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Will it need to be sync'ed or linked to a "base station mac" for more storage?

Jan 04, 08 - 09:12 am Comment from: January 24, 1984

Jobs has already established the concept of "phone home." With the AAA (anything, anywhere, anytime) leaking out of the AppleTV and the iPhone, the web becomes the hard drive; your content, and everyone elses' stuffed safely away on servers.

Apple is developing an ever greater client/server product line. Travel light, travel connected.

Jan 04, 08 - 09:15 am Comment from: DLMeyer

MegaMe ... that depends on what you mean by "need". Chances are good there will be a "dock" option that will include additional storage, among other things, but that should not limit the use of the FireWire option.

Dave

Personally I think that something with a screen of less than 10" won't be a Mac. I think that Mac will become synonymous more with the traditional desktop type interface (at least until Multitouch is widespread), whilst something of that size would probably be more of a scaled up iPhone than a scaled down Mac

Jan 04, 08 - 09:39 am Comment from: Cubert

Why do these authors constantly talk about a touch screen for a computer when that is ergonomically a bad idea?

Hello!!! Multi-touch "mouse" pad (touchpad???)

Re: size of screen... Think resolution independance in the OS. Even a small window on a small screen can look good.

Rather than looking at any single element, look at what Apple has been talking to developers about in the core of Mac OS X.

Apple has never simply implemented a single concept in a ANY new product (except under the leadership responsible for the plethora and confusion of the Performa models way back when.)

Apple always approaches the design of a new product from a holistic, integrated, view. It is that vision that leads to the development of elegant solutions.

Just give me a new friggin' Mac Pro! Blah blah laptop, blah laptop blah blah laptop blah...

There have been three revisions of the Macbook Pro and four of the Macbook (if my count is correct) since the August '86 introduction of the Mac Pro. I know Apple is dependent on Intel for the necessary chips but, still, it's frustrating.

Jan 04, 08 - 09:51 am Comment from: shen

"Why do these authors constantly talk about a touch screen for a computer when that is ergonomically a bad idea?"

maybe because if it is a smaller (ten inches? maybe) form factor and it is removable from a screen style dock, it suddenly becomes a useful third input method.

i am not sure they can do it now, for cost reasons, but if a touch screen is an inexpensive future option, a 10 inch tablet that docks into a stand or larger screen for desktop style use and has touch for more casual sit on the couch type stuff is a good idea.

if it also controls larger screens for keynote style display for movies and presentations, and controls the AppleTV too......

My first Mac, a Plus, had a black/white 9" screen - I got a lot of work done on those Macs... I would LOVE a 9" screen laptop!

Jan 04, 08 - 10:04 am Comment from: ron

Could the scroll pad be 'touch', which would translate the motion to the larger screen? Call it Touche'.

Jan 04, 08 - 10:22 am Comment from: vincas

i would buy a much lighter 'MacBook mini,' even with a 10" screen. apple makes very good use of the screen real estate with expose, and especially with spaces. 32 gb of hard drive space seems too little, though. i think it would need at least 64 gb.

What are you going to do with this MacBook Mini? Show it to your friends and say 'look at what I have'? 'Doesn't it just look great with Steve's phone?' 'Can't do much with it but couldn't wait to get my hands on it.' 'Stayed up for three nights in a row waiting for the FedEx truck.' 'Wow. Just Wow.'

Maybe it's a beginning of something useful. But, it belongs in the toy shop until it can hold tons of data (not just ounces) on it's interior non-drive.

Why isn't this energy being put into serious improvements in MacPro and MacBook Pro?

Damn, this is frustrating.

Jan 04, 08 - 10:34 am Comment from: Ampar

"Could the scroll pad be 'touch', which would translate the motion to the larger screen? Call it Touche'."

Or split it up the middle for left and right functions and call it Tush.

Is there really a sizeable market for ultra portable macs?

I for one wouldn't buy one unless it was able to crunch the docs that my current MacBook Pro can. Graphics heavy computations. I'm portable so I don't have to be slaving away in the cubicle 24-7. An ultra portable with no horsepower and mega attachments (drives, storage, etc) does nada for me.

There is some interesting speculation on how an Portable Internet Device could work in connection to such a dock at http://huibert-aalbers.com/blog/archives/161. Intel's new low power processors may be used in such a device.

I have an old clamshell iBook and am in the market for another laptop. Everyone is excited about a smaller lighter one. Are the available ones really all that heavy?

Jan 04, 08 - 12:27 pm Comment from: MacMarc

The new laptop will have a hard drive á la iPod classic. 32 and 64GB flash drives are just too small and too expensive.

One crazy alternative:
Besides photos, videos, and music, user data is actually quite small. It could easily fit on a flash drive. Perhaps your desktop iTunes could treat the flash drive laptop like an iPod to manage which photos, videos, and music are on the flash drive. That way you wouldn't need all your stuff on your laptop -- just the "digital lifestyle" stuff you want for now. It could make the 32 or 64GB flash drive feasible until larger capacities come down in price.

But honestly, that sounds too inelegant for Apple.

Jan 04, 08 - 12:44 pm Comment from: eMax

There wont be a touch screen Mac, or Multi touch Mac until the GUI is made for it. The Current OS gui is made for a MOUSE POINTER.

The reason why the iPhone works so well is because it is designed from the ground up to be used with your FINGERS ONLY. Hence there is no stylus. A stylus is used to replace a mouse pointer on the crappy touch screen devices that have come before the iphone.



Final word: No touch screen macs until there is a new/updated gui.

end of story.

Jan 04, 08 - 01:28 pm Comment from: Big Al

With Apple supplying 32 MB of memory, can you imagine how much these puppies will cost?

Apple and expensive chips? Get it yet?

Seriously though, if Apple wants to lower the numbers on that 5 lb MacBook why don't they just say it weighs less than 2.3 kg?

Jan 04, 08 - 02:16 pm Comment from: Martin

Hesseldahl is wrong, developers don't care at all what processor they program for, nobody writes in assembler anymore.

all we need is a compiler, and API's (the functions in the OS that programs call to get things done)

porting software to a phone is not at all about the processor, it's about rethinking the UI and functionality for a smaller screen.

>Final word: No touch screen macs until there is a new/updated gui.

you mean like cover-view?

Jan 04, 08 - 05:01 pm Comment from: ken1w

The rumored MacBook "mini" is about as thin as a 2.5-inch drive, so it's obvious that it will include another type of storage. However, there is no reason it cannot have Flash storage AND a 1.8-inch hard drive (like in the 160GB iPod classic). Those iPod drives are a bit slow, so the limited amount of Flash storage is used for the OS and apps while the hard drive is used for the user's files. Finder can display all of it as one volume, to make it elegant.

Touch screens on standard-design laptops are stupid. How about making the entire palmrest area into a multi-touch track pad? I'm sure it would be possible to ignore input when an entire palm rests on it for typing and react only to finder tips. And a third-party company could design software and overlay that makes the bottom right corner (or any portion) into a numeric keypad or an iPod-like scroll wheel, or whatever.

And when Apple markets a "tablet" computer, it will be called an iPhone (if it has mobile phone parts) and an iPod (if it does not). The current iPhone and iPod touch are already tablet computers, but they just need additional software. That will change in February 2008.

Im am waiting at the edge of my seat to be a first time buyer of a MBP with Intel's 45nm CPU, and an Apple TV with a PVR.

Jan 04, 08 - 09:13 pm Comment from: BDecker

"the chipmaker may help lead Apple into uncharted, possibly lucrative, territory starting in late 2008,"

Well if thats not putting the cart before the horse, I dont know what is.

There is definintely a market for a subnote. Japan is a market that apple is hardly touching for exactly that reason. a subnote would explode there. so many people do work on crowded subways and would love to have a little, light sub to carry around. i cant overestimate how important that would be for the japan market.