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UltraPortable Connecting System?

cliffjumper68 said:
Looks like something begging to break, very un-apple. Collapsible systems have rarely been reliable or durable. Just look at the old collapsible notebook modem jacks. They were popular for a while and then disappeared because they always broke. I hope apple is taking care not to cheapen there products.
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+1. I really liked the Duo system. Obviously a lot has changed since then, but why couldn't apple simply build a machine that docks with special port? If it has wireless, then it hardly needs another jack--perhaps a single USB port for a key drive. That's what makes it ultraportable. If you want more, get the smallest macbook.
 
If Apple does go the ultra-portable route, I REALLY think it'll be less than 13". And I REALLY think it'll be a tablet.

If Apple is worried about shaving fractions of inches off of already slim ports, why wouldn't they want to eliminate all the extra space used on two layers of chasis, not to mention keyboard thickness? They could easily make a light-powered, light-weight, ultra-thin, multi-touch tablet on a 9-11" screen for a reasonable price.

If you need to plug it in, flip down the port interface and voila, ports that are wider than the unit... or whatever it may be.

Okay, so it might not be a tablet, but I'm confident it'll be under 13". If Apple is going to play the "ultra-portable" game, they're going to play it right. They're not just going to ship a laptop that just barely makes it under the specifications of "ultra-portable." They are going to shock and awe and put all other so-called "ultra-portables" to shame.

-Clive
 
Apple would probably have better success designing new ports instead of using flimsy collapsable ports.

Or they could develop a "power-strip" type device that contains all of the ports on a strip and plugs into one port on the laptop.
 
To me, it doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility that I'll basically never use an ethernet or firewire connection again...

I mean, apple themselves stopped using firewire (which they invented), and as far as ethernet goes... with the advent of 802.11n I hardly see why we should have many wired connections anymore...

The only time I used a wired connection was in my dorm a few years ago, because they wouldn't allow you to have wireless, but now...

Gesh... I want an ultra portable... I sure love my 12'' PowerBook...
 
Cool concept, doubt it'll happen.

I'm sure the ultra-portables will be out in no time though, because I just ordered a macbook :p
 
Cultivating an Eco-System

Apple tends to leave such roles to 3rd party developers like BookEndz.

I think the last time they tried a docking system was with the PowerBook Duos. The Mini-Dock and the DuoDock used a proprietary connection.

digitalbiker said:
My pet peeve with Apple has always been the poor connectivity options for their laptops.

Most other vendors supply some sort of docking station with muliti-connectors for peripherals and one dock connection for the laptop. This really makes a laptop easy to connect to multiple, monitors, scanners, wired networks, fax, etc.

With Apple you always have to carry multiple adapters, dongles, and other crap hanging off of the laptop to connect to standard peripherals.

This looks like more of the same and even more flimsey.
Click to expand...
 
Don't drop the laptop, a very small missalignment may not allow you to connect the laptop. Great idea, but It maybe sensitive to minor missalignment problems.
 
mozmac said:
I agree that there are better solutions than making collapsible ports. It's a cool idea, but would give the laptop a "cheap" feeling. I remember when the white iBook first came out, I loved the way they laid the ports out on the side. Moving them to the back with a slight bulge is an option, but Apple really likes symmetry in their design, so I don't know if that would work. Also, I think the Dell and ThinkPad ultraportables have really ugly backs where the battery bulges out. I don't like them.
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Ummmm, you prefer a tangle of wires coming from the left and the right of the laptop?

I prefer a dock with all the wires out the back.
 
Ultra-portable Apple laptop?

YES-YES-YES!!!

We need tons for our University.
 
Mmm... sort of.....

Especially for an ultraportable, I'd agree that 99% of the time, you'd want a wireless connection with it, if possible. Otherwise, you don't even care that it's "portable" anymore, if you're tethered to some network jack on the wall.

BUT, you definitely want to have ports like firewire and/or ethernet for maintenance purposes, at least. Say you need to make a backup of a bunch of data on your notebook before erasing the drive and doing a re-install of the OS? With firewire on the Mac, you can just hold down T when the machine boots to make it into a "target" drive. Then the computer on the other side of the firewire cable can use it just like it was any old external hard drive.

And wired ethernet (especially gigabit) is still FAR faster than 802.11n wireless. If you need to transfer really large files (like entire movies, for example?), you really don't want to be stuck doing that over wi-fi.


CMTobin said:
To me, it doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility that I'll basically never use an ethernet or firewire connection again...

I mean, apple themselves stopped using firewire (which they invented), and as far as ethernet goes... with the advent of 802.11n I hardly see why we should have many wired connections anymore...

The only time I used a wired connection was in my dorm a few years ago, because they wouldn't allow you to have wireless, but now...

Gesh... I want an ultra portable... I sure love my 12'' PowerBook...
Click to expand...
 
cliffjumper68 said:
Looks like something begging to break, very un-apple. Collapsible systems have rarely been reliable or durable. Just look at the old collapsible notebook modem jacks. They were popular for a while and then disappeared because they always broke. I hope apple is taking care not to cheapen there products.
Click to expand...

Yeah, makes more sense to use 1 or more ultra-thin connectors (like the one in the ipod/iphone, for example) and a short break-out cable that interfaces the ultra-thin computer connector(s) and (one or more) standard USB, Modem, Ethernet, FireWire connectors.

In the process, Apple could define new, standard, ultra-thin connectors for all these interfaces for future adoption, and provide interface, thru the breakout cable, to the current, standard, "fat" implementations.
 
dicklacara said:
Yeah, makes more sense to use 1 or more ultra-thin connectors (like the one in the ipod/iphone, for example) and a short break-out cable that interfaces the ultra-thin computer connector(s) and (one or more) standard USB, Modem, Ethernet, FireWire connectors.

In the process, Apple could define new, standard, ultra-thin connectors for all these interfaces for future adoption, and provide interface, thru the breakout cable, to the current, standard, "fat" implementations.
Click to expand...

I know these already exist for USB and Firewire (though I'm not sure the FireWire one is powered)... Why not just use those?

-Clive
 
bdkennedy1 said:
Apple would probably have better success designing new ports instead of using flimsy collapsable ports.

Or they could develop a "power-strip" type device that contains all of the ports on a strip and plugs into one port on the laptop.
Click to expand...

I suggested this already. I think it sounds awesome.

I think a proper ultraportable could be really cool :)
 
alec said:
But this was in 2005.... what makes an ultraportable from Apple anymore likely now then last year or in 2005?
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Well they're teamed up with Intel now. Currently the best mobile cpu providers.

For a powerbook G5 (2005 stylee) you could get away with expandable ports not collapsible, the size that enclosure would have to be to keep it cool :D
 
Give me an ultra-portable laptop and I´ll buy it right away!

iPhone is out, now give us something big for the Mac. This has been a disapointing year so far: less than gorgeous imac, lack and late macs updates, disappointing secret features in leopard, promisse of games in macs but no great gpu for them, no iPod updates so far.
 
Someone's talking rubbish if they think Apple has abandoned Firewire.

kingtj said:
you definitely want to have ports like firewire and/or ethernet for maintenance purposes, at least. Say you need to make a backup of a bunch of data on your notebook before erasing the drive and doing a re-install of the OS?
Click to expand...

I have never reinstalled OS X and don't know why I would need to?
 
emotion said:
Apple, don't listen to this I want this machine a pro level device.
Click to expand...

Ditto. Priced around the 15" MB or a little higher please. It really gets to me when people want this concept to be 'cheap'. Go buy a dell.
 
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