Many of these can be implemented without any design change.
Sorry, but the MBP does need a new design.
The design it has is not only borrowed from the PowerBook G4, the display has a limited opening range. Most every other notebook's display can extend back 180°.
The screen needs a better range of viewing angles. It's not bad, but it could be better.
Rather than a magnetic latch, I would prefer a better hinge design that would snap the lid closed like the original clamshell iBooks.
The battery design is poor because it's in the middle of the notebook. It isn't along the edge. This has had to challenge logic board design.
And on and on it goes. I like the MacBook Pro. Don't get me wrong. But the form factor has been around since January 2003 and it's time for a change.
The design it has is not only borrowed from the PowerBook G4, the display has a limited opening range. Most every other notebook's display can extend back 180°.
The screen needs a better range of viewing angles. It's not bad, but it could be better.
Rather than a magnetic latch, I would prefer a better hinge design that would snap the lid closed like the original clamshell iBooks.
The battery design is poor because it's in the middle of the notebook. It isn't along the edge. This has had to challenge logic board design.
And on and on it goes. I like the MacBook Pro. Don't get me wrong. But the form factor has been around since January 2003 and it's time for a change.
Not to mention how difficult it is to swap out drives in the current MBP design as opposed to the new MBs
And on and on it goes. I like the MacBook Pro. Don't get me wrong. But the form factor has been around since January 2003 and it's time for a change.
Yup. The MacBook Pro keeps my March 2003 PowerBook looking new! I've never had a computer with that staying power before, in that I still use it and it still looks pretty good.
Time for Jon Ive to unleash a whole new design on the pro laptop. I mean, design is his thing right?
Quote:
Originally posted by Steve Jobs
(John Sculley has been pranked into interviewing for his old job back as Apple's CEO...) only when he gets to reception they tell him that nobody is expecting him, there's no board meeting, and they totally pretend that they've never heard of him, don't recognize his name, and they tell him I'm not even on the campus, I'm in China or something, even though really I'm up in the Jobs Pod with Jon Ive and we're just like totally watching the whole thing and laughing our asses off. Ha! You been punked, bitch! He totally knew it too and for a long time he just stared up at the security camera giving me the finger. Then he stomped out, looking like he was going to cry. We switched to the camera feed from the parking lot and saw him slumped in his Mercedes for like ten minutes, just staring out into space. Priceless.
I don't think they kept the MacBook Pro enclosure because they were in a rush... it just doesn't make sense.
However, I do think there's a good chance of a new enclosure coming along. Apple kept the enclosures the same for ALL their products' Intel switch (so far)... and the average consumer felt just that little bit safer (IMO). That's not required in the 2nd generation.
I think it makes perfect sense. It's the same reason they are going to use the existing PowerMac G5 enclosure for the Mac Pro desktops. They can get it to market quicker by modifying an existing one than in creating a completely new one. The PowerBooks were the most in need of an update so they just modified the current enclosure. The iBooks were less of a priority so they could take their time and create one from scratch.
Also, the MacBook Pro did not get 3mm thinner. It was more like 0.3mm. I remember because I was infuriated that such a small difference (a "hair" thinner than the 17" PowerBook according to SJ) meant giving up the Dual-Layer drive.
It's the same reason they are going to use the existing PowerMac G5 enclosure for the Mac Pro desktops.
I doubt it. The enclosures for the MacPros will not be the same, IMO. All of the reasons explaining why Apple kept the powerbook case for the MBPs do not apply to the PMG5s. It does't make sense to keep the G5 enclosure and I believe that Apple won't.
"...I'm in China or something, even though really I'm up in the Jobs Pod with Jon Ive and we're just like totally watching the whole thing and laughing our asses off. Ha! You been punked, bitch!"
Seriously, Jonathan Ives and his industrial design team, are they all still drawing a full salary? Tinkering around here and there for the past year while the poor Software team works its ass off on OSx86. And the Hardware Engineering team burns the midnight oil getting its hands dirty with Intel goodness. Sorry, externally, the MacBook was not "redesigned". It was tweaked. Everything in the past year, externally, was not "redesigned", it has just been tweaked. I ask again, has Jonathan Ives and his industrial design team been drawing a full salary the past year? Are they working on some experimental- super- secret- blow-your-mind stuff? Or maybe they're preparing for some huge art show that will rock the industrial design scene to its very core? WTF.
Externally, the MacBook was not "redesigned". It was tweaked. Everything in the past year, externally, was not "redesigned", it has just been tweaked. I ask again, has Jonathan Ives and his industrial design team been drawing a full salary the past year? Are they working on some experimental- super- secret- blow-your-mind stuff? Or maybe they're preparing for some huge art show that will rock the industrial design scene to its very core? WTF.
I wouldn't be surprised if they were focussed on something entirely new. If there is any truth to rumours of media centres, tablets, or phones - there's plenty of room for Apple design. I doubt they're just sitting around.
I was looking forward to it.... it's taking a while though...
I wouldn't be surprised if they were focussed on something entirely new. If there is any truth to rumours of media centres, tablets, or phones - there's plenty of room for Apple design. I doubt they're just sitting around.
I was looking forward to it.... it's taking a while though...
Absolutely, that's where the synergy in expectations is really working at the moment. No more foot dragging from IBM and Moto, good financials, excellent sales, no problems with OSX86 ... it is totally time for some serious jaw dropping new directions in Macs, iPods and even more products entirely. Media centre, tablet, iPhone, I wouldn't rule any of them out. And for that reason it's very like Ive and Co. have been working on concepts if not prospective designs on all of them!
Interesting times indeed. 8)
I'd disagree on the MacBook being a mere tweak though. The MBP was a tweak. The MacBook looks and feels much better than the iceBooks (if you can stand the heat which personally I can and I expect to decrease with further revs with higher performance per watt / lower idle). I consider it an entirely new design, albeit one which owes a lot to the old iBook it replaced and even the venerable Pismo! But hey, there were wise choices as it does seriously blow the alubook MBP style away.
Hopefully there are some design classics waiting secretly in the Ive Cave. I know that for me industrial design is one of the biggest advantages Apple has over the competition.
It does't make sense to keep the G5 enclosure and I believe that Apple won't.
Has anyone in this thread explained why they believe this? "To give Ive something to do" is the best I've seen in this thread and that's not convincing. I would like to see some changes, but that is mostly to add features that Apple has previously resisted, or so it seemed.
I think that a change id design direction is coming, but not necessarily with the Mac Pro's, which if memeory serves me that "line" has never been used to premier an overall design direction for the Mac line. The main design directions since beige left the Macs were herolded with the original iMac for the plastic look of the G3, and G4's, then the PowerBook which tool us into the Metal enclosures and sleak design we have today. This doesn't mean that the new MacPros wont premier the new design direction, just that they haven't done so to date.
It does't make sense to keep the G5 enclosure and I believe that Apple won't."
Has anyone in this thread explained why they believe this? "To give Ive something to do" is the best I've seen in this thread and that's not convincing. I would like to see some changes, but that is mostly to add features that Apple has previously resisted, or so it seemed.
I think that a change id design direction is coming, but not necessarily with the Mac Pro's, which if memeory serves me that "line" has never been used to premier an overall design direction for the Mac line. The main design directions since beige left the Macs were herolded with the original iMac for the plastic look of the G3, and G4's, then the PowerBook which tool us into the Metal enclosures and sleak design we have today. This doesn't mean that the new MacPros wont premier the new design direction, just that they haven't done so to date.
I think we are starting to realise that Apple has been conservative with the Intel transition, trying to show that, it's still a Mac, but even faster and better.
Yes, I have been harsh on the industrial design team but in general they have been looking at the various lines and streamlining various things along with the internal Intel re-engineering.
@homenow I think you've discounted the PowerMac G5 way too much. The PowerMac G4 moving up from the G3 was a nice refinement IMHO, especially with the Mirrored drive doors... One of those, I had for a while (dualie 1.25ghz G4). The PowerMac G5 was very heavily marketed by Apple as a re-engineered, really clean internal, and very different external all-aluminium body. I had a singleCPU PowerMac G5, and firstly, it was bigger, it had "sharper" handles, and it was well, a big statement - the cheese grater.
The Mac Pro and xServe I think will round out the final bit of the Intel transition without major external design changes. It will be consistent with Apple's Intel transition as not being too challenging to users.
Again, come to think of it, I think the industrial design people have been looking at "adjusting and refining" for the Intel transition in 2006. They have also probably been doing some heavy R&D and prototyping of the next iPod, some stylish Macs in 2007, and yes, possible new products.
You must remember this time last year the Mac world was rocked to its very foundation. Intel chips WTF ??!!!ione!!11one ... With Steve Jobs pulling out of thin air "Yeah, we've been compiling and testing for OSx86 for 5 years now".
Apple is very focused in 2006 on a smooth Intel transition. They have delivered well so far, considering a lot of factors. Steve J the perfectionist will want to see the transition through to the end with Mac Pro and xServe Woodcrest-stocked, locked and ready to rock. We will see the Mac Pro and xServe close to their existing external designs IMO.
We know that Apple's focus on the Intel transition has come at the "expense" of radical external designs and, at least for the 1st half of 2006, at the "expense" of really interesting iPod changes.
As the previous quarter (April-May-June, and backlog of orders to be filled in July-Aug-Sep) demonstrated, just the right balance of Intel internal rejigging and okay, a external redesign to present the MacBook, was enough to really get sales flowing.
However, now looking at the iPod, remember the iPod line (excluding the 1gb nano) has NOT changed since October 2005. We are looking at NINE months of the existing iPod line, almost an eternity in the gadget world.
IMHO for the 2nd half of 2006, Apple will seek to solidify the Mac Pro and xServe Intels, ship and patch all their Universal applications (already happened, minor refinements left I think), and sort out the issues plaguing some users of new MacIntel hardware....
I'm gonna go further and say, besides the above, this leaves something very very interesting iPod-wise for the Christmas 2006 buying season.
A fully-transitioned Intel line, Universal apps, ongoing software and hardware refinements, and a well-stocked number 1 digital media download service, would round out a decent 2006 for Apple. A sexy iPod line update and maybe a surprise somewhere in there between September and November, would take things up a notch and make it a solid, exciting, and satisfying 2006 for Apple.
While I'm prophesizing, indulge me a bit more. A comment on stock price. It looks like the MacIntel transition is not enough to excite investors. You could say you'd look at 2006 having AAPL hover around $60 - slipping slightly, then popping back up a bit after each earnings report.
My prediction though is again, something teh sexy on the iPod side of things to fuel some excitement that investors will bite, hopefully running up the stock to $75 or even $80 by the end of the year, on a conservative estimate. I'd sell-off a lot at $80 if I were a short-to-mid-term investor.
@homenow I think you've discounted the PowerMac G5 way too much. The PowerMac G4 moving up from the G3 was a nice refinement IMHO, especially with the Mirrored drive doors... One of those, I had for a while (dualie 1.25ghz G4). The PowerMac G5 was very heavily marketed by Apple as a re-engineered, really clean internal, and very different external all-aluminium body. I had a singleCPU PowerMac G5, and firstly, it was bigger, it had "sharper" handles, and it was well, a big statement - the cheese grater.
I see the PowerMac G5 enclosure as a continuation of the design direction that was set by the PowerBooks. That is where the metal enclosure and clean lines were introduced, the PowerMac just took those and adapted them to fit the needs of it's enclosure much as the PowerMac G3 (Blue and White) adopted the design direction set forth in the original Bondi Blue iMacs.
I see the PowerMac G5 enclosure as a continuation of the design direction that was set by the PowerBooks. That is where the metal enclosure and clean lines were introduced, the PowerMac just took those and adapted them to fit the needs of it's enclosure much as the PowerMac G3 (Blue and White) adopted the design direction set forth in the original Bondi Blue iMacs.
Indeed.
Quote:
Originally posted by JeffDM
Has anyone in this thread explained why they believe this? "To give Ive something to do" is the best I've seen in this thread and that's not convincing. I would like to see some changes, but that is mostly to add features that Apple has previously resisted, or so it seemed.
Well, let's put it this way. "Can anyone explain why Apple need new industrial designs full stop?" The original iMac and iBook for instance are widely regarded as all time design classics in the computer world, hell even the original Macintosh is still a little wonder of form, function and presentation rolled into one. Why do Apple ever need to replace their designs? To keep us and computer buyers as a whole excited. Why do it this year? Because we and the market are now clearly convinced that these Intel Macs are still 100% Macintosh!
There are indeed good reasons for the Mac Pro to come out in a Power Mac G5 / Intel Developer Transition Kit case. Apple are already making them, there's plenty of room inside for the Quad Woodcrest guts and necessary cooling, we're comfortable with the form. But I reckon WWDC is just as likely to see a new case design for the Mac Pro just as bold as the G4 >> G5 departure and indeed as different as the new name from the old.
I admit I thought we were going to see brand spanking new industrial design at MWSF as well ... but when I watched the Stevenote it did overall make sense. One big change was enough at the time - the guts of the new computers - keeping them the Macs we knew on the outside seemed a good move. Indeed, Apple in the Spindler years pulled off the same trick with the first PowerPC PowerBook, the 5300 , which was in the same exterior as the 190 if memory serves. Under Jobs' early duty as iCEO they pulled much the same trick with the first Power Mac G3 , which only left the age of beige with its later change to the classic Blue & White.
Why all the changes, eh?
Design is at the soul of Apple. It also consumes a lot of us! A match made in heaven, and one unlikely to stay stale for long. That's why I'm looking forward to sweet new pro Macs, tower and notebook, outside and in.
There are indeed good reasons for the Mac Pro to come out in a Power Mac G5 / Intel Developer Transition Kit case. Apple are already making them, there's plenty of room inside for the Quad Woodcrest guts and necessary cooling, we're comfortable with the form. But I reckon WWDC is just as likely to see a new case design for the Mac Pro just as bold as the G4 >> G5 departure and indeed as different as the new name from the old.
There's one other factor. Until Photoshop etc have universal versions of their binaries, the old PowerMacs are going to be desired by several shops. I recommended the dual 2GHz PowerMac just 4 months ago for a client. Instead of barely finishing stuff in time, they're graphics department is now idle half the day (and getting new clients). Emulation won't do that.
On a related note - another client bought the dual 2GHz MacBook Pro. The dual 2Ghz PPC is probably twice as fast in day to day tasks (on universal binaries). This fits with what people are saying about the new iMac - the dual core 2Ghz Intel is about 20% faster than the old single 2GHz PPC. We need the faster woodcrest chips in order to match the PPC on universal binaries.
Hopefully they'll keep the PowerMacs for another year - they will be close in speed, and far faster for PPC-only apps. A different look and feel might be useful, especially if woodcrest doesn't need the same internal size.
edit: Just to clarify - hopefully they'll keep the PowerMacs (reduced price?) AND release Mac Pro.
Comments
Originally posted by TenoBell
Many of these can be implemented without any design change.
Sorry, but the MBP does need a new design.
The design it has is not only borrowed from the PowerBook G4, the display has a limited opening range. Most every other notebook's display can extend back 180°.
The screen needs a better range of viewing angles. It's not bad, but it could be better.
Rather than a magnetic latch, I would prefer a better hinge design that would snap the lid closed like the original clamshell iBooks.
The battery design is poor because it's in the middle of the notebook. It isn't along the edge. This has had to challenge logic board design.
And on and on it goes. I like the MacBook Pro. Don't get me wrong. But the form factor has been around since January 2003 and it's time for a change.
Originally posted by DHagan4755
Sorry, but the MBP does need a new design.
The design it has is not only borrowed from the PowerBook G4, the display has a limited opening range. Most every other notebook's display can extend back 180°.
The screen needs a better range of viewing angles. It's not bad, but it could be better.
Rather than a magnetic latch, I would prefer a better hinge design that would snap the lid closed like the original clamshell iBooks.
The battery design is poor because it's in the middle of the notebook. It isn't along the edge. This has had to challenge logic board design.
And on and on it goes. I like the MacBook Pro. Don't get me wrong. But the form factor has been around since January 2003 and it's time for a change.
Not to mention how difficult it is to swap out drives in the current MBP design as opposed to the new MBs
Sorry, but the MBP does need a new design.
I didn't say it shouldn't be redesigned. I said many of those things could be done without a redesign.
Whether Apple does a redesign or not has little to do with what we think.
Originally posted by OfficerDigby
DOH! MacBook!
Oops, yes this was definitely an exception. It doesn't look like the old model.
Originally posted by OfficerDigby
Also MBP was apparently 3mm thinner! Which apparently is really important.....
Absolutely. This supports my point though - Apple didn't rush and therefore just use the old design, it was a choice.
Originally posted by DHagan4755
And on and on it goes. I like the MacBook Pro. Don't get me wrong. But the form factor has been around since January 2003 and it's time for a change.
Yup. The MacBook Pro keeps my March 2003 PowerBook looking new! I've never had a computer with that staying power before, in that I still use it and it still looks pretty good.
Time for Jon Ive to unleash a whole new design on the pro laptop. I mean, design is his thing right?
Originally posted by Steve Jobs
(John Sculley has been pranked into interviewing for his old job back as Apple's CEO...) only when he gets to reception they tell him that nobody is expecting him, there's no board meeting, and they totally pretend that they've never heard of him, don't recognize his name, and they tell him I'm not even on the campus, I'm in China or something, even though really I'm up in the Jobs Pod with Jon Ive and we're just like totally watching the whole thing and laughing our asses off. Ha! You been punked, bitch! He totally knew it too and for a long time he just stared up at the security camera giving me the finger. Then he stomped out, looking like he was going to cry. We switched to the camera feed from the parking lot and saw him slumped in his Mercedes for like ten minutes, just staring out into space. Priceless.
This Steve knows his Apple folklore!
Originally posted by GregAlexander
I don't think they kept the MacBook Pro enclosure because they were in a rush... it just doesn't make sense.
However, I do think there's a good chance of a new enclosure coming along. Apple kept the enclosures the same for ALL their products' Intel switch (so far)... and the average consumer felt just that little bit safer (IMO). That's not required in the 2nd generation.
I think it makes perfect sense. It's the same reason they are going to use the existing PowerMac G5 enclosure for the Mac Pro desktops. They can get it to market quicker by modifying an existing one than in creating a completely new one. The PowerBooks were the most in need of an update so they just modified the current enclosure. The iBooks were less of a priority so they could take their time and create one from scratch.
Also, the MacBook Pro did not get 3mm thinner. It was more like 0.3mm. I remember because I was infuriated that such a small difference (a "hair" thinner than the 17" PowerBook according to SJ) meant giving up the Dual-Layer drive.
Originally posted by 1984
It's the same reason they are going to use the existing PowerMac G5 enclosure for the Mac Pro desktops.
I doubt it. The enclosures for the MacPros will not be the same, IMO. All of the reasons explaining why Apple kept the powerbook case for the MBPs do not apply to the PMG5s. It does't make sense to keep the G5 enclosure and I believe that Apple won't.
Originally posted by 1984
I think it makes perfect sense. It's the same reason they are going to use the existing PowerMac G5 enclosure for the Mac Pro desktops.
I really don't think they're rushed with the PowerMac G5s. I'll agree to disagree
Time for Jon Ive to unleash a whole new design on the pro laptop. I mean, design is his thing right?
This Steve Jobs knows his Apple folklore! (http://secretdiaryofstevejobs.blogsp...-too-easy.html)
"...I'm in China or something, even though really I'm up in the Jobs Pod with Jon Ive and we're just like totally watching the whole thing and laughing our asses off. Ha! You been punked, bitch!"
Originally posted by sunilraman
Externally, the MacBook was not "redesigned". It was tweaked. Everything in the past year, externally, was not "redesigned", it has just been tweaked. I ask again, has Jonathan Ives and his industrial design team been drawing a full salary the past year? Are they working on some experimental- super- secret- blow-your-mind stuff? Or maybe they're preparing for some huge art show that will rock the industrial design scene to its very core? WTF.
I wouldn't be surprised if they were focussed on something entirely new. If there is any truth to rumours of media centres, tablets, or phones - there's plenty of room for Apple design. I doubt they're just sitting around.
I was looking forward to it.... it's taking a while though...
Originally posted by GregAlexander
I wouldn't be surprised if they were focussed on something entirely new. If there is any truth to rumours of media centres, tablets, or phones - there's plenty of room for Apple design. I doubt they're just sitting around.
I was looking forward to it.... it's taking a while though...
Absolutely, that's where the synergy in expectations is really working at the moment. No more foot dragging from IBM and Moto, good financials, excellent sales, no problems with OSX86 ... it is totally time for some serious jaw dropping new directions in Macs, iPods and even more products entirely. Media centre, tablet, iPhone, I wouldn't rule any of them out. And for that reason it's very like Ive and Co. have been working on concepts if not prospective designs on all of them!
Interesting times indeed. 8)
I'd disagree on the MacBook being a mere tweak though. The MBP was a tweak. The MacBook looks and feels much better than the iceBooks (if you can stand the heat which personally I can and I expect to decrease with further revs with higher performance per watt / lower idle). I consider it an entirely new design, albeit one which owes a lot to the old iBook it replaced and even the venerable Pismo! But hey, there were wise choices as it does seriously blow the alubook MBP style away.
Hopefully there are some design classics waiting secretly in the Ive Cave. I know that for me industrial design is one of the biggest advantages Apple has over the competition.
Originally posted by Neruda
It does't make sense to keep the G5 enclosure and I believe that Apple won't.
Has anyone in this thread explained why they believe this? "To give Ive something to do" is the best I've seen in this thread and that's not convincing. I would like to see some changes, but that is mostly to add features that Apple has previously resisted, or so it seemed.
"Originally posted by Neruda
It does't make sense to keep the G5 enclosure and I believe that Apple won't."
Has anyone in this thread explained why they believe this? "To give Ive something to do" is the best I've seen in this thread and that's not convincing. I would like to see some changes, but that is mostly to add features that Apple has previously resisted, or so it seemed.
@homenow Said:
I think that a change id design direction is coming, but not necessarily with the Mac Pro's, which if memeory serves me that "line" has never been used to premier an overall design direction for the Mac line. The main design directions since beige left the Macs were herolded with the original iMac for the plastic look of the G3, and G4's, then the PowerBook which tool us into the Metal enclosures and sleak design we have today. This doesn't mean that the new MacPros wont premier the new design direction, just that they haven't done so to date.
I think we are starting to realise that Apple has been conservative with the Intel transition, trying to show that, it's still a Mac, but even faster and better.
Yes, I have been harsh on the industrial design team but in general they have been looking at the various lines and streamlining various things along with the internal Intel re-engineering.
@homenow I think you've discounted the PowerMac G5 way too much. The PowerMac G4 moving up from the G3 was a nice refinement IMHO, especially with the Mirrored drive doors... One of those, I had for a while (dualie 1.25ghz G4). The PowerMac G5 was very heavily marketed by Apple as a re-engineered, really clean internal, and very different external all-aluminium body. I had a singleCPU PowerMac G5, and firstly, it was bigger, it had "sharper" handles, and it was well, a big statement - the cheese grater.
The Mac Pro and xServe I think will round out the final bit of the Intel transition without major external design changes. It will be consistent with Apple's Intel transition as not being too challenging to users.
Again, come to think of it, I think the industrial design people have been looking at "adjusting and refining" for the Intel transition in 2006. They have also probably been doing some heavy R&D and prototyping of the next iPod, some stylish Macs in 2007, and yes, possible new products.
Apple is very focused in 2006 on a smooth Intel transition. They have delivered well so far, considering a lot of factors. Steve J the perfectionist will want to see the transition through to the end with Mac Pro and xServe Woodcrest-stocked, locked and ready to rock. We will see the Mac Pro and xServe close to their existing external designs IMO.
We know that Apple's focus on the Intel transition has come at the "expense" of radical external designs and, at least for the 1st half of 2006, at the "expense" of really interesting iPod changes.
As the previous quarter (April-May-June, and backlog of orders to be filled in July-Aug-Sep) demonstrated, just the right balance of Intel internal rejigging and okay, a external redesign to present the MacBook, was enough to really get sales flowing.
However, now looking at the iPod, remember the iPod line (excluding the 1gb nano) has NOT changed since October 2005. We are looking at NINE months of the existing iPod line, almost an eternity in the gadget world.
IMHO for the 2nd half of 2006, Apple will seek to solidify the Mac Pro and xServe Intels, ship and patch all their Universal applications (already happened, minor refinements left I think), and sort out the issues plaguing some users of new MacIntel hardware....
I'm gonna go further and say, besides the above, this leaves something very very interesting iPod-wise for the Christmas 2006 buying season.
A fully-transitioned Intel line, Universal apps, ongoing software and hardware refinements, and a well-stocked number 1 digital media download service, would round out a decent 2006 for Apple. A sexy iPod line update and maybe a surprise somewhere in there between September and November, would take things up a notch and make it a solid, exciting, and satisfying 2006 for Apple.
My prediction though is again, something teh sexy on the iPod side of things to fuel some excitement that investors will bite, hopefully running up the stock to $75 or even $80 by the end of the year, on a conservative estimate. I'd sell-off a lot at $80 if I were a short-to-mid-term investor.
Originally posted by sunilraman
@homenow I think you've discounted the PowerMac G5 way too much. The PowerMac G4 moving up from the G3 was a nice refinement IMHO, especially with the Mirrored drive doors... One of those, I had for a while (dualie 1.25ghz G4). The PowerMac G5 was very heavily marketed by Apple as a re-engineered, really clean internal, and very different external all-aluminium body. I had a singleCPU PowerMac G5, and firstly, it was bigger, it had "sharper" handles, and it was well, a big statement - the cheese grater.
I see the PowerMac G5 enclosure as a continuation of the design direction that was set by the PowerBooks. That is where the metal enclosure and clean lines were introduced, the PowerMac just took those and adapted them to fit the needs of it's enclosure much as the PowerMac G3 (Blue and White) adopted the design direction set forth in the original Bondi Blue iMacs.
Originally posted by @homenow
I see the PowerMac G5 enclosure as a continuation of the design direction that was set by the PowerBooks. That is where the metal enclosure and clean lines were introduced, the PowerMac just took those and adapted them to fit the needs of it's enclosure much as the PowerMac G3 (Blue and White) adopted the design direction set forth in the original Bondi Blue iMacs.
Indeed.
Originally posted by JeffDM
Has anyone in this thread explained why they believe this? "To give Ive something to do" is the best I've seen in this thread and that's not convincing. I would like to see some changes, but that is mostly to add features that Apple has previously resisted, or so it seemed.
Well, let's put it this way. "Can anyone explain why Apple need new industrial designs full stop?" The original iMac and iBook for instance are widely regarded as all time design classics in the computer world, hell even the original Macintosh is still a little wonder of form, function and presentation rolled into one. Why do Apple ever need to replace their designs? To keep us and computer buyers as a whole excited. Why do it this year? Because we and the market are now clearly convinced that these Intel Macs are still 100% Macintosh!
There are indeed good reasons for the Mac Pro to come out in a Power Mac G5 / Intel Developer Transition Kit case. Apple are already making them, there's plenty of room inside for the Quad Woodcrest guts and necessary cooling, we're comfortable with the form. But I reckon WWDC is just as likely to see a new case design for the Mac Pro just as bold as the G4 >> G5 departure and indeed as different as the new name from the old.
I admit I thought we were going to see brand spanking new industrial design at MWSF as well ... but when I watched the Stevenote it did overall make sense. One big change was enough at the time - the guts of the new computers - keeping them the Macs we knew on the outside seemed a good move. Indeed, Apple in the Spindler years pulled off the same trick with the first PowerPC PowerBook, the 5300 , which was in the same exterior as the 190 if memory serves. Under Jobs' early duty as iCEO they pulled much the same trick with the first Power Mac G3 , which only left the age of beige with its later change to the classic Blue & White.
Why all the changes, eh?
Design is at the soul of Apple. It also consumes a lot of us! A match made in heaven, and one unlikely to stay stale for long. That's why I'm looking forward to sweet new pro Macs, tower and notebook, outside and in.
Originally posted by fuyutsuki
There are indeed good reasons for the Mac Pro to come out in a Power Mac G5 / Intel Developer Transition Kit case. Apple are already making them, there's plenty of room inside for the Quad Woodcrest guts and necessary cooling, we're comfortable with the form. But I reckon WWDC is just as likely to see a new case design for the Mac Pro just as bold as the G4 >> G5 departure and indeed as different as the new name from the old.
There's one other factor. Until Photoshop etc have universal versions of their binaries, the old PowerMacs are going to be desired by several shops. I recommended the dual 2GHz PowerMac just 4 months ago for a client. Instead of barely finishing stuff in time, they're graphics department is now idle half the day (and getting new clients). Emulation won't do that.
On a related note - another client bought the dual 2GHz MacBook Pro. The dual 2Ghz PPC is probably twice as fast in day to day tasks (on universal binaries). This fits with what people are saying about the new iMac - the dual core 2Ghz Intel is about 20% faster than the old single 2GHz PPC. We need the faster woodcrest chips in order to match the PPC on universal binaries.
Hopefully they'll keep the PowerMacs for another year - they will be close in speed, and far faster for PPC-only apps. A different look and feel might be useful, especially if woodcrest doesn't need the same internal size.
edit: Just to clarify - hopefully they'll keep the PowerMacs (reduced price?) AND release Mac Pro.