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Apple May Be Re-Entering the Sub-Notebook Market

Posted by Zonk on from the time-to-upgrade dept.

An anonymous reader writes "AppleInsider is reporting that Apple has plans to reenter the sub-notebook market this year. The project, the article states, should be unveiled around the time of WWDC (summer). Drawing parallels to the legendary PowerBook 2400, the sub-notebook will offer some of the best elements of old and new. With a small footprint, light weight, and manageable screen it will fill a niche not currently occupied by any Apple hardware. At the same time, it will offer some new technologies that the current crop of computers do not: 'The new MacBook model is expected to introduce some features not yet available with Apple's existing notebook offerings, such as onboard NAND flash. Plans reportedly call for the notebook to be the first of the company's MacBook offerings to utilize the solid-state memory in order to improve power efficiency and facilitate near instantaneous boot times. This feature, however, had not been frozen upon last check.' Apple hopes this micro-notebook will capture interest both here in the states and in Japan, where the appeal of small consumer electronics may offset the current weak computer market."

12 of 281 comments (clear)

  1. I repeat by Jethro · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I've said it before and I'll say it again.

    Just make a 13.3" MacBookPro already! I don't want a MacBook and I don't want a 15.whatever laptop.

    I love my 12" Powerbook but it's getting to the point where it's just too underpowered, and I don't have an upgrade path that I'm happy with.

    --


    In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is kinky.
    1. Re:I repeat by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      I'm always curious why people think they need/want a MBP instead of a plain old MB. Maybe you truly need one, but I've found for most people, they don't. That's because Apple has made them much too close in terms of general features and performance. The Pro has a slightly faster CPU, but anyone not doing long scientific calculations is unlikely to ever notice. It has a real 3-d card, but are you really going to play the two 3-d games available for the Mac to justify that? I doubt a 13.3 inch MBP would have room for an expresscard slot, and probably not FW 800 either. So what's the need for a 13.3 inch Pro? I don't really see it, and I'll bet Apple doesn't either.

  2. What I would like... by EtherAlchemist · · Score: 2, Insightful


    ... is to see them get their exisiting line of notebooks to work without problems or failures before they add more to the market. I am sad to say, especially with the Mac Book Pros, it seems like they've taken a few steps back with regards to reliability.

    I'm probably more than a little biased because my own has had some problems, but so have a lot of other people waiting at that damn Genius Bar in the Apple store. Other customers I've talked to are in there for really similar problems (to mine and each other) and you have to wonder how much QA went into them and then subsequently why they were released with the problems.

    Of course, you could also wonder why Apple customers (myself included) continue to stand by their chosen brand and accept it.

    Expand the line, but fix the problems first- not after their in the wild.

    --
    R(k)
    1. Re:What I would like... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      So you're judging the quality of Apple's laptop hardware based on the representative sample of people in line at the customer service counter (aka Genius Bar)? That's brilliant, I also conclude that 100% of Home Depot items are faulty based on what I heard and saw at the return counter at Home Depot.

  3. Re:Scaling OS X down by necro81 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The next release of OS X will have resolution independence. It's been just beneath the surface for a few releases now. Resolution independence allows text, icons, and everything else to be scaled to look "right" on high-resolution, small scale screens, or on normal resolution, ultra-large screens.

    Some links about this.

  4. Strechable Laptointrops by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'd love to see Apple sell a notebook that's only 12"x8"x1" that flips open to reveal a fullsize keyboard and a wide screen at 1200x800 for immediate use. Then rotates the screen on its bottom right corner, then stretching out a "rollable" display across to a 16" or 24" wide by 12" high screen at 16-2400x1200.

    --

    --
    make install -not war

  5. Re:Mac Tablets by WillAdams · · Score: 2, Insightful

    While I'm sorely tempted by the ModBook, it lacks the niceties and synergies afforded by the nice suite of peripherals available for my Fujitsu Stylistic --- in particular being able to drop my pen slate into a docking station on my desktop and instantly being connected to full-sized keyboard and mouse, Wacom graphics tablet, 17" display, network, printer and CD-ROM drive is something I'm not wild about giving up.

    Apple's ``Best of Both Worlds'' (codename for the initial PowerBook Duo and docking station, ``Bob-W'') is something I'd like to see them re-visit.

    William

    --
    Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
  6. Re:I'd be interested if... by metlin · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Like I said, it feels unnatural to me and every other notebook out there has another button on the trackpad for right-click.

    I find it annoying having to learn another thing (and especially since I have a muscle-memory of using mouse + keyboard combinations).

    If IBM took off a button, I'd move to Dell and if Dell did, I'd move to HP. So, why should I treat Apple any differently for not having a feature that is very common (not to mention desirable and widespread in use)? It's not like people haven't asked for this before.

    It is the fact that there is something that I am used to in an input device that is not available on Apple products, and that it makes me feel extremely crippled - sure, I could learn to live with it by finding alternative means to achieve what is commonly in use elsewhere, or I could buy from another manufacturer who has what the majority of the customers want.

  7. Re:Nowhere to go. by rwyoder · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They HAD a very small and wonderful little laptop - I'm using one right now - a 12" G4 iBook.
    So did I, and I recently sold it for 40% of what I paid for it (3.5 yrs ago), and bought a 13.3" MacBook. Remember that the MacBook has a 16:10 screen vs the 4:3 screen of the iBook. That is why the MacBook is *thinner* and *shorter* front-to-back. The only dimension that is a little larger is the width. And I now have: faster 64-bit CPU, 3x RAM, GigE, Toslink audio in/out, 802.11a/b/g/n, built-in iSight, Bluetooth, higher-resolution internal LCD, external video resolution greater than internal (including 1920x1200 & 1920x1080), external video that does not need to mirror internal screen, DVD-burner. There is *nothing* I miss from the old iBook
  8. Re:I'd be interested if... by heinousjay · · Score: 1, Insightful

    One thing I love about Mac people is how they always find some way to let you know that how you use a computer is wrong, and the only true way is the Jobs way. I like Macs, but damn if I'm not tired of the community.

    Wake up, Mac people. You aren't perfect. Your favorite corporation isn't perfect. Your way is not the only way. That is all.

    Sorry if this was harsh, I tried to tone it down.

    --
    Slashdot - where whining about luck is the new way to make the world you want.
  9. Re:Hello... Apple? by Jason+Mark · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Not for nothing, but I don't think you're Apple's primary audience, and I doubt if they're sitting around how to get into the low margin, low cost "build your own" box market. I'm not saying the way you think of computers isn't valid, it's just I don't think you're actaully a target user for Apple. Like BMW or Mercedes, they focus on a small market share, and high profit margins, and their target audience aren't poeple who go and soup up their 1974 Ford Mustang with the newest graphics card... ya know? - Jason http://www.gravityswitch.com/

  10. They did it to themselves by Cybrex · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I'm in a similar situation. My first non-used Mac was one of the orginal 12" PowerBooks, purchased less than a month after the 12" line came out, and it created in me a love that borders on unnatural. I'd used a 15" TiBook extensively, but this was a completely different thing, and I realized that I'll never use a laptop larger than 12" as my primary machine again. I'm completely hooked on the size.

    Despite its modest performance it was my constant companion until the day I found out that Apple was abandoning the 12" form factor in their transition to Intel processors. At that point I ordered a new 12" PB will all the specs (memory, CPU, hard drive) maxed out, cloned my old machine over to the new one, and continued. (I've since upgraded the hard drive further myself.) I expected to have to wait a long time before another acceptably small Mac laptop would be available, so I got the top of the line to carry me through.

    I want a faster Mac. I want more memory, higher LCD resolution, a backlit keyboard, and the ability to run Parallels or Boot Camp. I'd be willing to pay an absurd amount for these features (are you hearing me, Steve?), but I absolutely will not take a size trade-off. Not even a marginal one. 13" MacBook? Nope. Too big. I'll stick with my G4, thanks.

    I hope that this rumor is true, because Apple has gotten me hooked on the ultra-portability of this form factor and no additional bells and whistles are going to convince me to "upgrade" to a larger machine.

    --
    Boundless Expansion, Self-Transformation, Dynamic Optimism, Intelligent Technology, Spontaneous Order- BEST DO IT SO!