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MacBook Updates Rumored To Include Glass Trackpad

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the unfounded-speculation dept.

CWmike writes to tell us that Seth Weintraub has been hearing some interesting rumors surrounding the next iteration of Apple's MacBook line. "I have been hearing some interesting things about Apple's upcoming line of portable computers. The talk amongst insiders on the new MacBooks is kind of scattered but here's a summation of what I've heard: The new models are thinner than current MacBook and MacBook Pros and slightly more rounded, taking design cues from the MacBook Air; the trackpad is glass, multi-touch and uses gestures. The screen isn't multi-touch; the body is manufactured out of one piece of aluminum. Eco-friendly, yet sturdy. Manufacturing process is completely different; the release date will be in the last weeks of September."

40 of 273 comments (clear)

  1. I don't get it... by Otter · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Eco-friendly, yet sturdy.

    What makes this "eco-friendly"? The glass trackpad? The "manufactured out of one piece of aluminum"?

    --
    What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
    1. Re:I don't get it... by Shivetya · · Score: 4, Insightful

      they paid off the right groups

      -or-

      realistically they know what words sell.

      --
      * Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
    2. Re:I don't get it... by martinw89 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Ah, you accidentally looked over the fact that it runs on new Ego(TM) power, not electricity. Common mistake.

    3. Re:I don't get it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      The plastic sticker on the box. It wasn't tested on animals, contains zero trans fats and opposes the war in Iraq.

    4. Re:I don't get it... by jgtg32a · · Score: 3, Insightful

      They are most likely going on about the more energy efficient processors.

    5. Re:I don't get it... by etnoy · · Score: 5, Funny

      Apparently the materials used to make the Air are relatively environmentally friendly

      Duh. It's made of air

      --
      Quantum hacker.
    6. Re:I don't get it... by DaveV1.0 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Here, you dropped this:

      L

      --
      There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
    7. Re:I don't get it... by Coopjust · · Score: 3, Funny

      Here, you dropped this:

      Not necessarily, he could be a monkey.

    8. Re:I don't get it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      I think they made a typo.

      Ego-friendly*

    9. Re:I don't get it... by Bovarchist · · Score: 5, Funny

      I don't think The Librarian would post AC.

      --
      Hell is other people's code.
    10. Re:I don't get it... by imcleod · · Score: 5, Informative

      Not necessarily, he could be a monkey.

      You mean orangutan. NEVER call him a monkey.

    11. Re:I don't get it... by nategoose · · Score: 4, Funny

      It's not made of dolphins.

    12. Re:I don't get it... by moosesocks · · Score: 4, Funny

      Ook?

      --
      -- If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done? - Uli's moose
    13. Re:I don't get it... by Cairnarvon · · Score: 3, Informative

      Higher power consumption != less eco-friendly. Gore's house has a much, much lower carbon footprint than the average American home because he gets nearly all of that energy he uses from solar and geothermal sources. Much of the reason that bill you're referring to was so high is because he's paying a premium to get his energy from clean sources.
      Maybe you were just trying to make an innocent joke, but that meme needs to die.

      Gore isn't saying everyone needs to cut their energy consumption down to zero, he's saying people need to make an effort to be carbon-neutral, and he's making that effort himself.

  2. An iPhone screen for a trackpad? by smitty97 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I hope under the glass trackpad there's a little display just like the iPhone's.

    --
    mod me funny
    1. Re:An iPhone screen for a trackpad? by LordKaT · · Score: 5, Funny

      Why, so you can glance up and down constantly to see what you're doing, and then curse occasionally as you press the wrong spot on the trackpad and open several programs at once?

    2. Re:An iPhone screen for a trackpad? by vslashg · · Score: 4, Funny

      I hope under the glass trackpad there's a little display just like the iPhone's.

      Presenting the new smitty97 MacBook Touch.

  3. Re:Yeah... by e2d2 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Yes. Yes it can actually.

  4. Glass trackpad? by rtechie · · Score: 5, Interesting

    What are the advantages of a glass trackpad? Wouldn't your finger stick to it?

    1. Re:Glass trackpad? by adisakp · · Score: 4, Interesting

      What are the advantages of a glass trackpad?

      Bling factor! It looks and feels more "expensive" not to mention the glass is harder so it won't scratch with use. Most trackpads kinda feel like a cheap vinyl / plastic sheet and get "wear" marks in the pad from finger friction after a couple months use..

      Wouldn't your finger stick to it?

      I'd think that getting fingerprints all over a shiny glossy surface that you are meant to touch all the time would be a bigger issue.

    2. Re:Glass trackpad? by mrchaotica · · Score: 5, Funny

      The superior solution is obviously the clit mouse.

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

  5. Re:How Did This Make It To The Front Page? by sexconker · · Score: 3, Informative

    Since when was /. (officially) devoted to Linux/open source?

  6. Glass? Eww, eww, eww, eww by Sockatume · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I've used a few touchpads in my time, and the bad ones are the ones that either started off glossy, or became glossy because of wear. I'm fine with using glossy touch-screens for tapping around or stylus work, but trying to operate one as a mouse for a long period of time gets immensely annoying. The slightest bit of sweat on my fingertips makes them stick and stutter across.

    I've not used an iPhone or iPod touch for long, but I got the impression that they were designed to favour short finger motions on the pad for precisely this reason. I'm not sure it would translate well into a touchpad.

    --
    No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
    1. Re:Glass? Eww, eww, eww, eww by Reality+Master+101 · · Score: 4, Informative

      I've not used an iPhone or iPod touch for long, but I got the impression that they were designed to favour short finger motions on the pad for precisely this reason.

      I have to say, I've had an iPhone for a year. At first I was skeptical of the glass because of fingerprints, etc, but in practice I never notice any smudges, and I've *never* had any skipping, etc. In fact, it's remarkably precise, considering the blunt nature of a fingertip.

      My theory on the way it works is that it finds the centroid of the pressure region. I've used drawing applications with it, and it's actually amazing how well it works drawing thin lines with a fingertip.

      I don't know about a multitouch touchpad, that seems kind of lame. What makes multitouch cool is touching directly on the screen.

      --
      Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
  7. Tough one... by GameboyRMH · · Score: 3, Informative

    I've really been trying to figure it out, but I can't. If it does have a second LCD in the trackpad as smitty97 speculates, it sure won't be more eco-friendly:

    http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2008/07/04/lcd-greenhouse-gas-worries/1

    Also if it has a 1-piece aluminum chassis, it will be more difficult to repair, therefore more likely to be replaced, therefore more hardware going into landfills, therefore less eco-friendly. The case itself is sturdier but if it's one hard piece of aluminum, the internals will take more damage and the case will take less. Again, less eco-friendly. A good case for preventing damage would be a replaceable one made of thin, soft metal.

    Also getting the parts inside such a case would be a nightmare...I guess the screen would have a slit on the bottom where the internals are inserted and then clipped into place, and the body would just have removable bays as usual, but then the mobo and keyboard would be non-replaceable.

    --
    "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
    1. Re:Tough one... by Culture20 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I would think the internals would be damaged more by a thin soft case than by a sturdy one.

      There needs to be a happy medium. Most damage to a notebook with be blunt-force, not sharp-pointy. As long as the energy from a fall is used up in deforming the exterior, the interior will take less damage. If the exterior is made of diamond, the interior will slam into the diamond exterior with the same energy as if it had hit the ground itself. Of course, if someone's stabbing your laptop, you'll want a hard case, and maybe better working/living conditions.

    2. Re:Tough one... by ksheff · · Score: 3, Insightful

      AL will flex some, but I don't think they are trying to protect against a stabbing (although that could be a design consideration for the UK) as much as someone accidentally stepping on it, being pressed up against another hard object in book bag, vehicle storage, etc. Shocks from drops can be addressed with a dampening material at the circuit board mounting points.

      --
      the good ground has been paved over by suicidal maniacs
    3. Re:Tough one... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I disagree...

      I work at an Apple Store (therefor the AC, and obviously take what I say with a grain of salt as I'm as much a fanboi as the best of em').

      From everyone's perspective, having repairs done in larger part replacements are much better. There is one flaw with your statement. The large replaced part isn't just thrown away, but rather can be refurbished.

      Consider an LCD display on a laptop. We'll low-ball and say there are 7 individual replaceable parts and cables. Brick and Mortar big box retail stores get shipments from all shipping companies for all different purposes from all over the globe. With Air and Ground shipping for say 4 failed parts in an LCD panel (say it's a liquid damaged LCD) and you get shipments from DHL, UPS, and FedEx delivering all of your parts over a period of 3 days. Now, if you only have to order a monitor clam-shell instead of 4 different parts, you have 1 shipment on 1 single day. When you are sending parts back to be refurbed or recycled or trashed, you are sending a single item as opposed to several different packages. From an inventory standpoint this means MUCH less paperwork per shipment and less boxes/packing material being used to ship and be trashed/recycled.

      For users, repairs can be done faster. (If repairs can be done while customer waits, only one car trip out to store)

      For retail stores, more repairs can be done in-store. This means fewer repairs will be packaged and shipped out to repair centers.

      I just don't see how single part replacements are bad. This allows Apple to help end users more effectively. It takes less shipping and packing, and as I've understood eco-matters (and I won't pretend to be the brightest bulb on the matter), air cargo and travel are pretty big carbon emitters. Apple can then refurb/recycle the part in a larger warehouse environment that is more adept at repairing the individual components of the larger part.

      Any-hoo... just my $0.04

    4. Re:Tough one... by GeekDork · · Score: 4, Informative

      Also if it has a 1-piece aluminum chassis, it will be more difficult to repair, therefore more likely to be replaced, therefore more hardware going into landfills, therefore less eco-friendly. The case itself is sturdier but if it's one hard piece of aluminum, the internals will take more damage and the case will take less. Again, less eco-friendly. A good case for preventing damage would be a replaceable one made of thin, soft metal.

      I disagree. An eco-friendly case would ironically be made from plastic, or if necessary some GRP or CFRP. Metal and glass, to use terms of trade, need shitloads of energy to manufacture, and the process is highly lossy. We don't even want to get started about how aluminium is extracted from the ore in the first place, or that a rather rare resource is needlessly wasted. Plastic can be molded to almost the final shape in a single pass, with a relatively low amount of energy (some heat and a vacuum pump).

      All that "metal is good for the environment" is bullshit. It's good for marketing, because a laptop that feels like you could use it as a blunt weapon just feels better than "cheap" plastic. And even in that area, I'd put a lot of trust into some CFRP. It's effectively stronger and lighter than aluminium.

      --

      Fight hunger. Filet a politician and send him to a 3rd world country of your choice.

    5. Re:Tough one... by cyfer2000 · · Score: 5, Informative

      But metal is recyclable, plastic is not really recyclable. And about 8% of our crust is aluminum, plastic is from the oil, which is disappearing quickly. You may have noticed that aluminum is extracted from the ore, but did you know how plastic become plastic?

      As carbon fiber reinforced plastic, I hope you realize that carbon fibers are made from polyacrylonitrile fibers by heating. And most CFRP products are absolutely not recyclable.

      --
      There is a spark in every single flame bait point.
  8. Re:How about adding A bigger screen and video card by jonnythan · · Score: 3, Informative

    13" lightweight laptops are more expensive than the big bulky 15.4" laptops of the same specs.

    This is true across the board.

    The Macbook actually compares very well with current offerings from Dell. Compare it to the Vostro 1310 and XPS 1330. The Macbook specs are getting slightly dated in comparison to Dell's frequent updates, but when the new Macbook comes out expect the specs to be as good or better for the price than similarly-equipped laptops from other manufacturers.

  9. Re:Touchscreen by Duradin · · Score: 5, Informative

    Look up touchscreen gorilla arm.

    That's why touch screens are not great and won't cause a revolution.

  10. Multi-touch pad by bsDaemon · · Score: 5, Informative

    the MacBook Pro already has a multi-touch trackpad, so I'm not sure where the rumor part comes in...

  11. Screw trackpads by Quattro+Vezina · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If Apple wanted to be cool, they'd dump the trackpad entirely and add a trackpoint.

    Yes, that's right. They should switch to the nub. The pencil eraser. The clit mouse. The keyboard clit.

    C'mon, it'd be awesome.

    --
    I support the Center for Consumer Freedom
  12. I realize thin is in... by spagthorpe · · Score: 4, Interesting

    But I really would like to see something that I could use a day or two on a charge. If they can make it paper thin and still run a few hours, then surely, they could make something twice as thick that would go for a day?

    --

    WWJD -- What Would Jimi Do?
    (Smash amp, burn guitar, take home the groupies)

  13. Just wrong! by mabhatter654 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Apple has NEVER used desktop processors in ANY of their Intel lines. Even Mini and iMac use notebook processors, and the Mac Pros use Server-grade Xeon processors. That give them an edge up in buying quantity over Dell because they only buy higher margin parts that Intel likes to sell, not "cheap" ones.

    They are considered more "eco-friendly" because they are removing parts and changing to reusable materials. I have an old Snow iBook and the thing is a complex mess of two layers of plastic with "tin foil" to try to meet EMI requirements. The new macbook has barely any parts inside.. only one PCB even. By changing to a metal frame it makes the machine mostly glass and metal... all things nearly 100% recyclable versus plastic that's "sort of" recyclable and required high priced oil to make. I'm sure it's also CHEAPER for them to do (or more marketable) or they wouldn't be doing it either. Apple is looking for ways to separate themselves from the pack, and to cut down on repairs of all those white plastic pieces.

    1. Re:Just wrong! by fermion · · Score: 3, Informative
      I agree with you. Here is a bit of history and personal knowledge to prove your point.

      First, consistent customers with a high spec get the best parts. When I was working shipping blanks, one or two big name companies got the reliable items. Everyone else go their rejects. This is a fact. If Apple is willing to commit to purchasing a year in advance, they get the good stuff. Everyone else, like Dell, who is looking for the cheapest price, gets Apple rejects.

      Second, Apple has always been conscious about the environment, especially in relation to user safety. For instance, Apple was one of the first retailers to move CRT monitors to the swedish standards for radiation. They also moved to LCD for similar reasons. In the switch, Apple also cut the power needed to run a computer considerably. In fact Apple tends to have very energy efficient computers, with current models running on half the power of similar models from other vendors.

      All this of course costs money. For years CRTs are cheaper than LCDs. Building power efficient kit costs money. It is easier to throw together a power consuming piece of junk than a well designed performer. A lighter, smaller machine has obvious savings in transportation. What is missing from most discussions is the fact that energy consumption during the lifetime of the product is going to far outweigh, in most cases, the energy needed to build the product. Furthermore, refurbishment of the entire product, where the company has control of disposal, it likely the best way to go, although it is also expensive as it does not externalize costs.

      --
      "She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
  14. yes! by commodoresloat · · Score: 3, Funny

    It's the only way for Mac users to keep up with the confusion that Windows users experience when dealing with all those extra mouse buttons.

  15. joke by Falconhell · · Score: 4, Funny

    Round corners reminds me of the old joke;

    Q;Why do they make macs so big?

    A: So mac users cant put them up their asses.

    Q: Why do macs have round corners?

    A: Just in case they manage the above!

    (-:

  16. Re:Tough one...Not Really by JohnNevets · · Score: 5, Interesting

    So if I'm understanding this right if a $0.05 part goes out and it would not be covered under warranty the customer would be charged the fee for the whole system of parts (probably several hundred dollars) while Apple gets to refurbish and resell the system of parts after they replace the cheap part (plus in house labor rates). Yea I can see how this would be win/win for apple. The only way to make this fair would be to reimburse the original purchaser for the parts that would be reused during the refurb, sort of like a core charge when you bring back your old starter motor. I would also guess that someone somewhere also is making the call that if the time and material to refurbish a system if going to be more then what they can resell the refurbish for, it will still be tossed in a landfill.