Apple validates 13-inch LED backlight units ahead of ultra-portable
Apple, which in January is expected to take the wraps off its slimmest and sleekest notebook in years, is reported to have placed orders for a new breed of 13.3-inch LED backlight units with production-ready quantities scheduled for delivery this month.
Citing "industry sources," Taiwanese rumor publication DigiTimes reports that Kenmos Technology and Taiwan Nano Electro-Optical Technology (Nano-Op) have both recently become suppliers of notebook-use LED backlight units (BLUs) for industry heavyweights Dell and Apple, with shipments to each supplier expected to soar in the near-term.
Specifically, Nano-Op is said to have already started shipping 12.1-inch notebook LED BLUs to Dell via AU Optronics, while its 13.3-inch LED notebook BLUs have since been validated by Apple.
"The sources disclosed that Nano-Op's LED notebook BLU shipments in November were only about 10,000 units, but Apple orders are expected drive up shipments to over 90,000 units in December," the report claims.
Of interest, DigiTimes notes that the component shipments to both Dell and Apple are "for high-end models," reinforcing assumptions that the Mac maker's upcoming streamlined notebook will fall somewhere between its existing 13-inch consumer MacBooks and its 15- and 17-inch professional MacBook Pro models.
Though often referred to as an 'ultra-portable,' the upcoming Apple notebook design was revealed by AppleInsider earlier this year to have been built around a 13.3-inch LED backlit display, rather than 12.1-inch display or one smaller. The 13.3-inch LED BLU orders mentioned by DigiTimes are expected serve an initial manufacturing ramp of the notebook early next year.
DigiTimes in its report added that Kenmos' shipments of LED notebook BLUs to PC manufacturers will reach an estimated 300,000 units in the first quarter of 2008. No expectations were listed for Nano-Op's shipments.
Apple is expected to use a keynote presentation by chief executive Steve Jobs on January 15th to introduce its new 13.3-inch notebook.
Citing "industry sources," Taiwanese rumor publication DigiTimes reports that Kenmos Technology and Taiwan Nano Electro-Optical Technology (Nano-Op) have both recently become suppliers of notebook-use LED backlight units (BLUs) for industry heavyweights Dell and Apple, with shipments to each supplier expected to soar in the near-term.
Specifically, Nano-Op is said to have already started shipping 12.1-inch notebook LED BLUs to Dell via AU Optronics, while its 13.3-inch LED notebook BLUs have since been validated by Apple.
"The sources disclosed that Nano-Op's LED notebook BLU shipments in November were only about 10,000 units, but Apple orders are expected drive up shipments to over 90,000 units in December," the report claims.
Of interest, DigiTimes notes that the component shipments to both Dell and Apple are "for high-end models," reinforcing assumptions that the Mac maker's upcoming streamlined notebook will fall somewhere between its existing 13-inch consumer MacBooks and its 15- and 17-inch professional MacBook Pro models.
Though often referred to as an 'ultra-portable,' the upcoming Apple notebook design was revealed by AppleInsider earlier this year to have been built around a 13.3-inch LED backlit display, rather than 12.1-inch display or one smaller. The 13.3-inch LED BLU orders mentioned by DigiTimes are expected serve an initial manufacturing ramp of the notebook early next year.
DigiTimes in its report added that Kenmos' shipments of LED notebook BLUs to PC manufacturers will reach an estimated 300,000 units in the first quarter of 2008. No expectations were listed for Nano-Op's shipments.
Apple is expected to use a keynote presentation by chief executive Steve Jobs on January 15th to introduce its new 13.3-inch notebook.
Comments
If you read AI... nothing!
Apple, which in January is expected to take the wraps off its slimmest and sleekest notebook in years, is reported to have placed orders for a new breed of 13.3-inch LED backlight units with production-ready quantities scheduled for delivery this month.
13.3" seems way too big for the sub-notebook market
- they need to go to 12", 10", 8" to get a foothold in the Japanese market, I think
- I don't see what's so hard about this
- everyone else has managed to do it for years.
Also, I would have thought that the sub-notebook market was an ideal market for Apple, as the sort of apps needed for this market are readily available on MacOS (i.e. Office, Internet etc)
- for more serious apps, you probably need a larger screen anyway.
At 13.3" this will be a useful addition to the Macbook Pro range (and while they're at it they should do a 15.4" MacBook), but it doesn't really open up a new category for Apple.
i'll be happy if Apple doesn't come out with a UMPC but instead continues to create the best looking notebook computers anywhere. 2/3" thick, ssd, EXTERNAL optical drive. yummy.
13.3" seems way too big for the sub-notebook market
- they need to go to 12", 10", 8" to get a foothold in the Japanese market, I think
- I don't see what's so hard about this
- everyone else has managed to do it for years.
Also, I would have thought that the sub-notebook market was an ideal market for Apple, as the sort of apps needed for this market are readily available on MacOS (i.e. Office, Internet etc)
- for more serious apps, you probably need a larger screen anyway.
At 13.3" this will be a useful addition to the Macbook Pro range (and while they're at it they should do a 15.4" MacBook), but it doesn't really open up a new category for Apple.
For the last time, that's not the reason sales in Japan are down. People in Japan simply aren't buying computers like they used to. It's not high on their priority lilst.
At 13.3" this will be a useful addition to the Macbook Pro range (and while they're at it they should do a 15.4" MacBook), but it doesn't really open up a new category for Apple.
I think a 15.4 sub $1,000 dollar MacBook would be a new category for Apple. Everyone else is selling theirs like hotcakes.
Question... What's the difference between a MacBook and an ultra portable?
If you read AI... nothing!
The prevailing thought is it will shed things like the optical drive, a few i/o ports and maybe have solid state storage of about 32 to 64 gigs. If this what they do, then having a 13in display that is less then 1in thick and around 3 or so pounds makes is ultra portable.
Going after the Japan market is not Applies primary market space, They will never totally crack that nut just like no outside company will.
People in Japan simply aren't buying computers like they used to.
Why are they not buying computers like they used to? What's wrong? What about companies?
For the last time, that's not the reason sales in Japan are down. People in Japan simply aren't buying computers like they used to. It's not high on their priority lilst.
They aren't buying them because the manufacturers are not making what the consumers want and then complain that the market is sluggish. My friend down at the local computer shop says there are many inquiries, but the machines are too big, lack functions and are over-priced. They look at cell phones and say why can't the computer be smaller and more functional like my cell phone?
Instead, it'll be a new category in the "tablet" vein. Apple has let the tablet market die off and will claim it's demise has been a result of poor implementation...until now (heard this spin before?).
They aren't buying them because the manufacturers are not making what the consumers want and then complain that the market is sluggish. My friend down at the local computer shop says there are many inquiries, but the machines are too big, lack functions and are over-priced. They look at cell phones and say why can't the computer be smaller and more functional like my cell phone?
I don't live in Japan, but last time I was there, I certainly got the impression, that while quite a few electronics stores carried the Apple range, they just seemed way out of line with what the other makers were offering - i.e. very small range of laptops
- I think the Japanese are quite open to Apple products, and the iPods do quite well there
- but the computer range is not what the average Japanese consumer is after.
- a lot of people end up with a 10" Vaio or equivalent.
- it's interesting that the store-guy says that even the Japanese companies aren't making what the consumer wants.
- what do think they would buy? - a grown up iTouch/iPhone with a 4.5" or 6.5" screen?
- that would be ultra-portable
I think a 15.4 sub $1,000 dollar MacBook would be a new category for Apple. Everyone else is selling theirs like hotcakes.
Are they making any money?
There you go.
She is currently considering the Kohjinsha, which costs a mere 1000 bucks, because there is nothing else out there.
http://www.kohjinsha.com.sg/products/outline-sa.htm
If the 13 inch rumor is true, then I hope we will see a return of the Duo: a light portable unit that has the basics and a powerful base station to plug into when you get home.
a macbook is useful for doing actual work, an ultraportable is useful for watching movies, surfing the net and writing nothing larger than you would in a text message. they have a blackberry keyboard on steroids.
The few folks I know who have ultraportables use a dock with an external monitor, keyboard, etc. whenever they can. The built-in screen is for field work, or in airplanes, and such. So while the complaint that an ultraportable's screen is too small for "actual work" is valid, people do as little "actual work" on the ultraportable as possible - for "actual work" they dock it.
I think 13.3" is too big for a true ultraportable, but if Apple can make it thin, light, and strong enough, and couple it with a powerful docking station, they may have a winner.
- Jasen.
This LED backlight screen is replacing the MacBook's CFL backlight just as Steve Jobs said they'd do some time ago in his open letter about green issues. The MacBook *IS* a high-end model. Apple don't do low-end models.