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What To Expect From Apple's Rumored MacPad
Jeff writes "I decided to review the specifications of recent e-readers and mobile devices as well as the ongoing Apple rumor mill to chart out the most likely features, innovations and configuration we can expect from Apple's long awaited Newton successor/Mac Tablet which I'll call the MacPad. The MacPad will arrive in fall '09 or Jan '10, with a 10" diagonal color display, a $599 price point with a Verizon data plan, a stylus, note taking application and handwriting recognition and an e-bookstore for iTunes. Apple's biggest challenge will be convincing its huge installed base of iPhone owners that they need a MacPad too. Past failed Newtonian predictions by others are available on Slashdot and the likelihood that any of this is right can be gauged by earlier Confucian gems such as Haskin warns that Apple may be setting itself up for a failure with the iPhone."
64-128 GB of RAM?! heck, i'd buy it, rip the ram modules and throw that thing away.
Really, the gem of this is referring to how previous rumor based stories that sided negative were wrong.. If you ignore the fact that the entire idea of this story is cobbled together from fairy dust and wishes.
I love my mac but.. in the words of William Shatner, get a life!
Apple's biggest challenge will be convincing its huge installed base of iPhone owners that they need a MacPad too.
How about making the iPhone and MacPad dependent and lock out any 3rd party looking for some interoperability? Seems to have worked for Apple in the past.
that sounds like a nice device. :)
hackable to run linux, or locked down do you think?
my liqbase should be ready by then too.
liqbase
Personally I think Newton's zombie would be a great name for a MacPad. iZombie.
Plus it'd be a clean, sterile looking zombie, none of this blood, dirt and torn clothes. A MetroZombie.
Task Mangler
That sound almost nothing like what Gizmodo is reporting: "It'll land in October, to be exact, when we should expect to pay around $800 for it."
When "a price of $599" doesn't sound intellectual enough, call it a price point and suddenly you sound like an expert.
"A week in the lab saves an hour in the library"
Tomorrow's headline will no doubt read, "First 'Behind the Stick' Review of Production Model Flying Car!" What the hey, here's a quote from the article that's not yet been written; "The SuperFlyer 6000 rides smooth as silk and corners like it's on rails. At 144 miles per gallon, you couldn't ask for more, save for the stereo which is a little bit lacking with it's 5.1 surround (we'd prefer 7.1)."
It won't arrive where I live then. And where Verizon is there Kindle already. I might not like Kindle but it is hugely successful where you can actually buy it. So I don't think that would be a good move.
I would prefer the device to be a little thicker with a slide out keyboard. Requiring Bluetooth for a keyboard makes my laptop more convenient.
So, a product that's never been announced and only ever carried by the rumours that "it'd be really cool if Apple did, like, a tablet, you know!" is being discussed.
There is no substance at all, no "there" there. How can anyone seriously discuss what to expect from a product that has no information whatsoever about it? It's just all circle-jerk stuff, the sort of stuff kids fantasise about but has no connection to reality.
(sigh) I love talking tech as much as anyone, but can we at least try to stay grounded in reality?
Hell, it's just as likely to hover 14 cm above a solid surface, have a voxel-based GPU, holographic memory unit all powered by a microtok generator. Why not just make shit up? The UI will be based on the user's thoughts, but will react before the user knows they're thinking about an action because that's how cool it'll probably be, maybe.
Yup. News for nerds. Making shit up. So what does The Onion do for stories these days if Slashdot is going to nick the good ones?
My gf works in the publishing industry and her superiors have said they've seen the prototypes for an Apple tablet/e-Reader... Something like this IS coming... It's only a matter of when.
A black hole is where God divided by 0
If Apple can come up with a stripped down iPhone that:
kept the same screen size
had robust Exchange connectivity
had an integrated GPS
had decent battery life
I'd switch back to Verizon, especially if it was a world phone. I'd even pay a premium for teh GSM side to be unlocked.
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
How are these far-fetched predictions any different than the many that were made for the iPhone and iPod before it?
I hate to argue about the "slashdottedness" of a post, but I don't see how this belongs here. This kind of conversation is more appropriate in MacRumors or sites like it...
http://www.theonion.com/content/video/apple_introduces_revolutionary
AT&ROFLMAO
I know, I know, it's just a (repeated) typo. But to consistently assign products 64-128 GB of RAM...it doesn't really inspire confidence in me as to the accuracy of the rest of the article...
Physicist, consultant, science communicator
It will absolutely fail in Apple's user base. The only two groups that will shell out for it are the people who don't have iPhones and the fanbois who would buy a service plan with every single mobile provider if Apple released an exclusive product through each one.
will never be realized.
WHY OH APPLE OVERLORDS do you feel the need to cock-tease us with these wonderful little devices (like the iPhone) and then cock-block us into contracts, limited wifi usage, your set of pre-approved applications, etc.
Apple, you used to be cool.
I'm done with your fascist ways, I'm buying Windoze!!
You are aware that the iPhone is $699? The mini is a totally different kind of machine. It has no screen (one of the most expensive components), and has much more space than this does to fit bits in. $599 actually sounds rather low to me.
> What To Expect From Apple's Rumored MacPad
Rumors?
It's called survival of the fittest. Darwin Awards.
and wants his Mac tablet. He said to pick it up after the Forever release party, and just before Microsoft releases BobLive.
-- $G
The MacPad will arrive in fall '09 or Jan '10, with a 10" diagonal color display, a $599 price point with a Verizon data plan, a stylus, note taking application and handwriting recognition and an e-bookstore for iTunes.
Ok, if this is all true (which I really haven't seen that any of it is) I can't see this being a success for Apple. First, $599 for it? Honestly you can get full laptops cheaper than that with data. Second, a stylus with all the multi-touch from the iPhone? Third Verizon(!)(?) they make AT&T look great in comparison.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
If $599 is low or high depends on the attached plan - or the lack of one. Here in Europe companies now have to quote the "no strings attached" price of any mobile device alongside. But seems it's not the case in the states.
This "let's make shit up and pretend like it is real," stuff annoys me. There is no basis to any of this.
What's more, I find it rather unlikely Apple is going to try for a PDA type device. Why? As mentioned, the iPhone. If you do some shopping around these days you discover that dedicated PDAs, as in devices that aren't part of a phone, are rather rare. You can get them, of course, but there aren't so many out there. Why's that? Well most people don't want to carry another device with them. They are all about minimal amount of crap to carry around.
Phone PDAs, well those are all the rage. These days it seems that providers have almost as many smart phones as normal phones. People love the idea. You get all your PDA features, in a slightly larger phone. Only one device to carry.
I know it is certianly that way for me. A number of years ago our boss got us PDAs. There was some deal that he was able to get them cheap so he figured "Why not?" Well, they never really got used. Even he wasn't all that keen on carrying an extra device. However we now all have smartphones, and we all love them. Ya they are a little larger than a plain cell, but not much and you get all the PDA features AND all the phone features.
So it would be rather retarded for Apple to try and enter the PDA market, because there really isn't one. They already are doing great in the smartphone market, that is probably where they'll stay. I just don't see PDAs making a resurgence, ever.
Now they might try a tablet PC or something, there is a small market for those. However it won't be a $500 device, that's for sure. Tablet PCs are, as the name implies, PCs you can write on as in full featured laptop hardware. Means from Apple you are talking $1000+.
"Because Apple will adopt touch screen technology on its netbooks, Apple will not target low-end consumers, avoiding direct competition with Acer, Asus, as well as their less-than-500-dollars netbooks. Apple's netbook (or a "tablet" as many call it,) will probably be sold at around $800 USD each."
OP is clueless to apple's business strategies and Apple is much more likely to subsidize through AT&T
Sounds like a nice prediction (not saying anything about its accuracy), but as someone who recently purchased an ebook reader, I don't think I could ever go back to anything but an e-ink screen for long-term reading (though we'll have to see how the Pixel Qi screens are). Being able to read 3 or 4 books without having to think about plugging the device in to recharge is a godsend!
This guy's the limit!
I don't know about the rest of the specs, but the stylus seems really, really unlikely. Apple is all about touch these days, and especially if this thing is running a variant of iPhoneOS rather than Mac OS X, it'll need multitouch input with fingers to work well. Plus, a stylus-using screen is just too TabletPC-like (i.e. Microsoft's big idea from 2001), and can you imagine Apple coming out with a device that will invite comparisons to the ModBook (i.e. someone else's design from 2007)? That would smack of playing "catch up" and introducing a "me too" product. Does that sound like Apple?
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
(Mostly replying to the ending sentence of the post)
Unless Apple really has a complete QA failure with a future OS upgrade or new device release, they will remain in front of the other device manufacturers for a very long time. They will be free to pick-and-choose which interesting & successful bits they steal and then super-engineer/implement from Android, Palm, Microsoft, etc and continue their lead.
I'm still convinced these netbook/tablet rumors are just that - rumors.
Mind the gap...
I agree with the "Hey! Let's just make Shit up" poster.
How exactly is this newsworthy?
Come on, Slashdot. I like apple as much as the next guy, but this is just pointless.
[ credits to Rik Myslewski at the register]:
* eWEEK, November 2002, "Waiting for the Mac Tablet": ... revealed.
"It's my strong belief - let's call it a hunch - that prototype Mac tablets are already making the rounds among select developers."
* Engadget, May 2005, "Apple's patented the Tablet Mac"
"[Tablet-Mac rumors] became substantiated today when Apple's secret plans for a tablet PC were
* CutMeLoose.com, May 2005, "Apple Tablet PC sightings"
"I have no less than 5 sources saying an Apple Tablet announcement is due soon."
* Cnet UK, November 2007, "Apple Tablet PC is real, says Asus"
"You can bet your bottom dollar [a tablet Mac] is being built as you read this."
* Mac|Life, January 2008, "The Apple Tablet Mac: 8 Reasons It's Gonna Happen"
"The tablet rumor has been around for the last couple years, but now, all the ducks are in a row."
* ZDNet, May 2008, "Tablet Mac coming this fall"
"A little birdy tells me that Apple will announce a 12 or 13-inch tablet in the fall of this year."
* Wired, July 2008, "Apple to Launch MacBook Touch?"
"The blogosphere is aflutter with rumors of a touchscreen Mac tablet."
* Industry Standard, December 2008, "Apple announces Mac tablet at Macworld 2009?"
"Could this 6 year old rumor finally come true?"
Well then, Darwin was wrong because she survived, and her parents will likely get a nice settlement from the city. It's unfair that stupidity and a penchant for lawsuits combine to reward people and stuff the wallets of lawyers. My parents would have laughed at me for being stupid enough to text while walking in the street and not looking where I was going. Now, had she been substantially injured, sue away...
...as an iPhone user married to AT&T, if I want one of these I have to sign up with Verizon as well? I thought polygamy was illegal?
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Remember when computers didn't have monthly data plans? I would rather save $ and just mooch off free wi-fi.
That post is far more informative than the "let's make stuff up" article that Taco posted.
This guy's the limit!
Why not just be done with it and become a Apple Fanboi site?
The Mac Pad has some possibility to be real simply because you would have to be blind to not see that the end of the Macintosh as a basic consumer device is coming. Anyone that went to WWDC can tell you the focus was entirely on iPhone OS.
The Macintosh will still be around as high end media creation devices and servers. Think of iPhone, Touch and potential MacPad or new consumer devices as media consumption devices. They will have basic editing ability (see iLife and iWork) but that's it. Who really needs a quad quad xenon to play MP3s and watch videos. Also look at the game market on iPhone OS. That's where the money is and that's where Apple is going.
Slow news day, huh?
http://gizmodo.com/363137/axiotron-modbook-review-verdict-a-touchscreen-macbook-done-right
Take the last generation of mini, swap the C2D with an Atom and you've got the Dell Mini.
That's why Dell Mini's are used as Hackintoshes.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
why is DRM in the keywords? itunes music store got rid of their drm
When I read the linked Slashdot thread on the iPhone, I was pleasantly surprised to find that almost all high-scoring posts were in fact reasonable and ultimately proved to be correct. Sort of restores my faith in Slashdot.
"Apple's biggest challenge will be convincing its huge installed base of iPhone owners that they need a MacPad too. "
What? No.
First of all, if this "MacPad" exists it is not going to be targetted at existing iPhone customers. It will be targetted at existing Mac users and PC users. From what I'm hearing this thing more akin to a mobile PC than a Netbook-ified cell phone. You're not going to convince many users of the expensive but very functional iPhone that they need yet another mobile device. So, yes, in a way, this would be a challenge, such a big one, in fact, that it would make no sense to try to do it.
No physical keyboard. A pad, not a book. Apple has DynaBook and Knowledge Navigator in its blood, remember. Thickness of an iPhone. Beefed up iPhone OS, not a slimmed down OSX. Support for a Bluetooth keyboard. Support for Bluetooth mouse. Support for stylus. Finger and stylus can use "Ink" technology to write on screen. Possible 3G card. Voice I/O enhanced from 3GS version.
I can see Apple selling a separate Bluetooth keyboard that can clip to the NetPad, making it look like a closed NetBook, protecting screen and keys. Possible removable hinge arrangement to allow for those who insist on a "book".
The proper price is $499 without optional keyboard or 3G card. But this is Apple. I hope for $599.
There is something called NetPad already. But there was something called iPhone already too.
Mike from www.myallo.com/blog
A price that's so high only Apple lovers will pay (again and again) for the privilege of using it.
First thing's first. $599 for anything from Apple is a virtual impossibility. You can't buff that shine into something for less than $599, never mind add a bunch of electronics and usability into it.
Second thing, why not just make an iPhone with an enlargeable screen? Wouldn't that be the killer product? LCDs can be practically paper-thin...allow the iPhone's screen to expand to laptop-size. Or better, allow a laptop screen to expand to monitor size so you can actually sit around one with your friends/colleagues at a patio/conference table.
Do I have to do all the thinking here, people!
So Darwin was wrong because you assume that fittest means smartest? In that case you're not very fit yourself.
I am the lawn!
It will come with an installed copy of Duke Nukem Forever. And a pony.
I would expect Apple fans to proclaim it to be the most innovative and awesome thing ever, even though there is nothing new in the concept and it will probably be more restrictive in what you can do with it than a rented etch-a-sketch. Still, I would expect it to be a raging success, as no other company has as rabid a fan-base that will buy anything Apple throws at them without complaining and will even infect others who should know better to buy them as well. Hell, not proud of it, but I own two ipods, iPhone and a Mac, and I'll probably buy one of theses because while there is nothing new here, no one has been able to successfully produce anything like it on mass scale (again, see rabid fan-base), which I expect will pretty much make them the only game in town. Funny how that turns out.
I am still holding out hope for the CrunchPad. C'mon, the netbooks are now under $200, touchscreen film for that size is about $20 - why has not one of the netbook manufacturers thought of combining the two (there are plenty of hacks online for this) into a tablet only case (not those annoying and expensive turn and flip things?). I bet they just do not think they can sell enough of those. Watch Apple prove them wrong.
-Em
RelevantElephants: A Somatic WebComic...
I do wonder about this. Microsoft seems determined to try to destroy the 12 inch netbook market, but the fact that they are trying to do that shows that the market wants 12 inch screens. Apple has an opportunity. A 12 inch screen is not far off US letter size, but also the additional surface area allows the incorporation of a much bigger battery and passive cooling. The Macbook Air has a screen 1 inch larger than the mainstream thin and light notebooks, and the extra space would prevent any cannibalisation of the Apple handheld markets. The Macbook Air also hasn't been very successful - too many compromises. A replacement which was smaller, lighter, cheaper and had working handwriting recognition (and perhaps a good onscreen keyboard) in a portrait format would be perhaps sufficiently different from the mainstream, while being genuinely useful.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
Screw the MacPad. Give me a Crunchpad
Read what I mean, not what I wrote.
you would have to be blind to not see that the end of the Macintosh as a basic consumer device is coming. [...] look at the game market on iPhone OS. That's where the money is and that's where Apple is going.
If Apple discontinues the Mac mini and the iMac, what will people use to make games for iPod Touch so that Apple can get its 30 percent rake from the App Store?
It will cost far too much, do not nearly enough, be "stylish" to some and "boring" to others... And even should 1 in 10 of them explode, the serious mac fans will drool over them and spend far too many hours trying to convince everybody else that they are subhuman trash for not taking apple marketing as the holy gospel.
imagine a Beowulf cluster of these! go ahead.. mod me down.. :(
Stylus?!? Are you (*&#)(*&)R**&)(^!!! kidding me?
Am I the only person in the world that is disgusted by the fact that the first and so far *only* consumer device that has a multi-touch interface also has a 3" screen? When the iPhone came out I figured that it would only be a matter of time before Apple announced a multi-touch MacBook and anything less than $5000 and I'm soooo buying it....but...no. Multi-touch on the iPhone is retarded. You can use all of one real multi-touch gesture on it, the zoom, and that could have been easily accomplished with no degrading usability in a single-touch gesture or a button. For multi-touch to really affect how we use a computer, we gotta have some real estate! Give me multi-touch on a 17" screen! NOW!
Apple would not easily abandon tens of millions of AT&T subscribers who own iPhones by forcing them to spend another $100 a month with a new carrier. Would they?
and then the ChromePad by Google and the LinPad by Linux companies.
Might as well cover all the bases here.
Let me see how this plays out for a business plan.
#1 Create BS story about Apple technology to make the Slashdot front page.
#2 ?
#3 Profit!
It seems to follow an Underpants Gnomes Business Model there.
If Apple already has a deal with AT&T for the iPhone, why make a deal with Verizon for the MacPad? It seems like Apple and AT&T can bundle iPhone and MacPad service in one bill to save the customer money.
Why would Apple make a MacPad that costs less than a MacBook with almost the same technology? Why not lower the price of a MacBook and then include a mobile wireless modem in it with a wireless plan to cut down on the costs because buying the MacBook bundle will lower the cost of the MacBook and then make up the difference via the Internet service plan.
Also what if Apple calls it the iPad or something else?
Also what if Apple bought 10 inch screens for a 10 inch MacBook instead of a MacPad?
Also what if Apple hired a handwriting expert to improve the Mac OSX Inkwell program instead of creating a MacPad?
Remember, Slashdot does not have a -1 disagree moderation, and no, troll, flamebait, and overrated are not substitutes.
I think Apple would be stupid not to be working on a larger variant of the iPod Touch / iPhone as it's been on the request list of so many people for so long. I'd be waiting in line for it even if it's no more powerful than the existing iPhone but had a bigger screen (paperback sized would be about right). I already use my iPod Touch as a portable computer (but not really as a media player) and my only big wishes are to need to scroll less and have all my keys available at once on my virtual keyboard. (Bluetooth keyboard/mouse would be good too.) My wife would want one immediately too as she is torn between carrying on iPhone or a netbook for keeping track of her daily tasks, checkbook, contacts, etc.
This is a rumor that if it isn't true yet it will be. There is just a world of demand for this product.
At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.
this thing (assuming it existed) would most likely run OS X...
Because it will do more. I am typing this on a MacBook Pro I'm thinking about installing Ubuntu Studio on. If I do I will be able to run software on it I haven't been able to run on it yet.
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
of OS X:
X11
kde
e17
For everything else there's fink and darwin ports.
I've got X11 installed and tried to install CinePaint and Fink but couldn't get either one to run. I could try MacPorts but it doesn't have CinePaint. So I've been thinking of installing Ubuntu Studio.
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
I think his point is that MacPorts covers 99% of the Linux/Unix workalike software out there.
MacPorts does not support CinePaint.
Sure there is a lot of Linux only stuff - but typically only because the project is still in alpha and hasn't taken off yet.
I heard about MacPorts 5 years ago. If it's not out of alpha it's never be out of beta.
Given that, the drivers for the hardware on the device are not likley to be supported by Linux for some time after it's release...
I have been investigating installing Ubuntu on my Mac for months. Because CinePaint was dropped from Ubuntu I've been thinking of installing Ubuntu Studio, which does include CinePaint, and I have not found one deal breaker. Ubuntu Forums has a number of posts on how to install Ubuntu on Macs such as this one, "Macbook Pro- Santa Rosa", which is what my Mac's version.
Nothing but ego apparently.
Ego has nothing to do with it. I'd rather try the free CinePaint to edit my photographs than spend several hundred dollars I don't have to buy Photoshop.
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
Free and open should naturally be the fundamental ground which any software stands on, even if it's proprietary or not.
If Photoshop were free and open source how would Adobe make enough money to pay the programmers? Sure there's GIMP, but they've been promising 16 bit colour channels for 10 years but it still only works with 8 bits per colour channel. And it needs a plug-in for CMYK support, which print artists need. Photoshop has CMYK built in and supports 32 bits, even 36 bits, per colour channel. I'd love it if GIMP had the capabilities of Photoshop but while it does fine for amateur and web artists it doesn't work so well for print photographers.
to you iTunes and iPod together makes perfect sense. To me it's a horrible lock down that serves only the interest of Apple, not the consumer.
Where is the lock-in for iTunes and the iPod? I don't own an iPod, or any other mpg3 player, the last portable player I bought was a Sony Walkman CD player I bought about 10 years ago. And though my Mac came with iTunes installed, I can use it or another player. If I want I can rip all of my music CDs with iTunes or another ripper and play the songs on an iPod or any other mpg3 player. Quite simply there is no lock-in for either iPods or iTunes.
If Apple tries to sell it with "loss" just to collect the rest of the revenue through iTunes store then the iPod is in a way on lease.
Apple does not require iPod owners to buy from the iTunes store. Actually the iTunes software makes it easy to rip CDs, CDa Apple does not sell, and then play the songs on Macs or Windows PC. Or the songs can be transfered to any mpg3 player. Again there is not lock-in.
If I buy an iPod bundled with iTunes and Apple actively support third party developers to create new or improved ways to use my device then I consider it a fair deal. The sad truth is however that Apple does everything to prevent this.
Are you for real? Or just spreading FUD? Fact is is Apple has a community and encourages iTunes developers. Though I am not now I have been a member of the Apple Developer Connection previously. Apple doesn't prevent or try to stop users from downloading media files from Amazon either.
Falcon
Oh, I like both Macs and open source
Should there be a Law?
If iTunes is such a great application, how come it isn't a choice?
iTunes is a choice. It does not come preinstalled on any Windows PCs so if Windows users wants to use they have to download and install it, and millions have exercised that choice. It's a choice on Macs too. Yes it is preinstalled on Macs however when I upgraded from Tiger and installed Leopard I didn't have to install iTunes. I did on the primary drive in my Mac but I also created a bootable USB Flash drive, in case of emergencies, without it. And if I want to play my music CDs on my Mac I do not have to use iTunes either. Audacity is an open source audio editing software that runs on Linux, OS X, and Windows.
So can you explain where the lock-in occurs? Or are you spreading FUD?
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
MacOS is a pig and it's performance kind of sucks.
Where's your evidence? I'll make it easy and ask for evidence not proof.
Driver support is inferior.
Again, do you have evidence? I have a number of USB and Firewire devices attached to my Mac and I have not had a problem with any of them. However there are known issues with installing and using Ubuntu on my MacBook Pro. I know because I've been researching how to install it on my Mac.
Support for random data formats is inferior.
What?
A special app with exclusionary encryption is really more trouble than it's worth.
That depends but it can happen on any computer running any OS. It is not exclusive to Macs running OS X. Heck there are proprietary formats that will not play legally on Linux. Jon Lech Johansen raised a stink when he released DeCSS so Linux PCs could play movie DVDs.
Almost every thing you said was FUD.
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
For a moment there I almost thought Raskin came back from the grave to criticize the iPhone.
I think Apple would be stupid not to be working on a larger variant of the iPod Touch / iPhone as it's been on the request list of so many people for so long.
The same could be said of a cheap expandable Mac tower. I don't know how many tymes others have said they'd buy a Mac if one was offered.
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
I would expect it to be a raging success, as no other company has as rabid a fan-base that will buy anything Apple throws at them without complaining and will even infect others who should know better to buy them as well.
That sounds just like some Linux and Windows fans. Apple has no lock on rabid fans. "Remember when Kurt Cobain died? Copy-cat suicides the whole works...will this happen with MJ fans too we shall see."
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
If Apple were to make the Mac Pro a requirement for developing apps for the App Store, then the App Store would stagnate.
For free unix-like systems, Debian and NetBSD come to mind.
And can I install a modern version of either one on my Alpha though? Or would I have to search high and low for an older version?
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
Troll! Troll! Troll!
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
Cheap is different. Cheap and good don't always go together. I owned a few cheap Mac clones and they pretty much always sucked compared to a real Mac. They were cheaper but they lacked the quality of an Apple product.
I do think Apple can do a netbook cheaper than the Air but I don't think it'd be $300. A sub-$1000 product that hits a sweet spot between an iPod Touch and a netbook though could be really nice. People looking for cheap wouldn't want it though.
The "I'm a PC." ads from Microsoft are true. You can buy a bulky, ugly, low quality PC for less than you can buy an Apple product. You get what you pay for. A Ford Focus essentially does what a BMW does but it doesn't look as nice, run as well, or last as long. I do think Apple should license other companies to produce compatible, if crappy, clones. Sometimes crap is all you need. They just don't want to tarnish their brand selling crap themselves.
At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.