting there and reading a book that you downloaded. Or subscribing to magazines and having the latest issue automatically downloaded to your tablet that you can read anywhere (on the sofa, at the kitchen table, in a diner, in the bathroom even!).

Hmm ... viewing a download while I download.

I don't like the visual, but I do like the idea!
 
I think this could be a winner for me. I use the 17" hooked up to the 30" display, but something super small, light, powerful with great battery life would be amazing. (If such a thing is even possible.)

But, no matter how excited I get, I have been burned enough with Rev. A laptops from Apple.)

As a guy who suffered through the first Powerbook 12" heat and build issues and the unforgivable bad MacBook issues, I am not going to be the test subject here. (Especially when so much is new.)

I may not wait until Rev B, but I am not a Day 1 Buyer of Apple portable products anymore.

With all of that said, it wouldn't surprise me if this is a living room device and everyone has it wrong. (Although, I think that is coming in June.)
 
What do we need an ultra-portable for? What would it be used for? Didn't Apple already try this with the 12" PowerBook that nobody bought?

Errr. the 12" was the hot seller I believe. Fits in every bag/purse and all.
 
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