Any chance we'll see a macbook mini?

[nonameo]

With all of the netbooks coming out from other manufacturers, one would think that Apple would follow suit. Any chance? Any comments from apple? Any comments from you guys?

 

[TheStu]

From what I understand, Apple is feeling that given the current hardware level of netbooks, it is hard for them to make one that isn't crap. They apparently feel that all current netbooks are crap and that is more on the hardware limitations forcing them to be so.

Whether or not Apple will release one tomorrow regardless.... no one really knows.

 

[ubercaffeinated]

dood some of these netbooks are pretty damn... impressive... especially for the price.

 

[Zap]

I hear that Realtek has released an OS X driver for the wireless adapter in the MSI Wind.

 

[BlueAcolyte]

No, because a netbook has to be cheap. Apple doesn't do cheap.

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: BlueAcolyte
No, because a netbook has to be cheap. Apple doesn't do cheap.

No you are right, they don't do cheap. They have been known to do inexpensive though.

 

[IlllI]

well not $400 inexpensive, as similar price of all the other netbooks

btw there was a rumor they were going to, but it didnt happen http://forums.anandtech.com/me...1&threadid=2258163&hig

 

[gzervali2006]

lol probably with apple things just seem to get smaller and smaller...

 

[Ika]

The thing with netbooks is that while the Atom is a great mobile device, it sucks as a CPU. Honestly, I'm surprised at the things this Atom chokes on sometimes. If I were Apple, I would wait for Atom to mature a bit (and for Poulsbo to come along in full-force), then pull something like Sony did with the VAIO P.

 

[DivideBYZero]

Originally posted by: Aflac
The thing with netbooks is that while the Atom is a great mobile device, it sucks as a CPU. Honestly, I'm surprised at the things this Atom chokes on sometimes. If I were Apple, I would wait for Atom to mature a bit (and for Poulsbo to come along in full-force), then pull something like Sony did with the VAIO P.

Chokes on what?

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero

Originally posted by: Aflac
The thing with netbooks is that while the Atom is a great mobile device, it sucks as a CPU. Honestly, I'm surprised at the things this Atom chokes on sometimes. If I were Apple, I would wait for Atom to mature a bit (and for Poulsbo to come along in full-force), then pull something like Sony did with the VAIO P.

Chokes on what?

Pretzels?

I think he means high res video and the like. Since video and especially HD video is relatively big at Apple, they might want to, you know, make sure that works like butter in any netbook they release.

Also, a lot of the netbooks don't have much room for trackpads. I don't think that Apple will want to put the same size trackpad on there as they have on their regular macbooks, but surely it will be larger than what is on most of these things.

Finally, the OS is an issue. Full OSes take up lots of space, especially if (and I can see Apple doing this) you opt to not put in a full hard drive but instead go with small SSDs. If they were to somehow extend the TouchOS that might work, especially if they put co-processors onto the logic board to assist in video playback as well as other things.

So, by blending a traditional macbook with some stuff from the iPhone I could see Apple releasing a netbook. I just have no idea how much something like that would run. Obviously, everyone wants it to be around $300-400, but that strikes me as a bit of fanciful thinking. I think we would be looking at something closer to $600 minimum.

 

[ajaidevsingh]

I dont think Apple's macbook mini would even sport a ATOM. i mean the whole HD thing apple has is quite old and suddenly if a macbook shows up which cant really do HD would be a put off for any apple fanboy.

I think the new Intel low cost ULV that is suppose to come and based on C2S would be a much better choice but it would be around $500-$900 "Something near the price tag of the HP DV2 or more even".

 

[holden j caufield]

Originally posted by: TheStu

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero

Originally posted by: Aflac
The thing with netbooks is that while the Atom is a great mobile device, it sucks as a CPU. Honestly, I'm surprised at the things this Atom chokes on sometimes. If I were Apple, I would wait for Atom to mature a bit (and for Poulsbo to come along in full-force), then pull something like Sony did with the VAIO P.

Chokes on what?

Pretzels?

I think he means high res video and the like. Since video and especially HD video is relatively big at Apple, they might want to, you know, make sure that works like butter in any netbook they release.

Also, a lot of the netbooks don't have much room for trackpads. I don't think that Apple will want to put the same size trackpad on there as they have on their regular macbooks, but surely it will be larger than what is on most of these things.

Finally, the OS is an issue. Full OSes take up lots of space, especially if (and I can see Apple doing this) you opt to not put in a full hard drive but instead go with small SSDs. If they were to somehow extend the TouchOS that might work, especially if they put co-processors onto the logic board to assist in video playback as well as other things.

So, by blending a traditional macbook with some stuff from the iPhone I could see Apple releasing a netbook. I just have no idea how much something like that would run. Obviously, everyone wants it to be around $300-400, but that strikes me as a bit of fanciful thinking. I think we would be looking at something closer to $600 minimum.

I've watch some HD on my acer one 160gb/1gb ram model hook up to an external monitor and it doesn't stutter at all. Actually it runs everything I have ever installed on it super fast, even virtual server 2005 R2 ran ok on it.

edit: video was 720p haven't tried 1080p yet or video games

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: holden j caufield

Originally posted by: TheStu

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero

Originally posted by: Aflac
The thing with netbooks is that while the Atom is a great mobile device, it sucks as a CPU. Honestly, I'm surprised at the things this Atom chokes on sometimes. If I were Apple, I would wait for Atom to mature a bit (and for Poulsbo to come along in full-force), then pull something like Sony did with the VAIO P.

Chokes on what?

Pretzels?

I think he means high res video and the like. Since video and especially HD video is relatively big at Apple, they might want to, you know, make sure that works like butter in any netbook they release.

Also, a lot of the netbooks don't have much room for trackpads. I don't think that Apple will want to put the same size trackpad on there as they have on their regular macbooks, but surely it will be larger than what is on most of these things.

Finally, the OS is an issue. Full OSes take up lots of space, especially if (and I can see Apple doing this) you opt to not put in a full hard drive but instead go with small SSDs. If they were to somehow extend the TouchOS that might work, especially if they put co-processors onto the logic board to assist in video playback as well as other things.

So, by blending a traditional macbook with some stuff from the iPhone I could see Apple releasing a netbook. I just have no idea how much something like that would run. Obviously, everyone wants it to be around $300-400, but that strikes me as a bit of fanciful thinking. I think we would be looking at something closer to $600 minimum.

I've watch some HD on my acer one 160gb/1gb ram model hook up to an external monitor and it doesn't stutter at all. Actually it runs everything I have ever installed on it super fast, even virtual server 2005 R2 ran ok on it.

edit: video was 720p haven't tried 1080p yet or video games

720p? Wow, I didn't think that the Atom could handle that bitrate.

 

[holden j caufield]

just tried 1080p it stutters on 1080p but the file was on my 2.5" external usb drive.

 

[superunknown98]

Apple would more than likley use the Nvidia Ion platform, which offloads the video decode. However I still wish the Atom was a bit faster. Scrath that, I wish Via would sell some of their Nano cpu's already.