Sure, you've had the space of a few minutes without
Apple rumors, but be honest with us: it felt lonely, didn't it? Well don't worry, because the rumors are back... with a vengeance. According to 9to5mac (who recently nailed news on the
iPod nano), Apple is readying a new line of black and silver aluminum laptops, which might be the slimmer MacBook Pros mentioned
previously. Details are, of course, totally speculative and entirely unconfirmed, but it sounds like the systems will be considerably thinner and lighter than current models, will have screens that reach further to the edges (which apparently suggests a smaller footprint), have keyboards in the vein of the new
Apple Bluetooth models, and are set to be priced "extremely aggressively." In addition, the report says that there is "something strange about the touchpad," which could mean we'll be seeing some sort of multi-touch functionality, or it could mean nothing at all. We'll keep you posted on what the mill has to say.
posted September 21st 2007 10:52AM
woot! now if they would just give it a REAL video card instead of "intel integrated graphics"....
Amen brother! First work on performance, then work on the footprint. I'd much rather have double the FPS then 0.2" reduced height, width or length.
Sorry to kill your dream but I highly doubt that this baby will have a real video card.
This will most likely be an ultra slim 11 or 12 inch ultra portable with long battery time. More or less a computer which is as easy to carry with you as a high school math book. Perfect for bloggers, journalists and university students who need their laptop at home and on the move.
If it is priced good it might be my first mac. The thought of an aluminum 750-1200gram laptop is mouth watering.
Sorry guys, but you're barking up the wrong tree. Macbooks are not meant for gaming. Heck, even the Macbook Pros aren't decent for gaming. FPS out of a Macbook? these are computers not consoles, they are not all made for gaming. Getting a Macbook for gaming is like getting a Prius to tow your fifth wheel. It's just not made for that. At the same time I do empathize with you. It would be nice to have a decently priced Mac that can handle better gaming (or at least better graphics card). At the time it seems like the Mac Pros are the only ones you can ditch your PC for, unless you don't mind getting PWND. I guess I'll keep my PC (which I only use for gaming) awhile longer.
i wouldn't mind an integrated graphics card, as long as they boost up the hard disk(at least 120GB?) and change the hard drive to DVD±RW for entry level macbooks. these are the stuff holding me back from getting one at the moment.
as for gaming, there's always my PC =p
I disagree with the above poster who said that MacBook Pros are not even decent gaming machines. I've recently been playing BioShock, which is an incredibly demanding machine, on my first generation 2.0GHz Core Duo MacBook Pro w/ Radeon X1600 (booted in Boot Camp w/ Win XP Pro). I had to scale down the resolution to 800x600, but all graphical details are otherwise set to high, and the game looks great and runs at a smooth framerate. And, keep in mind that I'm using last year's tech; nowadays the MacBook Pro has a Core 2 Duo at higher speeds, with an NVidia 8600 GT card installed. Is it equivalent to an Alienware gaming notebook? Absolutely not. But it can still play the latest games with decent performance. I personally qualify that as "decent".
Couldn't care less. I don't play games on my laptop, and let's face it that's all a 'proper' video card is there for. Not that a mac has games to start with. A dedicated card would increase cost and reduce battery life. For your average user, that's a total bummer.
Most people begging for a dedicated graphics card are barking up the tree of on the go video editing. You have heard of Final Cut, right? It's kind of a big deal ;).
All kidding aside, it's unlikely to see a dedicated graphics chip in something like this. The form factor and the selling point of "long battery life" kind of prevent Apple from putting in, say, an 8600GT which would suck quite a bit more power than Intel Xtreme. Maybe Intel's new graphics happy chip could be going into this in the future if the realease date is that far off...
"but be honest with us: it felt lonely, didn't it?"
No.
I wish there is one more level for comment voting, Highest-est !
Multi-touch touchpads are coming sooner or later. They make sense especially while using big monitors. Instead of having you fingers on the screen you slide them along a very wide touch pad.
Minority Report style=) So I guess that multi touch will be incorporated into Leaopard. Hopefully they'll launch multi touch touchpads as accessories.
My MPB is already multi-touch, isn't it? I use two fingers to scroll, and one on the pad and the other tap to right-click. Any more functionality would just be in firmware/OS, right?
Aluminum? Meh, my VAIO TZ is made from carbon fibre.. eat that Mac Fanboys.
But....you are still running Windoze. You can polish a turd, but it's still a turd.
Why would you want to polish a turd?
"Why would you want to polish a turd?"
It's a Mac thing.
Carbon fiber. Nice finish for a virus magnet.
It is said that people living in glass houses should not throw stones at others. I could come up with a dozen areas where the MBP trumps the Vaio but I don't care much for Mac antis.
well I hope there are no problems with regards to quality of manufacturing!
Adam.mercier:
These are Macbook Pros.. which already have a video card. The regular Macbooks have the integrated video.
The first rumor i read said they were Macbooks...not Pros.
So if it has "something strange about the touchpad", can we expect it to be a tablet?
I am so happy held out getting a MacBookPro, been following the predictions from MacRumors buyers guide... I hope its in 15 inches and and offer a Higher Resolution, the brightness is perfect, and throw in blu-ray and a hard-disk/flash combo hard drive and ipod-touch like touch pad... Just saying
If it happens, i called it. :)
Great. making them even smaller is really going to help the heat problems.
Yes but being made of aluminium, it'll be one huge heatsync
If these are going to be Penryn based, the 45nm architecture should go a long way to cooling things off.
extremely agressive? most likely this will still means 2K+ to apple.
Last I checked... macbooks start at $1099. I'm no math phd, but that seems closer to $1k than $2k...
point taken. i thought this was the pro.
cDub... no malice intended...
They should ship a 10" convertible tablet with multi-touch.
Anything less is yawn-worthy.
Of course, they're perfectly poised to dominate the nascent Personal Portable Computer market with the touch iPod, but they seem unwilling to make it a decent platform. (put a HDD in it, put the camera, bluetooth and apps back in)
So who knows what the hell they're thinking.
MacBooks and MacBook Pros already have multi-touch touch pads. Where have you been? They support two-finger scrolling (move two fingers around to scroll) as well as two-finger right clicks (hold two fingers on pad and click button.)
I need a new MacPro and an Apple UMPC/Tablet. I don't need another notebook from Apple but if it's very light, has an express card slot that might be interesting. Still after breaking down and buying an iPhone after a disastrous experience with Helio's Ocean I cannot fault Apple. The iPhone is much better than I ever thought it would be and is easily good enough for my needs till it goes 3G or maybe my contract ends. Perhaps this ultra slim notebook with the strange track pad will be another Apple winner. And I'll hate it and then buy it, while waiting for a MacPro Tower!
@peshue
it depends on the processor you put in them. I heard that the new smaller Intel processors develop much less heat. The form factor and design of that image seem to "match" the new Apple trend. Such a computer would be great.
Still open is the question about graphics. MacBook Pros have had graphic cards a long time now (ok, maybe not the best cards for games) while MacBooks have an integrated one (albeit, since last revision, it is slightly better than previous models).
All in all I am looking forward, particularly because of the "aggressive pricing" mentioned in the article. Hope it is true.. I bought my MacBook white less than a year ago (december 2007, you know.. Santa and all that :-) ). But such a model would force me to start putting away my cash for it.
I'm just waiting for apple to come out with a 10" or smaller notebook, that can drive a 24" LCD. I'd even buy a first gen product, which I know is the worst thing to do with Apple.
so that would be the product result of this patent http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/09/revenge-of-apple-patent-attack-giant-laptop-touchpad/ maybe, please? If so, i may have found my G4 replacement.
The description makes the new laptops sound a lot like the old TiBooks. And if the aggressive pricing thing is true, I'll be the 2nd person in line for a new laptop.
Ok lets think about this...a slimmer mac ..if it be MB or MBP who knows but I am pretty sure that they will roll out with these in October or by the latest November..Why? Well, Apple as we all know is rolling out an operating system called Leopard..which is a very considerable improvement from Mac OS X...so what else would Apple like to capitalize on for the Holiday Season...Not only kind of over priced ipods...i bought a touch..but also Apple's new OS Leopard...with new and improved and apparently slimmer Mac's ..again who knows if its a MB or MBP my educated guess is that its a MB because intel is releasing new set of chips in November and january mac has there conference and thats when MBP will be released cuz MB are always before MBP..so..just watch this come true!!
later guys
Did you just say MB are always before MBP? Just checking......
ohhhhh Santa....
i know what i want for christmas!
Think iphone screen in place of touchpad...
then you get DS-Pro
I've sold my 1-yr-old MacBook last month. I don't want to look back any more. MacBook is nothing but a nicely decorated piece of sh*t. Hey, Mad Dog Jobs. You'd better learn more about how to make something really good. Don't try to make people annoyed by your commercial messages any more! I think he is one of the worst nightmare of all the cheap skates on the earth. Stop pick-pocketting, you old man!
Wow man, who pissed in your coffee cup?
ohhh and does anyone else notice that the picture above is actually a MBP in a black scheme?
how weird.
"something strange about the touchpad"... How about a right-click button??? Get with the times!
Put two fingers on the touchpad and click.
Was that really that hard?
To right click just switch on the option to use two fingers and you have right click - it also does scroll. Personally I don't use the button at all.
The touchpads on Mac laptops negate the need for a left button, let alone a right one. Two-finger right click. Get with the times.
Hint: if you really want to hit a sore spot with Mac owners, rip on the Finder. Nobody gives a shit about the right mouse button.
Not that I have anything against multi-touch touchpads but where would you find the room to multi-touch on those things? Why not do touch screens? I don't see why a laptop haw to be a tablet to have a touch screen - just have a regular laptop with a touch screen. It's still not as good as a mouse but it's better than a touch pad.