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Explorer
Source : ArsTechnica
Apple launching... something next week
Apple special events are nothing new. The company will send out an invitation, rumor sites will post images of the invite, Mac users everywhere will speculate about what's going to happen and what Apple will announce, and on the day of the event, news sites faithfully report on the special event. Apple has just such an event planned for the last day of February, but with a twist: in invitations sent out to journalists, the company says journalists are invited to "come see some fun new products from Apple" without giving hints as to what they might be.
Secrecy is ever the watchword in Cupertino, so Apple's not giving up the goods on the new products is no surprise. Just exactly what the computer- and iPod-maker intends to showcase is not known, but even though we won't be there at Cupertino, we can make some educated guesses about what Apple CEO Steve Jobs will attempt to wow the masses with.
A revamped iBook (MacBook... Not Pro?) seems to be the most likely candidate. Intel's Core Solo CPU is more readily available, and the single-core counterpart to the Core Duo chip used in the now-shipping MacBook Pro (look for a review from us soon) and the iMac Core Duo is the ideal CPU for the iBook. The Core Solo T1300 runs at 1.66GHz, sports 2MB of L2 cache, and uses 27W of power. Like all of Intel's new CPUs, it uses Intel's SpeedStep Technology to control power consumption under different conditions. Aside from the Intel CPU, it is anticipated that the iBook will see some other changes, including a 13.1" wide-screen display. Apple could also choose to put a low-end Core Duo inside the iBook (e.g., the 1.66GHz T2300), but that doesn't make as much sense.
Another possibility is an Intel-based Mac mini. Given its small form factor, the mini is a natural candidate for the Core Solo. Shipping Intel-based Mac minis and iBooks would allow Apple to have all its lowest-cost computers moved over to the new architecture, leaving only the Power Macintosh G5 carrying the PowerPC banner until Conroe debuts sometime during the second half of 2006.
With the MacBook Pro now shipping, it would be a good time for Apple to kill off the remainder of the PowerBook G4 line and introduce 12" and 17" MacBook Pros. Similarly to how the PowerBook G4 lineup stood with the three models, the 17" MacBook Pro would likely sport the 2.16GHz T2600 CPU and the 12" the T2300. Or Apple could just drop the 12-inch "pro" laptop all together and let the revamped iBook fill the small laptop niche.
Naturally, no discussion of an impending Apple event would be complete without ruminating on Apple's touchscreen patent filings. I touched on the likelihood of an iTablet and a touch-screen video iPod when I wrote about the patent filings, so I'll not go into much detail here other than I think a tablet is extremely unlikely and a touch-screen video iPod with a larger LCD to be plausible, but unlikely.
All will be made known when Jobs takes the stage and unveils some "fun new products." Hopefully Apple will have unveiled a fix for Safari by then, too.
Apple launching... something next week
Apple special events are nothing new. The company will send out an invitation, rumor sites will post images of the invite, Mac users everywhere will speculate about what's going to happen and what Apple will announce, and on the day of the event, news sites faithfully report on the special event. Apple has just such an event planned for the last day of February, but with a twist: in invitations sent out to journalists, the company says journalists are invited to "come see some fun new products from Apple" without giving hints as to what they might be.
Secrecy is ever the watchword in Cupertino, so Apple's not giving up the goods on the new products is no surprise. Just exactly what the computer- and iPod-maker intends to showcase is not known, but even though we won't be there at Cupertino, we can make some educated guesses about what Apple CEO Steve Jobs will attempt to wow the masses with.
A revamped iBook (MacBook... Not Pro?) seems to be the most likely candidate. Intel's Core Solo CPU is more readily available, and the single-core counterpart to the Core Duo chip used in the now-shipping MacBook Pro (look for a review from us soon) and the iMac Core Duo is the ideal CPU for the iBook. The Core Solo T1300 runs at 1.66GHz, sports 2MB of L2 cache, and uses 27W of power. Like all of Intel's new CPUs, it uses Intel's SpeedStep Technology to control power consumption under different conditions. Aside from the Intel CPU, it is anticipated that the iBook will see some other changes, including a 13.1" wide-screen display. Apple could also choose to put a low-end Core Duo inside the iBook (e.g., the 1.66GHz T2300), but that doesn't make as much sense.
Another possibility is an Intel-based Mac mini. Given its small form factor, the mini is a natural candidate for the Core Solo. Shipping Intel-based Mac minis and iBooks would allow Apple to have all its lowest-cost computers moved over to the new architecture, leaving only the Power Macintosh G5 carrying the PowerPC banner until Conroe debuts sometime during the second half of 2006.
With the MacBook Pro now shipping, it would be a good time for Apple to kill off the remainder of the PowerBook G4 line and introduce 12" and 17" MacBook Pros. Similarly to how the PowerBook G4 lineup stood with the three models, the 17" MacBook Pro would likely sport the 2.16GHz T2600 CPU and the 12" the T2300. Or Apple could just drop the 12-inch "pro" laptop all together and let the revamped iBook fill the small laptop niche.
Naturally, no discussion of an impending Apple event would be complete without ruminating on Apple's touchscreen patent filings. I touched on the likelihood of an iTablet and a touch-screen video iPod when I wrote about the patent filings, so I'll not go into much detail here other than I think a tablet is extremely unlikely and a touch-screen video iPod with a larger LCD to be plausible, but unlikely.
All will be made known when Jobs takes the stage and unveils some "fun new products." Hopefully Apple will have unveiled a fix for Safari by then, too.
