Friday, May 26, 2006
MacBook mini?
So there's been some hand-wringing about the fact that the smallest MacIntel laptop is now 13+ inches, a bit bigger and heavier than the nearly-subnotebook class 12" Powerbook. Does this leave a hole in their product line for another size of Macbook? I think it does. Apple clearly feels strongly about making slim, portable laptops, and the Mac Mini shows that small size can pull in customers. So when do we see this MacBook Mini? Who knows! But we can speculate that it would have a lower-power processor, maybe a Core Solo, and probably lack some of the extras that even the MacBook has - perhaps they ditch the iSight, or the Firewire, or the gigabit ethernet. I think they'd never cut wireless - too essential for any notebook user these days - but perhaps the optical drive would go, a la iMacs that lack floppies, in the interest of ultra-thinness. Hmmm... I wonder how much flash memory they could pack into it to ditch a hard drive as well (taking a page out of the iPod nano book)... Probably getting ahead of myself. Or am I? Discuss.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Hello again McD. Couple things. The final chapter on form factors is nowhere near written, as you said. I have to say that the tablet PC platform (including that new Origimi dealie) is far more interesting than anything Apple has out there at this moment. Of course, it is a sector desperately in need of the Queer-Eye treatment from Apple. I have no doubt that Apple will come in with something really small and really elegant. It will be a must-have when it arrives, but I doubt if it will be a really small laptop per se.
The other thing is a scalable UI. This is a huge deal since nearly no software is written this way as yet. Vista is taking steps in this direction, but I think miniaturization will lead to eye-strain for a while yet. Windows (and OSX) is barely usable on a 12 inch screen at high resolution because, alas, most UI elements work in pixels, not inches.
Agreed - if the pricing came down on the UMPC's that MS is touting, they'd be a sweet device, but for whom? Apple has to put their stamp on this class of PDA/laptop in such a way that normal people want them, not just gadget junkies and certain sectors of industry. This is where Apple-watching is fun - how will they do it? What combination of design voodoo, feature integration, and flashes of brilliance will they concoct to create the next must-have device? They certainly hit a home run with the iPod doing all of the above.
As for usability, it's not just the UI that needs an overhaul - it's the UI technology as well. Tiny screens and tiny keyboards just don't cut it for productivity, but all the outside-the-box alternatives seem a bit nutty. Wearable displays? Desktop projection? Chording keyboards? Niche products. How about foldable screens? When those come along, I predict a huge explosion in UI capability for the UMPC-class devices.
Post a Comment