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Ultra-thin and Ultra-light Mac Notebook in 2007
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Have you ever held a 2.7 pound Thinkpad X?
Carry a Macbook pro on an airplane for 18 hours, and then for a few hours on your back from Narita Airport to Tokyo at the luggage pickup, through customs, on the "Limousine" (aka bus), on a cab, and checking in at the hotel about 4 hours later.
Doing that with a 17" HP laptop made me get a Thinkpad X40. Something so small and light is a godsend!
My 15" MBP isn't that bad, but the ultraportable niche is AWESOME and it's a shame Apple hasn't been playing there (yet).
No idea what they will be, but I know what I'd like to see: something roughly equivalent to the Asus eee, that will run OSX. I'd love to have something significantly smaller than a macbook, maybe a 10" widescreen, even if it means a compact keyboard. No optical drive. Integrated graphics is fine, even an outdated processor is fine. What's important to me is battery life, and the ability to run an office suite, along with itunes and web browser. Of course it should have usb, video out, and the like. In an ideal world, if the Asus machine comes in at $200-250 as rumored, I'd pay $500 or so for a mac version.
Here's a review of the latest Sony ultralight, which sports an incredible feature set (2xusb, firewire, express card, optical) considering the size.
http://www.trustedreviews.com/notebooks/review/2007/07/23/Sony-VAIO-VGN-TZ12VN/p1
http://www.trustedreviews.com/notebooks/review/2007/07/23/Sony-VAIO-VGN-TZ12VN/p1
Cheaper than an iphone? I think you're dreaming.
It depends on what form factor but if it's a ultrathin and 13" and a more traditional mbp form factor it could sport a full power c2d chip or possibly the LV version (L7500, or perhaps the newer version due soon...i think i mention this earlier in the thread).
A smaller notebook (similar to above Sony) might also sport the LV c2d chip or maybe the ULV in the sony.
I'd like to see a discrete GPU in the first machine and would expect x3100 in the smaller machine.
Personally speaking I'd consider either machine but I suspect the first might be what we're getting next with the smaller one maybe when SSDs become cheaper.
We're looking at around £1300-1500 (like the 15") levels for the first machine and maybe £1700 for the thin and light. Those are minimum prices. It's rare to have small and light machines be budget machines.
Soothsayers used to read fish innards to predict the future in much the same way as some read tea leaves, the stars, tarots.
If you check the AppleStore you'll sea it's from $499.and how much does the iphone coast?
Why can't it at least be in that ballpark?
Basically, what I'm thinking of is an iPhone without the phone or the touchscreen interface. Just increase the screen size a little bit, add a small keyboard and make it fold like a laptop.
I have no interest in carrying around a full powered gaming computer with a high end video card and all the latest bells and whistles. What I'm looking for is the ability to work on office documents and surf the web, in the smallest package possible with decent battery life? Maybe the equivalent in computing power to an iBook G4, but at about 1/3 to 1/2 the physical size.
These machines exist. The Sony above is a (large) example. They cost roughly twice what a similar spec 15" bog-standard laptop would cost.
That's just a fact of life.
Personally I'd like as much power as possible but still keeping the small size. An approach similar to the 12" powerbook when it was a current machine. I play music in a live situation with my laptop and require a machine with a moderate amount of computing resource but small enough to fit in a typical DJ booth. This is in addition to the uses you list above.
In essence though I'd just be happy for Apple to release a moderately interesting computer of any type at this point in time.
I am wishing for it to be released. I am just about to buy a laptop because I am giving my brother my MBP, and buying a macbook would be such as step down.
PLEASE APPLE, need ultralight MBP.
Thinner
I don't know if this will work out.
An ultra thin, ultra portable Macbook Pro will have some serious challenges.
There are several things in an MBP, that can be taken out to save space, ( remove optical drive and perhaps even hard drive (Replace with Flash based RAM or equivalent like iPod Nano etc). But what about performance, it still has to out perform the Macbooks to be called PRO in my view. So how to cool the processors, and then there are the connectors, they themselves have a physical height / width etc, so how to get a FW800 port on an ultra thin portable for instance, or an Ethernet (RJ 45) port. We would need to use new types of connectors, and adapters and if there is one thing I hate, it's adapter cables and a bundle of wires. Then another thing, MBP's also all have the PC card slot, that would probably have to go to, another reason not to call it an MBP. So what would it be, and how to market the thing, because besides being ultra thin and ultra portable, it can hardly compete with anything, it wont have the performance, it wont have the physical connectivity, it wont have the expandability, etc etc... I don't think the time is right for a device like that, except perhaps in docking station form, that have all the above, then the only item remaining is performance, I don't see how to put a top performing processor in such a small box, AND keeping it cool and sturdy at the same time....
Perhaps Cupertino has the answers 
I don't know if this will work out.
An ultra thin, ultra portable Macbook Pro will have some serious challenges.
There are several things in an MBP, that can be taken out to save space, ( remove optical drive and perhaps even hard drive (Replace with Flash based RAM or equivalent like iPod Nano etc). But what about performance, it still has to out perform the Macbooks to be called PRO in my view. So how to cool the processors, and then there are the connectors, they themselves have a physical height / width etc, so how to get a FW800 port on an ultra thin portable for instance, or an Ethernet (RJ 45) port. We would need to use new types of connectors, and adapters and if there is one thing I hate, it's adapter cables and a bundle of wires. Then another thing, MBP's also all have the PC card slot, that would probably have to go to, another reason not to call it an MBP. So what would it be, and how to market the thing, because besides being ultra thin and ultra portable, it can hardly compete with anything, it wont have the performance, it wont have the physical connectivity, it wont have the expandability, etc etc... I don't think the time is right for a device like that, except perhaps in docking station form, that have all the above, then the only item remaining is performance, I don't see how to put a top performing processor in such a small box, AND keeping it cool and sturdy at the same time....
Perhaps Cupertino has the answers
I don't know if this will work out.
An ultra thin, ultra portable Macbook Pro will have some serious challenges.
There are several things in an MBP, that can be taken out to save space, ( remove optical drive and perhaps even hard drive (Replace with Flash based RAM or equivalent like iPod Nano etc). But what about performance, it still has to out perform the Macbooks to be called PRO in my view. So how to cool the processors, and then there are the connectors, they themselves have a physical height / width etc, so how to get a FW800 port on an ultra thin portable for instance, or an Ethernet (RJ 45) port. We would need to use new types of connectors, and adapters and if there is one thing I hate, it's adapter cables and a bundle of wires. Then another thing, MBP's also all have the PC card slot, that would probably have to go to, another reason not to call it an MBP. So what would it be, and how to market the thing, because besides being ultra thin and ultra portable, it can hardly compete with anything, it wont have the performance, it wont have the physical connectivity, it wont have the expandability, etc etc... I don't think the time is right for a device like that, except perhaps in docking station form, that have all the above, then the only item remaining is performance, I don't see how to put a top performing processor in such a small box, AND keeping it cool and sturdy at the same time....
Perhaps Cupertino has the answers
Always remember the beloved PowerBook 12". It had many reduced features but was still good.
AppleInsider have been really good a their calls this year.
I can see an Ultraportable, especially if its a touchsceen that can flip over like tablet.
Through in at least an HDMI or Mini DVI and you have a nice machine that can be plugged into a bigger screen when your back to the office/home.
As for performance, sure it wont be running the hottest chips and may have a pretty average graphics card, but for the portability to do iWorks anywhere, good battery life since flash not HDD, and maybe something new like the longer touchpad, I think it could be very popular.
I think Apple doing a laptop of this type is totally doable. But I think it will wait for Leopard. A lot of things I think are waiting for Leopard. The only thing I will say about this potential notebook is that it better not only come with a glossy display. Please, Apple, make matte the standard with glossy optional!
I'm sitting here waiting for a 12 inch macbookpro... it doesn't even have to be thin, I just want a nice portable apple laptop that has enough kick to do my photoshop work / video editing...
Bollocks.
Using iBook 12" (1.2ghz) on the road for photoediting,shopping and sending.
Works fine,albeit a bit slowly. All comes down do one reason why I personally dont use a larger and more powerfull MB or MBP.
Size.
I can cram the computer+2 SLR bodies,3 Flashes,3 lenses and accessories in a Cabin Sized camerabag.
ANY bigger,and the whole package would have to go in the cargohold.
Not an option.
I have no problems putting extra lights and gear there,but the camera.
No fkuking way.
So, as long as there is not a replacement for the beloved 12" Power/iBooks, I will sit here and bitch about it.
Ps. I know singlehandedly 5 other photograhers that still use 12" Power/iBooks for the on-the-road assignments.
Pss. For videographers,it is a another story...they would be exhilarated about the 20" MBP,thay have so much to carry around anyhow...
Totally agree.
PS A 20" notebook would be scary expensive in europe as there's a 14% import tax on LCDs over 19"!
PPS it's post-post-scriptum not post-scriptum-scriptum