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WWDC 2005 Approaching
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Well, because of lack of the rumors, it is time for my baseless prediction of fun.
Jan '04 - iPod Mini
Jan '05 - Mac Mini
June '05 - iBook Mini
Yes, yes, the previous releases would make you think, "if such a thing exists, it will come out in Jan '06." Of course, Steve Jobs knows you are thinking this, so he's going to release it at WWDC to pull the carpet from under your feet, so to speak.
Anyway, the iBook mini will have for some reason a 1.2 Ghz G4 in it, and a 12 inch touch screen that will be nearly the size of the entire unit. It is this tablet doohickey we've all heard about. It will have no keyboard, and unfortunately, will not be compatible with Nintendo DS except through third-party emulation.
It will feature 256 megs of ram, airport extreme, and a slot-loading combo drive. The only ports to mar its pristine exterior will be an audio jack (1/8"), and proprietary port akin to the ipod connector. This may possibly even be the ipod connector, or a newer, faster version. This port will have cables like the iPod to plug in through firewire for firewire home folder syncing, or to plug into a dock which acts as both a screen stand and will have all your standard ports - usb, firewire, audio in/out etc.
Without the dock, the price will be 900 dollars. With the dock, 1000.
I completely made that up, but it WOULD be cool, and I WOULD have to buy one.
Edit: I didn't see the mention of iBook mini earlier in the thread. Maybe there's more truth to my random guessing than i thought.
Jan '04 - iPod Mini
Jan '05 - Mac Mini
June '05 - iBook Mini
Yes, yes, the previous releases would make you think, "if such a thing exists, it will come out in Jan '06." Of course, Steve Jobs knows you are thinking this, so he's going to release it at WWDC to pull the carpet from under your feet, so to speak.
Anyway, the iBook mini will have for some reason a 1.2 Ghz G4 in it, and a 12 inch touch screen that will be nearly the size of the entire unit. It is this tablet doohickey we've all heard about. It will have no keyboard, and unfortunately, will not be compatible with Nintendo DS except through third-party emulation.
It will feature 256 megs of ram, airport extreme, and a slot-loading combo drive. The only ports to mar its pristine exterior will be an audio jack (1/8"), and proprietary port akin to the ipod connector. This may possibly even be the ipod connector, or a newer, faster version. This port will have cables like the iPod to plug in through firewire for firewire home folder syncing, or to plug into a dock which acts as both a screen stand and will have all your standard ports - usb, firewire, audio in/out etc.
Without the dock, the price will be 900 dollars. With the dock, 1000.
I completely made that up, but it WOULD be cool, and I WOULD have to buy one.
Edit: I didn't see the mention of iBook mini earlier in the thread. Maybe there's more truth to my random guessing than i thought.
iriejedi said:Why use di-lithium - go for Tri-Lithium or Omacron Particle powered Powerbooks.... speed is one thing but infinite power life.... NOW that is Key Note Worthy!
I thought you used Tridium ... oh wait that's from Spiderman
morse said:
Here's one what? Don't tell me you think the 30" Cinema Display is a consumer product!
Maybe a consumer fantasy. Seriously though, I don't think Apple has ever introduced or updated a product targeted at the consumer at a WWDC event. It's mostly for Mac OS X previews and professional hardware product launches.
1.33Ghz low end iBook and 1.42Ghz high end. Maybe widescreeness...13" or something. Also 64MB ripple effect compatible GPU. One of those for the Mac mini too. I really hope they update the iBook....if they do I am without a doubt buying one. Otherwise i don't know what i'm going to do....
I dont really care what comes out. All I know is that I need a new iBook and I am not going to fork over the money for one now if it is going to be incompatible with core graphics. i have decided to wait, but it would be nice if they came out before i went back to school in august. this 500Mhz machine is seeing the last of its days.
elaboration for v17
announcing 802.11n support would more or less fit with how
"airport extreme"(802.11g) was announced (albeit at mwsf03)
alternatively "wimax" or 802.16 could be announced
I expect at least one of these will be announced as "shipping" on or before
mwsf06
mind you, this is all MY speculation based on Historical Patterns
IE it would make sense
802.11n could definitely be announced in a product this summer/ fall
wimax I'm not so sure about but mwsf06 seems safe to me
FYI: wimax/802.16 is more or less an Intel technology
announcing 802.11n support would more or less fit with how
"airport extreme"(802.11g) was announced (albeit at mwsf03)
alternatively "wimax" or 802.16 could be announced
I expect at least one of these will be announced as "shipping" on or before
mwsf06
mind you, this is all MY speculation based on Historical Patterns
IE it would make sense
802.11n could definitely be announced in a product this summer/ fall
wimax I'm not so sure about but mwsf06 seems safe to me
FYI: wimax/802.16 is more or less an Intel technology
opq said:
I think that's backwards thinking.
It's frankly mad that Apple would hold back two product lines, ruining sales on both just because the Powerbook can't be upgraded further. It's just poor economics.
Over past years I've been thinking of either a new 12" iBook or 12" Powerbook but the Powerbook has never had much of any advantage over the iBook since it went to the G4. 15"+ is a different matter as it's significantly different but the 12" is just an iBook with a fancy skin and marginally better GPU.
Now if they came out with a 12" Powerbook with a 1280x768 screen, gigabit ethernet, cardbus slot and 128MB Ati 9800, that'd be different. Otherwise I'll take the iBook.
I'm still hoping for a 10.6" 1280 wide iBook/Powerbook like the smaller Sonys, Fujitsus or Toshibas. Since I only use a laptop as a second machine in the true portable sense then that would be perfect. An 'iBook Mini'.
802.11n doesn't have an agreed-upon standard yet, and thus won't likely have products available for at least another 6 months to a year. So I wouldn't expect that at WWDC.
One thing I haven't seen much mention of is iTunes 5, with the podcasting addition. I wouldn't be surprised to see it launched at WWDC, and also wouldn't put it past Apple to include a tool for easy creation of podcasts (perhaps integrated with .mac).
Given the new release of Tiger, with all the major "under-the-hood" changes, I'm guessing that the OS will be the primary focus of WWDC, rather than new hardware goodies.
One thing I haven't seen much mention of is iTunes 5, with the podcasting addition. I wouldn't be surprised to see it launched at WWDC, and also wouldn't put it past Apple to include a tool for easy creation of podcasts (perhaps integrated with .mac).
Given the new release of Tiger, with all the major "under-the-hood" changes, I'm guessing that the OS will be the primary focus of WWDC, rather than new hardware goodies.
Tulse said:
802.11g wasn't fully ratified for 2 months after people actually had their new airport gear
in addition one can already purchase "pre-n" gear
so it's not like it doesn't exist
If apple wanted to they could announce this summer/ fall
as I said before apple should have either .11n or.16
gear announced by mwsf06
edit: and oh yeah, Apple tends to be one of those companies who tips the scales/drives mainstream adoption of new tech
imagineChobit said:
They would (shouldChobit said:
) at least have both 1 USB and FireWire port, it is a mini, but a mini is still a computer, and a damn good one! The idea of the dock is cool though, put it one the stereo system when home. Ultimate iTunes (movies
) unit or remote.Maybe they won't call it mini, right now this means bottom line specs...
I heard or read somewhere* it will have indeed the 256 MB RAM, soldered to the main board with an expansion slot for an additional GB.Chobit said:
* It's time for more rumors !
:-D
mvc said:Newbies who make bold, tantilizing and utterly unsupported statements like these have historically tended to end up having to eat their hands.
Or some other body part, I can't quite remember how it went down last time.
Ah, NeatGekko - that takes me back... Good times...
iMeowbot said:
I forgot about this one, and didn't realize it was the same guy. Thanks for the link, it helps validate his credibility.
Weird, I could swear I saw one at the Tampa Apple store in Feb this year. I think it was Sony that made them....mainframe said:
new high end PM comming??
I may be suffering from pre-event reality distortion syndrome -- infected by hope and magnified by reading too many rumor posts -- but I agree with MVC --- Apple tends to announce their latest high tech and expensive suprise at the WWDC
my vote is for a new very high end PM -- dual core Quad etc etc -- delivered fairly soon after the announcement so as not to totally wipe out the already weak PM sales
I know -- I know --- they just updated the top end -- but maybe they had too -- maybe they were ready and needed to update the iMac and eMac lines and had to update the PM to keep enough seperation --- anyway from reading other posts its seems Apple has a few times in the past followed a minor update with a major overhaul ---
I'm hitting the send button now before I take my meds and erase this
mvc said:WWDC is usually where they flaunt their latest breakthrough or hi-end tech. The mere fact that Steve is doing a keynote there implies there will be something new, exciting and probably expensive
<wild speculation>
My vote is on a new top end (3 GHz?) Quad Core HyperMac (I like that, Steve always was good at Hyping the Mac!)
And maybe a tablet iTunes-remote Media controller device? (Intel inside? - surely not!)
Or perhaps a tablet form-factor 8-10" iBook (return of the newton/emate?) which might explain the long wait for iBook upgrades and help maintain portable marketshare despite the Powerbooks ongoing inability to sprout a decent processor and bus!
And what about that dang vPod!
</wild speculation>
I may be suffering from pre-event reality distortion syndrome -- infected by hope and magnified by reading too many rumor posts -- but I agree with MVC --- Apple tends to announce their latest high tech and expensive suprise at the WWDC
my vote is for a new very high end PM -- dual core Quad etc etc -- delivered fairly soon after the announcement so as not to totally wipe out the already weak PM sales
I know -- I know --- they just updated the top end -- but maybe they had too -- maybe they were ready and needed to update the iMac and eMac lines and had to update the PM to keep enough seperation --- anyway from reading other posts its seems Apple has a few times in the past followed a minor update with a major overhaul ---
I'm hitting the send button now before I take my meds and erase this
I've heard several people talking about an iPod-like scroll wheel on an Apple mouse. If you are refering to a circular scroll wheel, just like on an iPod that would be very uncomfortable to use. I tried it on my one-button Apple mouse, moving my finger in a circular motion on the top of the mouse torward the front - not very nice compared to a standard scroll wheel. Now, if they just had a touch-sensitive vertical strip that you would move your finger over like a traditional scroll wheel that might work.redeye_be said:But if you put your laptop on an iCurve or something like it, that trackpad isn't really handy in use. I do believe both laptop and desktop users would benefit from this mouse.
Being able to scroll a webpage with your mouse, without moving it is just to easy to not implement. imho
Still, I like the tactile feedback you get from an actual wheel. This is particularly important for first-person shooter gamers who usually use the wheel to switch weapons, when the wheel "clicks" it's easy to count off how many weapons over to go using just the tactile feedback.
Is it just me, or...
isn't very very quiet on the leak front this year? I haven't seen one credible, reoccuring hint about a new Apple product soon to be released/revamped.
How do you interpret that?
isn't very very quiet on the leak front this year? I haven't seen one credible, reoccuring hint about a new Apple product soon to be released/revamped.
How do you interpret that?