back to article Celeb spills beans on new Apple notebook

Rumours abound that hip hop star Just Blaze has told all about Apple's much talked-about sub-notebook, after he was promised one for performing at a recent Apple Christmas party. The mystery machine is allegedly to be announced at Macworld in January... Speculation about the sub-notebook itself isn't new, we reported on the …

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  1. Dirk Vandenheuvel
    Coat

    Just Blaze ?

    How can you take anything serious from somebody with that name?

  2. jai
    Jobs Halo

    what exactly is the news here?

    but, we already know that just about all of the macbook range is due for an update soon, and MacWorld 08 is the obvious time to do it - all this story confirms is that there will be a new model of laptop announced in January

    there's nothing here to say these will be the highly-rumoured sub-notebook, ultra-thin, flash based ones. it could just be a 'new' MacBook Pro with a faster processor and a darker coloured brushed aluminium casing

  3. Pete James

    Word of caution here folks.....

    It may well be true but read the release. Apparently this Mr Blaze performed for free in exchange for one of these new machines. So is it a load of rubbish or is Mr Blaze just very cheap?

  4. An ominous cow herd
    Flame

    "Just Blaze"

    Is it the battery brand Apple will be using?

    Raincoat and flippers, please, I'll be on my way now...

  5. Lucky
    Thumb Down

    Shutup Moron

    He's a legendary producer in hip hop... Get back to your bedroom and your manuals.

  6. Giles Jones Gold badge

    Eeepc

    Will be hard to be smaller than an eeepc and still be useable.

    If the price is about £500 that would seriously upset Sony and other makers of UMPCs.

  7. Peter
    Coat

    The name reminds me of that other gunslinger...

    ... Rick O'Shea

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Re:Shutup Moron

    I like the fact that he 'produces hip-hop'. It would obviously be incorrect to say he 'sings' or 'writes / performs music'.

  9. Morely Dotes
    Flame

    @ Lucky

    "He's a legendary producer in hip hop..."

    That's damning with faint praise. Might as well say "he's a legendary producer of mind-boggling amounts of shite," and it will carry the same artistic weight.

    Hiphop is to music as cow flops are to food; there's clearly a relationship, but no one with a functional brain would ever confuse the two.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    @Morley

    Time to get over the sixties, dad.

  11. eddiewrenn
    Flame

    "He's a legendary producer in hip hop..."

    LOL and an inspired name!

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Boffin

    Re: Produces hip hop

    I'm no fan of hip hop but to produce music certainly doesn't mean to sing, to write or to perform. Instead the role is similar to that of a radio producer, guiding the creation of the musical end product. It's a term used in music in general and isn't specific to hip hop.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Just Blaze

    is a legendary producer in Hip Hop. If you don't like Hip Hop good for you, we don't like your Kenny G albums either.

    I am looking forward to passing on my MacBook Pro to the Mrs and getting an ultra portable for traveling with.

  14. Steven Knox
    Jobs Horns

    I won't believe it...

    until I see the mandatory gag lawsuit from Apple.

  15. Webster Phreaky
    Jobs Horns

    How about all the BUGS that they will (always) have??

    Maybe we could find some one that will spill the beans on all the BUGS that this generation of MacGarbage Books will have? You know, like ALL the previous Apple junk iBooks, PowerBooks, MacBrokes - failing hinges, flaking - chipping titanium paint, lousy WiFi range, LCD screen cables breaking, premature LogicBoard failures, blotchy white spots and horizontal lines on LCDs, vertical lines on LCDs, noisy cooling fans, exploding batteries, burning power supplies, burning/shorting "mag-safe" connectors, more LCD failures, failing #2 RAM slots, discoloring palm-rest tops, 756k color LCDs sold as Million Color ones (oh, that's just plain LYING, huh?) and Aluminum cases with are as sturdy as a wet leaf.

    ALL these Apple Mac notebook BUGS and FLAWS and MORE. over the last decade and a half on various models, are documented on numerous Mac sites like macfixit.com and appledefects.com So how bout dat FanBoys??

  16. RK
    Thumb Down

    @webster phreakout

    ...as compared to Windows-based notebooks, which NEVER have any problems like the ones you've mentioned.

  17. Webster Phreaky
    Jobs Horns

    @RK Dumbout .... where's the beef (proof) fool.

    TYPICAL MacDroid / Apple Kool Aid Drinker, makes an accusation and gives NO PROOF (as I did provide). You guys live so far into Fantasyland that everything that you say is equally without merit or proof. Name an equal number of PC notebook flaws with refererences, sport ..... or just shut up.

  18. Mark C
    Stop

    Oh Well

    Well done chaps .... 14 posts in before it descended into Apple vs Windows bollocks ..... kindly all go away - most of us just don't care.

  19. Robert E A Harvey
    Coat

    flame wars

    >most of us just don't care.

    I always thought it a shame that the Acorn Archimedes did not take off...

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    FYI

    Production used in the context of electronic based forms of music is quite different. It usually means one person being composer, musician, engineer and 'producer' at the same time.

    When referring to hip-hop production, it generally means the producer does pretty much everything except write the lyrics and do the rapping.

  21. Lotaresco

    Acorns

    > I always thought it a shame that the Acorn Archimedes did not take off...

    They take off just fine if you throw them hard enough. Otherwise they work admirably as doorstops.

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    Acorn Archimedes

    Acorn Archimedes

    pah!

    you should have bought an amiga 1000 !

    lol....

  23. Tawakalna
    Paris Hilton

    Macs and Rap music?

    a decidedly resistible combination. Although this might mean that our overpaid and underworked graphic designers might rise from their crayons and finger-paints to say "booyakasha!" and shoot each other with AK-47s - now that'd be worth buying new Macs for!

    Wid a Mac innit den u get mo respec innit bruv cos of da cool adverts on de telly innit?

    Won't somebody please think of the Paris Hilton angle?

  24. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    @ Webster Phreakout

    You put such a pathetic amount of elbow grease into listing that litany of Apple hardware failures that you've exposed yourself as the flip-side of the fanboy coin. Take a sociology course, and a philosophy course in logic.

    Apple's hardware failure rate is no worse than any other maker of electronics. Proof? Start at consumerreports.org. I have a subscription, so you might have to find a site that references their yearly hardware reliability articles. (By the way, I'm with you on the whole use facts thing, even if your use of them is misguided. But you're in better shape than citizens that don't bother at all with facts.)

    Anyway, the bottom line is that, in the years since overseas outsourcing, Apple has been right around the 20% repair mark, just like ALL the rest, from Dell to the best, IBM-Lenovo.

    Yet, Apple's computers that are brought in for repairs are older than their PC counterparts because Mac users hold on to their computers for longer periods, most especially by splurgers who aren't wealthy. Bear in mind, also, that once any of these manufacturers' hardware fails, Apple is more responsive (though certainly not enough) than their PC counterparts. But you'll argue that, use the age old method of selectively referencing "facts" — akin to using a scripture out of context. Take a high level college Logic course and you'll understand what I'm getting at.

    I worked at World Relief Corporation in the IT department, managing many a PC and Macs in the PR, donor relations and outreach departments — a perfect vantage point. Macs more than held their own. So significantly, mind you, that I won't even give you the number because it'll just backfire. Yea, you're really NEEDing to believe I'm lying right now, anyway.

    And, now let me get this straight. You're basically saying you are superior to we MacDroids that drink Kool Aid, and live in Fantasyland . . . you're calling us out as pathetic people. You — for all intents and purposes — engaged in a profoundly arrogant, mean-spirited and hateful diatribe. My God.

    Please engage, instead, in some thoughtful introspection. Find the source of your anger. I honestly and truly hope you do.

  25. Graham Lockley

    Rattle dem bones

    Ummm

    Fifty-something here who gets a shiver down his spine when he hears MC Solaar rap 'Fuck la terre'....

    Hip Hop is a broad church (most of which leaves me cold) but some of the reactions here suggest that El Reg is infested with Led Dinosaur drek

  26. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    This always happens at Christmas.......

    .....someone eats too much that's bad for them, feels bad so drinks a lot to get over it and then has a fight.

    Just like a Saturday night in any British city centre (except they miss out the food bit!).

    Just for the record. I don't care if Mac are bringing out new computers, as long as they don't go bust that's fine by me. We need someone to fight the Wintel domination now Acorn's have disappeared.

  27. ex-Applenazi
    Jobs Horns

    Competition..

    AC: How 'bout having some competition for Intel? AMD is not an option, and this means I have already bought my last Mac...

    Besides: If I have to spend $80 on an AMD-PC that is perfectly capable of running OS X (including more than decent 3D gfx), it's kinda hard justifying shelling out $1300 just for a shiny Apple-Logo... Or $600 for crappy chipset gfx, if that actually floats your boat! ;-)

    Webster: Good listing of all of Apples serial defects... Apple's laptop quality has so seriously degraded since the last Pismos (and maybe the first white iBooks) that I always force people to get Applecare with their Apple-notebooks - and guess what: It has ALWAYS, ALWAYS paid off to get it, because _every_single_one_ broke multiple times for no reason....

  28. Joe Cincotta
    Alert

    ...my rectum is now officially clenched...

    I see several contributors are clearly past the point of clinically insane. Just know that mommy still loves you no matter what color laptop you have...

    Apple is a funny beasty - hardware and OS from one vendor. Once upon a time it was the norm - now, its unique. So when and if you compare, please try and match apples with apples, oranges with oranges et al. For starters, try comparing Windows focussed hardware manufacturers with Apple for just laptops. Then go poke around between Vista and OSX; I'm not going to even get stuck in to that...

    Guess what, its true that Apple has had many build quality issues with notebooks before Jobs turned the company around; wow I spent a lot of time as an IT manager sending those things back - but I guess Apple have largely focussed on QA like most other manufacturers over the past decade. I mean, I saw some BLOODY DREADFUL Compaq notebooks, and now HP/Compaq have much much better QA. To be honest, its got jack-all to do with being a Mac and a hell of a lot with being a hardware manufacturer.

    Now that VMWare Fusion is out and guys can be using Visual Studio or other 'Windows only' things inside OSX, the operating system is actually not that important. Its not about Mac or PC, its more about build quality, performance and security - both of hardware and software.

    This is not Mac vs Windows rant, this is a 'right tool for the job' discussion - should you run Solaris on a desktop? Ubuntu (love the new visuals!)?, Vista 64? OSX? Of course there are still issues where Macs will run OSX - but virtual machines have levelled the playing field and users are now in a position to use the right tool for the job. Mind you, I am still trying to figure out what that job is for desktop Solaris... anyways...

    I personally have liked HP tablets for a long long time - I think the TC1100 was really inspired as far as design and function goes. I am REALLY looking forward to seeing what Apple bring to the table with subnotebook form factor and multi-touch. It sounds like a complete shift in the paradigm - and for many it will be a new tool to fill a void which currently exists.

    Like I said; its about the "right tool for the job"

    All my love for the new year,

    Mr Pragmatist.

  29. Nexox Enigma

    Not so sure I like this...

    Don't get me wrong - I couldn't care much less about what sort of hardware Apple is making these days, but there is much experimenting with UMPC formfactors and whatnot these days. I don't think that any of them are particularly useful yet, but I figure that if they keep playing with the hardware and software on those things while they wait for storage, processing, and battery technologies to move along enough, they might come up with some decent hardware. Hardware that I might just be interested in owning at some point in the future.

    Now if Apple releases one, all that might change. Lots of those people out there with no idea what they're talking about will probably proclaim that Apple's device is the stuff of legends, handed down from god(s), etc. It's got a reasonably good chance of selling well just because it acts like an iPhone and has that signature Leopard background image.

    Then all the other companies will spend years trying to copy the Apple, effectively eliminating all innovation.

    Or the Apple product could flop. Or they might not even release one.

    As one skilled at talking out my ass, it seems like this would be a bad time for Apple to try a UMPC. They don't seem to be selling well, there are a fairly large number of devices already on the market, and some of the key technology just isn't where it needs to be yet. I suppose, though, that if they got the iphone to do the OS X thing they could potentially do it again for a slightly larger system.

    Seems like a nice time for them to release a small notebook though. Even those 12 inch iBooks and Powerbooks were fairly large compared to my Fujitsu P series, which is ~3.5 years old now. The current Fujitsu P series is less than 3 pounds, with internal optical drive. I'd say that Apple would sell far more of those than they would UMPCs. Then again that Fujitsu is about $2200 US when spec'd out right, and I imagine that one could buy a few regularish mac notebooks for that price...

  30. Svein Skogen
    Paris Hilton

    Since when?

    Since when did the ability to massacre music become a skill in distinguishing a good computer from a bad one?

    Flame-baiting aside, this idea that "just because someone is famous, they must be the ideal person to deem ANY products value", is something that SHOULD have lead to a Darwin-award. Seriously. The idea that "I sing songs, thus I know everything about what computer is ideal for your job" is a great one. Along with the inflatable dartboard, and the chocolate teapot.

    *sigh*

    Well, this one atleast has a Paris Hilton angle. About the same level of intelligence.

    //Svein

  31. Dan
    Jobs Halo

    @Webster Phreaky

    the proof you seek is plentiful just on this site. i'm a lazy apple fanboi so I can't be bothered finding it for you. if you really want to blame anyone, blame the western community in general for letting the majority of electronics manufacturing go to asia. it's the sweatshops (by western standards at least) that are to blame.

    just use what you like and grow up a bit. life is too short to waste energy on this age old debate.

  32. Lul Whut
    Stop

    Racist old white men up in this piece.

    Seriously, it's shocking.

    Could have been worse, could have been a slip from self proclaimed "super producer" Scott Storch. (Google him for chuckles.)

  33. Neil Young
    Paris Hilton

    My thoughts...

    > Now if Apple releases one, all that might change. Lots of those

    > people out there with no idea what they're talking about will probably

    > proclaim that Apple's device is the stuff of legends, handed down

    > from god(s), etc. It's got a reasonably good chance of selling well

    > just because it acts like an iPhone and has that signature Leopard

    > background image.

    All the usual MacFreak stuff that makes us hate them so much :) I wonder if Paris Hilton has a Mac?

    UMPCs look snazzy but are expensive and it isn't really clear what you'd actually do with one, to me anyways. Apple will do what they always do, release something that does only half of what UMPCs already released do, charge twice the price, market it like daft as the ultimate device that you simply just HAVE to kil for and even mainstream news will cover it.

    Course it would be nice if they read the market release an iTablet at slightly more than the cost of a cheap laptop that isn't that limited in function and actually earn the kudos they always seem to get for being smug, but I don't see it happening, do you?

  34. TeeCee Gold badge
    Happy

    Macbook-lite?

    Hmm, a sub-notebook with solid state storage? That's a lot of interest in taking an Eeeeeeee PC, sticking a slightly-nibbled Granny Smith on the lid and spraying it silver.

    Where's the icon with the Eeeeeeee PC bird when you need one?

    PS: If hip-hop is a broad church, what would it take to get the doors locked and for it to go on fire?

  35. Richard Cartledge
    Gates Halo

    Minority Report

    I expect to see something quite revolutionary in terms of UI. ie, keyboard and mouse and touchscreen. It's no coincidence that Apple are weening users off tactile feedback of input devices, coupled with the mighty mouse and latest keyboards, coupled with the iPhone's touchscreen implementation, you can see where it's all leading.

  36. Mark Rendle
    Jobs Horns

    iTablet

    Hopefully it'll be the rumoured UMPC that looks like an outsized iPod Touch. And hopefully it'll be possible to use Boot Camp to get Windows Tablet Edition running on it. And hopefully my missus will have some kind of breakdown and let me buy one instead of flooring the loft.

  37. ex-Applenazi
    Jobs Horns

    Joe: "Right tool for the job"

    I've heard the "right tool for the job"-logic time and time again, even from Linus Torvalds himself..

    But it's just WRONG, *especially* coming from the guy that made Linux, the broadest collection of software made by people who did NOT use this "best tool for the job" reasoning but rather preferred to make their own tools instead of just running Windows plus the respective programs and be done with it!

    Mplayer, VLC, Thunderbird, Firefox, ffmpeg and countless other successful and great FOSS-projects would NEVER have been made if everyone just always used "the right tool for the job" logic!...

    And there's another thing to keep in mind: I always say, that for everyone using Windows without even LOOKING at alternatives, there has to be someone who deliberately does NOT use Windows, even when it may be the best tool for the job - Just to keep the balance and competition! ;-)

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