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kscherer
2004-10-26, 15:59
Well, now that all that iPod crap is done with, what's coming to MacWorld San Francisco 2005?

I'm thinking new PowerBooks (either G5 or DC G4), Tiger updates, AppleWorks and a bunch of misc crap. Probably some speeches by software developers to intro us to some cool Core Video/Audio fun house stuff.

Bring it on! :p

curiousuburb
2004-10-26, 16:04
No DC G4 (won't even sample until 2q05). G5 PB only in the 17 to start. 15 maybe.
New GPUs across the PB line with 128MB VRAM for heftier Core support.
Tiger won't be ready yet... bigger demo yes. Shipping March.

Or so says my Magic 8 ball today.

kscherer
2004-10-26, 17:11
I'm thinking there might be a 3Ghz G5 PowerMac there, too.

Gizzer
2004-10-26, 17:26
Being the rumour-hounds that we are, MWSF should now provide some real far-out predictions!

Let's see: In 2004, we've had the new 4G iPods, 4G colour iPods, new iBook updates, new iMac's, updated G5's, new Airport Express, demos of Tiger.

Surely all that remains is faster Powermacs, new Powerbooks, a solid announcement on Tiger shipping date & possibly iLife '05!

Oh yeah, and some new Gadget we-didn't-know-we-needed-but-now-we-do :D :D (please step in Pscates with some cool illustrator mock-ups - that always gets the forum fired up and flowing!! ;) :D )

Joking aside... what other updates could there possibly be?

kscherer
2004-10-26, 18:31
2 words - APPLE and WORKS!

Crusader
2004-10-26, 19:41
It's freaking October. One can't even begin to make bad guesses as to what will be announced at this point. Chill, you can always hope for a special event in November.

:D

Oh wait, I was complaining about the fact that they have christmas stuff up now. My bad. Quad G5's at MWSF baby!

unixguru
2004-10-26, 20:02
Maybe they'll intro new soldering technology in their products so the logic boards don't fail after a year or two.

El Guardo
2004-10-26, 20:58
Upgrade to the 2.3Ghz xServe found at the University of Virginia.

matt
2004-10-27, 21:04
my prediction

Updated PowerMac line - 3.0Ghz, 2.8Ghz, 2.5Ghz

Updated PowerBook line - ??Ghz G# ?

2nd edition eMac

New product - Flash based iPod
$149 for 256MB (or maybe 512MB)

More on Tiger

Possible update to AppleWorks

Ryan
2004-10-27, 22:39
I don't the eMac needs to updated really. I mean, its meant for schools. They should bump the minumum RAM to 256, but other than that it has all the horsepower it needs. For some Powerpoint, Word, and Google its fine.

Luca
2004-10-27, 22:44
$149 for 256 MB? Are you kidding me, matt? That much flash memory costs $20. 512 MB is around $40, while 1 GB is $70-$80. And that's for consumers like us who are at the end of the chain. 256 MB provides so little storage it's not worth it - there would have to be at least 1 GB.

The eMac doesn't need much of an update. 64 MB of VRAM and 1.33 or 1.4 GHz would be nice, but it's not really necessary. BTW, CubeDude, the eMac already ships with 256 MB of RAM even on the lowest end model.

matt
2004-10-27, 23:17
Luca, since when does Apple charge small amounts of money for hardware? The Airport Base Station is HARDLEY worth $199. Just because you can buy a cheap name and slow flash card cheap, doesnt mean Apple will charge low prices.

Luca
2004-10-27, 23:37
Yeah, but they'll never make a 256 MB flash-based MP3 player. That amount of space just isn't enough to be useful. I know, I have a Palm Tungsten E and a 256 MB memory card - it's only enough for about fifty songs, not nearly enough.

Besides, the 4 GB microdrive that is used in the iPod mini often sells for $400 when purchased separately. Apple will charge a lot for any given product they sell (i.e. most of their 256 MB flash memory cards are $40+, twice what you'd pay from a large volume place like NewEgg), but they wouldn't base the price of a flash-based iPod on the price they charge for the flash memory itself. Each product they sell has a price and feature set that they believe is best. If they sell a 1 GB flash iPod, they'd be selling you a 1 GB flash iPod. Not an empty flash iPod plus a 1 GB memory card.

bassplayinMacFiend
2004-10-28, 08:16
Luca, since when does Apple charge small amounts of money for hardware? The Airport Base Station is HARDLEY worth $199. Just because you can buy a cheap name and slow flash card cheap, doesnt mean Apple will charge low prices.

Dude, I can get LexarMedia 40x 1GB CF cards for $70. What is cheap about LexarMedia or the xfer speed????????????? :confused: :confused: :confused:

futuretheory
2004-10-28, 11:26
anymore talk of iPods on this thread should be banned. I'm sick of iPod this, iPod that. I need tools, and frankly I'm about to buy a PC because I expected a much faster G5 at this time (which I have been saving for). Well the money is saved, but the machine speed isn't here (as usual).

I am so tired of waiting for "big event" product releases to get what I need now. They had have a 3ghz+ upgrade by Macworld, but sooner would be smarter. Desktops are hurting, again as usual. Color me bitter.

Luca
2004-10-28, 12:02
Wait, wtf are you talking about futuretheory? Your options for PCs right now aren't a whole lot better. You can go with dual Opterons, which are 2.4 GHz each. OMG less than Apple! Or you can go with dual Xeons, which run at a much higher clock speed (up to 3.6 GHz) but they are not nearly as efficient. The main flaw in Apple's desktops is the lack of decent accessories - GeForce 5200, 256 MB of RAM, 8x DVD burner, and 80 GB hard drive. It would be nice if these were changed to a Radeon 9600XT on the low end, 512 MB minimum (1 GB high end), 16x DVD burner, and a minimum of a 160 GB hard drive. PCI Express would be a welcome addition as well. But the processors are really not behind at all. They're right in line with the rest of the industry in that respect.

BTW, I own a PC because I got one that is faster than my Mac for less than my Mac cost. It does seem to fit me better for the time being since I'm into gaming and stuff, but I admit Macs are better for most things.

wizard69
2004-10-28, 23:08
Wait, wtf are you talking about futuretheory? Your options for PCs right now aren't a whole lot better.

Actually I'd have to say his options are better in PC land. However as in Apple land it would be best to wait. AMD systems with PCI-Express will soon be out. Frankly it doesn't matter what side of the fence you sit on right now, the industry is in a major transition, it is not a good time to be investing in hardware. If at all possible one whould wait until late Feburary when things have cooled down a bit and good evalutations are in place.

It would be nice if these were changed to a Radeon 9600XT on the low end, 512 MB minimum (1 GB high end), 16x DVD burner, and a minimum of a 160 GB hard drive. PCI Express would be a welcome addition as well. But the processors are really not behind at all. They're right in line with the rest of the industry in that respect.

You do point out the other big issue with Apple. That is the fact that you pay full price for their hardware but get half the goods. Apple sucks big time when it comes to memory and disk allocations. Sure they will fix that for you if you are willing to shell out even more bucks.


BTW, I own a PC because I got one that is faster than my Mac for less than my Mac cost. It does seem to fit me better for the time being since I'm into gaming and stuff, but I admit Macs are better for most things.

Put Linux on that PC and you will have much of the capability of a Mac for far less. Sure it won't be as easy but the trade off is $$$$ for a little time invested. Go with a AMD 64 system and you will be a bit further ahead in the 64 bit transition.

Dave

Luca
2004-10-29, 00:36
I already have a 64 bit system. Just put it together - socket 754 (yeah, I know it's on the way out, frankly I don't care), 2.0 GHz Athlon 64 3000+, 1 GB of RAM, 200 GB SATA drive, DVD burner, DVD-ROM, plain GeForce 6800, SoundBlaster Audigy 2, and Logitech 4.1 speakers. It's very nice, and the total cost was around $1000 (about half of what it would be for a comparable Mac).

Anyway, this is a discussion for a different thread I think. I don't think Apple will move past 2.5 GHz until WWDC '05 at the earliest. Hopefully they won't announce them too early. The thing is, Apple could become much more competitive by simply improving the standard features of their PowerMacs. They wouldn't even have to bump the processors. Just give them better standard components and a few general refinements and there's no need to bump the actual MHz. I'm sure they could squeeze at least 10% more out of each machine without bumping the clock speed, by just improving the motherboard's chipset and perhaps giving the G5s more L2 cache. PCI Express, better graphics cards, more storage, more RAM, and so on would easily hold the line over until they can move past 2.5 GHz.

iDaver
2004-10-30, 23:40
Headless iMac! :lol: :) :lol: :rolleyes:

Seriously, now that we know Apple can put a G5 in a small enclosure, its time has come. 1.6Ghz for $999. 1.8Ghz for $1199. All specs the same as current iMacs.

Wouldn't this make for a great MWSF ?!

adam1185
2004-10-31, 14:21
surely they'll update the ipod mini to give it the longer battery life and a somewhat bigger hard drive or am I way off?

Jay
2004-10-31, 22:09
Well one of these has a decent probability of showing up if not more than one.

1. PowerMac G5 Update with PCI-Express and Possibly the 970MP judging by the last plist file in 10.3.5 which contained a new Powermac in the list. So I'm thinking a sizable revamp to the mobo and/or CPU to require the update.

2. PowerBook G5 15" and 17" also judging by the file above. I don't think a 12" will be ready quite yet and will probably be bumped up to 1.5 Ghz G4. Also Freescale is still vaporware at the moment so I doubt they would wait for them and work on a G5 instead.

3. Flash based iPod. If it were to happen it would have to be larger than 512 MB with 1 GB more likely. I'm guessing a price point around $99-$150. this is assuming they make one at all.

I'm hoping 10.3.6 will shed some light on the first two and the third is mostly wishful thinking.

Messiahtosh
2004-11-15, 09:17
The flash-based iPod will be the biggest announcement at the show, since it will be THE Apple product for some time. People will look at the moment when Apple introduced a low-cost iPod as the pivotal, game winning point in the digital music revolution. Apple will lock up the market with a low cost iPod option.

Apple is very, very close to dominating the digital music arena for years to come. The *only* thing that could now ruin it for them is a flood of digital players cheap enough that folks will buy them even if they are crappier than an iPod. Hey, its the same thing that happened with the PC market, right?

So hopefully Apple has learned a lesson and understand that they have to deliver a product in the sub 200 price range even if it isn't a particularly groundbreaking product. Folks who only want to spend 100-200 bucks on their music player aren't looking for anything groundbreaking...just cheap and functional. If Apple offers that, they will be able to wrap up the entire digital music enchilada and then "Plays For Sure" will have to be changed to "No One Cares".

Tuttle
2004-11-15, 11:19
An cheap flash iPod with even 256 or 512 MB would wonderful if they made a few changes to iTunes. There seems to be a pretty clear split among iPod owners. People who want to have as much of their music collection on hand at all times and and those who use the iPod for short periods of time like at the gym.

The current iPod lineup is ideal for the first group, but overkill for the second. If iTunes was modified so you could just click on an album or two and dump them to your flash iPod it would be perfect for those one hour trips to the gym or walks. I would love to have something like that if it was in the 100-150 range in addition to my big iPod. The portable music players at my gym are almost 50/50 iPods/old CD/radio players now - I've never actually seen a non-iPod player in real life. Throw in a free gym strap and I'm sure there would be millions of people beating down Apple's door for one.

Messiahtosh
2004-11-15, 14:52
Apple does offer a way to do those things you mention, in iTunes. You can manually update your iPod. That's how I manage my mini's music.

Quagmire
2004-11-15, 16:01
The flash-based iPod will be the biggest announcement at the show, since it will be THE Apple product for some time. People will look at the moment when Apple introduced a low-cost iPod as the pivotal, game winning point in the digital music revolution. Apple will lock up the market with a low cost iPod option.

Maybe the biggest announcement for those iPod wanters. But, for apple and us a flash player won't be the biggest if a certain new laptop comes into play there.

Messiahtosh
2004-11-15, 16:13
I'm betting the new PowerBook won't show until April.

Jason
2004-11-15, 17:12
I'm betting the new PowerBook won't show until April.

I think April will be the earliest. Maybe even the autumn. Apple are obviously aware of the need to get something out. However, (IMO) they will be reluctant to release a new PB that in anyway compromises on size, weight etc. Apple fans want to go forward in terms of speed but don't want compromises to the overall aesthetic.

Of course, the problem for us is we have no idea how far they have solved the whole heat/size issue. Has it crossed anyone's mind that the whole heat/size issue might just be a smoke screen for some other technical problem.

Then again, maybe the G5 PB's are all ready to go!

All anyone can do on these boards is just speculate. Unless there is anybody on here who is privy to 'inside info'.

regards

FearlessLeader
2004-11-15, 18:24
These powerbooks are so old Apple could happily bump up the non-processor specs and leave room for more changes to the freshly re-designed G5.

I would expect to see at least a "bump" on the PBs to a Radeon 9800 and some other improvements, with PCI-Express shipping later in a G5 for example.

Messiahtosh
2004-11-15, 20:55
Speaking of iPods. The iPod Socks come in some of the same colors as available iPods but also some different ones. I expect that the different colors, namely Orange and Purple become new colors of iPods in January.

Tuttle
2004-11-15, 21:27
Apple does offer a way to do those things you mention, in iTunes. You can manually update your iPod. That's how I manage my mini's music.

They don't actually. Nothing as simple as just right clicking on an album and sending it to your iPod making space as needed.

Messiahtosh
2004-11-15, 21:39
You can click on the iPod, delete individual songs, albums, or artists, and make more space available. You then drag and drop songs, albums or artists onto the iPod. You can then disconnect the iPod and listen to the music...

psmith2.0
2004-11-15, 22:29
Speaking of iPods. The iPod Socks come in some of the same colors as available iPods but also some different ones. I expect that the different colors, namely Orange and Purple become new colors of iPods in January.

You could say that. OR you could say that the socks come in the famous 5 fruits + graphite of the iMac DV line.

:)

That's how I always thought of it (always...okay, the past few weeks). :p

But I've said all along - just going by that months-old ThinkSecret story - that I think a purple, orange and yellow-ish iPod mini are somewhere waiting in the wings. Perhaps when they go to Rev. B (6-8GB?), they'll a few new colors and maybe have them on the street in less that five months?

Messiahtosh
2004-11-15, 22:31
Well, Apple often hints at new products indirectly through other, slightly newer products. Take the new cinema displays and then the new iMac that followed, for example.

Bucolic Old Sir Henry
2004-11-15, 23:02
They don't actually. Nothing as simple as just right clicking on an album and sending it to your iPod making space as needed.

Perhaps not, but a quick visit to Doug's Applescripts will get you a script that will do almost anything you want in terms of playlist/'Pod management.

Pip pip!

Wickers
2004-11-15, 23:07
I love how MWSF always brings out the best in us. . . now pardon me as I rip a new hole in someone for having to high hopes for this years evet.

Wickers
2004-11-15, 23:14
A flash base iPod. . . oh god no.

The iPod mini will get a bump with some more space... the 4 gig will go down in price.

I also see a bump to the Powerbook line. . . however, I can't even ponder the specs. Kinda hope Apple will take the Powerbook in a new direction.

Oh, and a bump to the Powermac G5 line, but that's a given.

psmith2.0
2004-11-16, 01:13
A flash base iPod. . . oh god no.

:confused:

What do you care? How would this hurt or inconvenience you? Or endanger the iPod? It isn't like the white ones or the minis would be discontinued or replaced by an all Flash-based lineup. This would just be an addition to get the Apple stuff into the hands of more folks.

No one says YOU'D have to buy one.

Lots of people maybe can't swing $300-600, or even $249. But if they can spend $149 or so, Apple should be there with something to offer them, IMO. Why let all those other sub-$200 guys get all that business, when most people would opt for the "real thing", given a chance.

Mac+
2004-11-16, 05:07
^ Agreed - I think M'tosh intimated as much somewhere earlier ... hopefully Apple has learnt their lesson and are going to "cover all their bases", offering a low cost flash-based iPod to the masses. Something for everybody! :D

Messiahtosh
2004-11-16, 08:58
^ Agreed - I think M'tosh intimated as much somewhere earlier ... hopefully Apple has learnt their lesson and are going to "cover all their bases", offering a low cost flash-based iPod to the masses. Something for everybody! :DQuite right dear Basil, quite right.

Messiahtosh
2004-11-16, 09:08
Steve Jobs to keynote Macworld Expo San Francisco
November 16 - 09:02 EST** IDG World Expo today announced that Apple CEO Steve Jobs will kick off Macworld Conference & Expo with a keynote address on Tuesday, January 11, 2005. "This is the biggest Macintosh community event of the year and we're looking forward to a great show," said David Korse, president & CEO of IDG World Expo in the announcement. "We are thrilled that Steve is going to kick off another exciting Macworld with a keynote address." Additional event highlights and registration information are available from the Web site.

From MacMinute

STEVE STEVE STEVE !!! lol

Moogs
2004-11-16, 09:42
Powerbook G5 announcement... shipping in April.

Tiger Demo with two or three new whiz-bang features... shipping in June.

Massive iPod back-patting orgy of feel-goodness with more exclusive album announcements, x zillion songs sold, iPod World Hegemony.

Steve will talk to somone via remote video and we'll all go "oooooo."

Behold... the power of RDF.... :cool:

Luca
2004-11-16, 09:58
Powerbook G5 announcement... shipping in April.

Tiger Demo with two or three new whiz-bang features... shipping in June.

Massive iPod back-patting orgy of feel-goodness with more exclusive album announcements, x zillion songs sold, iPod World Hegemony.

Steve will talk to somone via remote video and we'll all go "oooooo."

Behold... the power of RDF.... :cool:

Correct.

Well, except they'll probably claim "shipping in March" for the PowerBooks, but no one will actually get one until early April, and no one will have a defect free PowerBook until mid-May.

Announcing Tiger that far ahead of time would be a departure, but it would be cool. I guess the upgrade deal this time will just last a lot longer; hopefully, it'll stifle some of the complaints that some people make. But we'll still see people bitching who bought a new Mac in December.

I expect the first 75% of the keynote will be about a combination of iPods, retail stores, loose partnerships with companies no one cares about, and Apple/Mac/OS X sales. Tiger demo will take the next 20%, with the "good stuff" occupying the final 5%.

:D

Messiahtosh
2004-11-16, 10:07
You don't even own a Mac, Luca. ;)

Luca
2004-11-16, 10:08
So?

And yes I DO own a Mac! It's a Wallstreet PowerBook with a dead motherboard :lol:

Anyone want to buy it?

Messiahtosh
2004-11-16, 10:24
What will make you want a Mac again? I don't understand why anyone as smart as you would use any other interface than the Mac OS.

But to be back on topic: Steve will make it one hell of a show, and I can't even begin to imagine the roaring applause he'll get from the Mac faithful.

Luca
2004-11-16, 10:38
As I see it, the Mac has one main advantage - the superior OS and user experience. But I don't even put that really high up on my current list of priorities. Yeah, it's better. And I still love Macs. It's just not for me. I mean, my PC cost me about the same as the current Superdrive eMac, but it's superior in every way. The most comparable Mac system to mine is the single 1.8 GHz PowerMac, with the Radeon 9800XT video card, 1 GB of RAM, and a 200 GB hard drive. That'll cost you about $2k. Mine was about half that.

I have actually planned an eventual switch back to the Mac platform. It might be a few years from now, but I do plan on doing it. Right now the PC is half AIM/Internet machine and half gaming box. At those tasks, it is far better than any Mac, especially considering the price. Maybe in a few years I'll grow tired of gaming or at least be satisfied with console gaming only. And I also like to tinker around with my computers, rather than just buying a closed system and using it, unchanged, for years.

So, to summarize, the reasons why I use a PC and not a Mac are:

1. The Mac's main advantage isn't that important to me, for now at least.
2. Macs are very expensive.
3. The PC is better at doing what I want.
4. I like to tinker around with stuff.

I've thought of buying more consoles and console games (right now I just have a GameCube, adding an XBox and PS2 to the mix would be hella fun) and going for a lower end computer, but if I got a lower end computer not for gaming, I'd want it to be a Mac. For that, I think an iMac G4 would suit me perfectly. The problem is that for the money I'd get from selling my PC, I'd only barely be able to afford one. I wouldn't have enough left over to get the console stuff. That's part of my argument... Macs are just too expensive. I'll have to wait until I'm out of college and no longer on a tight budget to get a nice one.

Anyway, this is a bit off topic. If you want to discuss it more you can always post a thread, or bump the old one I created on this subject a while back.

psmith2.0
2004-11-16, 11:03
Maybe the minis will get some socks? It's winter time, you know.

I expect:

1. iPod mini updates (a couple of new colors and/or capacity bump to 6 or 8GB?).

2. Much, much iPod/iTMS/iTunes talk. Talk of the iPod at 147% marketshare (people not even born yet are pre-ordering them), parents naming their children "Earbud" and "Clickwheel", etc. New Lionel Ritchie iPod unveiled :p *crickets chirping and two people slowly clapping*

3. Talk about the new iMac G5 and how its been the most successful launch ever, officially selling somewhere around "11 gazillion-bazillion units" since September. Massive applause and "woo-woo!" from crowd.

4. New eMac. Why? I don't know, just something to say...the only thing - besides the PowerBook - that hasn't been addressed in a while. Probably still CRT-based, but sporting some subtle refinements (like when the tray-loading iMacs went to the slot-loading DV models: changed plastics, slightly altered shape, tweaked accents, etc.).

5. New Tiger demo with a couple of heretofore unseen marquee features or enhacements. Appropriate oohing and aahing from the audience, especially when the lovely Danika makes an encore iChat AV appearance, sporting a snazzy new 'do and color job. I write extensively about it here, managing to get banned in the process.

6. Some really boring (and nervous) schmos from various software/gaming companies shuffling onstage to demo their latest offerings and pay tribute to OS X, Apple and Steve. We know this routine all too well, right? Yawnnnnn. Some cloud modeling software, a new hockey game (demo guy will make a labored, smart-ass comment about the ongoing strike, which moogs will address here in a profanity-laden post), etc. :D

7. Some G5 news, and another apology for not quite being at 3GHz, but "...we will this summer...". :eek: :err:

8. "There's just one more thing...(*yay*clap*woo-woo*). As you can imagine, we here at Apple love the PowerBook G4. It's been a proven winner for several years now. There's no other notebook like it, and nothing else even comes close. Until today. As you know, a year-and-a-half ago we unveiled an all new Power Mac, based on the powerful G5 processor from IBM..." (room breaks into a simultaneous riot/orgy and mayhem ensues).

:D :p

How's that?

709
2004-11-16, 11:12
:lol: :lol: :lol:

blissed
2004-11-16, 13:49
I suspect they'll announce some OLD SCHOOL TUBE SOCKS for the new iPods. Someone mentioned a Red Hot Chili Peppers commercial before. That would be a riot.

Luca
2004-11-16, 14:05
A band that's actually GOOD endorsing Apple? No f'n way.

onlyafterdark
2004-11-16, 15:19
A RHCPs commercial would kick serious ass. I wonder what the custom iPod would look like. Anyone care to try to make a mockup?

Messiahtosh
2004-11-16, 15:30
Paul, Apple states on the website that the iPod socks work with the mini as well.

BuonRotto
2004-11-16, 15:36
Socks "work" with the mini? Well, it's not a glove I guess. ;)

Tuttle
2004-11-16, 15:37
You can click on the iPod, delete individual songs, albums, or artists, and make more space available. You then drag and drop songs, albums or artists onto the iPod. You can then disconnect the iPod and listen to the music...

Sounds like an elegant way to manage your music. :eek:

Hopefully Apple would take a little more time to think through how people would actually use a 256 or 512MB flash player.

oldmacfan
2004-11-16, 15:48
Hmmm, let me see.

New PowerBooks (970GX 1.8-2.2 with PCI-Express upgradeable graphics card) shipping in March pre-order now.

New PowerMac (970MP, SATA II, PCI-Express, DDR II...and yes it will finally reach 3.0) shipping in March pre-order now.

New XServe (970MP) shipping in March pre-order now.

New totally redesigned Emac G5 (970fx 1.6-1.8) shipping now.

New Flash based iPod shipping now with proprietary interchangeable flash memory module.

Sorry, no iMac speed bump. Wait for Spring after Apple has milked the PowerBook sales. Then it will announce New iMacs with speed bumps (970GX 1.8-2.2)

iBook will get a speed bump in the spring to 1.5 G4.

Tiger Coming in March with iLife '05 for Tiger only.

AppleWorks complete revamp.

Complete Adobe Suite redo for Tiger only shipping in the early summer.

Ok, I am done spewing nonsense for now.

Luca
2004-11-16, 15:48
Deleting songs on the fly would be sweet. That's one thing I didn't like about my iPod, when I had it - if there was a song I didn't like, I had to "flag" it with a 1-star rating, then delete on the next sync. If I could delete a song from the iPod itself I'd be really happy. Might even buy an iPod again (though not likely given my monetary situation).

kscherer
2004-11-16, 16:00
Sounds like an elegant way to manage your music. :eek:

Hopefully Apple would take a little more time to think through how people would actually use a 256 or 512MB flash player.
I am not quite sure just how gay this comment is, but I am pretty sure it is leaning a squich left!

For the last 5 years, Apple has taken the time to think through everything. Apple will not deliver a small-capacity iPod without thinking through how to manage music on it. iTunes 5.0 is close at hand and I suspect Apple has ALREADY thought it out. Probably more so than anyone in here can really imagine. Should Apple release small-capacity iPods, they WILL give us a way to manage what goes into it. Deal with it!

insaneboy
2004-11-16, 17:09
Macs are just too expensive. I'll have to wait until I'm out of college and no longer on a tight budget to get a nice one.


:lol: I'm on a way tighter budget now that I'm out of college! Which is why I'm still using my B&W G3/450. And as for the wallstreet, I'll sell you one with a good motherboard but flaky power board and dead HD/DVD-ROM drives.

As for the topic at hand, I'm really hoping for some faster G5s, At work we're actually waiting on MWSF before ordering some new machines...

kscherer
2004-11-16, 19:07
There are some pretty interesting developments coming down the pipes at MacRumors. They talk of G5 PowerBooks and flash-based iPods. Interesting stuff.

http://macrumors.com/

kscherer
2004-11-16, 19:11
And here:

http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=744

onlyafterdark
2004-11-16, 21:36
:eek:

Messiahtosh
2004-11-16, 22:05
:eek:Hmm? :confused:

Wickers
2004-11-17, 00:36
:confused:

What do you care? How would this hurt or inconvenience you? Or endanger the iPod? It isn't like the white ones or the minis would be discontinued or replaced by an all Flash-based lineup. This would just be an addition to get the Apple stuff into the hands of more folks.

No one says YOU'D have to buy one.

Lots of people maybe can't swing $300-600, or even $249. But if they can spend $149 or so, Apple should be there with something to offer them, IMO. Why let all those other sub-$200 guys get all that business, when most people would opt for the "real thing", given a chance.

You are quite right... nobody said I would have to buy one, and after a second or two of thinking about it... it would be safe to say I would not touch a flash based iPod with a 10 foot pole.

However, when I said 'oh god no' it was not becasue 'I' don't want to buy one... it was because I really don't like the idea of Apple using flash as a media for it's iPod. Sure it would be much less costly, and it would compleatly own the flash based music player market if Apple prices it right, but I feel that using flash would be a step in the wrong direction for the iPod line.

I can see Apple making a great flash based player. . . don't get me wrong. And if they release it and it sells well, good for Apple. But these days of all HDD line ups for the iPod will be forever gone. . . and I find that a bit sad considering how hard drives at the iPod Mini size are dropping in price and starting to gain in space. Sigh, can't win them all.

Messiahtosh
2004-11-17, 00:42
Ridiculous, the flash-based iPod would represent a brilliant strategic move for Apple.

Luca
2004-11-17, 01:02
It's not like flash memory isn't also improving in size and price. 1 GB is pretty cheap these days, and even 2 GB is reasonably priced. They're not as high-capacity as microdrives, but they're cheaper and draw less power. I don't think Apple would use anything less than 1 GB.

Gizzer
2004-11-17, 06:20
It's not like flash memory isn't also improving in size and price. 1 GB is pretty cheap these days, and even 2 GB is reasonably priced. They're not as high-capacity as microdrives, but they're cheaper and draw less power. I don't think Apple would use anything less than 1 GB.

Given how much Big Steve diss'd the flash players when he announced the iPod Mini, they'd be absolutely bonkers not to release 1Gb minimum.

Imagine MWSF if they announced a 256Mb iPod:

Steve (just before Keynote): "Ok people, where are my super-charged nuclear powered AA batteries - I really need to crank up the RDS this time".

Then at the keynote: "Ok, you remember last year how I said you'd never listen to a flash player that your relatives bought you for Christmas because it can only play 20 songs? Well, I'm really proud today to indroduce to you, a flash based player that can play 21 - yes 21 songs... but wait... This player is white, and it has iPod stamped on it!!!"

Crowd under extreme effects of RDS (hair is even beginning to melt under the extra strong signal) "Wooo yeah!!!! We love you Steve!!!"

:) :)


...So anyway.... 1Gb MINIMUM please...!!!

psmith2.0
2004-11-17, 07:46
Well, it's not unheard of for this type of reversal. Consider the iMac G5, which represents everything Steve "dissed" two-and-a-half years ago upon the unveiling of the iMac G4.

At MWSF 2002 Steve made a point of dinging any uninspired "guts glommed onto the back of the display" approach, and about how drives don't work at their best when mounted vertically. And he spoke of letting each element be true to itself: the LCD wants to be thin, the drives want to be horizontal. All that was used to explain/praise the design of the iMac G4, with its horizontal-oriented dome and the thin, gorgeous display, "floating" on the chrome arm. And we all went "yeah...makes total sense! Yay!"

Fast-forward two-and-a-half years...what do we have? An all-in-one with the guts "glommed on to the back", an LCD that isn't all that thin and drives mounted vertically.

:D

I'm not dinging the iMac G5 AT ALL, mind you (I think it's truly quite gorgeous and striking). I'm just saying "things change". And if Steve and Apple can experience that much of a mindset change about their flagship computer, then they're allowed to on their little music player.

:)

Barto
2004-11-17, 07:51
Pscates types faster than me.

Mac+
2004-11-17, 08:47
SJ is the master of spin ... undoubtedly. I think what he says is as much about generating the RDF and thereby pushing sales of newly announced products as it is about keeping Apple's future developments "under wraps".

The iPod - all about the music. :rolleyes: We don't need colour screens for photos or to display video. ;)

(Not that I want to steer this thread into the topic of iPod evolution, but I am pretty sure - having finally witnessed the introduction of colour screens and photo capabilities to the current line-up, that video iPods will one day appear. Not that I'd want one, though :p - I'm quite happy just to see colour screens and iPhoto integration. :D)

kscherer
2004-11-17, 09:53
Pscates types faster than me.
P2.0 doesn't really type at all. He has over 100,000 pre-written responses stored on his computer. He simply finds what he needs and does the old copy-paste! :p

I can see Apple releasing a 512MB iPod, but no less than that. And they will be priced at $150.00 and kill the competition. They will be the same size (height and width) as the Mini, but half as thick and will come in 7 juicy colors.

They will also be coated with raspberry scratch-n-sniff and taste like juicy fruit! :D

wizard69
2004-11-17, 11:19
"it has all the horsepower it needs."

Wha tis wrong with you where your raised by your mama or what. Nothing Applo produces has enough horse power. Nothing! Yes even the little school girl in pony tails gets frustrated with the responsiveness of her machine at school!

Look at it this way you would be pretty put off if your school board decided to go out and spend your tax dollars on i386 computers for the class room. You should get just as excited when you see eMacs going into the classroom. Not that there isn't potential in an eMac just that it needs to get with the times.

Dave

Tuttle
2004-11-17, 12:41
I can see Apple releasing a 512MB iPod, but no less than that. And they will be priced at $150.00 and kill the competition. They will be the same size (height and width) as the Mini, but half as thick and will come in 7 juicy colors.

That would be awesome, even 256MB for cheaper. Unfortunately the more MB/GB mindset fills the portable music player consumer mindset. I don't think I've ever played more than one to two albums at a time with my 10gig 3rd gen, I use it every day for an hour or so at the gym and ten to twenty minute walks. The vast majority of the music sitting on my iPod never gets listened to.

Apple could kill the competition once and for all if they find a way to move down into the 100-150 range with the iPod line. If anyone can come out and change preconceived notions about more space is better for portable music players, Jobs can with one of his keynotes.

I've had people who are probably making minimum wage at restaurants or stores ask to see my iPod with a mixture of sadness and lustfulness for what is out of their reach. I think iPods in the 100-150 could dwarf the current 3-4 million a quarter iPod products in volume.

curiousuburb
2004-11-17, 13:28
Well, it's not unheard of for this type of reversal. Consider the iMac G5, which represents everything Steve "dissed" two-and-a-half years ago upon the unveiling of the iMac G4.

At MWSF 2002 Steve made a point of dinging any uninspired "guts glommed onto the back of the display" approach, and about how drives don't work at their best when mounted vertically. And he spoke of letting each element be true to itself: the LCD wants to be thin, the drives want to be horizontal. All that was used to explain/praise the design of the iMac G4, with its horizontal-oriented dome and the thin, gorgeous display, "floating" on the chrome arm. And we all went "yeah...makes total sense! Yay!"

Fast-forward two-and-a-half years...what do we have? An all-in-one with the guts "glommed on to the back", an LCD that isn't all that thin and drives mounted vertically.

:D

I'm not dinging the iMac G5 AT ALL, mind you (I think it's truly quite gorgeous and striking). I'm just saying "things change". And if Steve and Apple can experience that much of a mindset change about their flagship computer, then they're allowed to on their little music player.

:)
Steve also promised "No more CRTs", then reversed himself with the eMac.

and there's a certain Joy of Tech regarding OS9... ;)

kscherer
2004-11-17, 15:12
We should all keep in mind that company strategies and personal opinions can and will change. Jobs has back-tracked before and will do so again. Sometimes, said back-tracking is merely diversionary. When the iMac flatpanel was released, the iMac G5 was likely already in the initial R&D stages. When the iPod mini was released, any Flash-based iPod was already in the R&D stages.

Give the back-tracking thing a rest and let Apple give us great products. Whatever Steve said about 128-512MB players was a cover-up for what Apple is working on. Should Apple join this highly competitve market and should they include the click-wheel and interface, they will absolutely dominate the portable music player market on ALL fronts! Regardless of whether or not the Jobs-faithful jump aboard!

It will be exactly such a devise that will keep the cash cow mooing so we can have G5 PowerBooks and G6 PowerMacs.

By the way, a 256MB player will hold about 60 songs, or 4-5 albums. Considering how easy iTunes would make it to update, that would be PERFECT for MOST PEOPLE! 512MB would hold about 120 songs or 8-10 albums. Save the iPod 40GB for those who feel the NEED to take everything with them and let the rest of us have the ULTIMATE iPod that meets our day-to-day desires.

psmith2.0
2004-11-17, 15:13
Eh, I always took the "end of CRT" to be referring to the standalone displays. The sub-$1,000 eMac could never have existed otherwise, and I prefer a world with affordable Macs that look cool and don't break the bank!

;)

In any case, the eMac has been a good machine and enough of a success, most will forgive him on that.

:)

kscherer
2004-11-17, 15:17
One only need to forgive if they had a problem with it in the first place. I look forward to the G5 eMac equipped with a 17" CRT monitor. Keep the price down and bring it to the masses.

oldmacfan
2004-11-17, 15:30
Well, it's not unheard of for this type of reversal. Consider the iMac G5, which represents everything Steve "dissed" two-and-a-half years ago upon the unveiling of the iMac G4.

At MWSF 2002 Steve made a point of dinging any uninspired "guts glommed onto the back of the display" approach, and about how drives don't work at their best when mounted vertically. And he spoke of letting each element be true to itself: the LCD wants to be thin, the drives want to be horizontal. All that was used to explain/praise the design of the iMac G4, with its horizontal-oriented dome and the thin, gorgeous display, "floating" on the chrome arm. And we all went "yeah...makes total sense! Yay!"

Fast-forward two-and-a-half years...what do we have? An all-in-one with the guts "glommed on to the back", an LCD that isn't all that thin and drives mounted vertically.

:D

I'm not dinging the iMac G5 AT ALL, mind you (I think it's truly quite gorgeous and striking). I'm just saying "things change". And if Steve and Apple can experience that much of a mindset change about their flagship computer, then they're allowed to on their little music player.

:)

Ok, Steve didn't change, his crew developed a truly inspired Computer. The iMac G5 does not even come close to what Steve was talking about in the keynote where he introduced the G4 iMac. Technology has caught up and now he has shown the rest of us how to do it right.

oldmacfan
2004-11-17, 15:44
What is wrong with you where your raised by your mama or what. Nothing Apple produces has enough horse power. Nothing! Yes even the little school girl in pony tails gets frustrated with the responsiveness of her machine at school!

Look at it this way you would be pretty put off if your school board decided to go out and spend your tax dollars on i386 computers for the class room. You should get just as excited when you see eMacs going into the classroom. Not that there isn't potential in an eMac just that it needs to get with the times.

Dave

Hmm, I wouldn't mind if my kids school bought 386's for the kids to learn on, as long as they don't run any M$ products on them. Get a nice slim version of Unix or Linux and teach those kids some real computing skills. ;)

As for the eMacs comment, I work at a college managing computer labs, and the #1 rated computer lab on this campus is an all eMac lab. The rest don't even come close. This college has 15,000 students, students and faculty seem to go out of their way to praise that one lab. Not any other single lab on campus Mac or PC comes even close. When the chips are down and work needs to get done people stand in line to use that lab.

And one more thing, I have a fast PC at home, and two older Macs. The Macs get more work done. That fast PC is spending a lot cycles running antivirus/ spyware-adware/ & windows, before it gets to do any real work.

Jim S.
2004-11-17, 20:21
January keynotes usually have a significant focus on the iLife applications and I would expect Steve to introduce iLife 2005. While updated hardware is always a good thing, I'm more interested in the software. Since I expect Tiger to be required (e.g., Core Image for iPhoto, Core Video for iMovie), this all depends on how Tiger is coming along but rumors seem to indicate that development is going well and Tiger should be out in early 2005. If that's the case, Steve will probably set a ship date and introduce iLife 2005.

Satchmo
2004-11-17, 23:09
Jobs has back-tracked before and will do so again. Sometimes, said back-tracking is merely diversionary. When the iMac flatpanel was released, the iMac G5 was likely already in the initial R&D stages. When the iPod mini was released, any Flash-based iPod was already in the R&D stages.

Give the back-tracking thing a rest and let Apple give us great products. Whatever Steve said about 128-512MB players was a cover-up for what Apple is working on.



Perhaps we might see the convergence of computer and television afterall. ;)
I realize things opinions change, but I'd love to believe Jobs' is more visionary preaching what he truly believes, rather than a very good salesman putting on the spin. However more of late, the latter seems to be the case.

InactionMan
2004-11-17, 23:34
Apple doesn't need a flash based iPod. They just need to drop the price of the mini by 50 bucks and at least double the battery life. A $199 mini with 15-20 battery life would destroy any flash player.

El Guardo
2004-11-18, 00:07
It won't destroy a flash player for anyone who's seriously sporty.

Much of what has been written to date concerns the iPod Flash as a means of covering all market segments. But, as someone who does a lot of running and bike riding, the iPod mini is not appropriate. Sure it has 40 mins of skip protection, but I run for longer than that. And one serious bump will ruin the alignment of the HDD and render the player useless. Add to that the stupidity of suggesting that a player be strapped to your arm. It just doesn't work as the headphone cable becomes to long, changing songs is near impossible and its is just uncomfortable.

A flash based player that has a small clip on the back would be very, very handy indeed.

Messiahtosh
2004-11-18, 01:12
Perhaps we might see the convergence of computer and television afterall. ;)
I realize things opinions change, but I'd love to believe Jobs' is more visionary preaching what he truly believes, rather than a very good salesman putting on the spin. However more of late, the latter seems to be the case.Interesting way of thinking about it, though I think being a visionary only means knowing when something will succeed. Jobs has been spot on with that lately.

IonYz
2004-11-18, 01:27
One only need to forgive if they had a problem with it in the first place. I look forward to the G5 eMac equipped with a 17" CRT monitor. Keep the price down and bring it to the masses.

Sure the eMac has a problem, and is very audible. ;)

Heavy machines (all their desktops), yeah thats fine. Large machines (Power Mac) even when they should be much smaller (Single Power Mac) sure Ok. Loud machines. No, thats when it becomes a problem. The eMac is too loud, its 120mm fan run too fast and apparently with too much turbulence.

Acoustically-aware PC builders use 120mm for a good reason. They can move large amounts of air with less effort (rpm) which leaves less noise. I don't mind the CRT or specs really but lets at least work on reducing the noise. They have engineered their other desktops for low-noise, so why skimp here? If I wanted a lack of engineering I'd be using a generic PC by now. :\

IonYz
2004-11-18, 01:35
Hmm, I wouldn't mind if my kids school bought 386's for the kids to learn on, as long as they don't run any M$ products on them. Get a nice slim version of Unix or Linux and teach those kids some real computing skills. ;)

Working in the education market I can add some insight to this. If schools could effectively use *nix they would, in droves. The price cuts and reduction in Tech Support fees would be more then enough evidence to convince the higher-ups.

The problem is lack of training and support. There needs to be books, seminars, courses and other professional development materials for educators. With more training, shrinking budgets (ugh, I know this all too well!) and gaining mindshare of other OSS products (Firefox) it could be just a matter of time.

Its still an uphill battle because the EDU market pays considerably less on equipment and MS software to begin with. But schools and districts that have moved towards solutions like Oo.org would complain primarily of lack of training, professional development et. al.

IonYz
2004-11-18, 01:48
I too am sick of hearing about the iPod, not as much because I dislike it but because it feels very surreal and sad. Here is a great company who has done nothing but lose what little marketshare they had in the computer industry in recent history go from having nothing in the portable music market to dominating it and marching on. Think of the success of the iPod as a bizarro-universe of the computer industry where they have barely made a scratch except for mindshare. If Apple could, they would love for nothing more then to dominate the computer market the same as they did for music ya know?

Alas they can't complete in a market that doesn't want to move so they find a play-field a little more level where they can work their magic. Well its surreal to see this microcosm flourish, but at the same time I'm sick of hearing about iPod iPod iPod! :lol: :D

If they need to make a flash iPod to cover-their-bases then great, but guys don't wonder far from the tree or you may rot eh ;). Remember when Be Inc. decided to split, segment and shift into markets they thought would be the future? What is a Be you say? Exactly.

Satchmo
2004-11-18, 13:10
Interesting way of thinking about it, though I think being a visionary only means knowing when something will succeed. Jobs has been spot on with that lately.

Perhaps. There's no questioning the success of the iPod, but you'd have to conceed that the sunflower iMac was less than stellar in terms of sales.

Frankly, come to think of it, it may have less to do with vision than it does with the bottom line. Some of Apple's products could simply have been home runs, if margins and pricing were not so much an issue.

psmith2.0
2004-11-18, 14:03
The Cube...

If that little bastard had been $999 (instead of $1799), I would've been proud to own one, paired with a matchng 17" Studio Display! :eek:

I still think something like that - priced right, of course - would be quite amazing...bridging the gap between the iMac and the full-on towers. If it supported 2GB of RAM simply had an easily swappable/upgradeable hard drive AND graphics card (screw slots and extra drive bays...get a tower!), people would buy them like crazy! Designed, from the ground-up, to allow for EASY hard drive and graphics upgrading.

The beauty, sleekness and "wow!" factor of the iMac, but with a smidgen of tower-inspired expandability, in the two areas most people probably desire (storage and graphics). I could imagine graphic/production studios lined with them, able to drive any sort of display, Apple or otherwise.

Priced around $1000, give or take...I think a gazillion folks would pounce on one.

Luca
2004-11-18, 14:10
This pscates2.0 pre-fabricated post brought to you by the letter M.

:D

wizard69
2004-11-18, 14:13
Yes flash memeory is improving but I'm wondering if Steve might have another solution up his sleeves. That would be FRAM. Certainly a possibility, Steve can say anything he wants about flash if he knows that he has an alternative.

It is also interesting that a FRAM manufacture is about to go into production. The thought is interesting. Being able to offer new technology for the solid state market would be a big win for Apple.

Thanks
Dave


It's not like flash memory isn't also improving in size and price. 1 GB is pretty cheap these days, and even 2 GB is reasonably priced. They're not as high-capacity as microdrives, but they're cheaper and draw less power. I don't think Apple would use anything less than 1 GB.

Messiahtosh
2004-11-18, 14:15
lol :p

Good idea Scates, nobody's ever mentioned it before. :D

insaneboy
2004-11-18, 15:11
Yes flash memeory is improving but I'm wondering if Steve might have another solution up his sleeves. That would be FRAM. Certainly a possibility, Steve can say anything he wants about flash if he knows that he has an alternative.


Ohhh yeah, just what I need an oil filter that plays mp3s! :lol:

I'm sorry I just had to ;)

kscherer
2004-11-18, 15:21
I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times:

If having the iPod around gives Macs longer legs, then bring on the iPods.

OK, OK . . . I've only said it a couple times, but . . . :p

I still think that MWSF has other stuff in store, besides iPods and a speed bump for the PowerMac. Think iLife 5 and AppleWorks 7. No Powerbooks, other than a possible speed boost. Although I suppose they may be announced in January with a "shipping" date of late August! ;) PowerMacs may see the long-waited 3GHz barrier broken. Flash iPods starting at $149. iLife '05, iWorks 7.

psmith2.0
2004-11-18, 15:38
Luca, Messiah...go jump in a lake. You two, of all people, don't need to be ragging on ANYONE's posting here, especially you, BanMaster Flash...and how's that toilet doing, Luca? :p ;)

No, I was kinda hopped up on the Cube because I just spent time with one a couple of days ago and really got attached to it. I've seen them a bunch, in stores and places, but this was the first time I really sat down, used it, got to look at it from all angles and appreciate its design and power.

:)

It was hooked to a 15" Studio Display, and I'd forgotten what 1024x768 was like! Been about a year or so. But the entire time I was using it (several hours), I kept thinking "properly updated/priced, I could imagine quite a demand...too bad it never took flight".

Messiahtosh
2004-11-18, 15:57
Don't blame me scates, I bought one!

Mac+
2004-11-18, 20:42
This pscates2.0 pre-fabricated post brought to you by the letter M.

:D
lol :p

Good idea Scates, nobody's ever mentioned it before. :D
Luca, Messiah...go jump in a lake. You two, of all people, don't need to be ragging on ANYONE's posting here, especially you, BanMaster Flash...and how's that toilet doing, Luca? :p ;)

... [snip] ...

:lol: ... love watching the banter. ;)

psmith2.0
2004-11-18, 21:18
Yes, me too.

kscherer
2004-11-19, 00:31
There's more banter in here than a juvenile detention center! :eek:

Hell, just type "Mac sucks!" and the Messiah will banter for hours. P-boy will banter over Messiah bantering, etc. Very entertaining! :p

Who thinks Steve will wear something other than a black turtleneck? Perhaps something to match the new iPod socks? A green turtleneck with white collar?

Maciej
2004-11-19, 00:46
What?! Different clothes.. impossible. Hmm, I wonder if he only have one black turtleneck, or whether he has multiple ones.

Messiahtosh
2004-11-19, 00:53
Steve had many of them tailor made for him in the 80's.

bassplayinMacFiend
2004-11-19, 08:10
The only time I've seen Steve not wear the faux turtleneck getup is at MacWorld Tokyo. Heck he showed up in a suit the last time I watched him keynote there!

Messiahtosh
2004-11-19, 09:19
He also appears in tv interviews sometimes wearing a plaid button down shirt. He did that interview from the Apple Campus one day. And I remember what he was wearing because he almost never wears anything but that mock-turtleneck!

psmith2.0
2004-11-19, 09:39
That Macworld Tokyo suit was horrendous. He just looked so odd and out-of-place with it, as I'm sure he was. Such a change, huh (http://ascii24.com/news/i/topi/article/2001/02/22/thumbnail/thumb320x240-images637603.jpg)?

Would be about like me wearing a suit (twice in my life, and I've worn a tie probably less than 10 times in 35 years...only when someone has gotten married or died). And even then, I fought it tooth and nail!

"Nooooooo...they're DEAD, they won't see me or care! Come on!"

:)

Damn noose...

kscherer
2004-11-19, 10:08
How about a steel-gray model to coincide with the launching of the new G5 Powerbook? :smokey:

Or perhaps Steve will debut the new color-morphing iMac case with a fiber optic suit that changes colors 2 or 3 hundred times?

wizard69
2004-11-19, 22:52
Now that was funny! :lol:


Ohhh yeah, just what I need an oil filter that plays mp3s! :lol:

I'm sorry I just had to ;)

wizard69
2004-11-19, 23:00
Hey guys how about this for the new PowerBook, wood casings as oppose to aluminum or titanium. I just happen to be leafing through one of my engineering mags and saw a manufacture promoting a process that embeeds real wood panels in a plastic enclosure. They even had a mock up of a laptop.

Instead of choosing a color we could end up with a choice of wood grains such as teak, walnut or cherry. Basically any wood that can be veneered. Certainly would be different.

Dave

Messiahtosh
2004-11-20, 01:41
Probably would weigh 40 lbs.

kscherer
2004-11-20, 01:45
Probably would weigh 40 lbs.
Now don't be bringin' your girlfriend into this! :D

I think the wood enclosure is a cool idea. Have a burnt-in look for the Apple logo. It would be heavier than high-tech metals, but it would look awesome!

TednDi
2004-11-20, 11:21
http://applemuseum.bott.org/sections/images/computers/apple1kb.gif

:D

Messiahtosh
2004-11-20, 17:38
http://applemuseum.bott.org/sections/images/computers/apple1kb.gif

:DMy thoughts exactly.

iDaver
2004-11-20, 19:42
The Cube...

If that little bastard had been $999 (instead of $1799), I would've been proud to own one, paired with a matchng 17" Studio Display! :eek:

I still think something like that - priced right, of course - would be quite amazing...bridging the gap between the iMac and the full-on towers. If it supported 2GB of RAM simply had an easily swappable/upgradeable hard drive AND graphics card (screw slots and extra drive bays...get a tower!), people would buy them like crazy! Designed, from the ground-up, to allow for EASY hard drive and graphics upgrading.
I'm with you completely. I almost pulled the trigger and ordered a low-end Power Mac today until I measured the space I'd have for it and it won't fit. As soon as Apple offers a smaller headless Mac, I'm buying. Until then, I guess I'll earn a little interest on my money.

ja0912
2004-11-20, 20:43
The Cube...

If that little bastard had been $999 (instead of $1799), I would've been proud to own one, paired with a matchng 17" Studio Display! :eek:

I still think something like that - priced right, of course - would be quite amazing...bridging the gap between the iMac and the full-on towers. If it supported 2GB of RAM simply had an easily swappable/upgradeable hard drive AND graphics card (screw slots and extra drive bays...get a tower!), people would buy them like crazy! Designed, from the ground-up, to allow for EASY hard drive and graphics upgrading.

The beauty, sleekness and "wow!" factor of the iMac, but with a smidgen of tower-inspired expandability, in the two areas most people probably desire (storage and graphics). I could imagine graphic/production studios lined with them, able to drive any sort of display, Apple or otherwise.

Priced around $1000, give or take...I think a gazillion folks would pounce on one.

In my agreement I'm not saying that they will do this, but why aren't they doing it!?

Apple wants to take advantage of the "cool" wave created by the iPod. Hell, they created a computer to look like the iPod. Get rid of the eMac (there's already an education iMac sans optical drive) and over-price it compared to what you get with the iMac. Put a 1.6 G5 in it, or a 1.6 and 1.8. The speed will fall into place with an iMac speed bump following a couple months later.

It might just be me. But there have been times I would have willingly paid an extra $100 to buy an eMac that didn't have a screen. Just the same guts in a smaller case, no montior.

Mac+
2004-11-21, 02:24
Hey guys how about this for the new PowerBook, wood casings as oppose to aluminum or titanium. I just happen to be leafing through one of my engineering mags and saw a manufacture promoting a process that embeeds real wood panels in a plastic enclosure. They even had a mock up of a laptop.

Instead of choosing a color we could end up with a choice of wood grains such as teak, walnut or cherry. Basically any wood that can be veneered. Certainly would be different.

DaveReminds me of the old Minimoog and Korg MS2000 synths ... also very GarageBand-esque. Personally, not a style I'd appreciate on a laptop though. :|

iDaver
2004-11-21, 03:34
...It might just be me. But there have been times I would have willingly paid an extra $100 to buy an eMac that didn't have a screen. Just the same guts in a smaller case, no montior.
No, it's not just you; not at all.

FearlessLeader
2004-11-21, 03:55
Airport Express with Video-Out, but for iPhoto only ... a la the iPod Photo.

Mac+
2004-11-21, 03:56
The Cube...

If that little bastard had been $999 (instead of $1799), I would've been proud to own one, paired with a matchng 17" Studio Display! :eek:

I still think something like that - priced right, of course - would be quite amazing...bridging the gap between the iMac and the full-on towers. If it supported 2GB of RAM simply had an easily swappable/upgradeable hard drive AND graphics card (screw slots and extra drive bays...get a tower!), people would buy them like crazy! Designed, from the ground-up, to allow for EASY hard drive and graphics upgrading.

The beauty, sleekness and "wow!" factor of the iMac, but with a smidgen of tower-inspired expandability, in the two areas most people probably desire (storage and graphics). I could imagine graphic/production studios lined with them, able to drive any sort of display, Apple or otherwise.

Priced around $1000, give or take...I think a gazillion folks would pounce on one.I've been thinking about this - b/c I like the idea a lot - especially as a second (at home) computer. However, I think Apple might be resisting the creation of such a unit (with easy graphics and hard drive replacement capabilities) b/c it would kill their revenue stream. There would hardly be a reason for most families who purchased such a neat little box to upgrade. And, if they do decide to upgrade the drive or graphics card, Apple would not get a cent. Perhaps this is one of the reasons they do not appear to be pursuing it presently. :\

wizard69
2004-11-21, 12:09
I'm not to sure about how heavy this machine would be. The process I read about takes wood as thin as veneer and sandwhiches it between plastic in some sort of multi shot plastic injection modling machine. The process would leave one with a plastic enclosure with wood laminated between the panels.

What is really neat about this sort of process is that no two machines would be exactly the same. Every machine that came off the assembly line would have a slightly different figure in the grain of the wood panels. So instead of offering 4 or 5 colors, apple in effect can offer an unlimited number of effects with one process on one SKU. Add different wood veneers and the effects can be highly varied.

Maybe this isn't the Apple way. The technology to produce this sort of thing is intriguing though. If nothing more it is a way to deal with a product that is boring due to the exact sameness of each and every machine.

Thanks
Dave


Now don't be bringin' your girlfriend into this! :D

I think the wood enclosure is a cool idea. Have a burnt-in look for the Apple logo. It would be heavier than high-tech metals, but it would look awesome!

blissed
2004-11-21, 12:40
Sounds kinda twisted... I like it.

Price drops on Powerbooks yet? I noticed macmall is advertising a sale, but there really isn't much of one. The iBooks are now updated... and powerbooks are some 40-50 days past average updates according to macrumors. How long can Apple drag it out? It'l like at Blockbuster when they have movies in the new releases section that are like 2 years old. They do this because they haven't made enough money on them yet... :grumble:

DMBand0026
2004-11-21, 12:58
Apple has shown (via the G4 iMac) that they are more than capable of dragging this out for a long time. Although I assure you, the absence of an updated G4 PowerBook has nothing at all to do with how much money has been made off of it.

If Apple doesn't have a product to replace said G4 PowerBook with, they are obviously unable to replace it at all. I believe that is the situation we find ourselves in now. My best guess is that Apple doesn't want to put a whole lot more money into new chips and stuff like that for the G4 because they know how soon they are going to go G5.

However, I could be totally wrong.

Robo
2004-11-24, 16:58
iPod micro? Too early to tell. Do I hope so? Depends on how Apple did it.

iPod mini? Either a price drop to $199 or a capacity bump to 6GB. New colors are (hopefully) a given.

iPod? I'm hoping for a $499 60GB model. Making that drive iPp-only is cruel.

iPod photo? Nothing much, obviously...maybe a 20GB $399 model if sales are lagging.

iPod video? Too early to tell. Do I hope so? Depends on how Apple did it (deja vu!).

iMac? Nothing...duh.

eMac? I'm not expecting a major revision, but it's possible, I guess.

iBook? Nothing. (And this is off-topic, but I'm just gonna say I'm happy they broke the $1,000 barrier! It's only a $100 drop but it's basically convinced me to buy one. Yes, folks, the "psychological pricing barriers" do exist. Pricing something at $1,099 is stupid.)

Power Mac G5: Idunno how recently the line was updated (besides the addition of the single-G5 model) so I can't say. Single proc model dies, is replaced with...

Power Mac G5 Cube: I hope.

New Powerbooks: Apple needs mega-new Powerbooks of some sort, so I'm certainly expecting a major revision there. Will it be G5? Who knows...

Everything Else: iLife 2005, maybe a new Appleworks, tons of raving about the success of the iPod and new iMac. The new Powerbooks (and new Cube - I can dream!) will be the stars of the show here.

MacGregor
2004-11-27, 22:24
I think there is a market for an iPod Flash because there is a market for small light flash drives as it is, even without the music market. I would love to have a cigarette lighter sized Gig of memory that hooks to USB and can play music as well as be my portable "library of floppies."

Remember people. it is an iPod - it is more than a music box!

Messiahtosh
2004-11-29, 11:41
Merrill Lynch analyst Steven Mjdfajfdhkjfhovich expects a flash based iPod in early 2005.

See www.macminute.com for details.

byzantium
2004-11-29, 12:53
FWIW I've got a friend who works for a very well known design firm, that apparently was contracted out to the design of a new ipod.

He described it to me as a about half the size of the mini ipod. About the same height, but half the width. He said it wouldn't have an LCD - it's meant to be used in conjunction with something else.

I think there's something coming, but I'm going ahead and buying a mini this week anyway...

Messiahtosh
2004-11-29, 13:20
No LCD? :confused:

Wrao
2004-11-29, 13:21
He said it wouldn't have an LCD - it's meant to be used in conjunction with something else.


Interesting... (http://www.macminute.com/2004/11/29/entertainmentserver/)

DMBand0026
2004-11-30, 11:34
Yummy! "Flawless wireless integration is hard..." but Apple seems to have it down really well.

I'm crossing my fingers that I'm gonna be able to hook up that Apple box to my new TV (when I get one of those LCD tvs :))

kscherer
2004-11-30, 12:11
FWIW I've got a friend who works for a very well known design firm, that apparently was contracted out to the design of a new ipod.

He described it to me as a about half the size of the mini ipod. About the same height, but half the width. He said it wouldn't have an LCD - it's meant to be used in conjunction with something else.

I think there's something coming, but I'm going ahead and buying a mini this week anyway...
Yeah! Jonathon Ive designed the iPod and the mini, Apple's engineers designed its innards and there is no reason for Apple to contract out the design of a new player. Without an LCD, Apple would have ONLY another mp3 player that did not stand out from the rest. Apple's flash player will be based ENTIRELY on the mini and will function seamlessly with the rest of their music players and iTunes. It WILL have the same interface, as it is the interface that makes it so popular. Call it ease of use, if you will. Apple will NOT abandon this strength lest they fall into the same muck-hole that the remainder of the industry is floundering in!

As for size, in order to retain the interface, the flash iPod will be about the same size as the mini, but perhaps half the thickness. Size is not as critical as the form and function. Although the flash model could be a bit shorter as Flash memory is smaller than the 1.5" drives currently in use.

There is, of course, also the possibility that Apple is not working with Flash at all, but rather the new .75" 1GB drives from Toshiba.

byzantium
2004-12-07, 15:23
I wrote this on Nov 29:


He described it to me as a about half the size of the mini ipod. About the same height, but half the width. He said it wouldn't have an LCD - it's meant to be used in conjunction with something else..

Today this came out...
http://www.apple-x.net/images/ipodflash.jpg
http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000040022898/

coincidence? I think it's the real thing.

BuonRotto
2004-12-07, 16:32
...something else??? I've already likened it to a headphones remote, maybe it's actually a wireless remote for the Airport Express and syncs wirelessly with equipped Macs too? :D ;)

dfiler
2004-12-08, 11:53
I wrote this on Nov 29:



Today this came out...
http://www.apple-x.net/images/ipodflash.jpg
http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000040022898/

coincidence? I think it's the real thing.Definately not coincidence...

Meaning, they're simply repeating what we all read on a single website. It could be real or not... but sites parotting another site is no more definate proof than the original article.

I personally love when the news stories come full circle. One news site uses another as a 'source' to confirm a previous story... while infact that second site ripped the story from the first site originally. :lol:

madmaxmedia
2004-12-08, 12:27
...something else??? I've already likened it to a headphones remote, maybe it's actually a wireless remote for the Airport Express and syncs wirelessly with equipped Macs too? :D ;)

I'm pretty sure that something else is iTunes (a new version with new stuff for this player as well as the other iPods.) Audible prompts, voice commands, wireless, those are all hugely inelegant for a small flash player. Wireless would absolutely kill the battery (although I know you were joking!)

If the iPod has none of those, there's absolutely no way a cheaper flash player would.

OTOH, there just might be a way for Apple to rig up Firewire connection between an iPod/iPod Mini and this flash player. Although I don't think it's possible or worth the effort when you should just interface through iTunes (not sure if Firewire devices must be master/slave like USB.)

byzantium
2004-12-08, 12:58
or it could have a tiny lcd screen on a remote, ala minidisc style

not likely - I'm going with the audible navigation scenario

operasinger34
2004-12-15, 02:42
I think for sure the Ipod Flash will be introduced at the show.
I also think an entertainment server is very likely to come from Apple in the next year as they explore that market. Like the Cube but home ent. oriented. TV integration and music serving cababilities. Probably not at this MWSF though. Entry level would be 200 GB HD at $999. I could really see Apple doing this. The Cube Squared. Haha :no:

Nullpunkt
2004-12-15, 22:59
1. Regurgitation of all things great from Apple for the '04 year, Jobs claims '05 "year of the Mac"
2. Demo of Tiger, as usual, and an announcement of shipping in April
3. iMac speedbumps/revision
4. 80 GB iPod Photo/Video/whatevertheheckelseyoucouldcram in there
5. iBook price drop
6. Power Mac price drop, announcement of significant speed bumps/upgrades for revision coming in April.
6. Flash-based iPod introduced
7. Newly redesigned eMac debuts, sans G5, but significant speedbump/upgrades
8. Talk of what's in store for '05, introduce iLife '05 set shipping date for April
9. Powerbook G5 shown, shipping in April with high-end iMac G5-ish specs.
10. Red-haired boy weeps openly, knowing he'll never be able to afford any of this stuff.

psmith2.0
2004-12-15, 23:38
That's entirely way too much, and pretty unrealistic. :(

I'll buy 1 and 2, no problem. He does that like clockwork, at every keynote. :)

3...an iMac G5 rev? They just came out...Apple's never revved anything in just four months. Hell, they're probably just NOW getting to where they're shipping and available in quantity. I think April-June is more likely for an iMac G5 rev.

4. Uh, no. a) iPods were just released, and b) Jobs stated - quite sensibly, in fact - that photos are the way to go. All the reasons he gave were sound. I'm not denying an 80GB iPod in 2005. Just not at MWSF, and certainly not one with video capability.

5. iBook price drop? Why didn't they include that with the month-old rev they just did? I don't see this.

6. Power Mac stuff, I don't know.

6. (you had two #6)...Flash iPod. Well, that seems to be the accepted thinking, so MAYBE that'll happen.

7. I don't think Apple would go through the hassle of redesigning the eMac and NOT put a G5 in it. Makes no sense, does it? Either keep it as is and - due to G5 supply problems - try to bump it up to a 1.33 or 1.5GHz G4. OR, do indeed release an all new, redesigned G5-based eMac. One or the other, not a weird, impractical mixture.

8. If he introduces iLife, chances are it'll be pretty ready to go then and there. I don't think he'd announce software four months in advance. 1/3 of '05 is over at that point. People would riot. Or, at the very least, roll their eyes and mumble nasty comments amongst themselves.

9. I don't buy the PowerBook G5 stuff AT ALL. In fact...well, I won't go so far as Junkyard Dawg, but I will eat a crayon, live via iSight, if a G5 PowerBook is in any way hinted at, talked about, introduced, previewed, teased, etc.

:err:

10. Brown-haired boy wonders what in the hell red-haired boy is smoking to make him think this keynote somehow magically will address EVERYTHING in Apple's line-up, when a good, solid five-plus years of history has shown totally otherwise. You'll get three, MAYBE four, good nuggets...half software, an eMac update and maybe a cool "one more thing" surprise. But Apple NEVER addresses their whole line-up at one of these things. Ever.

They'd have nothing left to do or talk about for the rest of the year.

:)

I think your best shots are an eMac, iLife 05 and iPod flash. And, knowing Apple, there's a very good chance that the iPod flash is the "one more thing". Remember...we often build these keynotes up, and they rarely ever meet that level of excitement/hype we generate for the preceding 30 days.

Remember, 1/3 of this will consist of a total snoozathon were goobers from Microsoft, Adobe and some gaming company will waddle onstage and bore the shit out of everyone, talking about stuff most people don't understand.

:p

Oh...it just hit me. I could TOTALLY see them taking the opportunity to announce an official Tiger release date. I don't think THAT'S too far out of line. At WWDC in June, in previous years, they've announced a September or October Jaguar or Panther release (3-4 months out), so it stands to reason Jobs could give a March or April release date. This is a big event, with lots of press and attention, so announcing that here gets maximum coverage and hype, as opposed to a Wednesday afternoon press release to MacCentral.com sometime in February.

Luca
2004-12-16, 00:09
Hopefully they'll include iLife '05 when you buy Tiger, since it'll come out before Tiger does. The only other option for Apple would be to not include iMovie or iPhoto with Tiger at all, which would of course suck. I mean, the iLife apps are worth $50 collectively if you actually use them, but why gouge people who bought their Mac before Tiger's release and force them to pay $180 instead of $130 to upgrade to the latest software?

psmith2.0
2004-12-16, 00:42
I bet they'll have it covered, in some way. They know people would flip out, otherwise. And rightly so.

This is getting kinda cool, because, honestly, I didn't care much about Tiger up until just fairly recently, as I've read more about it, looked through Brad's screenshots, hear others talking about it.

I'm definitely going to get wound up for that, as its release approaches.

I just know that with each major update, it gets better and I get more happy with X. Yeah, the eMac G5 will be neat (for work), a possible new iBook in 2005 will be cool on its own, etc. But, to me, 2005 is largely about Tiger. Rawwrrrr!

:p

Does an impending Tiger pretty much mean any new eMac and iBook released in 2005 will sport 64MB graphics?

Nullpunkt
2004-12-16, 01:02
That's entirely way too much, and pretty unrealistic. :(

I'll buy 1 and 2, no problem. He does that like clockwork, at every keynote. :)

3...an iMac G5 rev? They just came out...Apple's never revved anything in just four months. Hell, they're probably just NOW getting to where they're shipping and available in quantity. I think April-June is more likely for an iMac G5 rev.

4. Uh, no. a) iPods were just released, and b) Jobs stated - quite sensibly, in fact - that photos are the way to go. All the reasons he gave were sound. I'm not denying an 80GB iPod in 2005. Just not at MWSF, and certainly not one with video capability.

5. iBook price drop? Why didn't they include that with the month-old rev they just did? I don't see this.

6. Power Mac stuff, I don't know.

6. (you had two #6)...Flash iPod. Well, that seems to be the accepted thinking, so MAYBE that'll happen.

7. I don't think Apple would go through the hassle of redesigning the eMac and NOT put a G5 in it. Makes no sense, does it? Either keep it as is and - due to G5 supply problems - try to bump it up to a 1.33 or 1.5GHz G4. OR, do indeed release an all new, redesigned G5-based eMac. One or the other, not a weird, impractical mixture.

8. If he introduces iLife, chances are it'll be pretty ready to go then and there. I don't think he'd announce software four months in advance. 1/3 of '05 is over at that point. People would riot. Or, at the very least, roll their eyes and mumble nasty comments amongst themselves.

9. I don't buy the PowerBook G5 stuff AT ALL. In fact...well, I won't go so far as Junkyard Dawg, but I will eat a crayon, live via iSight, if a G5 PowerBook is in any way hinted at, talked about, introduced, previewed, teased, etc.

:err:

10. Brown-haired boy wonders what in the hell red-haired boy is smoking to make him think this keynote somehow magically will address EVERYTHING in Apple's line-up, when a good, solid five-plus years of history has shown totally otherwise. You'll get three, MAYBE four, good nuggets...half software, an eMac update and maybe a cool "one more thing" surprise. But Apple NEVER addresses their whole line-up at one of these things. Ever.

They'd have nothing left to do or talk about for the rest of the year.

:)

I think your best shots are an eMac, iLife 05 and iPod flash. And, knowing Apple, there's a very good chance that the iPod flash is the "one more thing". Remember...we often build these keynotes up, and they rarely ever meet that level of excitement/hype we generate for the preceding 30 days.

Remember, 1/3 of this will consist of a total snoozathon were goobers from Microsoft, Adobe and some gaming company will waddle onstage and bore the shit out of everyone, talking about stuff most people don't understand.

:p

Oh...it just hit me. I could TOTALLY see them taking the opportunity to announce an official Tiger release date. I don't think THAT'S too far out of line. At WWDC in June, in previous years, they've announced a September or October Jaguar or Panther release (3-4 months out), so it stands to reason Jobs could give a March or April release date. This is a big event, with lots of press and attention, so announcing that here gets maximum coverage and hype, as opposed to a Wednesday afternoon press release to MacCentral.com sometime in February.


1. red-haired boy realizes that he should have prefaced his list with the words that it was his personal wish-list, and not a "what's going to actually happen" list

2.red-haired boy should read thread topic with more concentration and vigor than a pasing glance, thus not ending up looking like a buffoon and being rightly put into his place.

3.red-haired boy should really lay off the Crown Royal when trying to make a pseudo-sensical post... i mean seriously, two 6's????

4.red-haired boy calmly inserts foot in mouth.

byzantium
2004-12-16, 06:26
There will definitely be a new Powerbook in January, or I'll eat a crayon with you. Whether it's just a speed-bumped G4 with Al enclosure, or something new, that's up in the air.

But Apple has a history of revising their powerbook lineup every 2 years, so it's very likely there'll be a major revision.

Other stuff...
Tiger is going to get half the keynote, guaranteed. It's just got too many cool ooh-ahh features that Steve is dying to show us.

The flash ipod is accepted thinking .. but whether it has a screen or not is yet to be seen. My money is on screen-less - cause I have a reliable source who told me so :)

And I think there will be a famous "one more thing..." - addressing a market opportunity in a big way. Apple's on too-big-a-roll not to take advantage of their momentum.

psmith2.0
2004-12-16, 07:27
1. red-haired boy realizes that he should have prefaced his list with the words that it was his personal wish-list, and not a "what's going to actually happen" list

2.red-haired boy should read thread topic with more concentration and vigor than a pasing glance, thus not ending up looking like a buffoon and being rightly put into his place.

3.red-haired boy should really lay off the Crown Royal when trying to make a pseudo-sensical post... i mean seriously, two 6's????

4.red-haired boy calmly inserts foot in mouth.

:D

I wasn't trying to be mean or jerky, but if I came across that way in any of my comments, then I truly apologize. That was just a long, really unrealistic listing that I couldn't let go untouched.

:)

Yeah, the "laying off the adult beverages" while posting might help (although...).

:p

insaneboy
2004-12-16, 11:09
Blah, still hoping for a powermac update. Even though it looks like it would be iffy at best that it'll happen. Unfortunately I think 'the red haired boy' is right that if it does happen it won't ship till April or later. That just sucks because it looks like I'll need to get something by Febuary when the spring season starts ramping up. Guess I'll have to settle for a dual 2.5Ghz, not much of an upgrade from a dual 2Ghz.

For those who are saying don't complain at least you have a G5, hush. The G5 I'm using is the main workstation at work. At home I've still got my B&W G3 that I've had for 6yrs and will prolly have another 6 at the rate I'm going *sigh*.

As for everything elce I do see a flash iPod, OS 10.4 'tiger' shipping date announcement, Maybe an iLife update, and something elce. But the powermac update is definately due at this point. *crosses fingers!*

Luca
2004-12-16, 11:17
Be glad you have a B&W! That's one long-running machine - perhaps the longest run for any Mac to stay viable and useful. It's already almost six years old and it still isn't half bad at running OS X. And because Apple keeps making OS X faster rather than slower (like they did with the classic OS), I fully expect the B&W to be a useful computer for quite a few years to come.

Nullpunkt
2004-12-16, 12:52
:D

I wasn't trying to be mean or jerky, but if I came across that way in any of my comments, then I truly apologize. That was just a long, really unrealistic listing that I couldn't let go untouched.

:)

Yeah, the "laying off the adult beverages" while posting might help (although...).

:p

nah, ya didn't come across mean or jerky...i think if anything your post made me realize that i should assert myself a little better here, so that i won't get trampled by the masses for extreme lapses in thought...

if anything i thank ya for saving me from possible future embarassment...

but yep, gotta stay on topic...so I will say that i think that for sure iLife '05 will be there, and perhaps a surprise rollout of Tiger, or at least a day to count down to....

it would be a great way to start off the year, and with all the press attention, it'd be a step in the right direction...

and i know the whole "put all your eggs into one basket" analogy (the eggs being peices of hardware/software being updated/retooled/retouched in some aspect) is a bad one, but i think it would be in Apple's best interests to rollout as much product/software/hardware as possible to ride this current wave of good fortune.. as it stands right now, Apple seems to be press darlings and would probably receive a large amount of press coverage with an aggressive strategy that addresses any and all holes/non-recently updated product. It would explain why many Apple employees have been burning the candle at Cupertino these last few weeks, no?

What I'd really like to see though, is universal currency pricing for all products. You know, so if say something like an iBook was $999 American that the price in Canada would be that of the exchange rate (as it stands right now, the Canadian version of the iBook is $1051 American) Apple has made enough profits on marking up product when introducing it into a foreign market, so perhaps offering this kind of system would encourage more foreign sales of all Apple/Mac Products. (I mean, $52 might not mean that much to Joe Blow's Design Firm, but to John. Q Public, those small amounts of difference might make be the deciding factor in purchasing a product or not...)

Now I know, you'll all say "but that means they'd change the price everyday, causing profit margins to flucuate".... how about this solution: Apple keeps the price locked 3 months at a time (in-line with their quarterly reports, of course.) That way we all win...well, sort of...

and before anyone says it, yes there could be a possibility that there might be large flucuations between quarters, but that's a risk most consumers are willing to take...

...and that's my .02 USD.... or in this case .O247483 CAD

InactionMan
2004-12-24, 00:00
I think it's going to be a fairly tame Stevenote. Tiger news, iPod+iTunes news, new eMac (with the 'e' dropped) with super slim CRT supplied by either Samsung or LG. And Apple's new marketing campaign to push the Mac into homes everywhere.

Wickers
2004-12-24, 00:07
I think it's going to be a fairly tame Stevenote. Tiger news, iPod+iTunes news, new eMac (with the 'e' dropped) with super slim CRT supplied by either Samsung or LG. And Apple's new marketing campaign to push the Mac into homes everywhere.

The new eMac will be PPC970 based, and it will use referb LCDs -- looking a bit like an iMac G5 and an iPod mixed. Trust me, I'm not kidding. It will be cheap because of a small referb screen and very low specs.

EDIT: oh ya, it won't be out at MWSF... or anytime soon there after.

DMBand0026
2004-12-24, 00:10
Would they really use refurbished LCDs in new computers? That seems like they're asking for trouble. Big trouble.

iDaver
2004-12-24, 01:40
I think it's going to be a fairly tame Stevenote. Tiger news, iPod+iTunes news, new eMac (with the 'e' dropped) with super slim CRT supplied by either Samsung or LG.
I'll be shocked if Steve Jobs even mentions the eMac on stage at Macworld. It's their low-end CRT-based product. He declared the CRT dead a couple of years ago.

Like you, I expect Macworld will be all about software and iPods; but not eMacs.

scratt
2004-12-24, 02:12
...........and the new Phone!!!!!!

ryguy777@frontiernet.net
2004-12-24, 09:05
Blah, still hoping for a powermac update. Even though it looks like it would be iffy at best that it'll happen. Unfortunately I think 'the red haired boy' is right that if it does happen it won't ship till April or later. That just sucks because it looks like I'll need to get something by Febuary when the spring season starts ramping up. Guess I'll have to settle for a dual 2.5Ghz, not much of an upgrade from a dual 2Ghz.

For those who are saying don't complain at least you have a G5, hush. The G5 I'm using is the main workstation at work. At home I've still got my B&W G3 that I've had for 6yrs and will prolly have another 6 at the rate I'm going *sigh*.

As for everything elce I do see a flash iPod, OS 10.4 'tiger' shipping date announcement, Maybe an iLife update, and something elce. But the powermac update is definately due at this point. *crosses fingers!*

Dual Core G5 at 3.0GHz is coming up, I've been told... If not at MWSF... then I'd expect Dual 3.0GHz instead... Now, that's a big improvement over 2.0GHz... I'm deffinitely counting on an update... but I hope it's the dual core...

DMBand0026
2004-12-24, 14:00
I can see something like a Dual 3.0, dual 2.7, dual 2.5 and a single 2.3 or 2.0, but no dual core yet. Seems too soon for that.

Jay
2004-12-24, 17:40
My prediction for the month of January

MWSF:
Usual blah blah blah about how great Apple is doing

iPod flash or iPhone, I'm betting on iPod flash

Tiger Release date, judging by the rate of 10.3.x releases and the rate of developer builds. Probably shipping March or April. Also the final feature list

The one more thing has a few possibilities but I have a feeling that it will be around the PowerMac 9,1 in the plist file, which appeared back in 10.3.5. This could either be a PCI-express PowerMac or a G5 eMac. I think the timing is right because the iMac appeared after two bumps in the system revisions although not intended. I think either are similarly reasonable, both would require a motherboard change significant enough to change the listings.

As for the Powerbooks there will probably be a small bump sometime during the month, with it going G5 around the release of Tiger or WWDC. Mainly because of the disappearance of the two plist entries from 10.3.5 and they haven't returned in 10.3.6-7.


Then again Tiger could be released at MWSF along with Powerbook G5's. With eMacs going G5 later in the month.

I love this time of year.

Dave Hagan
2004-12-25, 11:31
Steve will show a major rev to the PowerBooks. Whether or not they have a G5 in them will be another matter all together. It appears as though every other year, something major is demoed with respect to PowerBooks, and this upcoming keynote is that other year.

2001-Titanium PowerBooks
2003-Aluminum PowerBooks
2005-??? PowerBooks

TednDi
2004-12-25, 11:55
soy powerbooks. This is so that when your battery dies you can eat your computer.

;)

scratt
2004-12-25, 12:06
2005-??? PowerBooks

Depleted Uranium?

Chung Tech
2004-12-25, 12:36
2005-??? PowerBooks

Leather with Aluminum trim?

Kurt
2004-12-27, 07:35
2005-??? PowerBooks

How about stainless steel? Or Steve could really out there and use zirconium. It is often used in nuclear reactors. That would be great for marketing. :)

scratt
2004-12-27, 07:48
What about ceramic?

johnq
2004-12-27, 08:04
If they can make biodiesel from renewable resources such as algae, can they make plastics from renewable sources? I want an iBook that is GROWN. :D

SeaTacMac
2004-12-28, 21:01
Hey! I thought the Cube should have been made out of Pyrex Glass instead of plexiglas. (You know, like the thing you can bake an Apple Pie in?)
Just a thought...
Ceramic would be cool!
OR what if they would be some kind of cool carbon fiber / kevlar material?

psmith2.0
2004-12-28, 21:10
...making them truly handy to have in public schools. They can offer some protection, at least. :eek:

Jay
2004-12-28, 22:01
...making them truly handy to have in public schools. They can offer some protection, at least. :eek:

My Aluminum 12" has watched my back fearlessly but it doesn't have a chance against the AK 47s and 9mm roaming around schools these days. APPLE WE YOUR HELP! :lol:

CyberGourmet
2005-01-10, 11:27
iHome - G4 made for your TV - sell your Tivo, DVD player, etc...
iPod - no screen iTunes based.
audio apps
dual core G4 powerbooks
speed bumps to the towers
emac goes bye-bye
ibook stands pat
17" monitor (((NO WAY are they releasing a 15")))
iTunes for your wireless... not a phone -a service
!
--- a new mouse ---
!

iamjohngalt
2005-01-10, 11:55
http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000110026534/

Gizzer
2005-01-10, 11:57
I don't know why, but with a fraction over 24 hours to go (as I type this) I'm beginning to prepare myself for disappointment after the keynote. Maybe because we've all got so juiced up about the headless iMac rumours, I'm kind of beginning to think "Surely it's just too good to be true?".

In which case, my conservative predictions (to help alleviate any disappointment) are:

Tiger (release date).
iLife '05
iWork
iPod Flash.

That's only four items, but thats about all that ever gets covered in a keynote anyway (once all the sales figures & preamble are over, plus a couple of demos of third party apps).

In the 1.5 - 2 hours Keynote, a demo of iLife '05 will take a while to cover (there are potentially new versions of all 5 apps).
iWork will take a good while if it's an all-new product.
Tiger may or may not have a demo depending on whether there are new features we've not heard about yet.
iPod Flash will be 10 mins or so.
I'm not sure if theres time left to introduce iMac mini.

I hope I'm proved wrong, but that nagging feeling of doubt is getting more and more!

Gizzer
2005-01-10, 12:03
http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000110026534/

This has already been discussed in another thread.

http://forums.applenova.com/showthread.php?t=3167

It's a fake by the way.

iamjohngalt
2005-01-10, 12:05
my mistake, i searched for engadget on the threads and decided to post it.

johnq
2005-01-10, 12:10
http://www.nullface.com/ai/jules2.png





[edit: oops I did this during your apology ;) ]


[edit2: made a link instead so i can post another image]

iBookNewbie
2005-01-10, 12:20
hi guys, an apple convert here. Got caught up by all this MWSF fever. I am in Japan and am keen to know what is happening in regards to what is released officially....I don't seem to be able to find any updates on the net....could some kind soul/s email me and let me know what's been said in the MWSF05????

SonOfSylvanus
2005-01-10, 12:24
Tiger (release date).
iLife '05
iWork
iPod Flash
...
I hope I'm proved wrong, but that nagging feeling of doubt is getting more and more!
Dude, I'd be ecstatic with just that, in fact iLife '05, iWork and mere demos would please me. The Apple's recent price drops on its displays (£300 on the 20" and £200—or was it £300 also?—on the 23") have me more excited than anything, 'cos I might actually be able to stretch to buying one! Yay! :D

And the technologies in Tiger—I just can't get enough.

iBookNewbie
2005-01-10, 12:28
the costs of the screens.....some epople who travelled to Singapore and found the apple accesories including screens, are somewhat cheaper.....might be worth looking into.....???

SonOfSylvanus
2005-01-10, 12:35
the costs of the screens.....some epople who travelled to Singapore and found the apple accesories including screens, are somewhat cheaper.....might be worth looking into.....???

Thanks for reminding me actually. I have a friend from HK who is always asking if I want him to bring me stuff back after he has visited home... Problem is, I'm not sure if "electronics: always so much f**king cheaper in Asia!" applies to Apple products.

johnq
2005-01-10, 12:36
could some kind soul/s email me and let me know what's been said in the MWSF05????

Um,

http://www.nullface.com/ai/annie.gif

Gizzer
2005-01-10, 12:37
Dude, I'd be ecstatic with just that, in fact iLife '05, iWork and mere demos would please me. The Apple's recent price drops on its displays (£300 on the 20" and £200—or was it £300 also?—on the 23") have me more excited than anything, 'cos I might actually be able to stretch to buying one! Yay! :D

And the technologies in Tiger—I just can't get enough.

Don't get me wrong - I'll be just as ecstatic with just the lineup I mention! But it is easy to get caught up in the whole MWSF fever!!

Personally I can't wait for Tiger and I always love the improvement they make to iLife. I'll be on Apple Store in a heartbeat if they are both available straight away! :D

To be honest, I'm not even in the market for an iMac mini (I've already bought an iMac & a PB this year - sorry last year! ) - but I'll still be juiced up all the same if one appears. :smokey:

iBookNewbie
2005-01-10, 12:40
i think they have a weblink to the singapore store........if not, try giving the singapore mac fans a holler. They are just as zany as the rest of us......

iBookNewbie
2005-01-10, 12:41
damn that international date line.....anyone got some magic eraser??

johnq
2005-01-10, 12:43
That gif will be used a lot today, don't feel bad. ;)

iBookNewbie
2005-01-10, 12:44
i don't......just makes me wanna sing now...... :lol: la la la we love ya, tomorrow....