Thin, flash-based MacBook on the way?

[Boyd Ostroff]

http://apple20.blogs.fortune.cnn.com...macbook-rumors

Some of this is questionable, but if it materializes I would certainly consider it as a candidate to replace my PowerBook G4 :-)

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

[Cindy Konits]

Does anyone expect that it will be possible to edit video on this new powerbook? (fast enough, etc.)

[Richard Alvarez]

I can see how eliminating a hard drive would allow you to thin it some more, but if you'e still loading/burning cd/dvd discs... aren't you back to basically the same thickness? Arent disc drives as thick as a hard drive? Or is this notebook NOT going to have disc drives at all?

[Boyd Ostroff]

Originally Posted by Richard Alvarez

Or is this notebook NOT going to have disc drives at all?

Well the iMac was controversial when it eliminated the floppy drive. I would still be interested in this machine without any kind of disk drive... DVD's are so 1999... ;-)

[Richard Alvarez]

Yeah, just look at all the software that's shipping on flash discs nowadays... NO ONE is using DVD's or CDroms anymore! (snark)

It MUST have a disc drive, I just can't see how eliminating the hard drive bought fifty percent more space in terms of thickness, if there's a DVD drive in it still. The relative thickness of a single disk harddrive and a DVD drive are pretty darn close, no?

[Eric Dyer]

i'm thinking it wont have one.

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles...orld_expo.html

[Joseph Hutson]

i don't knw how people will take the elimination fo the DVD drives, because some(like me) use there MacBooks as a portable DVD player.

I have got a 17" MacBook Pro, and I like the DVD player's use on long trips.

[Boyd Ostroff]

Well if you got the 17" MacBook then obviously you weren't looking for the smallest and lightest laptop :-)

Personally I'd be happy to accept that compromise. Loading software isn't really a daily chore for me, I could easily use an external drive or network for that. I don't watch DVD's on my laptop very often, but could always rip them to the hard drive if needed. And I suspect Apple would prefer for you to download your movies on iTunes anyway.

If this machine is thin, light and has great battery life then I'm thinking it could be just what's needed to convince me to upgrade my 4 year old powerbook G4.

[Tom Vandas]

Originally Posted by Richard Alvarez

Yeah, just look at all the software that's shipping on flash discs nowadays... NO ONE is using DVD's or CDroms anymore! (snark)

It MUST have a disc drive...

Richard, normally I agree with the positions you take, but I can't remember the last time I used the disk drive to load software; Final Cut Studio, almost two years ago when I bought my current tower? Most of that is media content I never use and can do without. Everything I have needed has been available for download.

And on the output end of things, the only thing I deliver these days in a "hard" format is master dvds, which I would never burn on a laptop anyway.

My old 12" Powerbook weighed in at 4.6 pounds (2.1 kg). I for one would not miss the DVD drive if it allowed the weight of the "thin" MacBook to drop below 3lbs.

[Richard Alvarez]

I suppose there is a particular market it WOn't be suited for. I download projects, and get media handed to me on disc by clients fairly often. "Here's a disc of the powerpoint... here's a disc of the photo's you will need... here's a disc with the music you should use..." Happens fairly often. Of course, there is more than one way to skin a cat. Thumb drives are my life safers on a location shoot for quick transfers for instance. I just like having the option to USE whatever the client has on hand at the moment.

Not to mention an entire library of prouction music sound effects and Digital Juice products that sit on a shelf in CDRom form.I use a laptop in conjunction with a FLypack utilizing tricaster ona three camera shoot... without a drive it would be useless.

But I can see this product being 'more than a PDA/Blackberry' sort of device, but lighter/smaller/ somewhat more restricted than a full featured Macbook pro. Definitely a market for it, no doubt about it.

Here's an article about it, with comments from users pro and con about no optical drive... http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/patterson/8408

[Tom Vandas]

To be fair, I get those disks from clients as well. I would have to dust off my external DVD drive.

Originally Posted by Richard Alvarez

I can see this product being 'more than a PDA/Blackberry' sort of device, but lighter/smaller/ somewhat more restricted than a full featured Macbook pro.

I like that! I would even love a tablet running OS X, a sort of giant iPhone...

[Richard Alvarez]

Yeah, it's a nice concept, marketing it as a "Sub Notebook" - the equivellant of a 'sub-compact' car?

Not really a 'production' notebook though. But for a business traveller, yeah it's a good thing.

[Glenn Davidson]

Pretty similar in design to Sony's new TZ series. Solid State Drive, super light 2.6 lbs and very thin with 11 inch screen . SSD looks like the future. The Sony is a nice looking lappy.

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/...tegoryId=16154

[Boyd Ostroff]

Originally Posted by Tom Vandas

I would even love a tablet running OS X, a sort of giant iPhone...

That's another rumor actually, and I think it's gotta be coming eventually...

http://www.businessweek.com/technolo...129_417787.htm

Additional speculation concerns a tablet, a handheld that would either be a super-compact Mac with a touch-enabled screen or some kind of satellite device designed to interface with a Mac through a remote wireless connection. Normally I'd dismiss both, but Apple's innovative multitouch-screen technology, found on the iPhone and the iPod Touch, makes the concept not only plausible but attractive, assuming the feature set and price are right.

[Boyd Ostroff]

More analyst speculation: http://apple20.blogs.fortune.cnn.com...-says-analyst/

Munster expects that in addition to updates across the Mac line Jobs will introduce that long-awaited thin Mac with an 11? to 13? screen, 64 GB of NAND-based solid state memory and (maybe) a iPhone-like multitouch touchpad. Price: somewhere between the $1,099 MacBook and the $1,999 MacBook Pro