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jaysmith

macrumors regular
Aug 13, 2005
157
0
i think it'd be cool to have a mobile the size of a 60gig ipod photo or so. it would be for light work, writing, etc. with bluetooth and audio outputs to double as a flash based ipod. a usb port, and mini-vga would be all you really need for ports. they could put a very small 20gig or less 1" drive (or however smallt ehy can make them). and a 4 gig flash drive for media. it would have about a 5" screen, and could be used in either portrait or landscape mode (writing versus movie watching) and would be used with a stylus. it coud have a mobile version of osx with full features, but customized to work with the screen size. file management could be much like on an ipod, with applications, files, and music all in menus. much like a pda, but with the software and features of a laptop. it wouldn't need to be too powerful, keeping size and battery life in mind. i'd buy one for sure!
 

aswitcher

macrumors 603
Oct 8, 2003
5,338
14
Canberra OZ
zelmo said:
9" widescreen LCD
1.5GHz Core Solo
512MB RAM
64MB GMA950 GPU
40GB hdd
WiFi
audio out
1 or 2 USB 2.0
10/100 ethernet
charging dock, 4 hour batter life
no optical drive (but offer a stylish external)

$699

I'll take two, please.

It would have to have BT as well.

Rather than the 40gig, I can see 16Gig NAND - enough for essential programs but little multimedia.

I would like a gig of ram to be able to run Word well.
 

w_parietti22

macrumors 68020
Apr 16, 2005
2,497
4
Seattle, WA
zelmo said:
9" widescreen LCD
1.5GHz Core Solo
512MB RAM
64MB GMA950 GPU
40GB hdd
WiFi
audio out
1 or 2 USB 2.0
10/100 ethernet
charging dock, 4 hour batter life
no optical drive (but offer a stylish external)

$699

I'll take two, please.

Thats the most realistic. The external optical HAS to be powered from the device. Also. 9" seems a little to small. I would think a 10 or 12. Also 2 USB port make more sense especially if there is going to be an external optical drive.
 

boncellis

macrumors 6502
Feb 9, 2006
474
0
Salt Lake City
jaysmith said:
i think it'd be cool to have a mobile the size of a 60gig ipod photo or so. it would be for light work, writing, etc. with bluetooth and audio outputs to double as a flash based ipod. a usb port, and mini-vga would be all you really need for ports...

I think you're on to something. Perhaps the iPod Nano could take over as Apple's mobile audio device and a new product add on to the current functionality of the 5G iPod with some of the features you mention. I don't think a full version of OS X is really necessary as long as the right features are there--email, iChat, web browsing, office applications, the media set of the 5G (maybe even Nintendo licensed DS games?)...what am I forgetting?
 
My only problem with these attention/headline seeking anal ysts, is that they predict something over a year away, knowing no-one will remember it then.

He could have said "Sometime after WWDC 07, Apple will be announcing the purchase of Microsoft and the Nation of France". It would get him attention, and he would not be called on it :(

I guess it's the nature of the rumors game ...
 

shelterpaw

macrumors regular
Mar 7, 2006
125
0
iHeartTheApple said:
I guess I'm a little bit confused...:confused: I haven't seen any explicit mention of this being a tablet computer, so what exactly are we expecting? A super-small notebook/laptop like the tiny 8" (maybe slightly bigger?) widescreen Sony Vaio laptops? I'm really curious about this one...If it's a tablet then all I have to say is :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: SWEET! :D
It'll be a tablet based iPod PDA phone. It'll be completely touchscreen with no keys. The flash OS is needed so people can still use the instant function for the iPod and obviously the storage will be on the hardrives.
 

sushi

Moderator emeritus
Jul 19, 2002
15,639
3
キャンプスワ&#
Maybe something like a Sharp MM20.

http://www.sharpsystems.com/products/pc_notebooks/actius/mm/20/

Only 2 pounds. Small. Lightweight.

Have one. Love it. Well, except that doesn't run the Mac OS.

An Apple notebook like this where you have a HD, but extra flash memory for the OS would be sweet.

Edit: Last price from Sharp direct was $899.
 

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zelmo

macrumors 603
Jul 3, 2004
5,490
1
Mac since 7.5
aswitcher said:
It would have to have BT as well.

Rather than the 40gig, I can see 16Gig NAND - enough for essential programs but little multimedia.

I would like a gig of ram to be able to run Word well.

Yes to BT.
NAND would be great, but would drive the cost into a whole other market, yes? I was thinking of low cost portable eMate type replacement for lower and middle schools as well as commercial release.

A BTO for a larger (660 and 80) hdd or RAM (1GB single slot) upgrade, then?
 

idea_hamster

macrumors 65816
Jul 11, 2003
1,096
1
NYC, or thereabouts
zelmo said:
9" widescreen LCD
1.5GHz Core Solo
512MB RAM
64MB GMA950 GPU
40GB hdd
WiFi
audio out
1 or 2 USB 2.0
10/100 ethernet
charging dock, 4 hour batter life
no optical drive (but offer a stylish external)
$699
I would love something like this.

The biggest market for something like this would be for business travel, I think. If it can do all those business communication things (e-mail, IM, contacts, bluetooth phone, WiFi, maybe video conference?) and run Keynote smoothly (or PPT, if you must :rolleyes: ), it would be the perfect partner to an Intel PowerMac (Mac Pro).

Do all your creation on your giant, powerful desktop and then take your ultra-portable with you on the trip for the presentations. It would be what the 12" PowerBook always wanted to be but never quite was. :)

Also good would be a built-in IR remote like the Mini that you could use to control a Keynote presentation....
 

Macnoviz

macrumors 65816
Jan 10, 2006
1,059
0
Roeselare, Belgium
zelmo said:
Yes to BT.
NAND would be great, but would drive the cost into a whole other market, yes? I was thinking of low cost portable eMate type replacement for lower and middle schools as well as commercial release.

A BTO for a larger (660 and 80) hdd or RAM (1GB single slot) upgrade, then?

I don't really think the educational market needs these kind of things. Aren't they more into Macbooks and such? This would be a very portable system, for people on the road and such, not for pupils in a classroom, or students doing papers.
Although I'm not familiar with American educational systems
 

gola

macrumors member
Sep 8, 2003
33
0
bergen, norway
My guess is that is will be an extra feature for the next gen Macbook Pro. Some flash memory for the fast boot time etc. They have to do something radical about the Pro line soon.
 

pure*evil

macrumors newbie
Jun 13, 2006
5
0
Yvan256 said:
At 9 or 10" you'd better take a small laptop like a MacBook or a 12" PowerBook. Let's forget about that "tablet" format for a second, it only confuses things IMO. It's either a computer (full OS) or a PDA (custom OS).

I want a PDA-sized computer. Not a "very small laptop", not a "tablet", not a "PDA". I want a real sub-laptop/palmtop computer. If the display is bigger than 5.0" or the weight more than 0.5lb it's too big to replace a PDA.

If it's bigger than a PDA then you can't fit it in your pocket and you need the same gear to carry it as a regular small laptop (carrying bag/case, etc). It then becomes a burden because it has all the same problems as a small laptop while being too small for a laptop. If it can fit in a pocket, people won't look at it as a "small laptop" and will accept the limited features. Limited features also equals less power drain, because that sub-laptop/palmtop needs to have excellent battery life.

As for "optionnal optical drive", they're everywhere. It's a regular USB/FireWire external optical drive. There's no need to make yet another such device.

If someone has a blackberry, why do you need an apple PDA? to me, a Tablet size PC like this: http://www.tabletpc2.com/Nec.htm is far more useful than any PDA would be. My blackberry is all I need for my portability. A tablet would allow me to have the freedom from the weight of a notebook without the limited capabilities of the current PDA offerings(iPaq... ugh).

As for the optical drive. Who wants one of the dime-a-dozen external enclosures and a bulky 5.25" drive, when Apple could make a sleek and sexy slim external superdrive? Hell. I'd buy one for my 1.83 MacBook!
 

Chef Medeski

macrumors 6502a
Jun 14, 2005
975
0
New York, NY
pure*evil said:
As for the optical drive. Who wants one of the dime-a-dozen external enclosures and a bulky 5.25" drive, when Apple could make a sleek and sexy slim external superdrive? Hell. I'd buy one for my 1.83 MacBook!
Ohhh ohh make it bluetooth make it bluetooth. Yeah....
 

bigandy

macrumors G3
Apr 30, 2004
8,852
7
Murka
w_parietti22 said:
Thats the most realistic. The external optical HAS to be powered from the device. Also. 9" seems a little to small. I would think a 10 or 12. Also 2 USB port make more sense especially if there is going to be an external optical drive.

actually methinks 9" is perfect - it's big enough to use properly, but small enough to take most places. if it was widescreen.

:)
 

A is jump

macrumors regular
Dec 14, 2005
128
0
San Francisco, Ca
Yvan256 said:
I want something REALLY small but that's still a real Mac. Give me a Nintendo DS Lite-sized ultraportable Mac with a 1.5GHz Intel Core Solo (or something similar that's very light on power requirements), GMA 900 integrated graphics (very low-end model), 512MB built-in (perhaps no extra memory slot either), 800x480 display and no optical drive. But it has to run OS X, not some watered-down, "ultraportable-only" operating system. Add one of those new hybrid flash/HD drive for good measure and a SD card reader built-in for real on-the-go usability for photographers. All those features would make for a real "PDA-killer".

Integrated Graphics!!! but how will we play our games!!?!?? ;)
 

Cinch

macrumors 6502
Sep 18, 2005
479
2
just brought my black MacBook

Just brought my black MacBook a few hours ago. Oh well:rolleyes: typing on it.

I'm not going to waiting for the next big thing.

My black MacBook is awesome. Nice to be on a Mac again after two years of Dell PC

Cinch
 

Stella

macrumors G3
Apr 21, 2003
8,887
6,482
Canada
Such a device would have quite a large appeal. Some of the ultra thin sony vios ( sp.) are very nice.

I just hope the device doesn't come with a nicely high priced tag either...
 
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