The New Mac Ultralight and the Asus U1F
OK Mac folks, chew on this one. One can only hope that this is anywhere close to reality.
http://www.pbcentral.com/columns/hil...ore/asus.shtml
Here are the first few paragraoh of that article written by Charles W. Moore of pb|central and the Applelinks website.
New ASUS U1F Subnotebook - The Shape Of Things To Come In A Baby MacBook Pro?
by Charles W. Moore
"Last weekend, PC-maker ASUS unveiled its latest laptop, the subcompact U1F, a decidedly upmarket entrant in the crowded Windows subnotebook category, complete with a lacquered ?piano finish? and real hide leather palm rests. ASUS has experience and expertise in the fancy laptop category, with its lines of full-sized Lamborghini laptops.
That?s interesting, you might be saying, but what relevance does another Windows laptop have to the Apple ?Book mystique? Well, possibly more than you might imagine. Since you?re reading this column, you?re probably aware that many Apple portable fans are eagerly hoping for, and the rumor mills ever more confidently anticipating, an Intel-powered replacement for the admirable 12-inch PowerBook, and it so happens that ASUS, aka Asustek, aka Asusalpha Computer (formerly AlphaTop), is one of Apple?s Taiwanese laptop subcontractors and engineering partners, and the main producer of MacBooks, as well as the original and dual-USB iBooks and the 12-inch PowerBook, which was heavily based on the iBook design.
Consequently, it doesn?t seem excessively fanciful that at least some of the clever engineering that has gone into the ASUS U1F laptop could very well find its way into the new Apple MacBook Pro subnotebook - and least if ASUStek is awarded the contract to build it for Apple, which seems likely based on precedent.
Now, I?m not suggesting that any new baby MacBook Pro will simply be a clone of this new ASUS machine. Any new subnotebook Apple can expected to be a product of Jonathan Ive and his design team in styling and form factor, and with a typically Apple feature set. However, Macs these days are essentially PCs, so a commonality of internal engineering would not be of of the question."
http://www.pbcentral.com/columns/hil...ore/asus.shtml
Here are the first few paragraoh of that article written by Charles W. Moore of pb|central and the Applelinks website.
New ASUS U1F Subnotebook - The Shape Of Things To Come In A Baby MacBook Pro?
by Charles W. Moore
"Last weekend, PC-maker ASUS unveiled its latest laptop, the subcompact U1F, a decidedly upmarket entrant in the crowded Windows subnotebook category, complete with a lacquered ?piano finish? and real hide leather palm rests. ASUS has experience and expertise in the fancy laptop category, with its lines of full-sized Lamborghini laptops.
That?s interesting, you might be saying, but what relevance does another Windows laptop have to the Apple ?Book mystique? Well, possibly more than you might imagine. Since you?re reading this column, you?re probably aware that many Apple portable fans are eagerly hoping for, and the rumor mills ever more confidently anticipating, an Intel-powered replacement for the admirable 12-inch PowerBook, and it so happens that ASUS, aka Asustek, aka Asusalpha Computer (formerly AlphaTop), is one of Apple?s Taiwanese laptop subcontractors and engineering partners, and the main producer of MacBooks, as well as the original and dual-USB iBooks and the 12-inch PowerBook, which was heavily based on the iBook design.
Consequently, it doesn?t seem excessively fanciful that at least some of the clever engineering that has gone into the ASUS U1F laptop could very well find its way into the new Apple MacBook Pro subnotebook - and least if ASUStek is awarded the contract to build it for Apple, which seems likely based on precedent.
Now, I?m not suggesting that any new baby MacBook Pro will simply be a clone of this new ASUS machine. Any new subnotebook Apple can expected to be a product of Jonathan Ive and his design team in styling and form factor, and with a typically Apple feature set. However, Macs these days are essentially PCs, so a commonality of internal engineering would not be of of the question."
Comments
Of course, the Mac version would look a lot better, except for maybe the leather palm rests.
The Asus also shaves weight off by using 2 different batteries, a smaller screen, and apparently a smaller power supply.
I just don't think there is that large of a market for Apple to make an ultraportable laptop like this. The cost would likely be higher than the MacBook but without the performance to match. I think that for people who really need to check their email, browse the web, check their calendar, or do anything basic from anywhere, Apple will try and sell them an iPhone.
Why would a subnotebook need an internal optical drive? That is one feature that all subs can do without IMO.
I don't see an 'ultralight' Mac laptop coming any time soon for a few different reasons. First of all, I doubt Apple whould ship a machine without an internal optical drive. You're not going to get a laptop under 2.2 lbs (or even close to that) with an internal optical drive. For reference, the 12" PowerBook G4 weighed in at 4.6 lbs.
The Asus also shaves weight off by using 2 different batteries, a smaller screen, and apparently a smaller power supply.
I just don't think there is that large of a market for Apple to make an ultraportable laptop like this. The cost would likely be higher than the MacBook but without the performance to match. I think that for people who really need to check their email, browse the web, check their calendar, or do anything basic from anywhere, Apple will try and sell them an iPhone.
Why is it that people think Ultralights are only capable of "wimpy" website browsing, email and text editing? Check out my post at the link below (post #221) and you'll see what my 3 yo Sony TX160 Ultralight can do:
http://forums.appleinsider.com/showt...t=71866&page=6
Furthermore, if you read the whole Charles Moore article, you'll see that he is not proposing that Apple will come out with a 2.2 lb Ultralight clone of the Asus U1F. To wit:
"I?m also doubtful that Apple would want to shoot for the ASUS unit?s 2.2 pound weight, and the rumoristas are predicting something in the 3.5 pound range with a 12 inch widescreen as opposed to the U1F?s 11.1? display. Even 3.5 pounds would be more than a pound lighter than the erstwhile 12-inch PowerBook"
I think that for people who really need to check their email, browse the web, check their calendar, or do anything basic from anywhere, Apple will try and sell them an iPhone.
What about writers? It's simply impossible to write more than a page of text without a real keyboard, predictive virtual keyboard be damned. I guess maybe for short emails and IMs with their heavily abbreviated lexicon, you wouldn't need a keyboard, but I wouldn't even want to post to this forum without a keyboard.
The only difference is that my R100 has a 12.1" XGA screen (not widescreen) and the ASUS is 11"...
I'm sure there's a good market for a sleek, thin, fast, powerful lightweight MBP that can last all day on a single charge. With AirPort Extreme 802.11n onboard, it could be synced up with a server or another Mac via AirPort in seconds.
Maybe it could even use Multitouch. It could do most of what the iPhone can do except for the cell stuff.
Why do people keep asking for NAND memory only? 32GB is too damn small! Nobody would accept a laptop with that little storage these days. 80GB is the minimum. NAND should supplement a hard drive, not replace it. Imagine if you kept frequently used data and apps in NAND but still have the same 1.8" 80GB drive in iPods for long-term storage of other data. Those things are designed to sip power. They start up and stop in an instant, only starting up long enough to load the next song on an iPod or in the case of an ultralight, just long enough to load or save a file. Battery life would be just as long if you use the flash RAM as more of a disk cache like this. Those drives would be slow, but in a hybrid design with flash RAM, that wouldn't matter.
I agree. Especially if the machine came without an optical drive built in (which I'm for). People are rushing NAND. When you can get 100 gbs for only 20% more than HDD let me know. Then I'm all for it.
You're not going to get a laptop under 2.2 lbs (or even close to that) with an internal optical drive. For reference, the 12" PowerBook G4 weighed in at 4.6 lbs.
The Sony Vaio TX is 2.76lb and has a built-in optical drive.
11.1" widescreen LCD with LED backlight
2.2GHz Core 2 Duo
1GB memory
60GB hard drive*
1GB flash memory
Some sort of efficient, dedicated graphics
*The hard drive I have in mind would be a single platter 60GB 1.8" model like the ones made by Seagate and Samsung. They're small, light weight, and only 0.2" thick (5mm). A double-platter drive would be 8mm thick and could hold up to 120GB.
Such a subnotebook could be so thin that an optical drive wouldn't work so it'd be external. Also, being that thin, it wouldn't have any room for traditional ports so it might only have something like an iPod connector for a dock or a port extender.
Also, some companies here in Japan are now delivering apps on flash media rather than optical media; it's smaller, but at the moment more expensive. With increasing online delivery, need for an optical drive decreases markedly. Price, however, is an interesting thing: fewer hardware breakdowns, smaller hardware thus less expensive hardware for duplication, smaller packaging, lower mailing rates and other cost savings might make the flash method more economical.
I have had notebooks for almost seven years now and, except for software installations, have never used the optical drives, so they have been wasted space and weight most of the time.
An ultra-light is just that: the basics. If you need heavy infantry, call in on the office.
Besides, Wu Shaw has said they're working on one.
Apple could release an ultralight MBP this spring if it were outfitted like this:
...
2.2GHz Core 2 Duo
...
In short, this is a total fantasy based on a fantasy chip, or a fantasy time line for a chip that won't exist for at least a year.
There are a lot of things that Apple could hypothetically release, but that isn't one of them, they can't make a device based on a chip that doesn't exist. It won't be possible to make an ultralight with a 2.2GHz CPU this spring because there does not exist an LV or ULV chip that runs anywhere nearly that fast. The standard C2D notebook chips run far too hot and suck far too much power to run in an ultralight so it has to be a slower, power sipping version of the chip.
What about writers? It's simply impossible to write more than a page of text without a real keyboard, predictive virtual keyboard be damned. I guess maybe for short emails and IMs with their heavily abbreviated lexicon, you wouldn't need a keyboard, but I wouldn't even want to post to this forum without a keyboard.
Can't speak for others, but I wrote several entire text books (100 pages plus each), including several hours worth of audio material for each, on a thumb board on my Sony Clie; it is possible if you get used to it. The benefit of the Clie was I could always have it in my pocket so that every spare moment could become writing time. A device with a larger keyboard just isn't as portable and would not have allowed me to type in many of the places I ultimately did.
The market for a sub-notebook is not for writers, though. It is for business people and gadget freaks and perhaps doctors and educators. If done right, it will have a very large market.
Can't speak for others, but I wrote several entire text books (100 pages plus each), including several hours worth of audio material for each, on a thumb board on my Sony Clie; it is possible if you get used to it. The benefit of the Clie was I could always have it in my pocket so that every spare moment could become writing time. A device with a larger keyboard just isn't as portable and would not have allowed me to type in many of the places I ultimately did.
Your feats on the Clie may qualify you for the Guinness book.
The market for a sub-notebook is not for writers, though. It is for business people and gadget freaks and perhaps doctors and educators. If done right, it will have a very large market.
Dom't agree on the writers issue but strongly agree on the rest of your post.
Your feats on the Clie may qualify you for the Guinness book.
Fastest thumbs on the planet!
It's conceivable, although extremely unlikely for a consumer device that a drive could be built that leaves half of the optical disc sticking out of the side of the machine.
However, just sitting in the corner wouldn't work too well IMO, as then the user would have to be pretty careful while using the CD... would you go so far as to have it separable?