back to article Apple rumor mill predicts 'all new Mac'

Apple is planning to release an entirely new Mac by the end of this year, according to a Japanese news 'n' rumor website. Such is the power of Apple's cult of secrecy that even the flimsiest rumor from a web source with a hit-or-miss record can excite the imaginations of fanbois worldwide. As far as your humble Reg reporter …

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  1. Eddy Ito

    "Apple is planning to release an entirely new Mac"

    Wait, let me guess, the tagline will be "We've changed everything* and beyond!" or equivalent. I'm starting to understand why their address is 1 infinite loop. Whatever, it seems to be working quite well for them.

    *The definition of everything shall not include the marketing tagline because marketing is everything else. That is to say that marketing is mostly hyperbole and therefore doesn't get included in the list of everything which was changed because it is the one thing they can't change.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    An entirely new mac?

    So, I'm assuming it'll have a keyboard. And some sort of touch interface. It'll have a CPU, a GPU and run MacOS X, or IOS or a hybrid. It'll have a hard drive.

    I suspect, therefore, if this rumour is true, it'll be an entirely new *range* of Macs, which is hardly surprising. A new form factor.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Coat

      Not entirely new

      You can guarantee it will be over priced!

      1. Geoffrey W

        @Not entirely new

        <quote>You can guarantee it will be over priced!</quote>

        And it will also be missing certain features which will annoy lots of people and cause arguments about how we don't really need feature X anyway, I can hardly remain continent waiting..

      2. sleepy

        nope . . . .

        Other manufacturers cannot match the iPad or Macbook Air prices. OEM's asked for $100 a unit subsidy from Intel to compete with the Macbook Air in Intel's Ultrabook initiative.

  3. ps2os2
    Thumb Down

    Yawn, Wake me up next year

    Who cares what Apple may or may not announce. I am not an Apple fan boy like the other hordes.

    Apple is on a downward spiral after they decided to go INTEL.

    I did not follow that nor will I follow anything new put out by Apple.

    They had a solid product and they deserted their base so now who cares anymore?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      RE: ps2os2 Yawn, Wake me up next year

      To quote

      "I did not follow that nor will I follow anything new put out by Apple"

      IMHO, you are wrong. By not only reading this article but taking the time to post that means that sorry, you do follow Apple but won't admit it you yourself.

      Next you will be tellingt us that your G4 Cube (or whatever) is running fine. Well, so is my 1991 MicroVax running fine.

      And before you ask, I do own some Apple kit.

      An original Mini (running Debian these days) and a 13in Macbook that dual boots into Lion and CentOS.

      1. Fuzzy Duck
        WTF?

        girl shmurl

        he just has an opinion about crapple - that they are twats. just because you've all fallen for the shiny iphone does not make apple untouchable.

        why can't we just stick to bashing apple like the good old days...any defence of apple should be banned on these forums or else i'll through my toast at the screen..

    2. Fuzzy Duck
      Stop

      you are correct

      worse thing they ever did was go to intel and allow windows on a mac, notice how their marketshare of pc's is flat, no matter what their figures suggest.

      i've had 5 macs and would not touch another. the price and over-hype is now ridiculous....

    3. magnetik
      Thumb Down

      @ps2os2

      > "Apple is on a downward spiral after they decided to go INTEL"

      I think the share price of AAPL would indicate quite the opposite.

      > "They had a solid product and they deserted their base so now who cares anymore?"

      You're upset because they stopped using PPC? If you hate Apple I wonder what venom you'd aim at HP for abandoning their Touchpad after being on the shelves for only a few days in Oz.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Nothing to see here folks

    vague rumour is vague

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Set-top box

    What about an Apple set top box, either running a form of OSX or iOS?

    Since they're now mainly a home electronics company rather than a computer company, surely this is an obvious target market?

    I know people can just sit on their couch using an iPad rather than starting at their 50" TV and using a keyboard, but that's a logical reason not to make a STB. And if you follow logical reasoning, there never would have been an iPhone or iPad...

    1. KroSha

      Set-top

      That'd be an Apple TV? It already runs a flavour of iOS. True, they could do with adding to the capabilities, but the form is already there.

      I guess it'll be something else.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      yep

      I think the whole set-top box thing is the follow-on from the whole "the PC is dead, Oooo clouds!" thing. People who used to buy PCs (or Macs for that matter) will have an internet enabled TV, a tablet and a smartphone and they'll use them for all their social networking, browsing, shopping, consuming content (streamed from their cloud hosted libraries or from iTunes or whatever).

      Before all the "what about my video editing and you can't play FaceShooter IV on a tablet" comments come in, some people will still have PCs in their homes (gamers, amateur video editors and armchair genome researchers, people who don't like the idea of clouds etc etc..). And businesses will still have uses for them too. So PCs are not dead (despite the shock! horror! clickbait) but they are not going to be so widespread.

      As for new Macs, they'll be nice to look at and well made with some novel and interesting ideas but will come with all sorts of restrictions and constraints to tie their "owners" to Apple. So I, for one, won't be buying.

    3. JEDIDIAH
      Linux

      Plenty of room for improvement.

      A local cloud appliance would make a lot of sense for Apple. Although it is the sort of thing that almost "makes too much sense" as it is the sort of thing that acknowledges current practical limits rather than just pretending that we all live 10 years in the future.

      A consumer Mac with PCI-E cards is long overdue. Won't hold my breath on that one though.

  6. John Savard

    My Worst Nightmare

    would be if Apple decided to replace the Macintosh with something based on iOS, subject to the restrictive policies of the App Store.

    That would be the kind of "all-new Mac" that some indications point towards.

    However, whatever I may think of some poor decisions Apple has made in the past, they're not that crazy.

    1. Dan 55 Silver badge
      Devil

      Why aren't they that crazy?

      They've said they're going cloudy and there's the creeping iOS-ation of MacOS X. Bloke in charge of MacOS X left Apple probably because he was becoming increasingly irrelevant. You could download everything you need via the App Store (iWork, iLife, Angry Birds, eventually Office) until they are hauled through the courts because of their monopoly position on sales then make some token gesture to alternative App Stores.

      HP had the chance with WebOS and blinked. People do need more than a fondleslab for stuff like work (keyboard, mouse) and heavy lifting like Photoshop. It's all wide open for Apple. Again.

      I will hate it, of course.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Surface

    My prediction: a Desktop iPad in 20", 27" and 30" form factors. You can cut a hole in your desk with the provided template for the full surface experience. And iOS will be updated for any angle viewing for multi-user, multi-touch interaction.

    You heard it here first but probably wish you didn't.

    We need a bigger pocket, captain.

    1. Oninoshiko
      Facepalm

      Microsoft can only hope

      they can even call it surface and MS can sue for the trademark violation to boot.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    It is.....

    The Apple TV set, wit built in SSD, speakers, motion tracking. You will use your IPad or IPhone as a remote/keyboard/mouse. Or could it be something that the fans have been requesting for years, but have never got? a Mac that is between the Mini and the Pro? Naaa, will never happen. Apple never gives the punter what they want, they get what Apple thinks you should have. In Soviet Apple you don't decide what you want, Soviet Apple does. Btw way I use Mac's everyday and am appalled at the direction the company is taking now.

  9. TonyHoyle

    Speculation mode enabled.

    I'm thinking something not unlike the Transformer.. ipad w/keyboard. Possibly with an apple twist, like being thin enough to fold back so the keyboard doesn't have to be detachable. Same price as the cheapest macbook.

    Followed shortly by the discontinuing of the low end macbooks.

    1. KroSha

      Keyboard?

      Combination iPad cover and flexible keyboard. Like the rollup ones? http://amzn.to/ojcLNT

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I know, I know!!!

    A rectangle with sharp corners. They'll patent that then too.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It's got to be in the cloud.

    Or in old money, hosted solutions.

    May sound odd, but Apple are the kings of form over function. Think about it, a Mac that only works within iTunes, and the App store. Everything else is banned. It's Steve's idea of heaven.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Doing an IBM / HP

      I was thinking something similar.

      Maybe they'll do an IBM / HP and get rid of the PC business altogether.

      Then they can sell a Mac in a cloud. You login with your iPad, and their webhost contains all of your functionality apps and data.

      Whats that? You want to do proper work like photo editing, video editing and making music?

      You'll do what His Poloneckiness Saint Steve tells you to do! Wicked person!

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Thumb Down

      Form over function?

      The most important function to me is that it is easy to use.

      This includes things like "works like other products I'm used to so I know there won't be an effortful learning curve", "is easy to view", and "doesn't crash all the time". I don't need it to work with everything, only with those applications that I want to use often.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Joke

        Well done, AC!

        You've just described Windows XP...

  12. Joey

    Obviously...

    ... a touch screen interface and keyboard. It has to happen.

  13. Jon Double Nice

    It will be this:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noe3kR8KqJc

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Mac Classic X ?

    Seeing the popularity of the C64X, perhaps a Mac Classic X?

    A retro-style case and keyboard / mouse, with a mini-itx board and touchscreen LCD, or as a docking station for an iPad (as some custom builders have made)?

  15. Ged T
    Gimp

    It will be a 3D capable device...

    No flashy, high-sheen screen but a full, emersive iEye (As you were, sailor! Stand down!)

    The iEye will feature direct retinal excitation; the iEye will redefine 'DirectDraw' for the 21st Century and beyond - Not just a pardigm but a visual reality more real than life itself...

    Feature selection/confirmation will be accompanied by an all new iBlink cursor/pointing/clicking tool, with the built in anti-sneeze detection feature, iSnot.

    Audio will be delivered directly through skull bone conduction and for the Premium grade device, will include automatic noise cancellation.

    Remember, you read it here first....!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Gimp

      See, I don't like Apple.

      I REALLY don't like them. I hate everything their stupid form-over-function mentality creates, leads to or infects with it's ridiculous non-engineery mentality.

      But if they created what you've just described, I'd buy one- after all, it'd take about a week before it could be hooked up to Linux (or even Windows for games!)

  16. Richard Scratcher
    Coat

    An entirely new Mac?

    I think it will be a rain-proof wearable computer.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    A games console?

    Oh hang on, that's the iPhone...

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    big mac

    and fries to go?

  19. Torben Mogensen

    Guesses

    I have long been of the opinion that Apple will move their Mac line to ARM and merge IOS and MacOS X. So my guess is that the upcoming "all new" Macs are the beginning of this.

    Physically, I expect oversized iPads with wireless keyboard units. The keyboard unit will have a iPhone-sized touch screen that is used as touchpad and for menu selections: When you tap a menu, it pops up on the touch screen to make selection easier. On some of the larger models, the main screen might not be touch sensitive, but I expect at least a 13" model where the main screen can be used on its own as a large iPad.

    I expect all models to be able to run iPad/iPhone applications but also "traditional" Mac OS applications, though you will need to buy new versions compiled for ARM. These might have to be bought through the App Store, though Apple will probably not be as strict in controlling these as they are about IOS applications. For example, many people would want to be able to compile and run their own programs. Also, a main role of the Mac line is as development platform for IOS, which requires more freedom to compile and run.

  20. Steve Evans

    A-ha!

    That's who bought up all the cheap HP Touchpads!

    Well it's not like Apple haven't ever changed their mind about architecture before and hung an entire ecosystem out to dry before is it!

  21. Charlie van Becelaere

    I for one

    am very much looking forward to the new BeOS Macs.

  22. Jazz Kilkullen
    Go

    Following Apple's traditional product introduction cycle,

    the next 2 products would be a high-end, souped-up iPad (compare to the Nano), and a "cheap", less-powered version (compare to the Shuffle) as the entry level. The current iPad would become "iPad classic".

  23. NomNomNom
    Stop

    oh great

    is anyone else getting sick of how hard it is to keep up with all the new versions coming out all the time? My first Mac was an IPod which was given to me as a gift (ie it wasn't a choice I personally made). But already people were talking about the IPhone but the thing is I liked the IPod so much that I didn't want to upgrade. Plus I thought all the IPhone hype was probably just a fad that would blow over. How wrong I was cuz suddenly everyone at work had an IPhone and was talking about IPhones and I had to just stay quiet cuz I still only had an IPod. So then I thought should I upgrade too? But no suddenly everyone is saying there is rumors of a new IPhone coming out and so I wait even longer but by then the IPad comes out and people start switching to that so now I am screwed because I would have to jump two whole generations of technology I dont understand at once. so at that point I just gave up. Glad I did because now there are these rumors of this new Mac. People with IPads must be kicking themselves. I mean seriously if theres nothing wrong with the old ones why keep bringing out new ones? It's technology gone mad.

    My IPod still works fine, thanks for asking.

  24. QuinnDexter
    Angel

    Apple - A True Religion

    Circular reasoning, it's what Christians do with the Bible to show that it's a complete work of fact. It's where a statement is or collection of statements refer to itself / themselves to show that they are true.

    "We know *this* is true in chapter and verse, because this other unrelated chapter and verse refers to it / infers to it / vaguely points in the same direction". So the belief in one section of a self-serving manuscript compiled by those with their own agenda justifies the belief in another section of that same self-serving manuscript compiled by the same tw@ts.

    And lo, it came to pass that Apple is dealt with in the same terms. One piece of nonsense is grasped and used to justify all other peices of nonsense that litter the web about the future of the true way, the righteous path that is owning a forbidden-sustenance-adorned mechanisation.

  25. QuinnDexter

    Something really shocking...

    ...like the iMac updated with a touch screen and marketed as the first ever computer to do that?

  26. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Hmm

    13" + iPad form device running Lion with proper connectivity? Who knows.

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