Macworld San Francisco 2007 - Page 2

Widescreen iPod
iPhone
iWork with new spreadsheet application
New Mac pros with top of the line model equipped with Blu-ray drive.

C'mon Apple,...gimme gimme gimme!

Null.

If you wanted to do this now you could export your documents as a PDF then import them into iPhoto and send them off for printing. There are some little issues you'd have to resolve, and your book would be kinda wide, but it can be done.

iTV and a refreshed line of Macs capable of streaming content to it.

That's all I'm tuning in to see...credit card waiting...

All new Mac's have 802.11n chips (worst kept secret in Apple's history, on purpose) capable of streming beautifully to iTV, and that functionality could possibly be unlocked with a software update, though I'm hedging my bets that you'll have to buy Leoaprd to get this without a hack. Don't care though cause I'll be getting Leopard anyway.

One thing that hasn't been talked about much lately is Apple's next Cinema displays:

Two things we just know, iSight's built-in for definite, and IR sensors built-in for definite. But,

1. How thin will they be?
2. What ports will they have?
3. What sizes will they come in?
4. Will they be height adjustable?
5. Will they have thinner bezels?
6. How much will they cost?
7. Will they have iMac-esque hidden speakers built-in under the display?
(not for the audio pro, but just for the general user who can afford one of those Mac Pro beasts).

I appreciate the guidance for text-base book making through iPhoto. I'm not looking for a workaround for the problem, rather additional functionality in iLife 07 that would bring the book printing feature right to Pages. I know that printers are getting more and more advanced every year, yet I have not seen one that will take a text document and make it look as nice as a hard bound book composed in iPhoto. The text versions would have to allow for more pages to be printed, obviously creating thicker books, but printed text is cheaper than photos to imprint, so financially it shouldn't be that bad. It's just a feature I'd like to see brought to Pages that I know Apple wouldn't mess up.

As for all those people out there asking that Pages be more like a word processor, I'm fine with that, provided it doesn't lose any page layout functionality, or ease of use. I happen to like it just the way it is right now.

I'm thinking a totally redesigned iMac (it's going to be what?? 3 years with the current design?) , iPod 6gen, iPhone, iTV, and just to tweak m$ and bill gates' nose, Leopard goes on sale that day.

Mike: The MacBook Pro gets first dibs.

MacBook Pro Details:
4-year-old design. The present design of the MacBook Pro was actually debuted at MacWorld in 2003.
Hard drive is not user replaceable like the MacBook
MacBook has a better latching convention
MacBook Pro has limited screen opening angle
MacBook Pro needs better displays

Ahem, that's a great matter of opinion, my friend. I take exception to the fact that I need to remove 18 screws and a half hour to disassemble most of the computer to get at the hard drive - just to replace it. That's just plain asinine, especially when its less expensive cousin, the MacBook, has a very easy to replace hard drive. It's really a kick in the teeth for all the money one spends on Apple's pro notebook that it has a mediocre screen that can be darker on one side and brighter on another, and has very limited viewing angles. Then to top it all off, the limited opening angle of the display makes it difficult to work with in certain circumstances; a limitation you'd be hard pressed to find on nearly any other notebook on the market. So with that, and the fact that it's a 4-year-old design that's past due for a radical overhaul, the time is right and frankly, it needs to be done.

Just remember: This is Microsoft's biggest announcement in 5 years. Jobs and Apple won't want to give it to them easy.

Now's their chance to really blow people away. The more publicity they can suck away from Vista the better.

How many times does a MacBook owner replace their hard drive? Probably not as much a MacBook Pro user might, yet they still have by far easier access than the pro user.

I have gone through three defective MacBook Pros. All three of them returned. I am not getting another one until they change the design. The viewing angle on the display is far more limited than you would lead one to believe. But more importantly, the quality of the display SUCKS. Uneven illumination. Sure it may be brighter...but brighter in one area. The whole thing really pisses me off quite frankly. How can you defend a notebook whose screen only opens 120°? I cannot think of another laptop with this degree of limitation. This and the extremely difficult access to the hard drive are major design flaws.

Null.

It opens slightly further because the hinge is closer to the top of the base where as the MBP's is lower. I think this hinge design is *very* limiting. The Titanium PowerBook despite hinges that would crack or break on some models, had a hinge that could go back the full 180° and had a user removeable hard drive.

Null.

Why on earth would anyone need a display to tilt back more than 120°? If you're a very tall person in a tall chair with a short desk, maybe I can see it, but wouldn't that cause considerable neck strain anyway. I'd think such a person would seek some other kind of ergonomic adjustment. On your lap, I still don't see the need for any more than 120°. Seems like this is being argued just for the sake of arguing; not because it's a real issue.

Given that the MacBook Pro is due for a design update at some point, perhaps this would be addressed, but I wouldn't count on it. My guess is that Apple will shoot for lighter, cooler, faster and thinner well before worrying about screen angle.

In the future eventually.. Apple will have even simpler choices for their products, enabling buying one as easy as brushing your teeth. In particular notebooks. The Pro and consumer products will merge. You will have a choice of about two speeds (fast or very fast), 3 display size, materials (plastic or steel), and colors.

So when in a store you'll be shown 3 sizes, and you'll be asked what size you want. Then you'll be shown a few books in that size of different materials and colors, and asked what one you like. All the colored ones will be the same cost (he he), and the metal ones you will be told are more durable, but cost a little more. You wont choose the RAM as that will come in only one spec and wont be upgradable (it will be so high, that you'll never use it all). A few choices for GPU, depending on what you will be doing with your book, and what you may do with it in the future. Then you're done. They could call it the MacBook, and you choose what you want.

So then you could make your computer look pro or not, be big or small, be fast or very fast, be black, white or other colors you may want, be metal or plastic. You get what you want, cause you choose - from a list of high quality products in various powers, sizes or colors.

icfireball - I can't say I agree with you here. I think we ought to be able to replace hard drives without having a technician do it. I have a MBP with a 100GB hard drive in it. I have less than 17GB free. I can't change out the hard drive because I'm over here in the Middle East and I'd have to be without my laptop for a month including shipping simply because Apple doesn't have user swapable hard drives. Just because YOU don't need to swap out your hard drive doesn't mean you speak for me or others. The MacBook has this feature and the new MBP had better have this feature. It IS a design flaw when the hard drive is the thing that fails most often (I've lost three in Pro Apple laptops). I hope you never have a hard drive fail because it sucks. I hope you never have one fail after the other. That sucks more. And I hope you never have them fail several hundred miles from the nearest city when you really need your laptop. EVERY pro computer Apple currently ships has hard drives that are easily swapped out, aside from one. The MBP MUST have this functionality. THose that don't use it won't worry about it. Those that NEED it, are willing to pay for that functionality.

balls!

have you seen the price of 16 Gigs of RAM?

eventually

.mac is dead.

.mac merger with google announced.

Full Integration with Address book, iCal, iWeb, iChat, Mail and TimeMachine

All services integrated with iPhone. (iSynk)


Free.

Exactly what I'd love to see. A dot mac account would be Google's free services on a little Apple style 'roids plus a little extra storage.

And I dont understand why all the people waiting on a spreadsheet app arent already using Google's online spreadsheet. Its free. And unless you just have to have charts then it is just as good and doesnt take up any hd space and is accessible everywhere.

Google is already beta testing iCal to be Sync compatible. Those Mac devs at Google are up to some cool stuff.

iWork 07
-Pages Update - lets you choose between Word Processor and Layout View, has Index
-Keynote Update - Text Styles, OPML import, more robust Powerpoint export, and other stuff
-New Database app with strong spreadsheet flavor
-Support for Open Document and (MS) OpenXML formats (both are supported by TextEdit in Leopard builds)
- Much improved vector drawing support in all apps.
- Localization: more languages supported.

Well, if you have a 20" long neck it sure would help.

-Sales/ego booster (we will enslave the human race)
-Leopard Preview which runs flawlessly, demonstrates new video iChat and calls up Balmer to tell him he sucks, Jobs moons Balmer. Hysteria in crowd.
-iLife updates with uber crazy things, comes with remote with "COMMAND" and "Z" function
-iTunes (new version released), iTMS now features adult films
-iWork 07 with lotsa updates, cool features, will remove and destroy Office upon installation
-iPod HiFi reduced to a mind-blowing $299, now comes in black and brown
-MBP update - new feature with anti-theft shocking device, delivering 3,000,000 volts to the would-be thief as well as taking snapshot of thief and wirelessly transmitting it to your cellphone/email/local authorities

One more thing: iPhone.

so you can laugh as they die

Null.

I'm going to put a gun to Steve Jobs's head and make him do it now, just to prove u wrong

Seriously though, whether its in the work or not, Apple could benifit a lot from a partnership with google. Especially with gootube (google video), and built in iSight cameras on practically every important Apple product

Additionaly, .Mac is practically dead. And for any Diggnation viewers on these forums, you might remember their comentary on apple moving in interesting directions with regard to windows compatiability. Having Mac users and WIndow users on the same service would be a big, and probably necersery step in that direction.

EDIT: And I'm gonna burn for a lot of those comments, I can tell already

Null.

One thing about Google. They wont let Apple make money by using their tools. They are pretty devout when it comes to free access. But Google's presence on the board of directors has to manifest somehow.

I really expect there to be some sort of show of that at MacWorld. I think we'll get an idea of where this is going. I'm looking forward to that as much as the hardware stuff. Especially seeing how a Blue-Ray Mac Mini + iTV console has to be a year or two off still.

integration / collaboration doesn't mean one will take over the other when it comes to google and apple.

keep that in mind.

-=|Mgkwho

Ok, here is where I see MWSF07 going in January:

1) Recap of what happened during the Christmas buying season. This season appears to be really good for Apple, and to mention it will drive that point home.
2) iTunes+iPod. They may announce an iTunes major update, but it will not be to a 8.0, I think it might go to 7.1 or 7.5.
3) iTV. They will announce when it will become available (I think probably Feb 07). Steve already said that they were going for the price-point of $299. I think that they will also announce that it will have a hard-drive in it, with the ability to add more drives to increase space. That seems to be the only real way to handle this problem, without having another computer running and trying to stream all at the same time.
4) Leopard. He will show more consumer-oriented reasons as to get Leopard. They will go into the iCal additions, the new Mail.app, Safari, and the new stuff with iChat. They will show what the Resolution Independence will mean to the end consumer, and offer more about what Time Machine is and how it can be used. I think it will go on sale in Feb 07 as well.
5) iWork/iLife. There is a lot that can happen in here. I think that iPhoto has come a long way, and probably performance issues will be addressed. GarageBand and iMovie also will get some minor tweaks to it, I can't think of what else it might need. However, iWeb will have a major overhaul in how it renders things. I think it will be more CSS compliant, and won't be using images for everything. I also think they will allow for people to upload to any server they want, not just .Mac accounts.
iWork needs some major help, especially in the Pages area. There needs to be some performance boosting done to this application. I think they will also release Numbers, the spreadsheet alternative to Excel. I also think that they may make a database application, utilizing either SQLLite or MySQL (probably MySQL for the performance and standardization aspects of it). If they do make a database application, it will have to be easy to use, and hopefully without the need of using archaic command-line sentences to get at your data. Of course, all of the iWork applications will have access to the iLife side of the house and visa-versa.
6) The death of the .Mac. I think with the Google collaboration they will do away with this paid service, and offer it for free. OR they will keep the paid service for the full version of it, but have a free version (via Google) that will have mail and web presence.
7) One More Thing: iPhone. This phone will not be tied to a particular carrier. You will be able to buy the SIM cards from Apple directly. Using either the data-streaming from the phone itself, or if you are near a WiFi access, you can buy iTunes right from your phone. It will be running Leopard-Lite, so it will look just like your Mac some of the functionality built right in. It will also have Bluetooth capabilities, so you can sync your Address Book, iCal, and iTunes from your phone. Some are saying it will have a camera in it, I am thinking video camera. This might be the first phone to have integrated Video Chat via iChat. All of this for $299 - $399.

Null.

Probably time for this!



Or not- who knows- it's been too long!

BENj

delete

Edited by mgkwho - 1/2/13 at 8:23am

I'm with Mgkwho, they seem fairly realistic!

MMkay...

SJ will recap christmas season, gloat about ipod sales figures, make thinly veiled joke about the Zune, progress reports on Leopard, not actual release, blahdy blah...

Things we will PROBABLY see:

My Nostradamus side predicts: New Cinema Displays (about bloody time too), possibly a new 19" widescreen low end, this seems to be becomeing standard for new WS's.

More details, if not actual release of iTV. (anyone else think this might be a mac mini replacement? Just putting it out there)

Price drops on the Macbooks. These are too expensive for a consumer notebook. The ibooks started about $250AUD cheaper, and before you yell student discount, not everyone is a student, and even if they are, you have to be a student at a participating school. Which I'm not, so I'd like a price drop

Things we MIGHT see:

iPhone, again, details if not release. If this isn't released, they may well do a special event not shortly after, given rumors about it entering manufacture.

Video ipod would be asking a bit much, given three major releases already predicted. Unless they decide to do iPhone and Video iPod at a seperate 'Special Event'

Gamers Mac: This is on the less likely of the mights, but I did hear a rumor somewhere about a mid tower, aimed at gamers and more advanced computer users. You know, the people that might actually open their tower sometime. This would be nice, and is the 'headless' mac that everyone on these forums at least seems to lust for, but I doubt we will see it. The only reason it's with the mights is becuase what would Macworld be without a Mac announcement?

New Apple website design, probably a briefer mention, as it doesnt really concern consumers.

.Mac updates.

New Mac Pro (the octo core, probably no major exteriour case redesign, apple seems to like what they have atm) Doubtful, but again where would Macworld be...

Things we WONT see:

Macbook/Pro redesigns. It's not gonna happen, get the f*** over it.

iMac redesign Not gonna happen, much as I hate the current case for its overly consumerish look, and lack of easy expandability (these things are a BITCH to get open), its not gonna happen.

Microsoft/Apple merger. Just to give you an idea of how very unlikely the above two are