“Apple continues to pound away on an ultra-thin portable designed to capture a slice of the growing sub-notebook market and boost sales in Japan,” Kasper Jade reports for AppleInsider.
“In what’s sure to be a warmly received move, people familiar with initiative tell AppleInsider that the Mac maker plans to go easy on our eyesight and is building the model around stunning, ultra-thin, 13-inch LED backlit display,” Jade reports.
Jade reports, “Here’s a summary of what we know and don’t know about the next-gen Apple sub-notebook.”
What we know:
• 13-inch ultra-thin, LED-back lit display
• No optical disc drive
• On-board NAND flash for faster application launching and boot times
• Built-in iSight webcam
• Thinner and lighter than existing MacBook offerings
• AirPort Extreme 802.11n enabled
• MagSafe power adapter
• Target launch late ’07, early ’08
What we don’t know:
• Precise Intel architecture (but appears to be Santa Rosa-based)
• Target price point
• RAM and HDD storage capacity and expandability
• I/O port breakdown
• Operating system software (appears to be Leopard)
• Expected battery life
• Enclosure makeup
Full article, including info on MacBook Pro, MacBook, and iMac updates, here.
But you can have an optical drive in a subnotebook under 3 lbs. If Sony can do it over two years ago, Apple should. The only difference between my Sony T-series hardware and a Mac is who made it. Regarding pure business users, most company-supplied notebooks are Windows-based and have defined functions related to work only. They supply the software, etc. Non-business users need flexibility. And business will unlikely be ordering expensive Apple subnotebooks in any meaningful numbers. I already have a Mac Pro Tower and a MacBook Pro 17″ laptop, but would like to replace my Sony subnotebook with a small Apple – hopefully most of the “rumors” are inaccurate.
@ Crabapple
Thanks for that link. They even included that stock chart that I love to look at so much. =)
Fair enough MK, … We’ll agree to disagree
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Actually I use a Intel Mac Mini and a G4 Digital Audio (Sonnet Upgraded) at home and have a G4 iBook as my personal machines.
You are correct, my company notebook is a Dell running Windows XP and all of our software is preloaded by IT with a standardized image file (basic image is the OS, MS Office, Lotus Notes, etc) and whatever special software the user needs (AutoCad, etc)…. Any updates that I need or additional software can be downloaded and installed directly off of the network…
Backing up is accomplished by saving my files to my own mapped drive on the network. At least in my case, I have no need for the optical drive, and because I travel a lot, have no desire to carry CDs around with me..
All of this said, My company does have a few Macs (not many) but the thought of replacing the Dell with a small Mac notebook is indeed exciting and an idea I’m going to push when my machine is due for replacement in July…
If this new “Macbook Mini” is out at that time, it sounds like the right machine for me…
Insideman… you rule. I can totally see it.
Thanks again, Crabapple, I’m suffering from Persistent Roughly Drafted Syndrome today. Once I start reading articles, and linked articles, and more history… I get hooked all day long. Good thing I remembered to go see my mom!
What to call it ?
Look at existing or past Apple products and there’s your answer.
MacBook mini or if they make a really tiny one, then the MacBook nano ( think iPhone features on a screen the size of a paperback book )
Personally, the number of times I use my optical drive is only when I have to install software or rip CDs which is becoming fewer and fewer. But having to connect a device every now and and then in exchange for lesser weight and longer battery life? Sign me up.
Maybe apple has some sort of high speed bluetooth or wireless, that transmits data from the bag, where the Super Drive is, to the computer.
And from the bag is where the external hard drive is…
I just had a thought…
Imagine an accessory optical device that sends info to the computer using WiFi! That could happen, eh? That would make sense of the whole “no optical drive” bit.
It could be a stand-alone reader/writer, which is barely bigger than a CD itself.
Damn… Blimp beat me to it! 😮
I hope apple will be doing a MATT SCREEN on ALL NEW MODELS!
Are apple only doing a matt option on the macbook pro just to make people pay the extra?? This is very annoying because I want a portable macbook with a matt screen and will just not be prepared to pay extra for something which is bigger than I need with a much larger price tag too.
I will either hold off buying until a macbook 13″ has a matt screen or I will save my money and look elsewhere!!!!
** Apple people……. are you listening? **