I just had a thought (uh oh)...
What if Apple is shooting for simplicity in its laptop line?
What if - bear with me - they're going back to the TiBook days of only one size PowerBook (15")?
Here are my reasons:
- For reasons discussed a million times already, I'm betting the 12" PowerBook is history. It always, always lagged behind the two larger models
- With the recent PowerBook updates, the 15" got the same resolution the 17" model has had from day one...suddenly making the 15" seem/feel as roomy as the 17", in terms of screen real estate
- In three years, I've heard more people ding the 17" PowerBook than not. "Too large", "too unwieldy", etc. I realize those are subjective, personal opinions. But still, it's what I've heard (and still hear)
- A dual-core PowerBook, with great graphics, FireWire 800 and the whole bit (the 17" had no special features or ports that the 15" didn't, so there was no other benefit to it other than its sheer size...and if the 15" is now sporting 1440x960 - or a more 16:10 1440x900 - would there really be
that much complaining? Especially when, of course, the 15" PowerBook could be connected to basically any monitor in the world.
So what if this was it? Maybe this is why we're not hearing much talk about the 17". Some of the more recent rumors have specificially referenced the 15" PowerBook, saying it would go Intel (and some rumors going on to say, "followed by a 17" version sometime after"). That never made sense to me: if the 15" went Intel, why not the 17" on the same day?
So a return to a single, massively full-featured PowerBook (iSight, Mighty Mouse inspired trackpad, 1440x900 resolution, super thin, dual-core, 7200rpm hard drive, dual-layer SuperDrive, all the usual ports and goodies, etc.).
Is THAT not a true PowerBook, in anyone's eyes? AND, as most everyone agrees, the 15"
is the sweet spot in the line-up, and has been all along: the perfect blend of features AND portability (has all the features/capabilities lacking in the 12", BUT without the size and bulk of the 17"...BUT, the same resolution/working space!). And if it gets thinner than the current one, that's even better!
And then, to accompany this new PowerBook, a single 13-14" widescreen iBook.
You can BTO each model (RAM, hard drive, optical drive, etc. to something higher/better), but two basic stock models of each.
It's my opinion that not only will today see the end of the 12" PowerBook...it also sees the end of the 17". And if the 15" was tricked out in the way that I described a few paragraphs up, who in the hell would legitimately complain?
I don't see any reason to keep the 17" around for bragging rights if the 15" does it all, and better, in a smaller, thinner package than anything we've seen thus far. And that's the holy grail of laptops, right...power/performance AND manageable size/weight?
Maybe Apple nailed it...