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February 16, 2007
Maybe a MacBook Nano?
First don't take the image too seriously. It's just a mockup - a fantasy of mine for an ultra-portable Macbook. AppleInsider has reason to believe Apple is indeed looking to release such a computer, hitting store shelves in 3 months. They believe in a smaller, wider MacBook with solid state memory in lieu of an optical disc drive. The former dramatically increasing battery life; the latter enabling the computer to go as thin as 3/4 of an inch. But why would Apple build such a computer?
Apple does tremendously well in almost all markets. For them, it's not about being number 1. It's about seeing consistent growth year after year and there's one market where Apple continues to slip - Japan. The Japanese are obsessed with ultra-portability and miniaturization. Even the thin MacBook isn't thin enough. With subbie notebooks from Sharp, Fujitsu and a slew of others - it's a tough market to crack but Apple has a huge advantage. There's cache behind their name and excellent hardware/software synergy. Even Time Cook (Apple's second in command) recently told analysts;
"The market in Japan is among the weakest in the world for us. However, having said that, we're not pleased with our performance and we've got a number of activities underway to improve them"
They can't be talking about the iPod since it does pretty well over there. All that's left is OS X adoption and that requires machines to run them. The Japanese are not about desktops. They're not about notebooks. They're all about ultra-compact sub-notebooks and Apple is not a company to segregate their hardware line up by region so rest assured, if the Japanese get a sub-notebook, so will we.
So what kind of specs could one expect from a machine like this? Ultimately to shed weight - some newer expensive tech would have to be implemented OR cuts would have to be made to meet the new profile. For Apple and because of how Apple operates, I believe both rules will apply. Here is my realistic wishlist.
MacBook Nano
- Intel Core 2 Duo processor
- 60 GB solid state memory
- No hard disc drive
- Optical superdrive located on bottom of notebook
- New 13" backlight widescreen LCD display
- Edge to edge screen with almost nonexistent bezel
- Integrated iSight camera
- Integrated graphics chip
- USB 2.0, Firewire, Bluetooth, 802.11n, mini DVI, HDMI
My reasoning;
- The Core 2 Duo processor is more than enough to "brain" this computer.
- Solid state memory is very expensive and this is where Apple will add newer tech to dramatically increase battery life and performance since solid state memory can be read and written much faster than a hard drive. Not to mention OS X's excellent memory management; solid state memory could even be used to supplement and/or assist RAM.
- In order to increase battery life and slim the notebook, there will be no hard drive. Using solid state memory means cutting other things out. Although solid state memory is not yet upgradable - external portable hard drives are getting cheaper and cheaper every month.
- Some believe Apple will eliminate the optical disc drive but I think doing so would undermine Apple's whole iLife mantra. iMovie and iDVD are both important aspects of the company's consumer friendly software and they both require an optical disc drive to be fully utilized. If anything, Apple will simply redesign its superdrive enclosure where it can be easily accessed but also out of the way. Since there's no hard drive, there's plenty of room for a disc drive.
- Aside from going thin, Apple's key strength is design. When you go smaller - the challenge then becomes how to make things look or remain bigger so they're still usable - things like the keyboard and screen. Japanese sub-notebooks suffer from squished keyboards and screens that are ultimately too small for long term use. I believe Apple will decrease the bezel enclosure around the screen making it look edge-to-edge. This gives the illusion of "bigger" while still maintaining the full sized keys on the keyboard. Not to mention the gawking and jaw dropping people will do when they see you flip up a screen that looks like it's encased in few millimeters.
- Although the screen will look edge-to-edge, there's still plenty of room for the integrated iSight camera. Similar to how the iPhone is designed.
- Going this small means no chance for uber-powerful graphics chips. instead, the MacBook Nano will follow its older brother's lead and utilize integrated solutions from Intel.
- Peripheral ports will be same 'ole, same 'ole with the addition of HDMI. Yes I believe (hope) Apple will embrace the standard sooner than later. Japan is HDMI happy and the rest of the world is starting to follow suit. If HD graphics and stereo sound can come out of one cable - it would make sense for Apple to embrace technology that will enable that, especially since they're now more keen on moving into other rooms of the house begging for Apple logo'fied electronics.
Posted by tranism at 2:13 PM | Permalink
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Comments
60 GB is kind of small don't you think. Still, if they offered something like this - knowing me I'd probably bite.
Posted by: Douglass at February 16, 2007 4:01 PM
As long as they can make it last 6-10 hours - then I'll go for it.
Posted by: Quyen at February 16, 2007 4:10 PM
60 GB is kind of small don't you think. Still, if they offered something like this - knowing me I'd probably bite.
I think the biggest solid state drive is 64 GB by SanDisk and its current asking price easily adds several hundred dollars to any machine. If Apple is indeed going to use solid state memory, I think they'll use a smaller size - something like 4 GB where the operating system resides. You still get the performance boost but all saved personal data will still go on a hard drive instead.
Posted by: Jamison at February 17, 2007 2:57 AM
I belive you will see perpendicular drives as the supplemental replacement for this type of device.
I think the 80 gig used in the iPod classic along with NAS (Network attached Storage) is going to be the next ground that Apple adopts to the industry.
Airport Extreme (N) already has a serach for wirless HDD built right in.
Mobile = 80 or 160 gig
Home / Office = Whdd (NAS)
Posted by: Michael Wright at October 5, 2007 1:50 PM
Whatever happens, it can't come soon enough. Even if I have to wait 50 days, as long as something better (smaller) is on the horizon, I gotta wait it out. The current MacBook is cool, but it isn't Japan cool - yet.
Posted by: waffle911 at October 7, 2007 10:16 PM