Comments on: Why I think Apple is ready to make a TouchBook

By: Adiguzel

Adiguzel — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 20:11:35 +0000

1. Name – Macbook Touch or, most likely Touchbook (product line bridge, continuity);
2. Hybrid form factor: Macbook Air/iPhone – =/< .5"/ 1.2cm thin; innovative folding cover (bottom/left hinge w/ thin peg to stand for touch, cradled USB keyboard), 1-2 USBs, no firewire;
3. Higher CPU power – probably dual+ atom for speed and multitasking vs. low power;
4. Hybrid Mac/Touch "desktop" screen – critical interface evolution will DECIDE future products.

By: David B

David B — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 15:44:18 +0000

It would be cool if a future version could fold in half so it could be put in a big pocket. Possible names; Apple Mac iBook Touch, Apple Mac iTouch, Apple MacTouchBook, Apple Mac iTouchBook? What do you think?

By: Bikalpa Paudel

Bikalpa Paudel — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 16:36:01 +0000

@Jonas
599$-999$ .. You gave an almost useless range. :p

@Dave K
Good one..

If this one is based on a competent x86 processor, it wont be lesser than ~1,000$.
If this one’s based on Atom, I think it will cost a bit lesser. But then it would still have the touchscreen, the Mac and the only-device-like-it factor which will keep its price still high.

MacBook Air has been so wrongly made. I would love to have it. But its too expensive to be a netbook, and stupidly tries to look like one with its low-expandability.

I think there should be this Atom based MacTouch and an Atom variant of MacBook Air at a cheaper price. With Snow Leopard, Atom’s not gonna be a SlowPoke. It isnt.

By: kz

kz — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 06:39:50 +0000

i hope we can see ir tomorrow. But I am afraid we have to wait at leasr three more months. If it exists, who do you think would be the best person to introduce it to the world other than Steve Jobs? Why steve took such a long leave? All for this amazing product! can’t wait to see, but need to be patient, that is part of the fun.

By: Podhead

Podhead — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 00:27:31 +0000

I believe Apple will name it iBook or possibly iBook Touch. OS (iPhone OS 3.0) feature set will be a subset of OS X (Snow Leopard) and will support OpenCL. Graphics will be far superior to any “netbook”. With a 10″ (25 cm) screen, over-all dimension will be approximately 9″x6″ (22 cm x 15 cm). I would also guess it to be about one half inch (1 – 1.5 cm) thick (thin) and perhaps two pounds (1 Kg). Of course it will not be available until the second half of 2009 but may possibly be announced tomorrow. If announced, they may or may not give any specs, but my guess is it will be a single model (possibly 2) with 64 or/and 128 Gb flash memory, 10+ hours of battery life, and priced at $799 +/- $100. This is what I believe makes the most business sense (not what I am hoping).

By: Dave K

Dave K — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 23:24:58 +0000

The problem here is that if it’s not x86 based or Apple doesn’t introduce ARM/ACORN universal binaries it’s not going to be a big hit.

People accept that App Store apps are not the same as other apps because they are on a dramaticaly different device. However if this is not an iPhone or iPod and it’s not a Mac then what apps will it run? Instant flop. People can’t be bothered to develop for desktop and “Mac Touch” and iPhone. The web apps for iPhone are all based on the idea of a fixed sized screen and now you throw an intermediary size in there, that’s a lot more work too.

If it has a x86 processor and runs OS X then Apple has to deal with the price issue. The MacBook Air was supposed to be ultra portable but it was expensive, and more or less flopped (I work at large institution and we let users use their own devices and almost nobody has MacBook Airs, lots and lots of MacBooks, MacBook Pros and NetBooks but squat in the pricey portable range).

An Apple Netbook that runs OS X basically slots in where the MacBook Air does because it can’t compete on price, and if it isn’t x86 it competes with the iPhone in too many ways. And as a computer, the iPhone blows walrus chunks. It’s just a freaking PDA