Apple to hold 'Back to the Mac' event on October 20th

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MrX8503

Diamond Member
Oct 23, 2005
4,529
0
0
NVIDIA doesn't have the licensing to develop integrated graphics into the Nehalem CPU. So what you have is this...

Core 2 Duo w/ Geforce

or

Core i3 w/ Arrandale

You either get a better CPU or a better GPU, but not both. Apple made the decision to stick with a worse CPU, but better GPU. Maybe it has to do something with the GPU acceleration needed for their Mac OSX.
 

secretanchitman

Diamond Member
Apr 11, 2001
9,352
23
91
Wow... Apple is STILL releasing new products with Core 2 Duo processors?!? Somebody slap Steve upside the head and remind him that it's not 2008 anymore.

i totally agree with you - i wouldnt even consider a laptop thats $999 and over if it didnt have todays technology (core i3/i5/i7, 8GB of ram, modern gpu)...but for the mba dont know if they had room to put an i3 + 320m in that tiny thing. they probably will update it with sandy bridge because the intel gpu will be 2x faster (supposedly).
 

Patranus

Diamond Member
Apr 15, 2007
9,280
0
0
I would gladly pay the Apple tax for the 11.6" Air chassis but its specs are laughable.

Laughable why?

What is the Airs target market?

Mobile professionals and students.

What do mobile professionals/students generally need?

Word?
Excel?
Web based applications?
Email?

What?

It will run all of those perfectly fine. It is clear (as with every ultraportable) that it is NOT targeted at those who want to

Run AutoCAD
Run 3D application
Run high end games

while on the go.

It clearly does what it was intended to do.

You don't need i3 to do these things.
You don't need 16GB of RAM to do these things.

What does the target consumer need?

BATTERY LIFE
 

MrX8503

Diamond Member
Oct 23, 2005
4,529
0
0
i totally agree with you - i wouldnt even consider a laptop thats $999 and over if it didnt have todays technology (core i3/i5/i7, 8GB of ram, modern gpu)...but for the mba dont know if they had room to put an i3 + 320m in that tiny thing. they probably will update it with sandy bridge because the intel gpu will be 2x faster (supposedly).

That and the fact that an i3 + 320m doesn't exist.
 

sourceninja

Diamond Member
Mar 8, 2005
8,805
65
91
Laughable why?

What is the Airs target market?

Mobile professionals and students.

What do mobile professionals/students generally need?

Word?
Excel?
Web based applications?
Email?

What?

It will run all of those perfectly fine. It is clear (as with every ultraportable) that it is NOT targeted at those who want to

Run AutoCAD
Run 3D application
Run high end games

while on the go.

It clearly does what it was intended to do.

You don't need i3 to do these things.
You don't need 16GB of RAM to do these things.

What does the target consumer need?

BATTERY LIFE


Which is fine, except for if you don't want a flash hard disk, you can spend way less than 50% the price for a similarly equipped netbook. I'd buy a macbook air if it was 599. I'd buy an ipad if it was 250 or less.
 

Patranus

Diamond Member
Apr 15, 2007
9,280
0
0

Did you read your own link?


Which is fine, except for if you don't want a flash hard disk, you can spend way less than 50% the price for a similarly equipped netbook. I'd buy a macbook air if it was 599. I'd buy an ipad if it was 250 or less.

Where can I get a machine that weighs less than 3lbs and gets 7 hours of batter life with a "real" CPU and graphics and a 13.3" screen for $599?
 
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scootermaster

Platinum Member
Nov 29, 2005
2,411
0
0
Note: Just installed the beta facetime. Requires iSight, so it seems like those hackintoshers amongst us -- cough, cough -- are SOL. iChatUSB doesn't support Snow Leopard, so I'm not sure of any other way of getting it to work.

Too bad.

It's weird, people spend months trying to hack Dell laptops that came out 10 years ago to work with 10.4 kernels, but no one has spent much time doing something that'll make usb webcams be recognized as iSights. Hrmph.
 

Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
Feb 14, 2004
48,688
5,443
136
Note: Just installed the beta facetime. Requires iSight, so it seems like those hackintoshers amongst us -- cough, cough -- are SOL. iChatUSB doesn't support Snow Leopard, so I'm not sure of any other way of getting it to work.

Too bad.

It's weird, people spend months trying to hack Dell laptops that came out 10 years ago to work with 10.4 kernels, but no one has spent much time doing something that'll make usb webcams be recognized as iSights. Hrmph.

Works for me :)
 

TheStu

Moderator<br>Mobile Devices & Gadgets
Moderator
Sep 15, 2004
12,089
45
91

Liar is spelled with an 'a'.

Also, the email asked two questions, and he provided just one answer. It is more like Steve Jobs is an obfuscator than a straight up liar in this instance. Not saying that he hasn't lied before 'video on an ipod, how silly' comes to mind, but in this instance, it isn't a bald faced lie at least.

I can understand your concerns vis a vis the App Store, on the one hand, it will make the average person's life a little easier. Centralized place to buy their software (or get free) with reviews to make the decision making process a little easier (hrm, the free one is free but not that many people say it is good, but the $10 one has 1000 people that all say it is is the bee's knees), it downloads and installs in one go, and it has auto-updating built in.

The one thing that I love about certain third party apps on OS X is the use of Sparkle. You lauch the app (or it is already running) and it reports 'hey, I have an update, you want?' you tell it to download, the download takes place without it opening your browser, then you just hit install and relaunch and within a couple of seconds... biggity bam, your app is updated. Not all third party software uses this though, which makes things annoying.

Your fear that it will become the one and only repository of apps, curated and approved by Apple is perfectly valid. However, do look at the progress that has been made on the iOS App Store, from inception to now, with regards to those concerns.

The launchpad is interesting though, like stacks that fill your whole display, if I can add non-App Store apps to it, that could be nice. And I would have killed to have Mission Control when I was at school, but then again I was at school when Tiger was still out, so I really would have just killed for Spaces.
 

bearxor

Diamond Member
Jul 8, 2001
6,605
3
81
I have a prediction to make for next year though.

15" and 17" MacBook Pro. 128GB SSD standard with optional 2.5" mechanical drive. It shouldn't take up any room at all for that new SSD stick they're using so the bay for the hard drive should be available.

If Apple wants to really innovate in this space, they'll find a way where a small 30GB SSD can store and run your OS where a bigger mechanical drive stores your applications and documents and make it seamless so the user doesn't even know they have multiple drives. That would be nice.
 

bearxor

Diamond Member
Jul 8, 2001
6,605
3
81
Whatcha using Firewire for these days? Audio equipment?

Video equipment and external hard drives. If I have to have a small SSD, I'm definitely going to want an external hard drive and USB 2 isn't going to really cut it.

Maybe if the Air was progressive and had USB 3, but that would require a different chipset than the 320m.
 

intogamer

Lifer
Dec 5, 2004
19,219
1
76
I have a prediction to make for next year though.

15" and 17" MacBook Pro. 128GB SSD standard with optional 2.5" mechanical drive. It shouldn't take up any room at all for that new SSD stick they're using so the bay for the hard drive should be available.

If Apple wants to really innovate in this space, they'll find a way where a small 30GB SSD can store and run your OS where a bigger mechanical drive stores your applications and documents and make it seamless so the user doesn't even know they have multiple drives. That would be nice.

This, or I think Apple will refresh and promote the Time Capsule to sync and back-up photos, music, storage etc. Apple will probably embed a standard of 256GB flash across all MBPs.

The USB restore stick is paving the way for Apple to make the Super Drive obsolete. It's possible that it will work on all Macs, just like the Retail DVD. Without the 2.5" drive and Super Drive all together leaves space for the battery and better cooling.

Death of 13" MBP?
 

Patranus

Diamond Member
Apr 15, 2007
9,280
0
0
This, or I think Apple will refresh and promote the Time Capsule to sync and back-up photos, music, storage etc. Apple will probably embed a standard of 256GB flash across all MBPs.

The USB restore stick is paving the way for Apple to make the Super Drive obsolete. It's possible that it will work on all Macs, just like the Retail DVD. Without the 2.5" drive and Super Drive all together leaves space for the battery and better cooling.

Death of 13" MBP?

By the Super Drive being obsolete you better mean they will be putting in blu-ray.
 

sactoking

Diamond Member
Sep 24, 2007
7,582
2,817
136
By the Super Drive being obsolete you better mean they will be putting in blu-ray.

Given what Jobs has said about BR in the past I'd venture to guess that Apple will never certify a BR player/drive and will try to push 20GB 1080p24 "rentals" from iTunes for $5.99. Just another in a long line of Apple giving you what they tell you to want.
 

silverpig

Lifer
Jul 29, 2001
27,703
11
81
If Apple wants to really innovate in this space, they'll find a way where a small 30GB SSD can store and run your OS where a bigger mechanical drive stores your applications and documents and make it seamless so the user doesn't even know they have multiple drives. That would be nice.

That kind of thing has been around for many many years.

I had a linux install 5 years ago that had a small boot drive with a larger drive mounted for my /home directory. And it definitely wasn't cutting edge tech then.
 

intogamer

Lifer
Dec 5, 2004
19,219
1
76
Given what Jobs has said about BR in the past I'd venture to guess that Apple will never certify a BR player/drive and will try to push 20GB 1080p24 "rentals" from iTunes for $5.99. Just another in a long line of Apple giving you what they tell you to want.

I think it's possible that Apple *MAY release a Blu-Ray RW drive it becomes cost effective to implement, and this will probably end up in the Mac Pro only.
 

silverpig

Lifer
Jul 29, 2001
27,703
11
81
I think it's possible that Apple *MAY release a Blu-Ray RW drive it becomes cost effective to implement, and this will probably end up in the Mac Pro only.

It's already cost effective. They just have to get them, and then put a margin on top. Easy.

They just don't want to have to deal with Blu-Ray copy protection issues.
 

Patranus

Diamond Member
Apr 15, 2007
9,280
0
0
Given what Jobs has said about BR in the past I'd venture to guess that Apple will never certify a BR player/drive and will try to push 20GB 1080p24 "rentals" from iTunes for $5.99. Just another in a long line of Apple giving you what they tell you to want.

Ya, I know, I was joking.