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Your dream (not too outrageous) Mac


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Your dream (not too outrageous) Mac
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Messiahtosh
Apple Historian
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2004-09-07, 18:24

Personally I would love to have a 13.x inch widescreen PowerBook, with a 2 GHz G5 in it. It would be the most amazing balance of portability and ridiculous (if not too outrageous) power.

Throw in 1.5 GBs of RAM, a 256 MB graphics card and it's good to go for 10 years.

"We are reviewing some 9,000 recent UNHCR referrals from Syria. We are receiving roughly a thousand new ones each month, and we expect admissions from Syria to surge in 2015 and beyond." - Anne C. Richard, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration
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Quagmire
meh
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2004-09-07, 18:40

My dream Mac. A dual core 3 Ghz G5 Powerbook 12" screen. Weighs only 4 pounds. Costs $1599, and comes with 768 MB of ram, a 256 MB Radeon X800, and a 260 GB HD. The screen brightness can make you blind. The battery life is up to 5 years on one charge. Ok this is outrageous but, this is a dream.

giggity
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sunrain
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Portlandia
 
2004-09-07, 18:51

Quote:
Originally Posted by Undertaker
My dream Mac. A dual core 3 Ghz G5 Powerbook 12" screen. Weighs only 4 pounds. Costs $1599, and comes with 768 MB of ram, a 256 MB Radeon X800, and a 260 GB HD. The screen brightness can make you blind. The battery life is up to 5 years on one charge. Ok this is outrageous but, this is a dream.
I'd only buy it if it had a built-in projector that could render realistic black levels in broad daylight and could project an image up to 25' wide.

"What a computer is to me is it's the most remarkable tool that we've ever come up with, and it's the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds."
- Steve Jobs
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murbot
Hoonigan
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Canada
 
2004-09-07, 18:52

Quote:
Originally Posted by Messiahtosh
Throw in 1.5 GBs of RAM, a 256 MB graphics card and it's good to go for 10 years.
AHHH HAH AHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHH
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Wrao
Yarp
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Road Warrior
 
2004-09-07, 18:56

this 15" powerbook is pretty close.

The new g5 iMacs look pretty good too.

I think that hte g5 powerbook will probably be the money note though.
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Messiahtosh
Apple Historian
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2004-09-07, 18:57

Quote:
Originally Posted by murbot
AHHH HAH AHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHH
For me.
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Luca
ಠ_ರೃ
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Minnesota
 
2004-09-07, 19:12

If I wanted a computer to last ten years I would go for specifications that actually exceed today's midrange to high end machines. Say... 16 GB of RAM, instead of 1.5 GB, and you'll probably be okay. And instead of 256 MB of VRAM, 2 GB might be better. It's really hard to predict considering how many things change. I mean, if you were to somehow give an old Power Macintosh 8100 a 1 GHz processor and 1 GB of RAM, it would be fast, but it'd still have ADB, serial and SCSI ports instead of USB and Firewire.

And who are you to talk, Messiahtosh? You're the one who is selling your PowerBook and buying a new iMac just because you think it'll be so much faster. Is it because you think the G4 sucks and the G5 is so awesome it'll last ten years and still feel fast?

Personally, my dream machine would be either a thin, widescreen laptop that slides into a dock for use at home with a larger monitor (a la Duo), or an ATX-compatible motherboard for which I can purchase a case, drives, a processor, and so on. It would be so cool to be able to go on NewEgg and put together a Mac-compatible system from off-the-shelf parts. As it is now, the motherboard, power supply, and processor are all special and must be obtained separately. If I could just put together a $400 system with an Athlon XP 2400+, Radeon 9600 Pro, and a basic nForce2 motherboard, and run the MacOS on it, I'd be in heaven.
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psmith2.0
Mr. Vieira
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
 
2004-09-07, 19:35

I'm a simple guy. How about a 12" PowerBook simply sporting the specs and options of the 17" PowerBook: 1.5GHz G4, 5400rpm, 128MB graphics, two available RAM slots, light-up keyboard, etc. In fact, I'll even do without the PC slot and FireWire 800, since I don't see either one making an impact on my Mac using life.

But maybe a few upgrades like 8x SuperDrive and the latest, greatest honkin' graphics card?

That's it, really. If we get slightly outrageous, how about the specs of the new 20" iMac G5 crammed into a 12" iBook?

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LewsTherin
Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2004-09-07, 19:40

Quote:
Originally Posted by Luca
Personally, my dream machine would be either a thin, widescreen laptop that slides into a dock for use at home with a larger monitor (a la Duo), or an ATX-compatible motherboard for which I can purchase a case, drives, a processor, and so on. It would be so cool to be able to go on NewEgg and put together a Mac-compatible system from off-the-shelf parts. As it is now, the motherboard, power supply, and processor are all special and must be obtained separately. If I could just put together a $400 system with an Athlon XP 2400+, Radeon 9600 Pro, and a basic nForce2 motherboard, and run the MacOS on it, I'd be in heaven.
This is my dream as well.
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Messiahtosh
Apple Historian
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2004-09-07, 19:44

Quote:
Originally Posted by LewsTherin
This is my dream as well.
Emulation is getting quite popular and much faster than before.
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Koodari
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
 
2004-09-07, 19:56

I'll keep my feet on the ground, somewhat. It's pretty much an iMac3 with +1 HD slot, +1 PCI-E slot, +DVI, +video in, +passive cooling, +Bluetooth as standard, -modem, -screen.

Single 2GHz G5. Room for two sticks of memory, two hard drives, an optical drive, CoreGraphics capable chip integrated on motherboard with DVI out, TV out and video in, empty PCI Express slot, passive cooling all around (processor, graphics, hard drives), airtight enclosure that keeps noise inside and dust out (possible to open ventilation slots if an expansion graphics or other card needs airflow). USB2, Gigabit Ethernet, Firewire 400, Firewire 800 and Bluetooth connectivity. Slot for an Airport Extreme card. Cube or other nice design.

The expensive parts are the chassis (because of the thermal design) and mobo (because of the VIVO graphics chip). The connectivity and expansion parts cost pretty much nothing when they are integrated on the mobo. The iMac3's chassis and mobo are also expensive., therefore I think this could easily be built to sell for sub $1200 at the time of the next Powermac revision, and it would still fetch the normal Apple profit margin.
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Luca
ಠ_ರೃ
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Minnesota
 
2004-09-07, 20:02

Nah, emulation will never be as good as running it natively. I'd only consider it if I got equally good hardware support in the emulated OS (no chance of that) and it were at least one hundred times faster (i.e., 1-2 minute boot time instead of two hours).
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LewsTherin
Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2004-09-07, 20:13

With the latest builds of PearPC and a fast P4 or Athlon64, OS X boot times are down to around 4 minutes. It is getting faster as it is optimized, but it still mostly a novelty.

Last edited by LewsTherin : 2004-09-07 at 20:15. Reason: errors
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Wickers
is not a kind of basket
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2004-09-07, 20:52

My dream Mac. . .

Would be about the size of my external hard drive (3.5", not the bulky 5.25" multi-ide encloser). . .

It would have the best power management based in hardware that is independent from the OS. . . and would not eat up more then 70w on full load.

A laptop sized hard drive, around 60 gigs, but can be bigger.

G5 running at around 700 to 1200 Mhz. . . that slows down when not being used. (to lets say 1/3 the speed).

ATi Radeon Graphics, something that can take core video.

512 megs of RAM built in, expandable via SO-DIMM slot.

Firewire or USB external Superdrive. . . slimline.

Wireless built-in. . . bluetooth too.

Optical, and Mini-jack audio out. . . with above average quality.

DVI for the video port. . . and an adapter for VGA. (if needed)

Multi colour case. . . to which you can change the colour yourself.

Silent. .. cooled by one mother of a heatsink, topside and passive.


That's about it.

no sig, how's that for being a rebel!
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Zodiac
Shiny, Musky, Fleshy Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: The Beer Store
 
2004-09-07, 21:48

A dream for me would be the current imac G5 20" display w/ everything maxed out.
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BenRoethig
Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Dubuque, IA
 
2004-09-08, 10:52

My ideal Mac: Take the new iMac chipset, stick it on a micro-atx motherboard, and put it in a HP Pavillion 750 case.
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cudaboy_71
Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: sacramento, ca
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2004-09-08, 11:05

my dream mac is the one on its way. nothing special....yet. dual 2.0 revb bone stock from CDW. more ram and another hard drive are gonna get slipped past the accountant on short order



gotta be 1/2 way here by now--



sad thing is i've got a project due thursday that i could finish in 2 hours on that machine. gonna take me the rest of today and most of thursday to finish on this b/w G3 400 :/
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Wickers
is not a kind of basket
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2004-09-08, 13:04

Quote:
Originally Posted by BenRoethig
My ideal Mac: Take the new iMac chipset, stick it on a micro-atx motherboard, and put it in a HP Pavillion 750 case.
Ok. . . you want to stip an iMac of it's goodness. . . and stick what's left of it's pride in a HP case?

Man, you really must hate macs.

no sig, how's that for being a rebel!
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Luca
ಠ_ರೃ
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Minnesota
 
2004-09-08, 14:03

I actually like the elegance of the iMac. I also think the G5's case is really nice, with excellent cooling. I just also recognize and appreciate the ATX style case. For a midrange, super-expandable computer, you can't beat it.

Why would anyone want an HP Pavilion case? They probably suck. Something by Cooler Master, Kingwin, or Lian-Li would be ideal. Those ones look very good and have great airflow (way better than the G4 tower case).
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psmith2.0
Mr. Vieira
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
 
2004-09-08, 20:48

Can I update/amend my earlier contribution?

After further thinking, I believe I'd just dig a little e-mail/surfing pad. The screen of a 12" iBook, the thickness of a 40GB iPod or so (maybe two). I waver between iTunes/iPhoto functionality (USB and FireWire ports for music and photo loading) and between just a straight, simple AirPort/Bluetooth enabled e-mail/Internet/contact/calendar thing...

Maybe for the purposes of price and whatnot, it should just be a simple, sleek "stay in touch and connected" device? No additional graphics or audio horsepower needed to power any digital hub apps...just e-mail and browser, basically.

I took my PowerBook to a local coffee shop the other night, one that offers free wireless Internet access. While cool and all - and got plenty of looks and nods over the PowerBook - I was realizing how, while sitting on the big plushy couch there - that it would feel more natural and comfortable to hold a single, non-hinged screen in my lap (like you would a notebook or folded over magazine) than a heavy, wide full-on laptop...especially since all I was doing there was surfing, reading and answering e-mail.

Do that handwriting/Inkwell thing. Goodness knows Apple has a line on this whole thing, considering they were the Newton people and all.

So yeah, an iContact. That's what I'd like to have. That's what would make the most impact on me. I'd have that for my traveling, weekends away, coffee shops and the park, and the high-end, tricked-out to the hilt iMac G5 for a "real" Mac, and call it a day.



Times like these, I wish Apple had a Fender-inspired custom shop.

You go to them with an idea, have a meeting with one of Ive's underlings, design exactly what you wanted, pay a gob of money and a month or so later, you get your one-off dream product from Apple shipped to you, ready to use.

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BenRoethig
Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Dubuque, IA
 
2004-09-08, 21:01

Quote:
Originally Posted by \/\/ickes
Ok. . . you want to stip an iMac of it's goodness. . . and stick what's left of it's pride in a HP case?

Man, you really must hate macs.
So that's why I've bought four of them over the last years. Hate Macs? I had a latop with a 68020 in it. Word of the day: practical. A desktop with a rather slow notebook optical drive, no PCI slots, and a low end non-upgradable video card does not fall into that category. Which is a major reason why Apple has so little of the market. The iMac is a great family computer and would probably buy one as a second computer if I had kids, but I need something a little above and beyond that in that price range. I would rather pay more for external devices.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Luca
I actually like the elegance of the iMac. I also think the G5's case is really nice, with excellent cooling. I just also recognize and appreciate the ATX style case. For a midrange, super-expandable computer, you can't beat it.

Why would anyone want an HP Pavilion case? They probably suck. Something by Cooler Master, Kingwin, or Lian-Li would be ideal. Those ones look very good and have great airflow (way better than the G4 tower case).
The people who would go for the Lian-Li type cases are would probably go for a G5. Why HP? 1. If a place sells computers, chances are they're an HP dealer. 2. Compared to the other mainstream companies (Dell, Gateway, and HP's own Compaq), they don't look half bad.
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Luca
ಠ_ರೃ
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Minnesota
 
2004-09-08, 23:06

I dunno, the HP Pavilion isn't as bad as SOME off-the-shelf PCs, but it's certainly not very pretty:



Then you have the Lian-Li "Pretend G5":



This Cooler Master looks very good. Fit to carry a Mac, for sure:



My point is that this is your DREAM Mac, not your "it'll do" Mac. A friend of mine actually put his Quicksilver into a new case. But you can't cheap out when doing that - you have to get a very good case worthy of a Mac. With a PC, you can throw it into any old case. Get some off brand like "Powmax" or something, it really doesn't matter.
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DMBand0026
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Chicago
 
2004-09-09, 03:02

Those things all suck!

Give me

or give me death!
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scratt
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Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: M-F: Thailand Weekends : F1 2010 - Various Tracks!
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2004-09-09, 06:51

I just want a little app called "iMouseAirPortSend".

I want it so much I might even write it.... Where is my XCode DVD?!?!?

I work on a G417" PB and a Dual G5.
I use them pretty much simulatenously.
The big beast rendering and stuff while I prep on the 17" and also do most of my emailing etc..

Quite often I have a piece of text on the screen or a graphic that I need on the other machine right in that particualr app where my poiner is right now...

Wouldn't it be cool if you could just CMD-click something and 'iMouseAirPortSend'® the text or graphic you had highlighted to exactly where the mouse pointer was on your other machine...

I'm emailing Steve about it right now......

'Remember, measure life by the moments that take your breath away, not by how many breaths you take'
Extreme Sports Cafe | ESC's blog | scratt's blog | @thescratt

Last edited by scratt : 2004-09-09 at 06:52. Reason: emailing steve
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Koodari
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
 
2004-09-09, 08:08

A top class desktop PC case costs no more than $150 or so, while the cheapest cases are around $50. I think that extra $100 (or less) is the best place to invest in a computer, never mind the looks. You can get a really quiet powersource, dustproof chassis (only air intake is through a reusable air filter and the closed chassis is slightly overpressurized; this also helps make the machine more silent), 120mm fan(s), sturdy construction, possibly thumb screws, stuff like that. Then some case mods. I'd use some zip ties to round the power cords and make the airflow better ($1), then I'd tack some heavy automotive rubber carpet on the insides of the case to damp vibration (<$10). If I knew a cheap, no-fuss way to isolate hard drive vibration from the case, I'd do that as well.

Oh, and when you get a good case, the price is divided between multiple computers - chances are, the case will far outlast any single computer.
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psmith2.0
Mr. Vieira
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
 
2004-09-09, 09:04

What kind of horsepower would it take to run a simple, dedicated Mail/Safari/Address Book/iCal/iSync-only device?

Would an operating system be needed, or could it just be the programs themselves (no Finder to speak of). The device is either off or on, running one of the above programs. A modified, "lite" version of OS X, minus the eye-candy and deep level graphics, networking, calculating muscle? Just a basic shell to run the above stuff nicely?

If no USB and FireWire, does that simplify things greatly (clutter, power requirements, system needs, etc.). A "closed" box, with only AirPort and Bluetooth connectivity? Would help to push/spur more people to rigging up their homes via AirPort instead of running cables everywhere, right?

Could something the size of a 12" iBook screen and the depth of a 40GB iPod hold enough "guts" to properly run such a thing? One of those small Toshiba iPod hard drives or other small storage, a throttled-back G4, basic 32MB graphics(?), AirPort card, Bluetooth module, board, etc.? No Ethernet, FireWire, USB, speakers, optical drive, modem or video out ports.

Just a slim, consumer iWhite thing, with kick-ass handwriting capability? No ports, no holes. Sleek, thin, etc. Able to get online and manage contacts and Sync to/from your other Mac(s)?

I was just wondering how that kind of thing worked...I don't know what's required to "make a computer".

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kretara
Cynical Old Bastard
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: The Hot, Hazey, Humid South
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2004-09-09, 10:35

Dream Mac?
Hell, I don't want much.
How about this.
A small (but bigger than the old Cube) headless mac.
1.0-1.5 G4 or 1.6 G5
Decent AGP card (upgradeable)
room for 2GB RAM (2 or 3 rows)
room for 2 Hard Drives (IDE or SATA) would be nice
CD/RW or Superdrive (upgradeable)
Gigabit
1 FW400, 1 FW800, 1 USB1, 1 USB2

All starting for under $900 to start and going up to $1400 for the 'nicely equiped' model.
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atomicbartbeans
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Join Date: Jan 2005
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2005-07-10, 15:21

Thought this thread kicks ass, so I'm officially reviving it.

My dream Mac is a sub-notebook Mac. Kind of like those tiny Sony computers. The specs below are totally realistic.

-10" screen, 1024x768 (slightly more dense than 12" PB), no external video out to save space
-1 or 1.2 Ghz PPC G4, 256 MB RAM (expandable, of course)
-aluminum, like the PB, but with white accents
-no built-in optical drive (comes with FW combo drive), which alone would make the computer very small/thin
-iPod hard disk, for less power and thinner case
-airport, bluetooth
-screen that makes a complete seal when closed (not like the snow iBook, where a gap remains, but like the older clamshell iBook)... this would make it durable enough to throw in a bag or cargo pocket
-solar panel built into back of screen, for trickle charging (with a warning sticker against leaving your computer out in the sun)
-mono speaker to save space
-smaller power adapter, like the iPod. I know it would take a hit in amperage (meaning longer charge time), but tiny AC adapters are soo cool
-the computer would charge on 12 volts, so a car cord could be made very compact and cheap
-recessed LED light at top of screen, angled down at keyboard for night typing... controlled by aluminum impedance switch (like the volume controls on the JBL OnStage)
-sleep-swappable battery, which is accomplished by a capacitor, not a button cell array like the PB
-more durable hinge than PB/iBook
-rubber bumper strip around edges
-external monochrome 2-line LCD display on side of case and external play/pause/etc. buttons with iTunes integration, so you can listen to music via headphones with the computer closed. LCD also shows battery life, solar charge amperage (how much light it's getting), time, date, etc.

It would come with a tough nylon case (like the InCase sleeves), with the option of a $49 leather case upgrade. The case would have room for the adapter.

Call it the PowerBook Mini.

Edit: The solar panel is for absorbing ambient light to trickle-charge the battery, not for leaving your computer out in the sun to bake.

Edit 2: The case would also have a pocket for an extra battery. The battery could be made smaller because the screen is smaller (therefore less backlight power draw) and the hard disk consumes less power (cause it's smaller) and there's no optical drive to eat the battery. That would also make replacement batteries cheaper ($59 anyone?).

You ask me for a hamburger.

Last edited by atomicbartbeans : 2005-07-10 at 15:37.
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Robo
Formerly Roboman, still
awesome
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Portland, OR
 
2005-07-10, 16:37

My dream Mac? The next generation 12" Powerbook. I've been saying all along that the next 12" Powerbook will be spun off into it's own line, and now that it's looking like the next iBook (which the 12" Powerbook is based on) will sport 14" and 15" displays, I think a third notebook line for Apple is looking pretty likely. I think it'll have a 13" widescreen display (maybe they'll be an 11" version). I've been calling it the Starbook (*Book...get it?) because it's my dream notebook and "Starbook" sounds kickass. I think Apple's new "prosumer" notebook will be styled similairly to the Powerbook, except I think it should (not will, mind you, but should) come in colors - not iPod mini colors, but more "sophisticated" hues - deep red, light blue, white, black, etc.

My dream notebook line for Apple would be...
12" iBook mini - 14" and 15" iBook - 13" (and 11"?) Starbook - 15" and 17" Powerbook

Although, of course, the Starbook concept above could always be called a Powerbook...but since the Starbook might not have some of the higher-end features of the Powerbooks (*cough* illuminated keyboards *cough*...although, in my dream Starbook, they'd be included) it might be a good idea to differentiate them in name.

I think the Starbook would start at $1,499...if there was an 11" version, they'd start at $1,399.
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Franz Josef
Passing by
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: London, Europe
 
2005-07-10, 16:59

I have to be honest and say that my dream Mac for today is the 12" PowerBook I'm using now. It's everything I want in a laptop which I really wouldn't have thought possible say 24 months ago. That's not to say perfect, but certainly very good and allows me to do what I want in the way I want and, hell, it looks pretty to boot.

Rolling forward 24 mths, my dream Mac would have increased connectivity - AirMovies, the ability to pump video as well as sound wirelessly. It would have a monster processing power for video editing (equivalent to today's top end G5 PowerMacs) and would have a say 500 GB harddrive. All in a unit the size of a current 12" PB and no increase in weight.

Last edited by Franz Josef : 2005-07-10 at 17:01.
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