SlashGear Japan
It looks like we’ve got some changes to look forward to in the realm of Mac notebooks, including an ultra-portable. Apple Insider managed to snag some inside info (wonder how they got their name) on the inner workings of Apple’s portable Mac department.
That’s right, Apple is working away on a 13-inch ultra-portable Mac. We don’t have a lot on information, but we do know that it will feature the 13-inch LED backlit screens we covered recently. We also know that there won’t be an optical drive, it will have on-board NAND flash to improve speed, built-in iSight, 802.11n AirPort Extreme and a MagSafe power adapter. It is slated to launch at the end of 2007 or the beginning of ‘08.
The other big change will be coming to the MacBook Pro line. They will have Santa Rosa CPUs boasting 800MHz FSB and clock speeds of up to 2.4GHz. The 15-inch MacBook Pros will also be the first Macs to get the LED backlit screens.
Next ‘MacBook’ update a yawner; Ultra-portable to get 13-inch display [via appleinsider]
2 Responses to “Ultra-portable Mac due out late ‘07 or early ‘08”
imajoebob May 12, 2007
This is an odd concept for an ultraportable. Neither of the drives add that much weight. I think a better weight:cost solution would be a 1.5″(? iPod-size) drive, since everything I read says that a properly cached, higher speed disk is still faster than NAND when it comes to accessing big honking files.
I guess they must think that removing three of the five big power drains (disk, optical. screen light – leaving the LCD and the processor) will allow them to put a tiny battery in it. It’ll give you the 3-4 hours everyone expects, but it’ll be less than half the weight. But is there really a big difference between 4 and 5 pounds?
Neutraljosh June 8, 2007
a 13″ computer is not considered an ultraportable. make a 10.6″ widescreen, barebones. as in it can do internet, itunes, ilife, office. plus dvd-drive but not a big loss if it’s without. and that way, make it cheap. but it will be the usual amazing aesthetics of apple, gleaming white with those nice keys. there is no sense in trying to make an ultraportable that is supposed to do final cut or something. buy a macbook pro for that.
Neutral