" I think that there are two places for the MacBook to go: 1) the dumpster, after the "tablet" comes out ... "
Oh, don't do that. Just send it to me. I know of a whole bunch of kids who would just go ape for a used MacBook. Or send it to these kids: Denver Donation Center for cast off Apple Hardware, especially if FireWire ports are intact and operating, music being their avocation.
As for that Tablet replacing the Laptop, well, I'm betting that the most popular accessories for the Tablet will be external plug in keyboards and mice. ... which will make them more cumbersome to lug about than any laptop.
Next revision, I'd like to see an option to leave out the optical unit. If they offer the laptop without one for $200 less, it will encourage people to forego the use of the optical voluntarily.
Dropping the optical drive would reduce the price by about $100. It would also result in lower weight, longer battery life, greater reliability (less to fail), and would allow for a thinner design. The MacBook Air proved the concept. I'm confident that the next major case redesign will drop the optical drive. I intensely hope so.
At the same time, we may see a new MacBook Air which drops the HDD completely in favor of SSD directly on the motherboard. That would make the next MacBook Air thinner, lighter, more reliable, less expensive, and with a longer battery life.
Dropping the optical drive would reduce the price by about $100. It would also result in lower weight, longer battery life, greater reliability (less to fail), and would allow for a thinner design. The MacBook Air proved the concept. I'm confident that the next major case redesign will drop the optical drive. I intensely hope so.
14" laptop, Core 2 Duo, 9400M, no optical drive for just $750. If Apple could even get the entry 13" MBP down from $1199 to $999, that would be a big improvement.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mcarling
At the same time, we may see a new MacBook Air which drops the HDD completely in favor of SSD directly on the motherboard. That would make the next MacBook Air thinner, lighter, more reliable, less expensive, and with a longer battery life.
If they integrate the Intel X-25M 160GB or a 120GB OCZ Vertex drive, it should be enough for storage and performance. The 4200 rpm drive is slow for reading. Writes seem to be ok at 30MB/s but still only about 60% of what you'd get with a modern 2.5" 5400 rpm drive. An X-25M will match a 7200 rpm drive and a Vertex would double that.
Maybe they should just drop the lower end MBA and get the internals from the X-25M direct from Intel in bulk and aim to get a 160GB MBA for $1699 or something. They can maybe shave a bit more off by having one product and by not having to accommodate the full SSD drive.
If they integrate the Intel X-25M 160GB or a 120GB OCZ Vertex drive, it should be enough for storage and performance. The 4200 rpm drive is slow for reading. Writes seem to be ok at 30MB/s but still only about 60% of what you'd get with a modern 2.5" 5400 rpm drive. An X-25M will match a 7200 rpm drive and a Vertex would double that.
Maybe they should just drop the lower end MBA and get the internals from the X-25M direct from Intel in bulk and aim to get a 160GB MBA for $1699 or something. They can maybe shave a bit more off by having one product and by not having to accommodate the full SSD drive.
Dropping the low-end MBA would be a great idea. An SSD-only MBA would offer many advantages for the form factor. The memory chips could be soldered directly onto the motherboard. This would be
-Cheaper to produce
-Result in smaller component real estate inside the MBA, which means extra room for maybe a firewire port or some extra battery size
- Allow for faster transfers since the physical length of the bus will be greatly reduced and you won't have the latency from the connector.
Of course, it'd also mean the SSD can't be upgraded or serviced separately etc...
The "white" MacBook / iBook laptops are a favorite of professional musicians, thus the absence of a FireWire port has degraded sales somewhat. Interestingly, white Apple laptops with FireWire seem to be holding value on the auction sites, eBay, et al ...
Comments
Oh, don't do that. Just send it to me. I know of a whole bunch of kids who would just go ape for a used MacBook. Or send it to these kids: Denver Donation Center for cast off Apple Hardware, especially if FireWire ports are intact and operating, music being their avocation.
As for that Tablet replacing the Laptop, well, I'm betting that the most popular accessories for the Tablet will be external plug in keyboards and mice. ... which will make them more cumbersome to lug about than any laptop.
Next revision, I'd like to see an option to leave out the optical unit. If they offer the laptop without one for $200 less, it will encourage people to forego the use of the optical voluntarily.
Dropping the optical drive would reduce the price by about $100. It would also result in lower weight, longer battery life, greater reliability (less to fail), and would allow for a thinner design. The MacBook Air proved the concept. I'm confident that the next major case redesign will drop the optical drive. I intensely hope so.
At the same time, we may see a new MacBook Air which drops the HDD completely in favor of SSD directly on the motherboard. That would make the next MacBook Air thinner, lighter, more reliable, less expensive, and with a longer battery life.
Dropping the optical drive would reduce the price by about $100. It would also result in lower weight, longer battery life, greater reliability (less to fail), and would allow for a thinner design. The MacBook Air proved the concept. I'm confident that the next major case redesign will drop the optical drive. I intensely hope so.
Dell are starting to go down this route too:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/26/d...tays-behind-w/
14" laptop, Core 2 Duo, 9400M, no optical drive for just $750. If Apple could even get the entry 13" MBP down from $1199 to $999, that would be a big improvement.
At the same time, we may see a new MacBook Air which drops the HDD completely in favor of SSD directly on the motherboard. That would make the next MacBook Air thinner, lighter, more reliable, less expensive, and with a longer battery life.
If they integrate the Intel X-25M 160GB or a 120GB OCZ Vertex drive, it should be enough for storage and performance. The 4200 rpm drive is slow for reading. Writes seem to be ok at 30MB/s but still only about 60% of what you'd get with a modern 2.5" 5400 rpm drive. An X-25M will match a 7200 rpm drive and a Vertex would double that.
Maybe they should just drop the lower end MBA and get the internals from the X-25M direct from Intel in bulk and aim to get a 160GB MBA for $1699 or something. They can maybe shave a bit more off by having one product and by not having to accommodate the full SSD drive.
If they integrate the Intel X-25M 160GB or a 120GB OCZ Vertex drive, it should be enough for storage and performance. The 4200 rpm drive is slow for reading. Writes seem to be ok at 30MB/s but still only about 60% of what you'd get with a modern 2.5" 5400 rpm drive. An X-25M will match a 7200 rpm drive and a Vertex would double that.
Maybe they should just drop the lower end MBA and get the internals from the X-25M direct from Intel in bulk and aim to get a 160GB MBA for $1699 or something. They can maybe shave a bit more off by having one product and by not having to accommodate the full SSD drive.
Dropping the low-end MBA would be a great idea. An SSD-only MBA would offer many advantages for the form factor. The memory chips could be soldered directly onto the motherboard. This would be
-Cheaper to produce
-Result in smaller component real estate inside the MBA, which means extra room for maybe a firewire port or some extra battery size
- Allow for faster transfers since the physical length of the bus will be greatly reduced and you won't have the latency from the connector.
Of course, it'd also mean the SSD can't be upgraded or serviced separately etc...
Macbook ( White ) - Students and Basic consumers who are on a budget and want to know what a Mac is like.
Macbook Pro - Professionals who have higher budgets and require more raw processing power to do high end stuff like video editing.
Macbook Air - People who can afford it, favour fashion over tech and do not mind surviving with 1 USB port.
I personally own a 17" MBP because my job scope demands the raw processing power that is required.
Hope my brief description of the Macbook family helps.