* Posts by Hamranhansenhansen

1 publicly visible post • joined 30 Mar 2009

Russian mag teases with netbook MacBook specs

Hamranhansenhansen

Definitely fake! Apple Netbook will be an iPod, not Mac

This is definitely a fake. The Mac keyboard is exactly the same on all models (within your localization) and it is almost as wide as a 13-inch display. If Apple is going to release a Mac with a 25% smaller display than any other, they are going to need to do major surgery on the Mac keyboard to make it 25% smaller also. They would have to do that again for every international market. That's a lot of work just to make 1 freakish Mac model with its own unique hard-to-use keyboard. Consider that if you go into an Apple Store today you will see exactly 1 keyboard layout on all of the Macs there, so it is really something to talk about a new Mac model with its own keyboard. And you can't even touch type on it. Also, would there really be enough space between the keys to do them in the Unibody way, setting them into a CNC'd part?

The more-believable Apple Netbook rumor is the 10-inch iPod at a Netbook price point. Instead of a lesser Mac you get a bigger iPod. Consider the advantages:

- for browser-based computing you can turn the iPod vertical and fill up the screen with a typical Web page or application

- iPhone OS already knows 3G and ultra-low battery life and complete portability

- running Kindle.app it's better than a hardware Kindle, and presents an opportunity for Apple to add books to the iTunes Store (they already own the iBook name)

- big onscreen keyboard will be better than many Netbooks, and Bluetooth or dock-accessory hardware keyboards will be available as an add-on for people like writers who really need to touch-type (see the iPhone OS 3.0 announcement)

- only has to be one model because the internationalization happens entirely in software, reducing the price considerably

Consider also that Apple has been shipping iPhone OS devices for almost 2 years and so far has used only 320x480 displays on devices you can fit in one hand. It certainly could be time for a larger iPod, whether or not anyone ever said the word "Netbook" or not. An iPod with the full HD resolution would make perfect sense at some point in the future.

I use a MacBook Air and an iPhone, carry them with me everywhere when I'm working, and it seems to me that the thing that is in-between them is not another Mac, it's an iPhone with a big screen. The iPhone is already a shrunken-down version of the Mac, it's easier to expand it up then shrink down the Mac again in another way.