[Miko]

What's everyone's thought on this, but since the whole lost iPhone leak Apple can't seems to keep anything under cover anymore. This Vietnam site keeps getting it's hands on unreleased products and posting detailed vids. Granted the MacBook is not as big a deal as the next iPhone, but still this thing is not even on shelves yet and here we are.

Vietnam, China? Hum someone needs border patrol?

[Luca]

Heh, why would you want Apple to stop the leaks? It's fun seeing new products before they come out.

Or maybe you're not saying that.

[psmith2.0]

How did they get this, I wonder?

In any case, sounds like the $999 MacBook is in for a nice update soon (tomorrow?)...

I really like this new Unibody design, with the rounded, "bull-nose" edges and all. It's my favorite MacBook/iBook of all, I do believe.

[Banana]

Could it be intentional?


"Okay, I changed my mind. Go and speculate about what we've been doing at Cupertino. And here's a prototype. Love, Steve. PS No, we won't drop the lawsuit and will sue the pant off your ass."


Sounds exceedingly unlikely, though.

[bassplayinMacFiend]

Maybe it fell off a truck? That site had a complete, in the box, MB to check out. These must be on a boat for delivery soon, IMO.

[psmith2.0]

The funny thing will be hearing how Steve references all this silliness in his WWDC keynote...

Because you know he will.

[ezkcdude]

It doesn't look that much different to me.

[Miko]

Originally Posted by ezkcdude It doesn't look that much different to me.

I know you don't expect the MacBook to look different already just for a speed bump? They just went to the plastic unibody in October?

[Xaqtly]

Originally Posted by Miko What's everyone's thought on this, but since the whole lost iPhone leak Apple can't seems to keep anything under cover anymore.

The iPhone pics from Viet Nam were fake. So far there have been exactly zero leaks unless you count the lost iPhone prototype/Gizmodo saga thing as a leak... which I don't. We'll see about this Macbook, but chances are it's a fake leak too.

[Satchmo]

I don't know about others, but these full on leaks have diminished my excitement of Apple speculation.

While I love guessing what's next, it's a case of TDI...too much information. Where are the blurry shots, or packages in an elevator, partly revealed banners? etc..
The whole 'wow' factor is now gone at the product unveiling.
I still recall the mind-blowing keynotes of the iMac G4 and the one more thing Cube.
Those days are gone.

[PB PM]

Nobody makes you read the rumors, if you want the excitement back, don't read them.

[nikstar101]

OK boys and girls get your tin foil hats on cos i have a theory!

I might sound a little odd, but i think this is a corporate issue. I reckon that other companies now see Apple and a big threat, getting into every tech sector, whereas 5 years ago this didn't such a big issue. Therefore i think companies like, Nokia, Sony, Dell etc are paying people huge amounts of cash to get Apple products into the light. So they can start copying them, or pulling them apart for info as quickly as possible. Which will allow them to build a competing product quicker.

Just thinking about it, Gizmodo paid £5-8k for the prototype iPhone. I reckon Nokia would have paid a shed load more! Admittedly stealing a tech prototype is a serious crime and Nokia getting caught with Apple kit would look bad, but maybe it wouldn't look so bad if the photos were published for all to see.......

....... Well thats what the people in my head tell me and it must be true since they communicate through the fillings in my teeth!

[psmith2.0]

You can thank the Internet, Twitter, cell phone cams, spoiler-centric sites and writers, easily-concealed recording/photography tech, employees eager to talk and risk violating NDAs for a brief period of "fame" or net notoriety, etc.

We simply know - and, frankly, expect - too much anymore.

Welcome to the always-on, always-connected, big-mouthed, attention-whoring 21st century. And it isn't going to get any better, or trend back the other way, I can promise you that. Every tried to put the Colgate back into it's tube?

Exactly.

[Luca]

Originally Posted by Satchmo I don't know about others, but these full on leaks have diminished my excitement of Apple speculation. While I love guessing what's next, it's a case of TDI...too much information. Where are the blurry shots, or packages in an elevator, partly revealed banners? etc.. The whole 'wow' factor is now gone at the product unveiling. I still recall the mind-blowing keynotes of the iMac G4 and the one more thing Cube. Those days are gone.

Leaks have nothing to do with it. The magic is long gone and has been for years. You know, the Cube was leaked. Even the iMac G4 was leaked by Time Magazine the day before its official unveiling. The difference is back then, Apple really cared about Macs. They released bold designs that were easy to get excited about. Lately, Apple seems to have put the Mac on the back burner, updating them only as much as needed to keep them competitive and putting most of their focus on the iPhone. Even iPods have been stagnating.

[Miko]

Originally Posted by Xaqtly The iPhone pics from Viet Nam were fake. So far there have been exactly zero leaks unless you count the lost iPhone prototype/Gizmodo saga thing as a leak... which I don't. We'll see about this Macbook, but chances are it's a fake leak too.

This is a really good convincing fake then, given what we know from the Gizmodo episode.

[psmith2.0]

That, and I think that Macs have been distilled down to such basic, simple designs at this point. Other than some minor tweaking on the details and materials, you can't really do much with a simple flat rectangle or friil-free aluminum box. The curves, colors and "look at me" design approach by Apple that was so big a decade ago simply isn't followed today.

Apple would pretty much have to make a sweeping, product-wide change in approach and philosophy and move 180 degrees away from the design road they're currently on.

In short, it's tough to improve on perfection.

And when you've honed something down to the pure, necessary basics, about all you can do us say "this us getting a little boring...we need to add some swoops and curves back into the mix. Maybe some colors too?"

[PB PM]

Originally Posted by Luca Leaks have nothing to do with it. The magic is long gone and has been for years. You know, the Cube was leaked. Even the iMac G4 was leaked by Time Magazine the day before its official unveiling. The difference is back then, Apple really cared about Macs. They released bold designs that were easy to get excited about. Lately, Apple seems to have put the Mac on the back burner, updating them only as much as needed to keep them competitive and putting most of their focus on the iPhone. Even iPods have been stagnating.

I agree, Apple has been rather dull overall during the last few years. Even the iPhone looks like just about any other smart phone out there today. iPad, is nice, but nothing radical or new in terms of design. The current Macs look nice, but the designs are old, just with a new face.

[Miko]

Yep! I touched on this point too. If this prototype leak represents the final product, they will now have a piece of aluminum sandwiched between two plates of glass.

I don't know where else they can go from here other than a complete 180. I guess that's why we all tune into the announcements, to see if it will be like the golden days of the G4 Cube, G4 iMac and TiBook!

[psmith2.0]

The TiBook was nothing special or eye-catching. Just flat, squared-off silver with an obvious hinge design.



That's no slam at all, BTW. Just facts.

You need to replace "TiBook" with "original iBook" because that was some freaky, out-of-left-field (and fun) design.

If anything, the titanium PowerBook G4 could almost be considered a forerunner to today's "silver, straight and simple" approach, as it came out amid a sea of colorful, curvy (and plastic!) Macs. At the time, it was the Mac that "wasn't like the others".

Now, nearly a decade later, it's pretty much what the entire lineup looks like.

Weird, huh?

Of course, if my theory all pans out we're about four months away from lime, grape and tangerine Mac minis, blue towers and polka-dotted notebooks. Hot damn!

[PB PM]

In some ways I like the design (other than the poor screen hinges) of the Ti Books better than the current ones. The new keyboards are nicer, but the super thin bezel of the Ti Books screen was great.

[Miko]

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 The TiBook was nothing special or eye-catching. Just flat, squared-off silver with an obvious hinge design.

Your kidding right? The TiBook broke the 1" thin threshold, introduced the widescreen ratio and was built out of Titanium which turned out to sound sweeter that it really was, but still.

Oh and they turned the Apple logo around so it faced right-side up when the laptop was in use.

And yes you can still see it's DNA in the current line of MBP that's how awesome the design was at the time and Ive's wasn't even the lead designer of the TiBook.

[psmith2.0]

I'm talking about cosmetics and the general look, not it's technological firsts.

The fact the squared-off silver look is still the heart of the line says something. I never said it wasn't good, remember. It was just "plain" in appearance compared to the other Macs around it at the time.

[Miko]

Right, but at the time that was so different in a land of fruity flavors, they dropped this slick slab of 1" thin titanium, AKA your 180!

Anyhow, don't want to derail the thread just saying that it was part of what I consider the golden age of the Apple keynote announcements, you can include the clamshell iBooks too.

Ahh a little tribute to remind us all

[Mugge]

Originally Posted by Luca Leaks have nothing to do with it. The magic is long gone and has been for years. You know, the Cube was leaked. Even the iMac G4 was leaked by Time Magazine the day before its official unveiling. The difference is back then, Apple really cared about Macs. They released bold designs that were easy to get excited about. Lately, Apple seems to have put the Mac on the back burner, updating them only as much as needed to keep them competitive and putting most of their focus on the iPhone. Even iPods have been stagnating.

As long as the competition isn't trying very hard to close on Apple's lead. I think Apple is quite content with the current pace. For now it's just Moores Law that bumps things forward.

[PKIDelirium]

Originally Posted by Luca They released bold designs that were easy to get excited about. Lately, Apple seems to have put the Mac on the back burner, updating them only as much as needed to keep them competitive and putting most of their focus on the iPhone. Even iPods have been stagnating.

How have iPods been stagnating? Quite simply, there's no more "bold" designs for music players. They're pretty much matured in that aspect. Pretty much all you can do with them now is increase the capacity and battery life, and stuff like adding a camera.

[joveblue]

Originally Posted by PB PM Nobody makes you read the rumors, if you want the excitement back, don't read them.

Kinda hard not to if you want to keep up with general Apple news, and involve yourself in discussions here at AN. Or even just read the website of a newspaper.

[Miko]

Here's one that been around for a while, but not like this. Again the Vietnam site has leaked video of a working iPod touch with video camera! Get your house in order Apple.

[drewprops]

w00t!! There's my Dad's new toy!


...

[psmith2.0]

So there has to be an Apple employee - or partner - somewhere in the pipeline passing this stuff along to his buddies? Think he's gonna get fired when he gets discovered?

He'll probably get shot.

Yeah, this makes the third "early scoop" or "we've got an unreleased Apple product...nyah, nyah!" thing involving the same site/group of people in two or so weeks. There's a leak and some shady behavior at play. Someone is taking a huge risk for a bit of "we got one first!" bragging rights.



They're gonna get hammered before it's all over, I guarantee you. It'll be some schmo in a warehouse or manufacturing plant, smuggling things out. The third-shift janitor or something.

[Maciej]

The ninjas are already on the way.