iBooks- Where do they fit in?

mystmyst
Posted:
in Future Apple Hardware edited January 2014
(I'm pretty new to these forums, so don't pick me apart too badly)



I was just thinking, while looking over the line up of Apples notebooks, that the iBook sort of seems useless. Not to say it isn't a cheap solution for the younger students, but now with the 12" Powerbook it needs to seperate itself. Awhile back there were rumors about a Apple Tablet (if thats the correct term) that were swiftly dismissed.



I was just thinking that, maybe (Unfounded speculation), Apple might phase in this design concept by making iBooks that act as a tablet. Though Jobs said Apple wouldn't make a tablet PC, it wouldn't be strictly a Tablet. It would be a normal iBook with the Tablet-like functions.



If you believe this to be complete BS speculation that would never lead to anything, no problem. Just a thought.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 11
    jlljll Posts: 2,713member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Myst

    I was just thinking, while looking over the line up of Apples notebooks, that the iBook sort of seems useless. Not to say it isn't a cheap solution for the younger students, but now with the 12" Powerbook it needs to seperate itself.



    190,000 buyers last quarter didn't find it useless.
  • Reply 2 of 11
    amorphamorph Posts: 7,112member
    The iBook is one of the cornerstones of Apple's education strategy, and one of the reasons they've been able to hold on as well as they have as administrators blindly require Dell in the schools.



    There's nothing useless about it. It's a popular, useful and well-loved little machine at a great price, and proof (as if any was necessary) that the needs of a great many people simply don't require much in the way of raw horsepower.



    Given that it's one of their most successful lines, I don't expect Apple to tamper with it significantly, except to improve upon its existing strengths: Cheap, rugged, portable.
  • Reply 3 of 11
    dog almightydog almighty Posts: 464member
    They could use a G4? G3 has over-stayed its welcome almost as much as the G4.
  • Reply 4 of 11
    jobjob Posts: 420member
    I'd much rather see a 1Ghz G3 processor with a 133/167/200(?) Mhz bus than a G4 chip. Although I doubt we'll see the aformentioned G3, there have been rumors...G3+SIMD unit...hmmm...



    I'd also like to see a faster GPU on the iBooks, but I doubt that would happen any time soon.



    My prediction: Apple shoe-horns the eMac motherboard into the iBook. Faster bus, G4, and same GPU (to keep costs down.)
  • Reply 5 of 11
    satchmosatchmo Posts: 2,699member
    The iBook is getting a bit outdated. Sure it's not a laptop you use to render 3-D images, but it's time to drop a G4 chip in it.



    But what bothers me most about the iBook is how Apple has "junked" the look of it in it's latest form. The new white plastic palm rests make it utterly toy like. It's almost as if Apple purposely made it look less desirable so people would consider a Powerbook instead.
  • Reply 6 of 11
    frank777frank777 Posts: 5,839member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Amorph:

    The iBook is one of the cornerstones of Apple's education strategy, and one of the reasons they've been able to hold on as well as they have as administrators blindly require Dell in the schools.



    Sorry to post a Software rant in a Hardware forum, but Apple's education "strategy" is inane. They trumpet their "integration" of hardware and software, make a killer ed-portable like the iBook, and then leave AppleWorks - their education centrepiece - to languish for years.



    That's not a strategy, it's suicide.
  • Reply 7 of 11
    bigmclargehugebigmclargehuge Posts: 175member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Myst

    (I'm pretty new to these forums, so don't pick me apart too badly)



    I was just thinking, while looking over the line up of Apples notebooks, that the iBook sort of seems useless. Not to say it isn't a cheap solution for the younger students, but now with the 12" Powerbook it needs to seperate itself. Awhile back there were rumors about a Apple Tablet (if thats the correct term) that were swiftly dismissed.



    I was just thinking that, maybe (Unfounded speculation), Apple might phase in this design concept by making iBooks that act as a tablet. Though Jobs said Apple wouldn't make a tablet PC, it wouldn't be strictly a Tablet. It would be a normal iBook with the Tablet-like functions.



    If you believe this to be complete BS speculation that would never lead to anything, no problem. Just a thought.



    See, the thing is, the iBook does have uses outside of education. I'm a writer by trade and a Mac-o-phile by choice. I use an iMac G3 350 on my desk in my office for stationary work (soon to be upgraded to a DP 1.25 Gig so I can do a little graphic/video editing and gaming), as my office entertainment center, and communications hub. I rarely phone anyone anymore.



    An iBook (if I had one, and I want one... I really, really, want one) would be my iMac extentions so that when I was on the road and wanted to keep writing I could do it. When I was on the road and wanted to keep communicating with my family or business contacts, I could do that too.



    I get as a much of a power boner as the next guy when I look at the G5, but I have to ask myself, would a 2Ghz DP really improve my writing or my communications needs?



    When I trek to the Apple Store to drool over the lap-line I am drawn to the white Chicklettiness of the iBook because it would SOLVE my mobile computing problem even in its lowest end configuration.



    I can certainly see how others, not just school kids, can use an iBook as part of their computing paradigm. For me, it's the perfect tool for its allotted job.



    If I had two grand to drop on a new machine I'd be hard pressed not to pick up a bottom end iBook and max the RAM.



    As for tablet confugurations, I can certainly see how a drawing application would benefit from a tablet design and handwriting/stroke recognition, but how many people would actually use it as a tablet?



    Anyone have figures on how those table PCs are selling? My gut instinct tells me not well but I have no datum.
  • Reply 8 of 11
    jlljll Posts: 2,713member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by BigMcLargehuge

    Anyone have figures on how those table PCs are selling? My gut instinct tells me not well but I have no datum.



    In Europe the sales dropped 31% last quarter compared the quarter before that.
  • Reply 9 of 11
    bigmclargehugebigmclargehuge Posts: 175member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by JLL

    In Europe the sales dropped 31% last quarter compared the quarter before that.



    Thanks for that JLL



    Have you a link to where that's mentioned as I'd like to cite it in something I'm writing. If not, no big deal.



    Thanks in advance
  • Reply 10 of 11
    amorphamorph Posts: 7,112member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by JLL

    In Europe the sales dropped 31% last quarter compared the quarter before that.



    Overall, last I looked, tablets from all manufacturers had yet to outsell the Cube.
  • Reply 11 of 11
    jlljll Posts: 2,713member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by BigMcLargehuge

    Thanks for that JLL



    Have you a link to where that's mentioned as I'd like to cite it in something I'm writing. If not, no big deal.



    Thanks in advance



    Only in Danish: http://comon.dk/index.php?page=news:show,id=14801



    But the numbers are from IDC and covers EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa).
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