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Apple May Be Re-Entering the Sub-Notebook Market
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."
I'd be sold at nearly any price if they'd just include tablet functionality.
I'm not terribly fond of Windows (most of my apps would run under Wine or Parallels, the only Win-Only suite I really use is OneNote) but if there were a Mac replacement, I'd probably buy.
They're quick, pretty computers with easy software that doesn't get in the way.
An ultraportable tablet running an OS that stays out of my way is like a dream...its too bad that Apple is so shy of making a tablet.
I'm a Mac user and I really like my MacBook Pro, but I also like really small subnotebooks. So, I'd love to see a super miniature version of the MacBook. It would be bitchin. I keep looking at a friend's Sony subnotebook and saying that it must be nice to have such a small book and I wish it could run MacOS X.
Avoid Missing Ball for High Score
I'd really like to see Apple do something interesting and compelling in the pen slate computer form-factor --- at the very least they should add a digitizer to the screen and make it a convertable (having the screen fold over the keyboard while still being visible --- something better than a ThinkPad 360PE or Vadem Clio &c.).
It's silly that InkWell (nee Rosetta, the print recognizer from Newton OS 2.0) is bundled w/ every copy of Mac OS X, yet is only enabled when one plugs in a graphics tablet (and only fully usable if one shells out for a Wacom Cintiq).
William
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
... it included something like the iPhone interface and/or Inkwell and was a convertible.
Sub-notebook keyboards are a little cramped for me. Yes, I know Bluetooth keyboard blahblahblah (I'm using one with my Powerbook as I type this), but you can't carry that on the road.
"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
It's funny that compared to todays ridicululously oversized and overweight notebooks a computer the size of the PowerBook 2400 is now considered a "sub-notebook". I would consider a sub-notebook to be something like a classic Libretto or a Fujitsu P1610. Back when the 2400 was current a 10.4" screen was considered large.
I am becoming gerund, destroyer of verbs.
A new mobile Mac with NAND flash is 99.4% likely to be using Santa Rosa aka Centrino Pro. The chipset isn't exclusive to subnotebooks, so if this rumor turns out true then the larger MacBooks will get bumped up as well (90% likely, but Lord Steve is of course a capricious diety).
The differences between the MacBook and MacBook Pro are very few and certainly not worth the $. The MacBook has drifted upward in abilities, and they stopped making the 12" machine - hence, there is nowhere for them to go. They have to re-invent what they've abandoned. As TFA says, three once was a small and venerable machine many years ago, and the 12" G4 iBook was the last of that "inertia".
Now their strategy has abandoned low end small machines. Ooops. So now we'll see one. This comes as no surprise. They have nowhere to go. Frankly, I am looking forward to this, because my G4 iBook is getting a bit long in the tooth...
RS
Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
OK, you're obviously being an ass (and not a particulalry clever one), but let's apply the Apple experience to Home Depot anyway.
Let's pretend Home Depot makes and sells their own cordless drills. You buy one of these drills and shortly after purchase, it stops working properly. So you take it back to Home Depot. For the purpose of this scenario let's also say they have the ability to repair it on the spot. You go to the store, wait in line for an hour (or if you spent 15% of the cost of your expensive drill on the Home Depot care plan, you wait 30 minutes) to talk to a repair specialist.
While you're waiting, you notice many of the other people in line have the same drill. Out of curiosity you ask what's up with their drills, and they all have similar problems.
When it's your turn, you tell the repair guy you want a replacement drill and he says they don't replace them there. All he can do is repair it but you'll have to drop it off for at least a day, maybe more. You leave it there for repair, even though you need your drill for your business, because what you need more is for it to work.
While it's in for repair, you check out forums and boards in the Home Depot Drill community online. You read through the Do It Yourself notes on Home Depots site. You make note of their warranty which says they will repair OR replace faulty drills and wonder why you were told they don't replace units. In your checking around you find indeed that a lot more people have the same problems with their drills.
Home Depot calls you up and says your drill is ready, they replaced the motor and drive unit. You notice on the repair sheet this is more than half the cost of the drill itself.
Now, you take it home and it develops another problem since repair. You can't drill in reverse and if you leave it over night you have to take the battery out and put it back in in order to get it to drill forward. Back to Home Depot for you.
This time, you go to the other Home Depot because you think they might get it right. Waiting in line again, you still see most of the people here, too, have the same drill and describe the same problems you had originally.
You now tell the Home Depot Genius about your problems since repair, and he takes it away for another day or two.
Now, at this point, you're going to come to the same conclusion about your drill that I did about my notebook- it has hardware problems. But that's not the end of the story, because now you're certain it has problems and you want a new one hoping a later revision has the problems corrected.
You go home, call up the Home Depot Support line and talk to a rpoduct specialist. You tell them of your drill's problems and ask how you can just replace the unit. They want you to have it repaired again and if it has problems then they'll talk replacememnt.
Home Depot calls you up, and he can't repro your latest woe. You need to come pick up your drill.
Back home (again) you call up the Home Depot Support line (again) and get a new specialist. He sounds like he might be the key to you getting a new drill until he tells you replacement will take 5 to 7 WEEKS or that you can send your drill into their depot for repair. So now, instead of being without it for a couple of days it's going to be gone for a week or more. Nothing you say will get you a new drill and you realize they've got you over a barrel because you can't afford to pick up a new drill while you wait for them to try, again, to fix your drill.
So you know, yeah, you'd be pretty sure there was a problem with both that product line and their customer service.
R(k)
If Apple makes a 10" ultraportable with a touchscreen, I'll buy one. If it's good, I'll buy 4 within a year. If it's really good, I'll buy 12 within two years. (For my company, of course.)
Seriously. I love the Fujitsu Lifebook p-series, but I'd be happier if I could use OSX on something similar.
(Unless Wyse or Neoware get their gorram act together and produce a linux-based touchscreen notebook thin client first, anyway. Get on it, people!)
With reasonable men I will reason; with humane men I will plead; but to tyrants I will give no quarter. -- William Lloyd
(1) Higher display resolution and more display space at 17 inches (I do graphics intensive stuff); (2) faster display hardware; (3) More memory; (4) faster CPU cores; (5) bigger screen; (6) more ports; (7) illuminated keyboard (turns out, I love this little feature.)
There are some things I don't care about or consider really bad design decisions -- the MBP has much better sound, but that is to say that that the MB built-in sound sucks at 1 on a scale from 0 to 10, and the MBP sound sucks at a scale of about 2 on that same scale, easily twice as good while still managing to sound like an old Victrola heard through tinfoil, while consuming space that could have really been better used by (for instance) a full keyboard instead of the same retarded one without a keypad or perhaps something clever like a built in mini-tablet or an iPod dock or really, just about anything but the really crappy speakers they put there. Sigh. And the bloody single button design, don't even get me started on how retarded that is. I have to carry a mouse so I can work because of that; now that pisses me off.
Overall, the MBP is a much better fit for me than the MB. That's not to say they couldn't improve on it.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
In the last 4 months I have bought an Intel Macbook for about $1,100 USD and an Intel iMac for about $1,300 USD. How about instead of this dumb little laptop, you give _paying_ customers like me a _real_ mid-tower option that doesn't cost more than $1,200 or so? I love your hardware and OS X is very nice. Being Intel based lets me boot WinXP and Linux, which I like very much.
I have always built my own PC systems for a lot less then what I paid you. Please give me, a paying customer, an affordable mid-tower that I can upgrade the graphics card, etc. While I really like my 17" iMac, I hate not being able to upgrade my video card to something better. If the available computers from Apple does not change, I will not be buying from you again. I will stick to a regular, home-built PC (or even one bought from Dell) and just use WinXP and Linux on it. OS X did not give me enough incentive to give up my options to upgrade. While I think OS X is very nice, it is certainly not that much better as a GUI than Linux/WinXP to give up my options to be able to upgrade the computers I have bought from you.
Steve, if you are listening, give your customers an upgradeable Intel-based mid-tower please.
Before all the mac-heads start screaming about the Mac Pro, please spare me. It is way over priced for most needs. I am a computer programmer and I have always needed better hardware, however I have _never_ spent as much on a Mac Pro for a PC I have built or bought, ever. The Mac Pro seems to be more high-end for graphics stuff, which I do not do.
Again, I have spent more than $3,000 USD in the past 4 months or so on Apple stuff. I will never do it again, unless I can get an _affordable_ and upgradable mid-tower from Apple. The two Intel Macs I have will work for me for the next 1 1/2 years - 2 years or so. However, after that, if Apple doesn't offer a consumer affordable, upgradeable mid-tower, they just lost a customer.
P.S. I know many other programmers that bought your products over the last year or so that feel the same as me. The ball is in your court Apple. You can go back to being a niche product for graphics and audio dudes or you can really give MS some kicking competition. Just listen to your customers for once and give us an upgradeable mid-tower at an affordable price.
General, you are listening to a machine! Do the world a favor and don't act like one.
What does appear to be true is the Apple application make more liberal use of space,assuming a big screen. For instance iMovie wastes an enormous amount of space. Itunes is not so bad, but the borders are in some contexts quite large. Safari is the exception, but most web pages now are exersises in the frivolous use of screen real estate.
I would think the OS itself could be put back on an 640X480 screen with few changes. However, the current culture of application GUI development has to change. A large matter, really, is hte culture of application development, and the assumption that the user has relatively unlimited resources.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
the slot loading DVD/CD drive is nice till you really start to use it. Apple has stopped repairing the macbook and macbook pros around here since the drives last 3-4 months and then need repair. Either the felt stuff comes off then goes into the drive, or a CD/DVD doesn't lock in and will not load.
Granted I have setup a USB external drive for most of our people now but the other people with regular tray loading drives do not have this problem. Also these people use something in the drive over 90% of the time. They are watching movies/playing music/loading somehthing with the drive over 90% of the time the laptop is on.
I know it is not cool and no 'Apple' to use a tray loading drive in your notebook but I'd like to see it. I am tired of people calling me for a broken Apple DVD drive.
Benchmarks of 120gb vs 120gb are not relevant. Benchmarks of 200 gb perp vs a 100 gb non-perp with same number of platters and tracks are what matter.
If you has 2 drives both at the same RPM, the 200 gig perp drive has twice as many bits per second going past the heads.
So a 200g 4200 RPM perp drive would be the same head bit rate as a theoretical 100g 8400 rpm drive.
This comparison is of course only valid when both disk drives have the same number of platters and tracks on each platter and the data rate is not limited by the interface to the computer.
Measure it!
--jeffk++
ipv6 is my vpn