MacBook Pro Specs Leaked, iPad Event March 2

Stoobalou updates us on the various Apple rumors, saying, "Snaps of Apple's imminent update to the MacBook Pro range have been leaked, confirming most of the rumors doing the rounds." Light Peak looks like it will be called Thunderbolt. The 13" will feature 2.3ghz Dual Core i5s and 4 gigs of RAM. In addition to the MacBook Pro rumors, the iPad update rumors have been confirmed, with invitations going out to the formal announcement on March 2.

Comments

hmm

[rainmouse]

It seems everything Apple is working on is leaked and it really is becomming a tiresome marketting ploy, perhaps moreso because it seems to work.

Re:hmm

[Anonymous Coward]

But...but...I need to know about everything Apple!!!

Oooooh. I just heard that Steve Jobs had a bowel movement! zOMG!!!!!1111eleventyone

Re:hmm

[Anonymous Coward]

I bet it's some marketing ploy from Apple also when we have photos of sick Steve Jobs in front of a cancer treatment facility.

It's also a marketing ploy when all the news site can't shut up about a smaller 6 inch iPad, and a "cloud iPhone that's half the size of iPhone" knowing full well it's bullshit.

And it's marketing ploy when random outlets report that iPad 2 will be late for months because of production issues.

Or maybe it's just that everyone can't stop reading about Apple, and therefore there's huge pressure for a leak to occur.

The reason leaks don't occur in Oracle or Computer Associates is, no one gives a damn. And leaks do occur at Microsoft and Adobe too, but again, no one gives a damn.

Re:hmm

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

But...but...I need to know about everything Apple!!!

Oooooh. I just heard that Steve Jobs had a bowel movement! zOMG!!!!!1111eleventyone

I'm so sick of the Apple news posted around here! So I'm gonna keep bitching about it over and over again on every Apple thread so this ad supported site knows just how annoyed I am! When Apple stories often reach 200+ comments, they'll surely back down one day!

Re:hmm

[wandazulu]

What's interesting is that it seems Apple's product announcements are the only remaining tech that gets everyone talking, whether pro or against, people do talk about it. Dell might have released half a dozen new systems last week, but who'd know? I was in a tmobile store the other day and saw a number of Android-based handsets that I hadn't heard of. And even though I consider myself a geek, I have very little idea what the Xoom is, other than a Motorola tablet, and more to the point, why should I care?

I'm not saying that we should care about Apple product announcements, but Apple seems to be the only ones who can generate any significant buzz about whatever it is they're announcing.

Re:hmm

[Dzimas]

Apple's marketing strategy is brilliant. Unlike other companies, they don't release products with incomprehensible names like the KDH-4001. They don't have to address a myriad of OS compatibility issues (for example, A4-based devices are eligible for iOS updates, the older ones aren't). They have streamlined product lines -- one iPad, one iPod Touch, one Apple TV. By reducing choice, they reduce buyer confusion and uncertainty. A side-effect of this zen marketing approach is that it's easy for the press to write about their products. When a new iPad is introduced, we know ahead of time what to expect, with the addition of a few easy-to-explain doodads (camera! Another camera! Faster! Thinner!). That makes for good copy and makes technophobic users feel somewhat comfortable.

Re:hmm

[JustinOpinion]

I'm not saying that we should care about Apple product announcements, but Apple seems to be the only ones who can generate any significant buzz about whatever it is they're announcing.

The hype can get out of hand, but I think Apple more or less earns this exposure. The reason is Apple is one of the only companies that really puts effort into design.

Now, I say this despite not being much of a consumer of Apple products. My desktops (work and home) run Linux, though my laptop is a (4-year-old) Macbook Pro. But even though I have many reasons I don't like Apple products (lockin, etc.), I recognize the serious effort and skill they put into designing not just a product, but a successful user experience.

One of the reasons journalists and bloggers and design professionals and design enthusiasts all watch Apple closely is that they are one of the only companies that actually carries a design through to its full conclusion. Other manufacturers can, and do, come up with innovative ideas and the beginnings of a good design, but they all ultimately compromise on that design (usually for money). Think of something as simple as putting all those "Optimized for Windows" and "Intel inside" stickers on a laptop: I suspect those were not there in the original artist renderings; they are a corruption of the design. The crapware that is loaded is another corruption. Trying to get the price down to competitive levels requires all kinds of compromises in terms of build details, quality, etc. Edges don't meet quite flush because of some engineering or price constraint (not because it makes the device more pleasing to the user). UI elements are not very responsive because it would have taken too long to optimize that code. They don't worry about there being a subtle (but satisfying) 'click' when plugging-in a cable. And so on. (Note that I'm using "design" as shorthand for "design of the user experience"... obviously these companies have successfully engineered/designed products for a certain constraint-set.)

Apple makes its fair share of gaffes, and it's not obvious that all of their design choices are worth the premium costs. (Again, I mostly don't buy their stuff.) But as far as test cases to ponder, their products are the best around. One can really evaluate the pros and cons of a touch interface now that Apple put serious effort into designing a UI that is touch-centric (previously most touch interfaces were either crappy overlays on top of mousing UI (e.g. Windows tablets) or just terrible to begin win (e.g. a kiosk touch-UI)...).

So, in short, by having a focused vision and seeing it through to the end, they create products that are not ugly mixtures of compromises (where when things don't work you're left wondering if it's because it was a bad idea or poorly executed); their products are consistent and cohesive (so that you can evaluate a given design choice, and copy/improve/ignore it as needed in designing other products). Even if you don't like (and don't buy) their stuff, it's worth watching what they produce.

Re:hmm

[michelcolman]

Oooooh. I just heard that Steve Jobs had a bowel movement! zOMG!!!!!1111eleventyone

That's GREAT news! I'm buying Apple stock right now.

Re:hmm

[ukyoCE]

Absolutely right.

One of the reasons is probably their comparatively sparse product lineup. I was looking at Sony Vaio laptops, recently, and they have a 10", 11", 12"... everything up to 17" laptops. Apple has 3, 13", 15", and 17". There are a hundred android handsets with every imaginable combination of hardware, but there only 2 iphones, the gsm and cdma ones. When apple changes their product lineup people know what product they're talking about even if they don't own one. It's not "the 12" version of the SXA laptop model", its just "the macbook".

They also (generally) maintain their price point across product revisions, so there's extra interest in when a new launch is going to arrive. Waiting a month might mean significant hardware improvements for the same cost. The Macbook Pro is still $1800, but now you get an extra 2gb of ram, an SSD, a newer CPU, new battery tech, and whatever else they toss in the new model. Or maybe it's a shrug of an upgrade, just a minor cpu update, and you'd rather go ahead and get one now than wait 3 months?

With so few product models and infrequent changes, it makes people more interested than they would otherwise be. Any tech company could probably do this. But they have to be willing to put in the legwork (ie: NDAs, lawyers, and paced product updates) to make it happen.

It's also worth noting how much more impact Apple's launches have when they aren't significantly leaked. That is Apple's goal (or at least Steve Jobs'), so I doubt they regularly leak details on purpose. Remember the bomb Apple dropped on Microsoft when they released updated iPods along with a price drop shortly before the Zune's launch? By keeping it secret up until launch they left Microsoft's head spinning. MS was caught competing with last year's model and prices, rushing to play catchup.

Re:hmm

[Sepultura]

Apple makes its fair share of gaffes, and it's not obvious that all of their design choices are worth the premium costs.

While I agree with much of what you say I have to ask: What "premium costs"?

Why are we still hearing this even though it's been shown for YEARS now to be a fallacy - ie. other manufacturers aren't significantly less expensive when comparing similarly spec'd hardware, and often have horrid designs to boot?

Re:hmm

[The End Of Days]

Why is it that you have to consider people idiots for not agreeing with your opinions? How is being a specwhore objectively smarter than liking clean design and a good experience?

Re:hmm

[Anonymous Coward]

Also, people are under the impression that increased cost means better performance. You can get a better equipped laptop for 500-1000 cheaper than Apple provides.

No, people are under the impression that increased cost means a better laptop, this doesn't necessarily mean better performance, and for the most part, they are right. It means a better sturdier case. It good performance but still 5 times the battery life of your $500 craptop. It means a trackpad that actually works. It means a keyboard you can type on comfortably for hours at a time. It means much quieter cooling than your $500 craptop. It means being thinner and more portable. It means looking good (yes, many people actually consider that valuable).

For the record – apple's laptops are around the $1000 mark, not the $2000 mark you seem to think they're at.

Re:hmm

[pandrijeczko]

How is being a specwhore objectively smarter than liking clean design and a good experience?

1. As long as a tool does the job that's required of it, why does it matter what colour it is?

2. A confident individual makes choices for their own benefit rather than to seek the approval or admiration of others.

3. As a techwhore, I know enough about Apple's products to realise they're not worth the money being asked for them, unless it was important to me that an electronic gadget needed to match the outfit I was wearing on that particular day. But I also know nothing about, say, cars, so if I was buying a car then I'd read up on them and go to a car expert friend for advice - therefore, someone buying an Apple gadget clearly has too much money and/or no friends to get advice from.

Re:hmm

[Anonymous Coward]

That makes total sense, if you're still living in 1995 and bitter about not being able to build your own clone.

In today's world, the iPad is somehow the cheapest game in town, the iPhone is competitively priced, and the computers are flying off the shelves because by now, everybody knows somebody who won't stop going on about how much easier his life got since he bought one. (I realize that the latter statement is one completely alien to the crowd here, as no /. would deign to waste his time on mere mortals. ;-)

Re:hmm

[PatHMV]

I can get a nominally better-equipped laptop for cheaper, but it doesn't actually perform better. I've never found a Windows-based laptop yet that doesn't take at LEAST 30 seconds to wake up from sleep or hibernation, and it's usually a minute or more (especially after a system gets gunked up with all the usual crappy drivers at auto start programs). My MacBook Pro wakes up in the time it takes me to type my password. As soon as the screen appears (which is immediately after typing my password), it's ready to use. This fact alone has saved me hours of annoyance in the past year I've had it.

Also on Windows machines, I've had plenty of problems with little glitches here and there, unexplained slowdowns, screen freezes, you name it. With the Mac, those problems have been drastically reduced. Yeah, the Windows machine specs out nicer, but that doesn't mean much outside of test-bed environments, looking at performance from a clean install on a pristine new computer.

Re:hmm

[Anonymous Coward]

1. Because each one of us a human, and colour and various other aesthetic properties matters to nearly all humans. It might be fashionable in some parts of geek culture to outwardly reject such things but I suspect those who do are doing so against their nature.

2. A confident indivual doesn't care what choices in computing devices others make. Not even enough to compose a post deriding those choices.

3. "Worth the money" is entirely subjective. I won't argue that I have too much money, but most all of my friends prefer some Apple product over its competitors. Either the phone or the music player or one of the laptops. We all do this not for the reasons you believe, but with our eyes wide open to know exactly what it is we are buying, from the processor to memory to storage to colour. It isn't that we want or need to spend money to impress anyone. Quite the contrary: if there were something better we would simply buy it.

But regardless, your concern over how we spend our money falls on deaf ears. We didn't ask you before we made it and we certainly won't start now.

Re:hmm

[vlm]

Isn't it odd how Japanese cars have just a few trim levels and no stand-alone options besides what you can get installed at the dealership? That /is/ very much like how Apple does things.

The "american car maker" way to sell electronics would be to sell the box for $100 and then mark up all the accessories, so the video cable and the gold plated cat seven ethernet cable each cost $75. Also they'd refuse to discuss prices and only talk how-much-a-month. And instead of spraying rustproofing they'd offer anti-virus installation. Actually that sounds very much like my last trip to Best Buy. Anyone know a good "Japanese style" place to buy electronics in the USA, other than apple?

Re:hmm

[adisakp]

“Make the impossible possible, the possible easy, and the easy elegant.”

Feldenkrais was talking about physical movement but Apple applies it to their UI, products, and marketing.

Re:hmm

[vlm]

Yeah, the Windows machine specs out nicer, but that doesn't mean much outside of test-bed environments, looking at performance from a clean install on a pristine new computer.

You cannot buy a pristine new windows laptop at this time. Only offered by Apple. Everything else is stuffed with bloatware by the manufacturer.

Re:hmm

[gstoddart]

Now the iPad update will probably have some feature that should have been released with the first generation but for whatever reason *cough* BUT TO MAKE PEOPLE BUY IT AGAIN *cough* was not included.

Ever read the "Mythical Man Month"? Nine women can't have a baby in a month, and you can't put every possible feature into a new product.

If every product waited to release until they could include all technologies it would ever have, well, we'd never actually see products due to all of the new stuff that gets built.

Like them or not, Apple releases a product that people are free to buy or not. And then, quite predictably, the ones that sell get near-annual refreshes to add features to them -- smaller, better, faster, more storage, touch screen. I've lost count of how many generations of each of the kinds of iPods there are.

And, really, Microsoft has been bragging about coming out with an iPad killer since about two weeks before the product launched. To the best of my knowledge, that doesn't exist yet.

At least Apple actually released something.

Re:hmm

[guruevi]

If you want a decent computer that you don't have to assemble yourself, you pretty much only have Apple left these days - they're about the same price as counterpart Dell's a little more expensive than the others but less bulky (Toshiba's power supplies are about as large as the laptop for example) and you won't gore yourself when attempting to replace user-serviceable parts (HP, Gateway). I only buy Apple at work even if it's for a Windows computer because of the cheap 3 year on-site service (compared to Dell or HP) and the generally good quality of products. I made the mistake once buying HP for cheap and I had to buy my own video cards because they didn't come with one (why'd you sell a desktop without even an on-board video card is beyond me).

Re:hmm

[Samalie]

Actually, the comment by parent (somewhat) stands.

Yes, Apple will cost more than a similarly equipped PC.

On the ultra-low end...well, Apple doesn't have an "Ultra-low end" - so you can get a $400 PC vs a $1000 MacBook, and you scream "Look! CHEAPER!" - but the included parts in the PC are all, well, cheaper too. The plastic is cheaper, the screen is cheaper, just about everything is cheaper. THe PC will be loaded with bloatware and a ton of Intel Inside and other such design sticker bullshit. The body will be plastic, not Aluminum. The list goes on and on.

On the ultra-high end...without going to an OEM type build, I ran a fully equipped MBP vs everyone else's web stores when last year's MBP refresh hit. Apple came out $250 more than a similarly equipped Dell, and actually $23 LESS than a similarly equipped HP. (Granted, these are webstore prices and not Amazon/Newegg/etc which I know are better...but doing a direct-from-manufacturer compare here). Add in the fact that there is percisely NO bloatware on an Apple, no stickers, no other cost-cutting-for-PC-maker bullshit, and well...the Apple isn't that bloated price-wise. Throw in an Apple student discount (which is SO ungodly easy to get it may as well be available to everyone) and well...the build quality of the Apple makes up for the 10% or less increased cost.

Sure...you will ALWAYS be able to buy a cheapass PC, and said Cheapass PC will always be cheaper than the lowest of Apple's offerings. But for some of us quality is as important as the specifications, and no $400 Craptop will ever compare to the quality behind an Apple build. Period.

Re:hmm

[BlueStraggler]

3. As a techwhore, I know enough about Apple's products to realise they're not worth the money being asked for them, unless it was important to me that an electronic gadget needed to match the outfit I was wearing on that particular day.

You're obviously trolling, but seriously, where does this idiotic meme come from? Macbooks are white or unpainted. Meanwhile, over at Sony, the Vaio Fall Collection (this is no joke) are available in black, gold, glossy carbon, bordeaux red, sangria red, striped, wavy black, wavy white, arabesque black, arabesque gold, crocodile black, and crocodile pink. FUCKING. CROCODILE. PINK. So you're clearly an asshat who doesn't know the first thing about accessorizing your computer to your wardrobe, since you should obviously be running Win7 if you have to match your PC to your boots. And by the way, you'll pay as much or more for a Vaio as you will for a Macbook.

Re:hmm

[BitZtream]

Oh, and if the Apple branding on your devices isn't important, then how about scratching off the little Apple logos on each one then?

Seriously?

Why don't you modify your bios logo? Why don't you change all the kernel text to remove Linux from it so is unrecognized able? Did you remove the manufacture logo and identifying marks from your car?

You don't 'scratch off the little Apple logos' because theres no reason too, and the idea that you would bother doing such a thing shows that you're really the one concerned with logos.

Your sig gives a clear warning that your posts are from an irrational Apple hater. I realize you probably think you're being witty and showing us how smart you are, but it doesn't. It just shows your more concerned with raging against the machine than doing anything practical. Basically it lets us know your opinion doesn't really matter unless you're trying to compare your differing levels of douchebaggery.

Re:hmm

[jjohnson]

You can get the same user experience and clean design out of an HP with an aluminum chassis with Ubuntu installed.

Bwahahahah! Okay, now I know you're a troll. The user experience of OS X vs. Ubuntu is like comparing a professional massage to a kick in the nuts. The aluminum case on the MacBook is just icing on an already delicious cake.

And yes, I've used a variety of linuxes (and Windows) boxes for my main workday computers. As someone who's actually worked hard with all three, my MacBook wins hands down for the nebulous but real quality of "best user experience."

Re:hmm

[Fulcrum of Evil]

the hardware lasts for years and the overall experience is leagues better than windows. If you don't care, that's fine, I'll just keep buying what I like.

Re:hmm

[tsa]

Man all those people complaining about Apple news annoy the hell out of me. I will call them names and in that way display my superiority.

Re:hmm

[MoonBuggy]

...and you won't gore yourself when attempting to replace user-serviceable parts...

Although, having done Apple repairs for a while, I can tell you that parts considered non-user serviceable (which used to include the hard drive in iMacs, don't know if it still does) are often hidden behind a matrix of bear traps and razor blades.

Re:hmm

[gstoddart]

Another reason people are so obsessed with them is that they have made themselves become status symbols by their cost and appearance. If you fork out 2000 for a laptop people look at you like you have money. Also, people are under the impression that increased cost means better performance.

Has it occurred to you that people don't necessarily buy it because it's a status symbol, or because they feel they're getting better 'performance'?

No, really. I know guys with Master's degrees in computer science, who are perfectly capable coders, and who can get into the grotty bits of hardware just like everyone else. When they go home in the evening, their personal machine is a Mac -- not to show off to their friends, but because in their experience, the Mac simply is easier to use and doesn't give them half the headaches as their work laptops do.

To a person, the people I know with Macs are willing to pay a premium for what they perceive as a better experience. That is, usability, stability, and less fiddling with it.

Maybe you're not including enough things in your evaluation of "better" and "quality" -- if you don't need a million frames per second on a high end gaming rig, or you just want to do basic things and not get mired down in forcing the computer to do what you want -- for some people's standards that slower computer with less RAM is a better computer.

At the end of the day, it's only the functional aspects of my computer I really care about. And my personal machine is a big honking Vista box with what used to be obscene amounts of RAM and disk. I've thought many times of adding a Mac to my flock of computers.

Re:hmm

[gstoddart]

Those coders use a Mac because its as easy or easier than Windows but its Linux friendly.

See, now you're actually speaking out of your ass. The guys that I know with Macs, are not going home and dropping to the UNIX command line. They're using the GUI. They're not going home in the evening and coding in PHP, they're looking up recipes and sending email.

I am saying that buying a Macbook is a not a purchase you can justify by simply saying "the user experience" is superior unless you are willing to say an operating system is worth a 500-1000 dollar premium upcharge.

Yes, and the people who prefer their Macs believe that the overall system is worth that much more ... do you not get that? Yes, you make a strong case that among superficial college students, it's a status symbol ... but we're not all college students.

I know its hard to see, or maybe you are not exposed to it on a daily basis like I am, but Macs and Apple products ARE a status symbol. Its evident by the sheer volume of students on my campus that use it as one

Look, University was a long time ago. I don't measure myself according to the standards of some whiny 20 year old ... maybe you should realize that there is more to life than how you perceive it at this age.

Many times you will have students who in no way could possibly afford themselves to buy an iPad/iPhone combo or a iPhone/Macbook combo themselves, yet they act like they are part of some elite club of notebook users or part of some Apple subculture and try to show it off to their friends.

Again, college students ... a couple of years ago, everybody was putting fancy rims on their POS car.

I'm not going to seriously debate your assertion that all people who buy a Mac are buying it as a status symbol based on the fact that your entire sample seems to be based on college kids.

Use that big, fancy college brain of yours to realize that for many of the Apple market (it's not all college kids), it is about functionality. When you get out into the real world, and actually have a paycheck, you might understand that for many people, they'll gladly pay the premium to get what they perceive to be a better overall experience.

Part of what you should be learning is to see the world outside of your own self and how you've experienced it. When you go around making the categorical statement that all people with Macs have bought them as status symbols, you're completely seeing the world from the eyes of a college student and how you perceive life on campus.

The world changes when you're out in it, and one of the things is that messing around with a &*^%*& computer i your spare time is a waste of your time.

Dude, seriously, take a couple of humanities courses, date some hippy chick who smells like patchouli, broaden your horizons ... and stop worrying about what other people buy. That's what I'd do if I was back in college.

Need to drop the 13" Pro

[MyCookie]

...and it's features to the non-Pro. I'm not going to pay for a 13" with a 1200x800 screen when it costs me any more than $1000. This one doesn't even have switchable graphics.

Re:Need to drop the 13" Pro

[AdrianKemp]

You might not, but I an 7 other people I know did. Some of us like laptops that actually fit in your lap but still have good specs.

You're right though, apple should drop the model because you don't personally want to buy it.

Re:Need to drop the 13" Pro

[TheRaven64]

Why did you buy the 13" MBP instead of the 13" MB? His point is that the specs are almost the same, but the MBP costs significantly more.

Re:Need to drop the 13" Pro

[AdrianKemp]

The pro weighs less
The pro is smaller but has the same screen size and keyboard
The black border around the screen makes it look much better, and at night doesn't distract you from the actual screen.
The pro has an SD slot and firewire (though I don't care about the firewire)
The pro has a backlit keyboard (very important)
The pro can take a better chip, and more memory (important, since I need the 8GB of ram for my 2 virtual machines)
The pro has better sounding speakers (they may well be the same, it may just be the aluminum case that muffles them less/more to make it sound better)
The pro has an aluminum shell instead of bullshit plastic (probably the single most important thing)

Other than those reasons, I suppose they are the same. As it happens, those features are worth well more than the $200 extra that it costs.

If they made the standard MB have all of those features, I would buy it in a heartbeat. It would also cost $200 more.

Re:Not fiber?

[MyCookie]

It combines them.

Oy

[tool462]

Can we stop calling them leaks and start calling them press releases? Nobody is fooled by this anymore.

Re:Oy

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

Can we stop calling them leaks and start calling them press releases? Nobody is fooled by this anymore.

If Gizmodo is willing to pay several grand for a stolen phone, I don't think we can safely assume it's just marketing.

No USB 3?

[Tumbleweed]

"Fuck them. Fuck them up their stupid asses."
- Steve Jobs (may have been Jason Mewes)

Re:"Thunderbolt"? Bleh...

[RyuuzakiTetsuya]

I'd agree, but I'm trying to find the extinguisher. The firewire port on my MacBook is acting up again.

Re:Not fiber?

[node 3]

Light Peak *is* only copper, right now. Light Peak over fiber is still at least a year off.

Re:Not fiber?

[keytoe]

if i recall... they were also accused of the very same thing with usb on the original iMac in 1998. that really turned out dud decision...

I have a box full of various adapters that Apple forces me to buy every time they change display interconnect to the 'next best thing'. Between the computers changing ports and the display manufacturers trying to keep up, the permutations can become large. Those adapters are $25 each from Apple.

On the other hand, I can still plug in the same USB devices I did from 1998.

People have a legitimate gripe here.

Apple is silent, while other talk up nothing.

[mosb1000]

When Apple talks, it actually means something, unlike the empty promises made my other technology companies.

It's because Apple doesn't announce products months or years before they are released. They only announce them when they are sure they'll have a product to ship. All you hear from other companies is hyped up initial announcements followed by delays and retracted features. From Apple you hear about new products that will actually ship as promised. It's not because Apple is better at shipping quality products on schedule (though they are). It's because they don't go on blabbing about every new technology they have in the works years before a working prototype has even seen the light of day.

iPad 2 Out March 2nd!

[pandrijeczko]

...but if you're a sandaled Free Software Foundation pornmonger who likes passing non-masturbatory time playing retrogame ROMs on emulators, then move along please. Nothing to see here!

I really don't think that's it...

[mbessey]

If you fork out 2000 for a laptop people look at you like you have money. Also, people are under the impression that increased cost means better performance.

I don't know a single Mac user who doesn't complain about Apple's high prices, but they pay them anyway. They must be getting some value for that extra cash.

It's called industrial design

[Anonymous Coward]

We're not talking about color, we're talking about carrying half a kilo less than a similarly specced laptop, having a well thought out system of interchangeable plugs for the power adapter so you can easily bring it to another country, having a high quality LCD panel, having a backlit keyboard, having a solid aluminium enclosure that doesn't twist when you open the lid, having a computer that wakes from sleep in less than the time it takes to open the lid, having a power connector that automatically releases if you trip over the lead, having a nice wide trackpad that you can use gestures like two-finger tap for right click and two-finger drag to scroll. It's called industrial design. It's something people who have money are willing to pay for.

Re:It's called industrial design

[hackstraw]

I think my macbook's backlit keyboard is pretty cool. Sometimes, like right now I'm in a dimly lit room and I don't feel like turning on a light. I've had many friends say that they wish their laptop's keyboard was backlight.

Each to their own.

Re:It's called industrial design

[gstoddart]

Yes, but you've simply confirmed what I've been saying all along - your friends think its cool meaning that it's a feature designed to improve the look of the device rather than the functionality.

No, he has confirmed that the feature is cool because it provides functionality, not because it's pretty. ABS in a car is pretty cool too, and it used to be something you had to pay extra for -- was it a status symbol, or a safety feature? Might it have been both?

I could argue that I've never been in a situation such that I couldn't use a computer keyboard because it was too dark - therefore, as a feature it adds little in the way of actual functionality.

I could argue that I have never needed the oxygen mask in an airplane. That doesn't mean that I don't think it's functional. A lighted keyboard would be cool -- not in a "Type R" kinda way, but in a "this is useful" kinda way.

Just because you have never had occasion to use a feature, doesn't make it a cosmetic feature.

True, but Oracle is pretty hardassed

[unassimilatible]

The reason leaks don't occur in Oracle or Computer Associates is, no one gives a damn. And leaks do occur at Microsoft and Adobe too, but again, no one gives a damn.

I agree with most of what you wrote about Apple, i.e., the idea of Steve "One More Thing, Leak And I'll Sue You" Jobs leaking is preposterous. I mean Jesus, he was just excoriated here for not giving more info on his health, and shareholders voted today on making their succession plans public (dumb idea, but it does tend to make my point). And there is so much speculation by the Apple blogosphere, somebody has to be right. And vendors and partners violate NDA's early.

But I can speak to Oracle. My GF works for them, and they scare the crap out of employees not to share stuff outside. Her e-mails are emblazoned with, "DO NOT SHARE OUTSIDE OF COMPANY - PRIVATE FINANCIAL/PROPRIERTY TRADE SECRET INFO, blah blah blah" warnings (I don't know the exact warning because she won't show me, ha ha). I've sat next to her on the bed, and she won't show me or tell me about the contents of these secret e-mails, for fear she will be fired. True, nobody is waiting with bated breath for the next RDBMS release, but Saddam's staff had a more relaxed atmosphere. Jobs isn't the only whip-cracker in tech, lemee tell ya.

iPad premium == negative a hundred bucks or so

[Gary W. Longsine]

Well, judging by what other manufacturers are promising to maybe think about possibly shipping one day real soon now, the iPad premium is roughly -$100 to -$150.