"Year of the Notebook" ???

[iBookman]

At Macworld in SanFrancisco this past January Steve Jobs said "this is going to be the year of the notebook". By what he said do you think that all he ment was the New PowerBooks or did he mean that something revolutionary was going to come out this year? What do you think that revolutionary thing could be?

A Tablet?
A whole new Laptop?
A redesigned iBook?
iGadget?
iPhone?

What do you think?

And do you think that the item(s) will be shown at WWDC, CreativePro or sometime in the fall/winter?

 

[yzedf]

underwhelming so far

All I know is that 5-1/2 months have been wasted so far...

the 12" PB is noted for being hot running

17" is too fragile for real road use

and the iBook had a 100MHz speed bump

 

[freundt]

more like "Year of the Aniticipation"

Sheesh

867 mhz 12" notebooks and the lapzilla do not make it "year of the laptop"

well, that still have some more months to go... but still...

 

[Flickta]

He meant: "We do not have new PowerMacs to show, they are just pieces of (no, not crap) useless hardware, so look at the Notebooks while we are pretending it's our strategy... Ah, incidentally, you won't see this beautiful 17" unit for a couple of months... Do not worry at all, finally we'll make enough for everyone..."

 

[maracz]

Perhaps the iBook case will be modified slightly but I seriously doubt it will be redesigned.

 

[Codemonkey]

Yeah....

I'm betting that was a comment intended to get the fence-sitters to actually purchase something, and stop going "eeny-meenie..."

And I'm also betting that that comment wasn't meant to be remembered by anyone for any extended amount of time.

Me, I'm looking forward to one of those MS concept peecees... looks like they finally nailed down what we all need in a digital device.

 

[CrackedButter]

Somebody once mentioned on these boards that this year was the "Year of the LCD" rather than the laptop.

 

[iBookman]

Originally posted by maracz
Perhaps the iBook case will be modified slightly but I seriously doubt it will be redesigned.

Actually if I'm not mistaken the iBook is due to be resigned. The first iBook came in July, 1999 (clamshell model). Then it was redesigned in May, 2001 to what it is today. So it is due to be redesigned this summer.

 

[maracz]

Originally posted by iBookman
Actually if I'm not mistaken the iBook is due to be resigned. The first iBook came in July, 1999 (clamshell model). Then it was redesigned in May, 2001 to what it is today. So it is due to be redesigned this summer.

What kind of a design would be better than the one now? What kind at all would fit \in with the rest of the apple line? Things don't just get changed simply because they are old.

 

[iBookman]

Originally posted by maracz
What kind of a design would be better than the one now? What kind at all would fit \in with the rest of the apple line? Things don't just get changed simply because they are old.

I don't think the Titanium Powerbook needed to be redesigned but they did anyway. Unless there is something I don't know about. And they changed the Powerbook design exactly 2 years after they introduced the Titanium just like the iBook change I said about. But if they do redesign the iBook I would think they would put a Gobi in it.

 

[Codemonkey]

Actually, things get redesigned all the time just because they are "old".

Practical example: Cars get a makeover ever 4 years, typically speaking (some sooner if they're not selling well, some later if the company's hard done by, or if they figger they've got a good thing going). But anyway, it's the general industry rule of thumb. Even if their car has one many, many "10 best" awards. Example: the Honda Accord. Consistently the best selling family car in it's class. Technically they could run with that design for _much_ longer than the accustomed 4 years.

The brutal truth is our attention span is that without periodic redsigns, we'd completely lose interest, and find something else to invest money (we don't have) in.

SJ doesn't need to have keynotes, presentations or anything else as often as he does either. But he does. To keep our interest.

Also, don't forget: other computer manufacturers change up their products even more often than Apple does. The difference is you never hear about it. Case in point: the Dell web site. It seems like every time I visit they've tweaked the enclosures somehow. It's just that no one cares. How many keynotes have you seen Michael Dell do?

Precicely.

Chris.

 

[iBookman]

Originally posted by Codemonkey
Actually, things get redesigned all the time just because they are "old".

Practical example: Cars get a makeover ever 4 years, typically speaking (some sooner if they're not selling well, some later if the company's hard done by, or if they figger they've got a good thing going). But anyway, it's the general industry rule of thumb. Even if their car has one many, many "10 best" awards. Example: the Honda Accord. Consistently the best selling family car in it's class. Technically they could run with that design for _much_ longer than the accustomed 4 years.

The brutal truth is our attention span is that without periodic redsigns, we'd completely lose interest, and find something else to invest money (we don't have) in.

SJ doesn't need to have keynotes, presentations or anything else as often as he does either. But he does. To keep our interest.

Also, don't forget: other computer manufacturers change up their products even more often than Apple does. The difference is you never hear about it. Case in point: the Dell web site. It seems like every time I visit they've tweaked the enclosures somehow. It's just that no one cares. How many keynotes have you seen Michael Dell do?

Precicely.

Chris.

I'm not sure if you can compare cars and computers but I do think it is true that they need to redesign things so that people don't lose intrest.

 

[tazo]

Re: "Year of the Notebook" ???

Originally posted by iBookman
At Macworld in SanFrancisco this past January Steve Jobs said "this is going to be the year of the notebook". By what he said do you think that all he ment was the New PowerBooks or did he mean that something revolutionary was going to come out this year? What do you think that revolutionary thing could be?

A Tablet?

a tablet is not a laptop, its a useless piece of PCP)

 

[maracz]

Originally posted by Codemonkey
Actually, things get redesigned all the time just because they are "old".

Practical example: Cars get a makeover ever 4 years, typically speaking (some sooner if they're not selling well, some later if the company's hard done by, or if they figger they've got a good thing going). But anyway, it's the general industry rule of thumb. Even if their car has one many, many "10 best" awards. Example: the Honda Accord. Consistently the best selling family car in it's class. Technically they could run with that design for _much_ longer than the accustomed 4 years.

The brutal truth is our attention span is that without periodic redsigns, we'd completely lose interest, and find something else to invest money (we don't have) in.

SJ doesn't need to have keynotes, presentations or anything else as often as he does either. But he does. To keep our interest.

Also, don't forget: other computer manufacturers change up their products even more often than Apple does. The difference is you never hear about it. Case in point: the Dell web site. It seems like every time I visit they've tweaked the enclosures somehow. It's just that no one cares. How many keynotes have you seen Michael Dell do?

Precicely.

Chris.

Nice point. But I still can't imagine any major changes to the iBook case.

My guess is that they will be a thinner, slot-loading, better keyboard version of the current one. And that the difference between the old and the new will be comparative to the difference between a TiBook and an AluBook.

But either way the case is not getting a redesign until at least 2004, and I stand firm on that. If the rumors are true about Mojave sampling in December, than I expect that they will skip Gobbi as the time to make the redesign as gobbia is not Altivec enabled and isn;t that much of a difference than the current G3s.

 

[Codemonkey]

Originally posted by iBookman
I'm not sure if you can compare cars and computers but I do think it is true that they need to redesign things so that people don't lose intrest.

Good one. Thanks for coming out.

 

[coachingguy]

My .02¢ are that this summer we will see the "new" Tibook (15.4" Alubook), the heat problems in the 12" Alubook will be resolved, or at least some attempt will be made towards this end. I know, as I try to decide between an iBook and the 12" the heat issue has been an issue. There wil be a speed bump across the pro-books...970, I'm not so sure about, but a speed bump nonetheless. The backlighted keyboard will be established across the pro-books. As for the iBooks, I do believe this summer(late July?) we will see a pretty major modification to the form factor. A black or white color option? I remember reading that Apple has submitted a patent for a new coloring technology. They will keep the iBook non aluminum as a way to separate the lines though. The iBook being white only has aged... Slot loading drive is a given, Airport even AE standard, no bluetooth, I agree with it getting thinner, but it will continue using the G3, even if they go over a Ghz barrier. Which for most people is still a better mobile processor regardless of Jaguar or Panther. The base model will go to CDRW as well. The cost between the CD-rom drive and CDRW is negligiable at this point and it serves so many purposes...especially with the new music store focus. I don't see the iBook making past 5/04 either, as I see it being discontinued and replaced with something else. As mentioned earlier, just my .02¢ worth.