12" G4 owners would you prefer a subnotebook?
Ok, I have a 15" pbook and a 2x500 G4 tower (with 15 in screen)...
When I'm using my pbook on the run I can't help but think "Damn, I wish this thing was a lot lighter and smaller." When at my desk I think, "Damn, I wish I had a bigger screen."
My take? Screw compromise, go to extremes on both sides. So I keep wondering why Apple doesn't lose the drive and extra weight and make the 12" a subnotebook.
Whaddaya think 12" G4 powerbook owners?
When I'm using my pbook on the run I can't help but think "Damn, I wish this thing was a lot lighter and smaller." When at my desk I think, "Damn, I wish I had a bigger screen."
My take? Screw compromise, go to extremes on both sides. So I keep wondering why Apple doesn't lose the drive and extra weight and make the 12" a subnotebook.
Whaddaya think 12" G4 powerbook owners?
Comments
NeilyB
For that matter, no matter how thin and light it gets in the future with an optical drive it could still be thinner and lighter without it.
That or more battery could be added.
With wireless networking you're no longer cut off from the world without an optical drive. I reckon all forms of local media will be obsolete in a few years, everyone will store their data on remote servers and access it online when it's needed. The iDisk is just the beginning of something far greater as wireless gets faster and broader.
95% of the files I use and share are emailed or transfered via FTP sites. I just don't use the optical drive that much.
So give us the option - can't remember who said it on here before but it rang true - "the only powerbook that's any use is the one you have with you" - so bring on the paperback-weight powerbook.
Originally posted by Nordstrodamus
Ok, I understand that everybody would like to have their cake and eat it too, but there is the simple reality that without the built-in optical drive the 12" pbook could be thinner and lighter right now.
For that matter, no matter how thin and light it gets in the future with an optical drive it could still be thinner and lighter without it.
That or more battery could be added.
It would be lighter and thinner without the keyboard too, or without the screen.
I'm sure an optically-challenged PowerBook would be usable by a minority, but in all honesty, with that drive being used for playing DVDs and to implement dumb but all too popular copy-prevention systems, I think much of the usability of such a machine would disappear without it. Why does the 12" PB have to be replaced by such a lobotomized machine anyway? Why can't such a sub-notebook also be available for that minority who'd find it useful?
And I don't think that many people install too much copy-protected software on the go. Can't play DVD's? No problem, get some work done instead. I'm not seeing it's usabilty disappearing yet....
Optical media will be coasters within 10 years.
The 12-inch PowerBook is a fantastic laptop, especially now that it features DVI-out. However, I would drop the optical drive for lower weight any day. As for smaller size, I would make it thinner, but keep the other two dimensions as they are.
In any case, as my signature says, "until we get a 3 lbs sub-PowerBook, the 12-inch PowerBook will do." Very well, I might add.
Escher
That in mind, they could recut the footprint to wrap tighter arund the keyboard, thus making the book shorter, and perhaps moving to a slightly wider 3:2 ratio -- the original 1152x768 resolution of the first Ti would do well, the screen would still be about 12" but a little shorter and a tad wider.
Lately, I've been craving a small writing device, something like the first HPC computers, something like a digital diary with a half VGA screen and hours/days of battery life, not quite PDA small, but small, small enough to shrink the keyboard down to 90% of full size key pitch and fit in a lab coat, something that's instant on, very light, and durable.
I don't see that as a computer, though. It wouldn't run a mainstream OS, just an office client that transfers documents to a real machine, and reads all the relevant formats.
I'm not saying this is all convenient now, but in a few short years the bandwidth will be there, as will a billion petabytes of server space where everyone will have an account like they have bank accounts. Remote access will be a fast as your hard drive, who wants to waste time burning a disc then? Discs litter my desk and my life, I hate them. They get lost, they get scratched, they get left at home when I'm somewhere else, or somewhere else when I'm at home.
The ITMS is just the beginning of the end for CD's, the rest will follow.
(ok, I don't hate CD's, it's just annoying when you can't find one)
you make a good point a point so good in fact that i am gonna write my dissatation about it for my software engineering degree i also think that within 10 years optical media will be used by only maybe 5% of the public i think there will always be a use for it for backup etc of data of large companies and such but i think from a normal consumers point of veiw it's days are almost numbered.
i would like to hear more of your idea's so that i could incorporate them into my project
We're talking about getting the most portable mobile computing experience here.
[edit: well, I take everything back, except the 10". After seeing this: Looky!, not only do I want a subnotebook, but I want a optical drive too. Very sweet unit, too bad about the OS!]
If you want to question how often you use an optical on a computer that is merely a "sub" (not just as in "small", but also as in mobile "substitute" for a main computer) then sure, you can sacrifice the optical and not lose much in terms of the generally accepted limitations of such a machine.
And so we return to the original question: would you prefer a subnote over a fully functional computer?
Apple only makes fully functional computers, in the case of the 12", they make one small and light enough to go anywhere that a "subnote" can 95% of the time. In that light, Apple is justified in selling the PB12 as a superior solution (one with real battery life and real computing power)
To make it smaller, they'd have to chuck a lot more than just the optical drive. The battery has to get a LOT smaller/lighter. To make that possible, the chipset has to be less demanding (to consume less power), and a smaller screen. All the components have to get lighter and smaller, AND SLOWER in order to get a true sub. And once you do all that, you get down to 2.5-3.5 lbs. Once you get down to 2.5-3.5 lbs, you STILL need a bag, it's not like you can slip the machine into your pocket or purse. At the least, you still need a brief case, except now the machine you use has a comprimised keyboard, comprimised screen, comprimised performance, comprimised battery life, and comprimised media (drive) functionality. A questionable philosophy.
Besides, chucking the optical, only saves you a few ounces. Any subnote you can make without an optical, you can make with one, and make it just about as small and light, though all the other comprimises remain.