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A good next six months would include these:
- A G5 iMac. Sounds to early to jump up to a G5 iMac, but think of it this way: To get Apple back in the consumer-level desktop market, Apple will have to sell low-price G5 iMacs with a design similar to the current. These new iMacs will have to be a better bang for the buck than eMacs and a little less than PowerMacs. To make it a better deal, Apple should show off benchmarks where the iMac is comparable to current consumers PCs.
- A Dual 3 GHz PowerMac G5. We may not reach in WWDC (but I've got my fingers crossed that we will see it), but I think we'll see it by the end of the year, if not this month. For a good surprise, maybe Steve will be able to say, "Today, we reached 3 GHz... and surpassed it." And he'll introduce a 3.2 GHz G5 PowerMac model. Smaller design, more internal devices, and a price drop?
- iTMS International. We'll see Europe and Canada soon. Maybe some easy language controls to work with all of those nations. Plus, as a bonus, perhaps each version of iTMS can access other versions with an automatic currency exchanger. Your music library will grow instantly.
- iPod Mini International. With iTMS, maybe we'll see some iPod Minis that aren't in the U.S.? iPod Minis for everyone! How's a price drop sound? I think Apple will help out the U.S. consumers as they announce internationalized iTunes/iPod plans with some price drops or some other perks. Of course international users will get these, too.
- iPod featuring FireWireLess. Make it happen. Improved storage, perhaps a slightly smaller size?
- FireWireless in other devices. Make it the way to connect all devices of all sorts. Displays, peripherals, etc. Your Mac will be a wireless hub for all of your input and output devices. I could go for that. And for power, connect all of your devices into the hub and the hub will get power from the socket. I doubt it's that simple, but maybe...
- PowerBook G5. The last big announcement this year or early next year. Take the current line, throw in a G5, new cooling system, and other faster buses. And how about a replaceable graphics card? It may become a new trend that Apple will join in.
Amaze me, Apple. Some of this may be wishful thinking, but hopefully Apple can fulfill most of this. I'm sure this will end as a great year.
- A G5 iMac. Sounds to early to jump up to a G5 iMac, but think of it this way: To get Apple back in the consumer-level desktop market, Apple will have to sell low-price G5 iMacs with a design similar to the current. These new iMacs will have to be a better bang for the buck than eMacs and a little less than PowerMacs. To make it a better deal, Apple should show off benchmarks where the iMac is comparable to current consumers PCs.
- A Dual 3 GHz PowerMac G5. We may not reach in WWDC (but I've got my fingers crossed that we will see it), but I think we'll see it by the end of the year, if not this month. For a good surprise, maybe Steve will be able to say, "Today, we reached 3 GHz... and surpassed it." And he'll introduce a 3.2 GHz G5 PowerMac model. Smaller design, more internal devices, and a price drop?
- iTMS International. We'll see Europe and Canada soon. Maybe some easy language controls to work with all of those nations. Plus, as a bonus, perhaps each version of iTMS can access other versions with an automatic currency exchanger. Your music library will grow instantly.
- iPod Mini International. With iTMS, maybe we'll see some iPod Minis that aren't in the U.S.? iPod Minis for everyone! How's a price drop sound? I think Apple will help out the U.S. consumers as they announce internationalized iTunes/iPod plans with some price drops or some other perks. Of course international users will get these, too.
- iPod featuring FireWireLess. Make it happen. Improved storage, perhaps a slightly smaller size?
- FireWireless in other devices. Make it the way to connect all devices of all sorts. Displays, peripherals, etc. Your Mac will be a wireless hub for all of your input and output devices. I could go for that. And for power, connect all of your devices into the hub and the hub will get power from the socket. I doubt it's that simple, but maybe...
- PowerBook G5. The last big announcement this year or early next year. Take the current line, throw in a G5, new cooling system, and other faster buses. And how about a replaceable graphics card? It may become a new trend that Apple will join in.
Amaze me, Apple. Some of this may be wishful thinking, but hopefully Apple can fulfill most of this. I'm sure this will end as a great year.
Just thinking out loud, but how cool would this be?:
One main tower/rackmount/server...whatever, in a strategic location somewhere in your house. This thing has some serious Wi-Fi antennae built in, huge hard drives, a few CPU's and it served out information to Displays and little portable tablets that you could use around the house. You could add an inexpensive tablet at any time (it would leave most of the storage to the central unit). Sync your iPod anywhere in the house over Firewireless, print, record with a Tivo program....damn..the possibilities are endless. You could probably pull this off now if you could afford a few Powerbooks and a G5 or two, but a well thought out version of this could be hot.
One main tower/rackmount/server...whatever, in a strategic location somewhere in your house. This thing has some serious Wi-Fi antennae built in, huge hard drives, a few CPU's and it served out information to Displays and little portable tablets that you could use around the house. You could add an inexpensive tablet at any time (it would leave most of the storage to the central unit). Sync your iPod anywhere in the house over Firewireless, print, record with a Tivo program....damn..the possibilities are endless. You could probably pull this off now if you could afford a few Powerbooks and a G5 or two, but a well thought out version of this could be hot.
vPods
will the new video pods double as remotes for the hanging displays?
will wireless fire precede the fabled "headless imac?"
it looks like the set top box has given way to the wireless display.
will the new video pods double as remotes for the hanging displays?
will wireless fire precede the fabled "headless imac?"
it looks like the set top box has given way to the wireless display.
titaniumducky
macrumors 6502a
jtmacb
macrumors member
What Might Bill Gates Be Doing A Few Months From Now?
Look into your crystal ball. Could it be that a few months from now there is Bill Gates walking into his hillside mansion, being greeted by his wife and kids. But wait, they are not really there. It's the new iDisplay by Apple. The wife and kids are someplace else standing in front of an iSight camera, but Bill's secretly hidden G5 Quad processor running at 3 GHz, with its four 500 gig internal SATA drives and all sorts of other assorted examples of Apple's genius.
Apple's superior technology is working seemlessly and flawlessly to send an HD quality image to his new 32inch iDisplay via WiFire, otherwise known as wireless Firewire. Bill smiles at himself, confident in the fact while he may have to create Windows products - at least he gets to use Apple's.
Look into your crystal ball. Could it be that a few months from now there is Bill Gates walking into his hillside mansion, being greeted by his wife and kids. But wait, they are not really there. It's the new iDisplay by Apple. The wife and kids are someplace else standing in front of an iSight camera, but Bill's secretly hidden G5 Quad processor running at 3 GHz, with its four 500 gig internal SATA drives and all sorts of other assorted examples of Apple's genius.
Apple's superior technology is working seemlessly and flawlessly to send an HD quality image to his new 32inch iDisplay via WiFire, otherwise known as wireless Firewire. Bill smiles at himself, confident in the fact while he may have to create Windows products - at least he gets to use Apple's.
I knew that when I got the 17" stuido, they would update it. Oh well, I still love it. They just better not update the PB's real soon...it wouldn't make sense...no money on the current ones.
If only I hadn't needed a portable, I would have waited another month to switch and gotten a G5 iMac. Oh well, I'll have my friend's to play with. I made sure he'll wait to get one of those.
If only I hadn't needed a portable, I would have waited another month to switch and gotten a G5 iMac. Oh well, I'll have my friend's to play with. I made sure he'll wait to get one of those.
gotohamish
macrumors 65816
Question... if FireWire can power devices, and charge... can Wireless Firewire do that too? THAT would be interesting!
thrillz3 said:
I don't think Wireless Firewire will be a device used to power other devices. It's just a method for faster data transportation to other devices.
aswitcher said:
Unless you think 802.11 is either useless or as good as wireless has can possibly be, then wireless firewire is FAR from useless. Without even expanding into dreamy things, wouldn't it just be nice to have a secure (well, as much as you're going to get with wireless) and fast wirelss standard, to replace standard wifi and bluetooth?
ingenious
macrumors 68000
proglife said:
Isn't that what we used to have when a computer filled a room and the station you worked at was a "dumb" terminal? 🙄 It's weird how ideas cycle. I would agree with it only if it kept the same idea of having each computer seperate and independent of the network, but able to offload serious processing tasks like HD video rendering on to the server or other computers on the network.
The difference is that if I want a new PC, I know that if I spend $4000 on it now, that in three weeks time it wont drop significantly in price and that slightly faster models are coming out all the time meaning that my new purcase isn't going to be wiped off the map in one month. I know exactly what I would be getting, along with the fact that something twice as fast isnt going to come out next month. It's called a processor road map.crowdaddy said:
I've been waiting since ***ing JANUARY for G5 updates when I took out a loan to buy a dual 2GHz, however someone over on the Steinberg forums "advised" that I wait due to "rumours" - I've been glued to this bloody site since. 🙄 Having been stung by apple in the past when I bought a G3 iBook and THREE WEEKS later new models were announced along with the 12" PowerBook (which is what I really needed) then there is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY that I am going to spend $4000+ on the tired year old 'top end' machine now only to find out in a short period of time that its obsolete and I could have had something a lot faster for the same money. I've now been waiting 5 months and PC's are starting to look more attractive every day. I swear that unless a new G5 is available VERY soon I'm going to be sticking with the PC and investing the cash.
(Incidentally I was lucky in that after 11 months of use my iBook screwed up royally due to the mobo bug and the place where I bought it screwed up the repair and had to refund my money meaning I ended up with a 12" PB 😀 )
jtmacb said:
Yes, we are such gloating deamers ;-)
But seriously, you aren't from the seattle area, now are you? LAKESIDE mansion. uber-rich eastside neighborhood called medina....thing cost like 20 mil to make, I could see a crane on the site for several years from my house in Seattle (he lives on the other side of the lake, in the 'burbs. People like to go and gawk from boats on the lake...the place is a piece of work if there ever was one.
And if you look at the roadmap for Intel right now, you'll find it's ran into a brick wall. AMD is doing okay, though. And if you're upset at Apple's frequency of obselence, you'll be freaking out with a PC in just a few weeks.Skiniftz said:
If you want to buy a Wintel, do so. No one's got an Apple-shaped gun to your head. Good luck finding as good a community as Apple has in the PC world, though.
Count your blessings, and move on.
whenpaulsparks said:
Now, I don't want to be like all those screaming apple fans who said the mini would flop b/c it's not good value wise...but if apple does have 20 GB for $299 and keeps with 4 GB at $249... I don't know. Sure, the premium for small size and style, the fact that for many 20 GB isn't any more than 4 GB because they don't have anything to put on it, and the comparsion to the value of flash players may keep the mini riding high, but it sure doesn't leave us with a product line that makes any sense. 20% dollars increase to go along with 400% capacity increase?
Within 3 months, I'd like a mini update, droping the current one by 50 or seventy bucks, and keeping the 250 price point around, but puting in a 10 GB drive.
Then again, this would make it soo much harder to stick with my current 10 GB second generation ipod....
So why won't apple show some courtesy to its customers in that by warning of imminent updates their customers won't be left unhappy with a purchase of a product later on in its product cycle? They bought it knowing an update was coming along, so they can't be miffed at Apple. Why won't Apple do this!
Hawthorne said:
Pentium, yes. Celeron....
I don't think apple's in good processor shape at all, particularly in the future. Look at the heat sinks on a G5 PM. Ain't no way you can make a good laptop out of that, anytime soon. PB's are already way too hot, particularly for the aluminum casing that looks so cool. And, AMD has some fricking great stuff coming. I currently see the future of apple in laptops and high end desktops. Looking at the road map, it's going to be hard for apple to compete with the immensely customizable, fricking fast world of AMD desktops. And, we all know that except for those who really need the bleeding edge, of liquid cooled AMD or top of the line macs, computer users are fast running our of reasons to need more performance. Unless we rethink the computer, and find way new uses, the software just doesn't demand it, except for high end gaming and media editing stuff. In which case, batttery life and heat are only going to become more important in laptops (and, nobody's buying the laptop for the high end stuff anyway), and outside of celeron, heat and power consumption are only growing...
Not to mention, celeron's in desktops could fill an important niche, as they grow faster....
just saying, you can write off some of intel, but writing off wintel for processors is just plain wrong. Mac's got to fight to keep in the game, there.
jtmacb
macrumors member
Hillside, lakeside, makes no difference to me. It's a king's palace.
I guess my memory regarding Bill's house was bad. I just remember it was big and I thought on a hill or cliff. Regardless, we know from news reports that Gates likes all kinds of gadgets. God knows he has the money to afford whatever he wants. So if the best is being introduced by Apple, why wouldn't he use it. The kids don't know the difference. The wife will never tell. And anyone else who might spill the beans would get a pink slip the next day- probably whether they worked for MS or not.
Like you said, it's nice to dream. Afterall, until FireWire was announced who could have imagined what was possible down the road with iSight, FCP, iMovie, iDVD, DVD Studio Pro, etc.
Thought Apple did not invent WiFi it certainly got it off the ground with AirPort. Same with the popularity of USB.
While Apple doesn't get it right 100% of the time (see the Cube and Newton) they get it right 10 times more often than anyone else in the computer industry. And then there is the iPod family of products. Steve is on a roll.
For what it's worth, my wish list would be the following:
1. A G5 with four drive bays, each capable of holding 500 gig SATA drives that Apple and its key HD suppliers would concurrently introduce.
2. Quad 3GHz processors.
3. Improvement in digital video using iSight and iChatAV with PC owners.
4. Improvements in cooperation between iMovie, iDVD, FCP, DVD Studio Pro 5. Inclusion of a SuperSuperDrive that is multiDVD format compatible and records + and -R DVD disks at 16x and uses dual layer DVD disks. That's in addition to higher speed DVD-+RW and CD R/RW speeds.
6. Wireless Firewire with third party companies providing devices that you can connect other devices to such as camcorders, VCRs, digital webcams, inkjet printers, etc. And of course that new display that hangs on a wall. If this could be done at FireWire 800 speed so much the better.
I could list many other wishes but 6 is a nice number.
I guess my memory regarding Bill's house was bad. I just remember it was big and I thought on a hill or cliff. Regardless, we know from news reports that Gates likes all kinds of gadgets. God knows he has the money to afford whatever he wants. So if the best is being introduced by Apple, why wouldn't he use it. The kids don't know the difference. The wife will never tell. And anyone else who might spill the beans would get a pink slip the next day- probably whether they worked for MS or not.
Like you said, it's nice to dream. Afterall, until FireWire was announced who could have imagined what was possible down the road with iSight, FCP, iMovie, iDVD, DVD Studio Pro, etc.
Thought Apple did not invent WiFi it certainly got it off the ground with AirPort. Same with the popularity of USB.
While Apple doesn't get it right 100% of the time (see the Cube and Newton) they get it right 10 times more often than anyone else in the computer industry. And then there is the iPod family of products. Steve is on a roll.
For what it's worth, my wish list would be the following:
1. A G5 with four drive bays, each capable of holding 500 gig SATA drives that Apple and its key HD suppliers would concurrently introduce.
2. Quad 3GHz processors.
3. Improvement in digital video using iSight and iChatAV with PC owners.
4. Improvements in cooperation between iMovie, iDVD, FCP, DVD Studio Pro 5. Inclusion of a SuperSuperDrive that is multiDVD format compatible and records + and -R DVD disks at 16x and uses dual layer DVD disks. That's in addition to higher speed DVD-+RW and CD R/RW speeds.
6. Wireless Firewire with third party companies providing devices that you can connect other devices to such as camcorders, VCRs, digital webcams, inkjet printers, etc. And of course that new display that hangs on a wall. If this could be done at FireWire 800 speed so much the better.
I could list many other wishes but 6 is a nice number.
Hawthorne said:
His point was that the x86 world makes their updates in small increments. There are no 1GHz or 1.5 GHz jumps in a matter of weeks.