Comments on: Rumor Rant: It’s a Macbook – NOT a sub-notebook

By: Master G

Master G — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 04:30:22 +0000

Hi, I heard alot of rumors about this

what about if i told you there would two product released on Macworld, a new aliminum Macbook and an ultra-mobile “Macbook Lite” or “Macbook Nano”
Would you belive me?

By: Free iPod Touch

Free iPod Touch — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 23:47:29 +0000

I really hope they aren’t off, i was looking forward to a sub-notebook.

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By: Chris Marsden

Chris Marsden — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 15:16:45 +0000

Stephen finally hit it and no one else seems to remember. I am typing this on the best (imo) laptop Apple has made. It’s a 12″ Power Book G4. All the video and power advantages the powerbook line had over the ibook line, but still small and compact. When Apple came out with the Mac Book and Mac Book Pros, this was the model that was missing. a 13.3″ Mac Book Pro with aluminum casing for $1500.

When I bought mine, btw, the price points were between 999 and 1399 for the various ibook models and $1500, $2000, and $2500 for the power book models.

As much as the sub-notebook idea excites the geek in me, a 13″ Mac Book Pro would become my next computer. I really don’t want to have to buy a desktop and make this thing last another year or two.

By: Primoz Rome

Primoz Rome — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 13:26:03 +0000

More I read the comments here, more I see that non of us have any idea of what Apple is doing…

By: jake

jake — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 20:19:06 +0000

I agree with the aluminum MacBook theory as well. Personally it wouldnt break my heart to see one.
However I think Apple could pull a sub notebook off very well. I could just see a campus full of multi colored MacBook Minis.
In my opinion loosing the optical drive would not be that big of an issue if Apple did two things. Add an option for an external hard drive with an optical drive built in. That would help push Time Machine as well. And ship a read only USB drive that has OS X on it. May cost a few more bucks for making the USB drives but I’m sure they could figure the feasibility out eventually.

By: Stephen Applegarth

Stephen Applegarth — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 17:30:06 +0000

Isn’t this just going to be the small powerbook reborn, not that ‘just’ is appropriate, I killed my macbook and replaced it with a macbook pro 17″ and its great, but every now and then I see someone with a little Macbook and think, mm thats nice – the perfect size for a portable.

A slightly thinner version with metal case, and a decent graphics card would be near perfect.

My only concern is we need more resolution, 13″ with 1440 x 900 would be ideal, then the 15″ upped to 1600 or so and the 17″ with the 1900 X 1200 screen as standard would make a great range.

No real need to loose the optical drive, but two variants of each, one with optical and std hdd and a super portable version of each with no optical and a nice big flash hard drive would fit the bill perfectly.

The final icing, a simple restyle in the same vain as the new keyboards , which are the best ive used at any price and really anoying that its not on my Macbook Pro just now

Just a few thoughts…

Oh, sub notebook tablet ? not running std osx, it needs too much resolution to cope, think more a extra large iPhone and your nearer the mark,

Stephen

By: Javi

Javi — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 17:15:35 +0000

Maybe it would be a Macbook Pro 13.3″. To build a Macbook less than 13.3″ it wouldn’t have an optical drive !!! would it?

By: dogdoy

dogdoy — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 16:49:36 +0000

can it be a new mini macbook pro… nope.. it’s too long..

what about… MacSlight ?

By: KarlD

KarlD — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 16:42:30 +0000

I have the 15″ MBP and I really like the 15″ screen size to work with, but the overall size is a little bit on the hefty side. The 13″ macbook is the right physical size, but my complaint is the screen resolution.

My perfect solution is a 13″ Macbook (and yes, slimmer is good) with a NATIVE resolution of at least 1440×900 or even better 1680×1050, leveraging resolution independence to adjust font sizes to your liking. Just imagine the high PPI of the iPhone on a laptop.

That is the product I would line up for.

By: Bruce A

Bruce A — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 15:49:49 +0000

I agree that if this machine exists at all it is just a next gen MacBook, and that there is no subnote in the works (and if there was, you’d hear the power users howl in outrage at the 10″ screen – “How am I supposed to get any work done on THAT thing???”) but I think the author’s got a few screws loose about the state of storage in this as-yet hypothetical new Mac.

“The new Macbook may be the first to drop the optical disk drive. It wouldnâ€™t be the first time Apple did something like this (floppies, for example).”

Think about that for a moment. How much software is delivered on CD today? How many people burn CDs and DVDs? Dropping the floppy drive was an acceptable move because let’s face it, floppies are all but useless today. But you cannot have a computer without an optical drive.

YES we can download software off the Internet, but what you’re then saying is that people would either have to store their installers on an external hard drive or delete them and re-download them if for some reason they needed to re-install a particular app. And what about system updates? Yes, 10.5.1 et al are downloadable, BUT what about 10.6? Do you think Apple’s going to make that a download for users of 10.5.10 (or whatever)?

And yes, there’s always firewire and USB. But why should people be forced to lug around a separate piece of equipment just to enjoy a feature current MacBook owners do without any extras? That would defeat the purpose of making your laptop extra-portable.

And flash-based disk drives aren’t affordable enough yet for anything other than a BTO road-warrior type option for customers with money to burn who think a few minutes’ more battery life is worth the cost. I can buy a 320gb 2.5″ drive for $209. Why would I want to spend three times that on one tenth the disk space?

By: tz

tz — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 15:47:22 +0000

A 13″ mac book pro perhaps?

Apple wouldn’t go changing their fast selling macbook would they . . . (ipod mini to ipod nano anyone?)

By: Bill Gates

Bill Gates — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 15:41:59 +0000

Iâ€™m not a psychic….I donâ€™t have any inside information…I canâ€™t tell you for sureâ€¦but I have a strong gut feeling…. The reports…are for 13.3â€³ screens…
———————————————————–

Buried for innaccurate title…

By: Steve Nagel

Steve Nagel — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 15:14:20 +0000

Take the MacBook and the iPod Touch. Blend. When it hits $800US, serve.

By: Scott

Scott — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 15:08:50 +0000

I agree that it wont be a sub-note book. But come on, dropping the optical drive? There’s no chance. Every piece of software thats sold currently comes on DVD including Leopard. They are not going to drop the DVD drive and either force all 3rd parties to either embrace a software sales through iTunes or some other application. No chance at this point in time.

By: Jean-Luc MacTard

Jean-Luc MacTard — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 14:48:51 +0000

Well…It’s a mac, so it’s more of a fashion accessory than a computer, which makes the whole “Sub-Notebook” thing at least partially correct.

Huh huh huh! We French embrace your snooty American-type fashion computers! Viva la Mac!

By: Fred

Fred — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 14:46:36 +0000

I don’t think they’ll abandon optical drives yet. The difference between optical drives and floppies are that optical drives are still useful and people still use them all the time. They store more than 1.44 MB.

They’ll need to have a cheap $999 MacBook and probably the tricker, half height, no optical, smaller flash, metal cover variety. It’ll cost more. I think it’s more analogous to the 12″ Powerbook, but it is semantic argument more than anything.

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By: houstonmacbro

houstonmacbro — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 14:34:11 +0000

I have a 2 year old 15″ Powerbook. I am quite happy and content with a 55GB HD. I do not feel constrained in the least and I use iPhoto and iTunes fairly regularly.

By: free ipod touch

free ipod touch — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 14:32:38 +0000

Cool

By: Feldwebel Wolfenstool

Feldwebel Wolfenstool — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 14:26:58 +0000

Whatever it is, it’ll be over-priced, over-hyped, under-powered with a limited/non-existence upgrade path

…Apple bought the 1st run of the LED-illuminated displays. Big deal.

By: Jimmy

Jimmy — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 13:18:29 +0000

By the way, I agree with the original article: 13.3″ is most definitely NOT a sub-notebook, no matter how clever Apple’s marketing might be if they do decide to call it such. If it’s not 12-ins & 1-kgs and less, don’t even attempt to call it a sub-notebook.

By: Jimmy

Jimmy — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 13:15:38 +0000

@Matt Radel:

Try and check out the Samsung X1 or the Sony X-something. Both of them are thinner than either the MacBook or MacBook Pro. So, yes, you can still stick all sorts of ports to an ultra-thin notebook computer. In fact, the Samsung even has a top-loading DVD drive. Which makes rumours about a bottom-loading DVD drive on an “upcoming” Apple notebook kinda… last year’s news.

Let’s hope Apple finally gets off the fixation on gadgets and update their computer line. After a good few years, they’re starting to look tired. Prior to this line, Apple used to introduce new form factors/designs every 8-16 months (depending on model). The existing designs were left untouched originally because the excuse was the move to Intel: Apple didn’t want people to have to have too much of a culture shock, supposedly.

Well, it’s been 2 years since then and we’re still stuck with the same old designs. Either they think the current line-up is perfection itself, or they’ve run out of real innovative ideas. I think it’s the latter, cos some of the competition shows that new things are indeed possible. I think Apple is just too busy being gadget-makers these days.

By: Eric Yerington

Eric Yerington — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 23:46:46 +0000

Cool. That makes me feel better — I really wouldn’t want to give up the Mac — I have to use the “other system” at work — YUCK!!

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 23:00:05 +0000

@Eric

The optical drive won’t be completely gone from Macs until they stop selling software on disks.

For now, if the super slim computer did happen to be optical drive free, you could still easily buy an external drive an connect it via USB