Mini ibook?

Posted:
in Future Apple Hardware edited January 2014
what if the i book, which has always been a bit too similar to the powerbooks IMHO, decided to morph completely into a mini book. since the emate and the duo we have not had a form factor between a pam size device and a 12 inch powerbook.

i know i for one would readily purchase a small 10 inch wide screen that i could throw in a bag just to do basic stuff i needed to on the road (word files, basic internet)

any takers?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 18
    andersanders Posts: 6,523member
    Yes me.



    But X needs that 1024x7xx resolution and people already complains about the 12 inch squintovision.
  • Reply 2 of 18
    g_warreng_warren Posts: 713member
    More likely to be spawned from a PowerBook than an iBook I feel. A sub-laptop is not a home-consumer product, and minimizing computers costs money, so it would be more of a PowerBook price range I feel.
  • Reply 3 of 18
    kenaustuskenaustus Posts: 924member
    The notebook I used before switching to Macs was the IBM ThinkPad X-20 and I think that is a fantastic design. Very small (external optical drive) and an option for a longer life battery if you really need it. If Apple were to make a smaller notebook then I think the X Series is a good one to look at, but hopefully with a wide screen - which also makes the keyboard easier to use. The big question is are users ready to leave their optical drive at home?



    Since I use my business notebook both in the office and on business trips I moved from the very small X series to a 15" PB when making the switch. That glorious screen with a DVD player helped make the decision easy!
  • Reply 4 of 18
    thttht Posts: 5,421member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by macfly

    what if the i book, which has always been a bit too similar to the powerbooks IMHO, decided to morph completely into a mini book. since the emate and the duo we have not had a form factor between a pam size device and a 12 inch powerbook.



    It's been said before, but one should note that the eMate and Powerbook Duos are in fact about the same size as the iBook 12" and the Powerbook 12", and the Powerbook 12" is the smallest Mac Apple has shipped (I think).



    Powerbook Duo 2300: 10.9 x 8.5 x 1.5 = 139 cu. in.

    Powerbook Duo 280: 10.8 x 8.5 x 1.45 = 133

    Powerbook Duo 230: 10.9 X 8.5 x 1.4 = 130

    eMate 300: 12.0 x 11.4 x 2.1 = 287



    iBook 12": 11.2 x 9.1 x 1.35 = 138

    Powerbook 12": 10.9 x 8.6 x 1.18 = 111



    The eMate 300 was simply gigantic. The Powerbook 17" is almost half as small in volume at 157 cu in. Lots of square footage though.



    The weight is a different story though. The Duos and eMate are about 0.5 lbs lighter. But I think the most important dimension for carrying them around is the thickness dimension.



    Quote:

    i know i for one would readily purchase a small 10 inch wide screen that i could throw in a bag just to do basic stuff i needed to on the road (word files, basic internet) any takers?



    Yup. Many people wish it were so. Display would be about an 11 inch 2:1 widescreen TFT with 1024x512 (or 1280x640) resolution. Dimensions in the 10.5 x 6 x 0.8 inches (50 cu in). Weight at less than 3 lb if not 2 lb. No internal optical drive. Uses a nipple or similar for pointing device. Uses iPod hard drive. Wireless everything.
  • Reply 5 of 18
    mikenapmikenap Posts: 94member
    count me in for one. control airtunes, digital camera download device from heaven, email, ichat, surf... I'll have one now please
  • Reply 6 of 18
    macflymacfly Posts: 256member
    this is one area where i think apple could excel. what do they do well? put together software and hardware to make it easier to do the things we all need. right now there really isnt a great portable all in one. for instance, my p800 is great for some things....email-check; phone-check; calendar-check;camera-eh, but who cares; internet-eh, takes too long and screen too small to make it easy. i still think the vaio ultra small deal, forget the name, was the perfect idea. ipod drive (60-80GB) would more than suffice, bluetooth and wireless, maybe gsm (wasnt dorsal talking about a combined chipset that could do all this?) would be great. surf on hotspot sites or airport networks, use gsm in a pinch and you get a functional keyboard and a small but useful size screen. throw in a detachable number pad/bluetooth headset and you could use it as a phone. i really think this is where the treo/blackberry/pseries fails and would be eaten alive by a device like this. the phone is the one thing we all use but wish we had a little computer around too. find a way to combine functional models of each and you have a market dominating machine.
  • Reply 7 of 18
    skatmanskatman Posts: 609member
    Quote:

    If Apple were to make a smaller notebook then I think the X Series is a good one to look at, but hopefully with a wide screen - which also makes the keyboard easier to use.



    It's called Fujitsu P 7000 series. Oh yeah, you don't have to leave the optical drive at home. Take it with you.
  • Reply 8 of 18
    mccrabmccrab Posts: 201member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Anders

    Yes me.



    But X needs that 1024x7xx resolution and people already complains about the 12 inch squintovision.




    I would buy a 10" Powerbook sans internal optical drive, but with ethernet, airport, and usb2/firewire800 in a flash. The ultimate travel machine, plus ability to sync with the desktop through fw800.



    If Apple did produce this, I guess the 12" PB would have to morph into a 13.2" widescreen.
  • Reply 9 of 18
    hattighattig Posts: 860member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by THT

    Yup. Many people wish it were so. Display would be about an 11 inch 2:1 widescreen TFT with 1024x512 (or 1280x640) resolution. Dimensions in the 10.5 x 6 x 0.8 inches (50 cu in). Weight at less than 3 lb if not 2 lb. No internal optical drive. Uses a nipple or similar for pointing device. Uses iPod hard drive. Wireless everything.



    Most sublaptops use a 1280x768 10.6" display at the moment. Small pixels, yes, but there is nothing stopping you from increasing the font size of text on screen. Also conveniently that resolution will show a 720P HD video in full.



    Everything else is just what I'd want in a truly portable computer.
  • Reply 10 of 18
    The Sony X505 is pretty much my ideal Apple sub-notebook. 10" widescreen, carbon nickel, no fan, tiny as hell. Of course it needs some improvements/changes but still...



    However given the price of these tiny notebooks I think it's more likely that Apple will extend the PowerBook line with a 13.3" and a 10 or 11" widescreen replacing the current 12", and possibly moving the 15.2" up to the 15.4" just to keep some of the difference in sizes that currently exist between the 12" and the 15.2".



    Probably with a 13.3" and 15.4" iBook to match, just so they can match the screen and save money. Possibly with two screen options (at least until resolution independence) on the 15.4" to satisfy those with older eyes.



    Also a 10 or 11" widescreen PowerBook would help out A LOT in the Japanese (and SE Asian in general) market where they haven't been doing too well. One of the reasons being the limited space and smaller people meaning sub-notebooks do quite well.
  • Reply 11 of 18
    thttht Posts: 5,421member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Hattig

    Most sublaptops use a 1280x768 10.6" display at the moment.



    True, but this Apple we're talking about. Since when have they done anything like other companies have?



    Quote:

    Everything else is just what I'd want in a truly portable computer.



    And forgot to mention, it should use the standard iBook or Powerbook 12" keyboard. I really don't want it to be like the 10.6" x86 ultraportables out there. Rather, something that is useful or has few compromises: full size laptop keyboard, as large a screen as possible, as thin and light as possible. Mockup from theapplecollection.com below:



  • Reply 12 of 18
    xoolxool Posts: 2,460member
    If a miniBook is introduced it will likely be a stripped down iBook. Right now only consumer i-products have mini versions: iMac -> Mac mini and iPod -> iPod mini.



    Book mini sounds stupid, so it'd either be a PowerBook mini or an iBook mini.



    Or perhaps it'll just be the new low-end PowerBook and that will be that. Then again, ditching FW 800 and other Pro features will help keep the size and price down, so perhaps iBook mini will be the way to go after all.
  • Reply 13 of 18
    tacojohntacojohn Posts: 980member
    OMG I was just typing in random URL's into Apple's page and this came up!







    Could this be the new iBook?
  • Reply 14 of 18
    cubistcubist Posts: 954member
    What, another subnotebook thread?! AI may as well overwrite backup tapes older than a week.
  • Reply 15 of 18
    kenaustuskenaustus Posts: 924member
    Ugly colors tacojohn - looks better as a 15" PB . . .
  • Reply 16 of 18
    kolchakkolchak Posts: 1,398member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Anders

    But X needs that 1024x7xx resolution and people already complains about the 12 inch squintovision.



    If you think that's too eye-straining, you should see the Flipstart. 1024 pixels wide at only 5.6 inches diagonal. It will probably be unusable by anyone over the age of 40. Assuming they ever actually sell the thing, as they've been promising for 18 months now.
  • Reply 17 of 18
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Kolchak

    If you think that's too eye-straining, you should see the Flipstart. 1024 pixels wide at only 5.6 inches diagonal. It will probably be unusable by anyone over the age of 40. Assuming they ever actually sell the thing, as they've been promising for 18 months now.



    and those buttons, holy crap, i'm have big hands and big fingers, i don't think i could ever use that, thats the reason i sold my t-mobile sidedkick 2, and only use speed dial on my cell. i agree with the full size powerbook keyborad, i think they tried to get those keys as small as they could, they only use 1/2 the space there!! what, did they design it for a 3 year old? i really don't know any1 who would deal with that, or could use it
  • Reply 18 of 18
    As for an Apple device that's smaller than the 12" iBook, I think that the only way for this to become reality is notebooks centered around a central home "base station." I've read about this new idea in a few other posts, and it seems very interesting, just like something Apple would make. So you have a big souped up computer in a central point in your home, and small, tablet style recievers that communicate wirelessly to the basestation. These tablets would be inexpensive, so that a family of four or five could all easily own one. But as for a complete CPU that's smaller than that iBook, i don't think so.
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