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MacBook Announcement Expected on Tuesday
wwhsgrad2002 writes "Both ThinkSecret and Apple Insider are reporting that Apple could hold a press conference as early as Tuesday, May 9th, to announce their new line of MacBooks. The laptop will be the Intel-based successor to the company's popular iBook line. The 13.3-inch widescreen MacBook is expected to sport Core Duo processors from Intel Corp and pack novelties such as a completely magnetic latching system, built in iSight video camera, and MagSafe power adapter. Additionally, each MacBook is expected to come bundled with Apple's Front Row and PhotoBooth software applications. A coding glitch with Apple's Web site has all but confirmed the MacBook moniker for the new consumer laptop."
Why would they time it to be the same day as Nintendo's press conference on Tuesday?
I understand that they're different markets, but all eyes are going to be on Nintendo that day. They could easily put it off a week and get 100% of the attention.
Do those two names strike anyone else as a bit silly? I wish Apple had kept the PowerBook name.
The pro line is called the MacBook Pro, so the consumer line is called the MacBook. I expect the Intel towers, if they ever appear, to be called the Mac, MacTower, MacPC, or the like. They do seem to be moving away from the brand of 'power' to the brand of book.
As far as the screen size, the industry does seen to be standardizing on the 13.3 screen as the small entrant. In terms of cost, this is probably the best choice for the entry level portable. What is interesting is that this probably means that we will see a consolodation of the iBook and Powerbook into a Macbook. The MacBook will be a compromise dimension betwen 12 and 15 inches, while the pro models will be 15 and 17 inches.
Which also leaves the 12" models in limbo. These are really a perfect size, and if the 12" PowerBooks are ever $800 dollars I may buy one, as we are unlikely to see such a machine again. I wonder how long Apple is going to produce PowerPC based macines, which is, really to ask, how long until the PowerMacs are replaced. Or is Apple just going to produce laptops and media centers, and leave the pro image editing to the MS crowd? I shudder to think.
In any case, we will see what happens over the next few day and the next year. Certainly Apple has plenty of time to pull an rabbit out of it's hat since we won't see big PC sales until christmas of 2007 when MS vista will be ready for prime time.
Oh, the joys of life. Perhaps I will get a PowerMac G5 yet, even if they slurp electricity like it is water.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
You see, the key to Apple was product differentiation. I don't think people really understand what Apple has taken on when it moved to Intel.
Essentially it's moved its entire product lifecycle up a gear. You'll see newer, faster Apples appearing much more frequently than you used to, because Intel release interim speedbump chips throughout the year - maybe as many as 5 or 6. For Apple, this is a good thing.
But, Intel also releases a new platform technology every year or so, so when Yonah's successor Merom is released, Apple has no choice but to do the same, otherwise it has a marketing dilemma of people doing a like-for-like speed comparison between a Yonah Mac and a Merom PC.
Now, we know that comparing Macs to PCs is apples and oranges, but Joe Public doesn't know that and would possibly plump for a fast new Dell over what on paper looks like a slower, older Mac.
The other downside is that by keeping up with Intel releases, Apples are going to date a lot faster. In a year, the 15" Macbook Pro will be a slow Macbook Pro assuming Apple keep up with Intel. Now it may not be slow to use as OSX software doesn't seem to bloat as fast as PC stuff, but it could potentially cause confusion for new buyers.
The bottom line is that essentially, Apple have rescinded some of their control over their product line development. While they can innovate on peripheral elements such as illuminated screens, magnetic power cords and the like, the core of their machine is now owned by Intel and they are going to have a much tougher time exhibiting the kind of product differentiation that they have been able to in the past.
It went up $100. Is that quite a bit? They added built-in 802.11g+BT 2 (over having to add it), serial ATA (over parallel), 10/100/1000 ethernet (over 10/100), 2 more USB ports, 1 more memory slot, and optical audio (over just analog audio out). Not to mention I think the Intel GMA 950 is probably better than the Radeon 9200 (which sucks). I have a PowerPC mini (with the secret speed bump) and this is WAY better for the money.
Not since Marie-Antoinette played milkmaid has looking simple and honest been so fake and complicated.
What CS department would use .NET? CS Departments typically shy away from single platform programming languages, at least the ones that I know of do. Even at my extremely Windows-centric university, beginning courses use Java, systems courses use C (and some assembly), networking courses use C & Perl, and programming language design courses use Scheme. Even if your university used .NET, Mono should be acceptable.
---- "XML is like violence. If it doesn't fix the problem, you aren't using enough."
The most important feature in a laptop is portability. I don't want a fucking iBook. I want the smallest fully-featured PowerBook imaginable, and, ideally, I want it to have 1600x1200 even on a 12" screen (OK, perhaps that's hyperbole. But 1280x1024 at minimum. Fuck 1024x768.)
Fuck anything above 1024x768. You know what I want? I want software developers to stop designing their applications to take up the most screen real estate they possibly can. Back in my day I had a Mac IIci running at 640x480x8 and I never had any trace of a problem with an application wanting more - unless I was trying to run Word 6 with all the toolbars enabled, god. These days, most computers won't even let you set the resolution below 800x600x16, and even if you can the programs simply won't squeeze into the space anymore. It's fucking ridiculous, they're not displaying MORE data, they're displaying the SAME AMOUNT of data but making LARGER so it won't be so small in high resolutions. It's nothing more than a damned vicious circle of making everything bigger to accomodate other things that are doing the same thing.
My apologies for this rant.