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Comments (19)
I don't see them using an ARM chip for a netbook. I think they should, and will, stick with Intel Atom. On a slightly related note, I loaded up Leopard on my Dell Mini 9 and love it.
Any site you can refer me to, so I may do the same I'll be using the Gateway LT 1004u / Acer One
I meant to put Intel Atom. While ARM may be superior for the job, I don't see Apple supporting ARM as well as Intel this year. Next year, however, once PowerPC is long into official obsolescence, I can see it starting. First products appearing late 2010 or early 2011.
I have a habit of disagreeing with the admin.
You mean they'll stop supporting the ARM processors that the iPhone and iPod touch use?
Atom. Netbooks only really became popular when they started running Windows rather than their stripped-down Linux distros. Apple will need their netbook to run the desktop version of OS X and be able to run most of its apps.
Intel allows for this, ARM doesn't.
If they do make a tablet, and it is an open-environment where you can run anything that would run on regular OSX, I think it will be Atom. As much as people pick apart Apple OS code, looking for specific strings trying to come up with hints on what is coming, the fact that there are no slip-ups with strings showing ARM identifiers, leads me to think a "laptop" like tablet will be Intel. (i.e. iLife apps and what have you. Plus, there are many cool little apps, that are "universal", but that doesn't mean they are ARM capable)
If it is a closed system, like the iPhone, I bet it will be ARM. But then again, a tablet would have more pixels, right? And there is nothing you can do as an iPhone developer to understand the geometry of the screen, right? If so, that would imply an iPhone app may not run on this tablet.
And, frankly, I cannot see Apple starting "yet another" app store for tablet like apps.
This is all very non-scientific, of course. you could also argue that since there are no strings in the OS that may hint at a specialized Intel processor sku, you could say they aren't looking at Atom, either.
My gut tells me there is no such beast coming out. My guess is they have several upon several prototypes, some probably better than all the netbooks released to date, but even as secret as Apple is, given that there have been no technical oopses that drop hints about such as device makes me think there isn't one close to being "approved".
What is a Netbook really?
It could be a larger screen iTouch 7-9", running iPhone OS X on ARM Cortex, using a touch interface, webcam for videocomm and running most of the current App Store apps for $499. (What a tablet should be like, unlike those clunky and expensive PC tablets)
Or it could be a MacBook mini, 10-11" screen, physical keyboard, no CD drive, running Mac OS X on an Atom with Nvidia graphics (ion platform) for $699. (A MacBook Air for the rest of us).
Two different ways of interacting, two different types of applications.
Want a high-end iPod touch, go for the iTouch.
Want a small Mac, go for the MacBook mini.
Just dreaming...
Either way it has to be in the $299 to $400 range for it to be a successful netbook. A MacAir Mini or Nano...or something of the like. As much as we all love Apple, if you're hitting $599 or $699 why wouldn't you splurge and just get a Macbook for $999? No optical drive is a given, and at least 20g of flash would make sense. A web cam would be wild...but they haven't even integrated that into the iPhone yet....
"Either way it has to be in the $299 to $400 range for it to be a successful netbook." - No. Apple does very well producing better products at higher prices with higher profit margins.
"As much as we all love Apple, if you're hitting $599 or $699 why wouldn't you splurge and just get a Macbook for $999?" - Smaller size and lighter weight would be the motivating factors for the average netbook user.
"A web cam would be wild...but they haven't even integrated that into the iPhone yet...." - The key word here is "yet." Integrating an iSight camera is no problem with an Apple netbook. As far as the iPhone is concerned, Apple has chosen to wait for the right time.
Both.
When out on the go, web browsing etc then Cortex. When you need more power then you switch to using Atom+9400M "Ion". That would mean that battery life and performance can both be achieved without being too heavy or expensive. In Cortex mode it would be OS X with an iPhone-esque GUI, and then the option of full desktop or iPhone-esque when in Ion mode. Would rely on OpenCL to help with the reduced performance of Atom compared to what iLife etc normally run on. Would have iSight, SSD, accelerometer, light sensor, full multitouch, probably both dock connector as well as MagSafe and USB. Probably sold with iPhone carriers, but would also have 802.11a/b/g/n.
"Either way it has to be $299 to $400..."
I'll take the bet it won't be under $500 period. 7" iwhatever will be more in the $599 to $899 range. 7" or 9" "i" whatever.
Steve Jobs said mentioned they can't make a sub $500 netbook that isn't junk, or whatever the quote is. My money is no $500+ all day long.
I'll also take the bet if they make anything like a 7" or 9" iPhone type device in that $599 to $899 range there will be lines around the block at the Apple stores on release day.
What do people really need to do with a Netbook?
It's not a gaming device. It's a general purpose computing platform
with web access, document creation and more. With that in mind I'm guessing we could potential see the fruits of labor between Apple and the PS Semi team. It could be a custom ARM core with built in graphic from ARM or PowerVR SGX graphics.
The key here would be to take your basic apps that are suitable for a Netbook class computer on X86 and be able to move them to ARM easily. Apple could be leveraging LLVM and CLANG for doing just this thing. We won't know until WWDC but we shouldn't rule out the Apple Netbook running its own compiled apps. This means that Apple's Netbook is different than the legions of Atom based books and that whatever tools Apple ships will be harder to replicate on non Apple hardware.
If an iTouch 32GB is USD 400...
Maybe 64GB will be the sweetspot in 03Q09, but still, if you effectively quadruple the screen size and whack up the CPU/GPU..
The only way it will be even close to 500 bucks, is if it is a iTouch big brother.. ie. a iTablet..
If its more of mini MacBook, closer to 700 bucks.
Any touch screen features will be a premium.. but highly desirable..
Why would Apple release a netbook, sure are companies making major profits. Many people claim to want a netbook from apple, but I doubt people will buy a netbook from apple because such a netbook would cost too much for their liking. That being said, I think this so called touchscreen will be consumer driven and a larger ipod touch sized and designed perfectly for e-reading, watching tv/movies, accessing the internet, games (multiplayer board games), digital picture frame, gps, video-chatting via isight, the list goes on. I think it will have an iphone hybrid os to keep costs low as well as decent battery and will not get too hot after extended use unlike other notebooks.
My assumption: if they would bring up a netbook that can run standard Intel based applications (iLife, iWork, whatevery you dream of) AND if it would have a keyboard, they would ruin their freshly created macbook air market. So my conclusion is that it will run Mac OS X, but on a different platform, and with no (external) keyboard. It will be more or less a huge iPhone/iPod touch, that gives you what you need: Email, Web, MobileMe, Basic Apps. Not sure about the AppStore, think that's not working for such a strong device that actually could run Photoshop if it would be ported.
The device only has to do what the iphone does, so... Arm is all it needs. Plus, we don't need people hacking this software onto a wintel netbook, so, again Arm is all we need. Arm is more processor efficient & battery efficient than Atom so, again a win!
The device can be a slate for viewing photos as a photo frame, a lightweight computer on a stand in the kitchen for surfing recipes, video audio player, a controller for home lighting, sound, heating, etc. Whatever software you wish to put on it, like the iPhone (in fact the same software as the iPhone!) I wouldn't be surprised if Apple releases an updated SDK at WWDC to help developers leverage there iphone software to this devices of different screen resolution.
Apple will differentiate itself from wintel netbooks entirely with this device and it will do pretty much everything they can do without a overly complicated OS. As such it won't canabalize higher prices Mac offerings.
It'll probably be neither an intel atom or an ARM processor.
Instead it'll be a ten inch laptop with the same low power CORE2DUO that the Macbook air has and cost close to a 1000 dollars.
there is already a tablet netbook running atom-the intel cmpc
it's not going to be a netbook... more a tablet... probably based on a ulv c2d and nvidias alleged ion 2