Sifting through the thin MacBook rumors

Apple 20 ^ | DECEMBER 7, 2007, 8:55 AM

[Swordmaker]

The Apple (AAPL) rumor sites have been buzzing for months about the new thin MacBook they expect Steve Jobs to unveil Jan. 15 at Macworld Expo 2008. Now, with the company’s annual showcase for new products less than six weeks away, the talking heads of cable business news have started to pick up the scent.

Yesterday was CNBC’s Jim Goldman’s turn. In a breathless report that aired shortly after noon (video, text), he cited a source “with good connections” to Apple’s manufacturing partners and rattled off what 9to5Mac characterized as “the known knowns”:

• That Jobs is introducing a new ultrathin subnotebook at Macworld
• That the machine replaces the usual hard drive with flash memory
• That the device is 50% thinner than the thinnest MacBook
• That it will have a 12-inch screen and cost $1,500

Actually, that last “known” is in dispute. AppleInsider, quoting its own manufacturing sources, maintains that the machine will have a 13.3 inch display. And the $1,500 price point, while devoutly to be wished, seems too aggressive by half. As Ars Technica points out, solid-state hard drives come very dear; the 64 GB Samsung drive alone costs about $1,000 (link). There are a bunch of flash-based 64 GB subnotebooks on the market, and they start at $2,000.

CNBC’s Goldman had other Apple news: that the iPod touch is selling well and Apple is ramping up production (a known known), and that a 3G iPhone is coming out next year, as early as May or June (a known rumor, but don’t hold your breath for May/June delivery).

[Swordmaker]

Thanks to Tubebender for the heads up...

[Swordmaker]

Notebooks to go on a Mac Diet? Rumor has it they are getting skinnier... PING!

NOT the possible Mac ThinBook...

If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.

[Vinnie]

Hope they don’t get any thinner.
I have to lift the side of my Mac Book to plug in an ethernet or usb cable now!

[antiRepublicrat]

Why do they think only flash for storage? Apple could easily put the 1.8” 160 GB hard drive from the iPod in there and it’ll cost a lot less. They may not be fast, but sub-notebooks aren’t about speed, and cache alleviate the problem.

[Ramius]

I’m looking forward to all solid-state storage. Flash or otherwise.

No moving parts. No bearings to fail. Much lower power draw.

I’ll be all over it.

[Reaganesque]

Not to mention the instant start up.

[Sunnyflorida]

Could anything that thin have an optical drive?

[BlazingArizona]

I’m looking forward to all solid-state storage. Flash or otherwise.

Just give us a FW800 port so we could plug in external HDs for special needs. Owners of a thin, rugged MacBook with 32G flash HD might well buy several external disks for different needs. Say, one for a set of virtual machine images and one for archived media.

[Swordmaker]

Re: why Flash ?

I can think of several reasons. First memory usage is interchangable as either RAM or storage. Second battery life. A notebook churns the HD more than an iPod which basically quickly downloads the next item and goes back to sleep. Third, to be first.

Remember, though, this is just a rumor.

[Swordmaker]

Re: optical drive.

Unlikely. Probably will use USB or Firewire to connect to an external. Or, who knows, maybe WIFI(n) transfers to and from your home computer. You really don’t need every application on your Mac ThinBook (I just coined that name today, catchy, ain’t it?)

[whatexit]

ExpressCard/34 please

[Sunnyflorida]

Not sure WiFi would be fast enough for most optical transfers. Firewire would be good.

I like MacThinBook.

[kmiller1k]

I thought flash drives had limited life? That they could be rewritten only so many times? I have been told to use my thumb flash drives for only a year or so because they can corrupt???

[antiRepublicrat]

I know the whys of flash, just talking about cost. Going flash-only will make this the best ultra-portable ever, but it will be very expensive.

[antiRepublicrat]

I thought flash drives had limited life? That they could be rewritten only so many times?

It should easily last several years. The regular minimum life is 100,000 cycles (what are you doing that with your thumb drive?), but advanced write management techniques can extend that a lot.

[Swordmaker]

The rumor mill includes the potential price of $1500. I suspect that might be the low end version which would use an iPod like HD. the Flash drive version would likely be much more expensive.

[AZLiberty]

I'd rather see a tablet resembling a large-screen iPhone. You could use the very cool Apple wireless keyboard, via Bluetooth, if you really need a physical keyboard.

I'm working with some doctors who would wet their pants if they could use such a computer as a client device for their electronic medical record system.

[SunkenCiv]

just an idea...

What is eSATA?
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-esata.htm

[snip] SATA replaced ATA legacy technology as the next generation internal bus interface for hard drives. The SATA interface is more streamlined than ATA and provides serial architecture for greater speed than the older parallel technology. SATA cables are narrow and can be up to six feet (2 meters) in length, whereas parallel cables are much wider and limited to a length of 18 inches (45.7 cm). With eSATA, the speed of SATA expands to encompass exterior storage solutions.

While eSATA reaches transfer rates triple those of USB 2.0 and FireWire 400, it does have one drawback. eSATA requires its own power connector, unlike the aforementioned interfaces. However, it is an excellent choice for external disk storage. Unlike USB and FireWire interfaces, eSATA does not have to translate data between the interface and the computer. This enhances data transfer speeds, while saving computer processor resources and eliminating the need for an extra off-load chip. [end]

[Swordmaker]

Re: large iPhone like tablet.

I’ve been expecting something like that. I’d like a 12 inch multi-touch screen tablet with a single “home” button and everything else virtualized. I have found that the iPhone’s predictive text is a wonder and wish I could use it in my Mac. A twelve inch screen with a virtual keyboard would be large enough to type with both hands. Like the iPhone’s, the tablet’s keyboard would only appear when necessary - but every screen would need a virtual button to invoke a keyboard when the user desires it regardless what the application wants. However, this keyboard would require the ability to interpret more than just two contact points to accomodate the times when three or more keys may need to be depressed at once.

[Sunnyflorida]

“I’d like a 12 inch multi-touch screen tablet “

With a wireless chipset that lets it connect to the VerizonWireless network.

I want something smaller than my macbook to take on the road when all I need is to check email and download my Rush 24/7 daily podcasts without finding or paying for a wifi hotspot.