Top Apple Rumors, Bricks, Low Price, NVIDIA

Vigile writes "With the news that Apple will be releasing new MacBook products on October 14th, speculation has begun on what exactly those new products will be. Tips of a manufacturing process involving lasers and a single 'brick' of aluminum are catching on, as is the idea of a sub-$1000 netbook-type device. More interesting might be the persistent rumors of an NVIDIA chipset adoption that would drastically increase gaming ability, allow MacBooks to improve their support for OpenCL and take advantage of the new Adobe CS4 software with GPU acceleration. Will NVIDIA's ailing chipset business get a shot in the arm next week?"

Comments

Mac vs. PC vs. Xbox 360 vs. PS3

[tepples]

God knows that gaming graphics is the only reason left why I'm still hanging on to the PC platform...

Are first-person shooters and indie games the only reason left why you haven't already moved to the Xbox 360 or PS3 platform?

Re:Mac vs. PC vs. Xbox 360 vs. PS3

[Synn]

I own a PS3 and I still prefer PCs for shooters and gaming. I just like the interface better.

Though maybe that would change if I just forced myself to play them on consoles more.

Re:If they sell a laptop for $800...

[pete-classic]

All I want for Christmas is a Mini with a Blu-ray drive. An integrated screen is a detriment to an HTPC.

-Peter

Shot in the arm?

[ArhcAngel]

" Will NVIDIA's ailing chipset business get a shot in the arm next week?"

They'll need it since they just got a swift kick in the a@@

Re:Hooray for NVIDIA

[spazdor]

For the love of God, man, use a comma!

Re:If they sell a laptop for $800...

[TheRaven64]

Apple's laptop sales passed their desktop sales over two years ago. They cater for the 'you can't squeeze as much power as I need into a laptop' market with the Mac Pro. The Mac Mini is for the 'I can't afford a laptop' market, and this is growing steadily smaller. I wouldn't be surprised to see the AppleTV and Mac Mini product lines converge - a small box running OS X under the hood, but only exposing Safari, iPhoto and iTunes at the UI, with the ability to rip CDs, and maybe DVDs too. The only question is whether it would run x86 or ARM. The newer OMAP chips can decode H.264 in realtime, and are a lot cheaper than anything Intel has on offer.

Re:If they sell a laptop for $800...

[pete-classic]

I really like having a general purpose computer hooked up to my TV.

You know you can't add codecs to an AppleTV without voiding the warranty, right? And it doesn't have the horsepower to decode anything good in software anyway. Blech.

Seems way more important than the color to me. But if you're really hung up on it, buy a skin: http://www.skinit.com/devices/miscellaneous/apple_miscellaneous (You can do "custom" and select all black.)

-Peter

Stamping, drawing, etc.

[Animats]

Right. Nobody makes mass-produced items by machining them out of solid metal. It's too slow, and you waste too much metal. That's what die-casting, drawing, and stamping are for. Laptop cases are thin enough that die-casting is probably overkill. Drawing or stamping is more likely, followed by a punching step. There might be a role for a laser if very small holes have to be made or some surface engraving is desired.

The NextCube case was a magnesium casting, which was sort of silly for a desktop device.

A cute idea for the case modding crowd would be industrial origami. This little-known technology works much better than you'd expect. It's a fun experience to take a flat, prepunched plate and hand-fold it into an electrical outlet box.

Re:Ick... BLOB

[not already in use]

Yeah, it will totally suck to have your graphics hardware properly supported under Linux. Considering you're dual booting Linux along side one of the most locked-down proprietary consumer platforms available while at the same time complaining about a binary driver on the Linux side is.... Ironic.