I agree the rumoured specs are garbage, but the specs we hash out on the boards are, as posted directly above me, pretty reasonable.
A ULV CPU is going to be slow, but also uses like 5W. Integrated graphics are likely, but a fanless GPU would be possible. Apple buys enough 1.8" drives for iPods so that they'd be cheap for a subnotebook. The optical drive probably has to go.
I'd say 2 grand (USD). The ULV is expensive and so is the fanless GPU but the hard drives are cheap and you save a bit tossing the optical drive.
It would probably need a new name as it breaks the screen size=price paradigm of Apple's. It certainly doesn't have a MacBook's power (excluding, possibly, the GPU) and it has a smaller screen, but would cost quite a bit more than the MacBook. It should however have all the USB/Firewire/etc? ports of the Pro series
I think it would rope in the old 12" PB buyers plus expand the business pro user market and attract students who buy lots of tiny (Windows) laptops. Since the 12" PB was always the most anecdotally popular of the PowerBooks (I, and most people I talk to, always saw more 12" than 15" or 17" PB's) I think this model would certainly make enough money to justify it's existence.
One should also note that Apple's market share of the notebook market is expanding fairly rapidly which makes additional product lines to fill in gaps that aren't profitable at lower volume both a smart move and another way to keep growing sales of notebooks.
A ULV CPU is going to be slow, but also uses like 5W. Integrated graphics are likely, but a fanless GPU would be possible. Apple buys enough 1.8" drives for iPods so that they'd be cheap for a subnotebook. The optical drive probably has to go.
I'd say 2 grand (USD). The ULV is expensive and so is the fanless GPU but the hard drives are cheap and you save a bit tossing the optical drive.
It would probably need a new name as it breaks the screen size=price paradigm of Apple's. It certainly doesn't have a MacBook's power (excluding, possibly, the GPU) and it has a smaller screen, but would cost quite a bit more than the MacBook. It should however have all the USB/Firewire/etc? ports of the Pro series
Why are we talking ULV CPUs? What about straight-up Low Voltage CPUs? I mean, the PB G4 used essentially the same G4 as the bigger models, just slower. A 12 inch MBP could run a L2400 or a L2500 (1.67 or 1.83 GHz at 15W TDP) and not burn up. I too like the idea of a 1.8 inch HDD, but what sort of RPMs do you get off one of those? I mean, if it's lower than 4200 RPMs, then that'd sort of hurt things. I think 80-100GB will be plenty of room in the HDD, I'm just worried about speed.
The specs aren't real. You simply can't stick that fast a CPU in that small of a computer. Heat & physics, people.
However a ULV CPU might make room enough for a fanless GPU from ATI or Nvidia over Intel graphics.
I'd prefer no optical drive and a really big battery instead myself. Dump the hard drive for 32 GB of flash as well. Go freakishly thin and light, but retain awesome keyboard?that's all I ask.
+++ Others who say that it's not possible to have the specs as stated on MOSR:
have a look at Dell (of all companies). They have a 12" XPS notebook WITH dedicated graphics AND an optical drive.
So let's get this over with right now and declare that it IS PHYSICALLY POSSIBLE to stick all the goodies in that small of a package (especially with what creativity for design Apple has).
Nope, sorry, I don't see an option with a dedicated card there. The best you get is one with TurboCache, only only partially uses its own memory, and therefore still suffers huge latency issues, not to mention it's only available on budget cards.
Nope, sorry, I don't see an option with a dedicated card there. The best you get is one with TurboCache, only only partially uses its own memory, and therefore still suffers huge latency issues, not to mention it's only available on budget cards.
Still uses it's own memory somewhat and is an acceptable middle ground.
Also it means that the above specs are even greater possibility, doesn't it?
Still uses it's own memory somewhat and is an acceptable middle ground.
For the customers that buy that kind of stuff, yes, it sure is acceptable. But you only get low-end graphics card that way; barely even mid-end. Certainly doesn't make for the kind of gaming rig some are talking about.
Quote:
Also it means that the above specs are even greater possibility, doesn't it?
I believe MOSR about as much as I do the tabloid at the grocery store, but even basic dedicated graphics are better than Intel's integrated graphics. It can mean the difference between playing World of Warcraft on low detail versus not playing at all.
Nope, sorry, I don't see an option with a dedicated card there. The best you get is one with TurboCache, only only partially uses its own memory, and therefore still suffers huge latency issues, not to mention it's only available on budget cards.
Yeah, but that notebook only costs like $1300, and we're pricing a 12 inch MBP at like $1600-1800, right? So the idea of a 7600GS or something isn't that far out there.
Yeah, but that notebook only costs like $1300, and we're pricing a 12 inch MBP at like $1600-1800, right? So the idea of a 7600GS or something isn't that far out there.
Correct. I was only pointing out that that particular notebook doesn't have any truly dedicated graphics options, even when you boost the price all the way to $2k, which you easily can with the BTO options.
I'm not counting out the possibility of a laptop with dedicated graphics at 12 inches. But it'll easily cost $1800, weigh a lot, make a lot of heat, have no battery life to write home about, and be thick and ugly.
Correct. I was only pointing out that that particular notebook doesn't have any truly dedicated graphics options, even when you boost the price all the way to $2k, which you easily can with the BTO options.
I'm not counting out the possibility of a laptop with dedicated graphics at 12 inches. But it'll easily cost $1800, weigh a lot, make a lot of heat, have no battery life to write home about, and be thick and ugly.
What about hybrid graphics? IG + a dedicated card, with the option to switch between them. Going into "Better Performance" turns on cheap GPU, and "Better Energy Savings" gives you the crappy IG.
What about hybrid graphics? IG + a dedicated card, with the option to switch between them. Going into "Better Performance" turns on cheap GPU, and "Better Energy Savings" gives you the crappy IG.
For the customers that buy that kind of stuff, yes, it sure is acceptable. But you only get low-end graphics card that way; barely even mid-end. Certainly doesn't make for the kind of gaming rig some are talking about.
Anybody who would want an ultralight for gaming needs to have his head examined. That's not what ultralights are for and I can't imagine why anyone would want to game on a tiny screen anyway. You want power? Buy the 17" MBP. Don't expect the smallest (hopefully) member of the family to do all the same things. No ultralight on the market has top-of-the-line performance.
All this talk of a 12" screen is wrong anyway. AFAIK, nobody makes a 12" widescreen LCD, and Steve would never allow standard aspect ratio anymore, even if he were willing to spend the money to get LCD panels custom-made for Apple. Think 11" widescreen, like the Sony Vaio TX series.
All this talk of a 12" screen is wrong anyway. AFAIK, nobody makes a 12" widescreen LCD, and Steve would never allow standard aspect ratio anymore, even if he were willing to spend the money to get LCD panels custom-made for Apple. Think 11" widescreen, like the Sony Vaio TX series.
Er... the Dell above has a WXGA 12" screen.
I'm pretty sure the 15.2" widescreen was a near-custom item back in 2001 when the TiBook arrived and at around the same time Apple were churning out 15" XGA iMac G4s so they could have easiely lowered the unit cost by buying bulk.
I'm pretty sure the 15.2" widescreen was a near-custom item back in 2001 when the TiBook arrived and at around the same time Apple were churning out 15" XGA iMac G4s so they could have easiely lowered the unit cost by buying bulk.
For the Asian market, 12" MacBookpro would be perfect as it's not as agressive as mobile PC but a lot ligher to carry around. If they can make it a tablet, that's even better.
Macbook is nice but way too heavy. If you ever travel in asian city (japan, shanghai, hong kong), the millions of people there would not be carrying a laptop around everyday. They will only carry a cellphone or PDA. A computer would be possible if it's small enough.
Take a 13" Mac Book, cover it in aluminum instead of plastic (making the overall computer a little thinner in the process), add decent graphics support, an illuminated keyboard, and probably a small number of other MBP features I'm not thinking of off the top of my head, and I'd be pretty happy with the result if the price wasn't hugely marked up. I can live without the expansion card slot if that's part of getting down to that size.
Getting the size all the way down to 12" would be nice too, but at 1280x800 resolution that means 125 ppi for pixel density -- getting a bit squinty I think, although I'd have to see how I feel looking at a comparable display to be sure. (By the way, I don't think 125 ppi is good enough to take proper advantage of Leopard's purported resolution independence.)
Comments
1.8" 40/80 GB GDD
Integrated Graphics
Low Voltage CPU
but how many can be sold with this specs??? it will be expensive as well ...
A ULV CPU is going to be slow, but also uses like 5W. Integrated graphics are likely, but a fanless GPU would be possible. Apple buys enough 1.8" drives for iPods so that they'd be cheap for a subnotebook. The optical drive probably has to go.
I'd say 2 grand (USD). The ULV is expensive and so is the fanless GPU but the hard drives are cheap and you save a bit tossing the optical drive.
It would probably need a new name as it breaks the screen size=price paradigm of Apple's. It certainly doesn't have a MacBook's power (excluding, possibly, the GPU) and it has a smaller screen, but would cost quite a bit more than the MacBook. It should however have all the USB/Firewire/etc? ports of the Pro series
I think it would rope in the old 12" PB buyers plus expand the business pro user market and attract students who buy lots of tiny (Windows) laptops. Since the 12" PB was always the most anecdotally popular of the PowerBooks (I, and most people I talk to, always saw more 12" than 15" or 17" PB's) I think this model would certainly make enough money to justify it's existence.
One should also note that Apple's market share of the notebook market is expanding fairly rapidly which makes additional product lines to fill in gaps that aren't profitable at lower volume both a smart move and another way to keep growing sales of notebooks.
A ULV CPU is going to be slow, but also uses like 5W. Integrated graphics are likely, but a fanless GPU would be possible. Apple buys enough 1.8" drives for iPods so that they'd be cheap for a subnotebook. The optical drive probably has to go.
I'd say 2 grand (USD). The ULV is expensive and so is the fanless GPU but the hard drives are cheap and you save a bit tossing the optical drive.
It would probably need a new name as it breaks the screen size=price paradigm of Apple's. It certainly doesn't have a MacBook's power (excluding, possibly, the GPU) and it has a smaller screen, but would cost quite a bit more than the MacBook. It should however have all the USB/Firewire/etc? ports of the Pro series
Why are we talking ULV CPUs? What about straight-up Low Voltage CPUs? I mean, the PB G4 used essentially the same G4 as the bigger models, just slower. A 12 inch MBP could run a L2400 or a L2500 (1.67 or 1.83 GHz at 15W TDP) and not burn up. I too like the idea of a 1.8 inch HDD, but what sort of RPMs do you get off one of those? I mean, if it's lower than 4200 RPMs, then that'd sort of hurt things. I think 80-100GB will be plenty of room in the HDD, I'm just worried about speed.
The specs aren't real. You simply can't stick that fast a CPU in that small of a computer. Heat & physics, people.
However a ULV CPU might make room enough for a fanless GPU from ATI or Nvidia over Intel graphics.
I'd prefer no optical drive and a really big battery instead myself. Dump the hard drive for 32 GB of flash as well. Go freakishly thin and light, but retain awesome keyboard?that's all I ask.
+++ Others who say that it's not possible to have the specs as stated on MOSR:
have a look at Dell (of all companies). They have a 12" XPS notebook WITH dedicated graphics AND an optical drive.
Have a look: http://www.dell.com/content/products...n=specs#tabtop
So let's get this over with right now and declare that it IS PHYSICALLY POSSIBLE to stick all the goodies in that small of a package (especially with what creativity for design Apple has).
They have a 12" XPS notebook WITH dedicated graphics AND an optical drive.
Have a look: http://www.dell.com/content/products...n=specs#tabtop
Nope, sorry, I don't see an option with a dedicated card there. The best you get is one with TurboCache, only only partially uses its own memory, and therefore still suffers huge latency issues, not to mention it's only available on budget cards.
Nope, sorry, I don't see an option with a dedicated card there. The best you get is one with TurboCache, only only partially uses its own memory, and therefore still suffers huge latency issues, not to mention it's only available on budget cards.
Still uses it's own memory somewhat and is an acceptable middle ground.
Also it means that the above specs are even greater possibility, doesn't it?
Still uses it's own memory somewhat and is an acceptable middle ground.
For the customers that buy that kind of stuff, yes, it sure is acceptable. But you only get low-end graphics card that way; barely even mid-end. Certainly doesn't make for the kind of gaming rig some are talking about.
Also it means that the above specs are even greater possibility, doesn't it?
Yes.
Nope, sorry, I don't see an option with a dedicated card there. The best you get is one with TurboCache, only only partially uses its own memory, and therefore still suffers huge latency issues, not to mention it's only available on budget cards.
Yeah, but that notebook only costs like $1300, and we're pricing a 12 inch MBP at like $1600-1800, right? So the idea of a 7600GS or something isn't that far out there.
Yeah, but that notebook only costs like $1300, and we're pricing a 12 inch MBP at like $1600-1800, right? So the idea of a 7600GS or something isn't that far out there.
Correct. I was only pointing out that that particular notebook doesn't have any truly dedicated graphics options, even when you boost the price all the way to $2k, which you easily can with the BTO options.
I'm not counting out the possibility of a laptop with dedicated graphics at 12 inches. But it'll easily cost $1800, weigh a lot, make a lot of heat, have no battery life to write home about, and be thick and ugly.
Correct. I was only pointing out that that particular notebook doesn't have any truly dedicated graphics options, even when you boost the price all the way to $2k, which you easily can with the BTO options.
I'm not counting out the possibility of a laptop with dedicated graphics at 12 inches. But it'll easily cost $1800, weigh a lot, make a lot of heat, have no battery life to write home about, and be thick and ugly.
What about hybrid graphics? IG + a dedicated card, with the option to switch between them. Going into "Better Performance" turns on cheap GPU, and "Better Energy Savings" gives you the crappy IG.
What about hybrid graphics? IG + a dedicated card, with the option to switch between them. Going into "Better Performance" turns on cheap GPU, and "Better Energy Savings" gives you the crappy IG.
Some laptops have that, yes.
Didn't the 12" iBooks/PowerBooks have dedicated graphics?
Yes, but they were low-end and down-clocked mid-end ones.
So why do you think it's so difficult to fit it in there?
I do?
For the customers that buy that kind of stuff, yes, it sure is acceptable. But you only get low-end graphics card that way; barely even mid-end. Certainly doesn't make for the kind of gaming rig some are talking about.
Anybody who would want an ultralight for gaming needs to have his head examined. That's not what ultralights are for and I can't imagine why anyone would want to game on a tiny screen anyway. You want power? Buy the 17" MBP. Don't expect the smallest (hopefully) member of the family to do all the same things. No ultralight on the market has top-of-the-line performance.
All this talk of a 12" screen is wrong anyway. AFAIK, nobody makes a 12" widescreen LCD, and Steve would never allow standard aspect ratio anymore, even if he were willing to spend the money to get LCD panels custom-made for Apple. Think 11" widescreen, like the Sony Vaio TX series.
All this talk of a 12" screen is wrong anyway. AFAIK, nobody makes a 12" widescreen LCD, and Steve would never allow standard aspect ratio anymore, even if he were willing to spend the money to get LCD panels custom-made for Apple. Think 11" widescreen, like the Sony Vaio TX series.
Er... the Dell above has a WXGA 12" screen.
I'm pretty sure the 15.2" widescreen was a near-custom item back in 2001 when the TiBook arrived and at around the same time Apple were churning out 15" XGA iMac G4s so they could have easiely lowered the unit cost by buying bulk.
Er... the Dell above has a WXGA 12" screen.
I'm pretty sure the 15.2" widescreen was a near-custom item back in 2001 when the TiBook arrived and at around the same time Apple were churning out 15" XGA iMac G4s so they could have easiely lowered the unit cost by buying bulk.
For the Asian market, 12" MacBookpro would be perfect as it's not as agressive as mobile PC but a lot ligher to carry around. If they can make it a tablet, that's even better.
Macbook is nice but way too heavy. If you ever travel in asian city (japan, shanghai, hong kong), the millions of people there would not be carrying a laptop around everyday. They will only carry a cellphone or PDA. A computer would be possible if it's small enough.
I didn't think so.
Getting the size all the way down to 12" would be nice too, but at 1280x800 resolution that means 125 ppi for pixel density -- getting a bit squinty I think, although I'd have to see how I feel looking at a comparable display to be sure. (By the way, I don't think 125 ppi is good enough to take proper advantage of Leopard's purported resolution independence.)