New ultra-portable MacBook rumours - your views?

Raider

Raider

Raider

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There has been a resurgence in the past few weeks of the rumours of a new ultra-portable Macbook. An announcement could be made at MacWorld in January. The rumours seem to indicate:

12" or 13" screen
Around 50% lighter and thinner than the smallest MacBook Pro
Possibly NAND flash-based memory
No optical drive

Personally I'd be tempted if it was 12" (13" seems to big for an ultra-portable), and was superlight. It would be awesome for taking abroad or on photo-trips.
If it does come to fruition though, i'd expect to pay Macbook Pro prices and possible then some.

So opinions? :)
 
It'd be awesome to see, but ONLY with an optical drive.

With technology these days, having an optical drive should add that much to the size/weight, the current MB's aren't exactly heavy either!

I'd only be tempted if it had an optical drive, without one, installing anything would be a royal pain in the arse...or they could do what others do and give you a docking station of some sort to give you all the connections you need which aren't on it which makes it the same size as every other laptop out there :p
 
It's the price that could make it very exclusive I fear.

MB does everything I need at the moment, don't know what I'll want after I leave uni, could be a good time after they've become established to get one :p
 
Very interested, as I only tend to use the optical drive when installing things which I rarely do on the move. Generally the only main time I'd need it would be to install an operating system and major software that's only available on CD.

With a battery life of over 10 hours, would be brilliant :) Although hopefully will be a 13" screen as 1280x800 seems a good resolution to size ratio.

Although will greatly depend on the price, I'd not be willing to pay more than a MacBook Pro for what would be essentially less :o It's more a MacBook Nano so should slot in between a MacBook and a MacBook Pro on price. Perhaps starting at £999.

BeatMaster :D
 
What about an optical drive in a little external usb caddy? I rarely install stuff, but when I had to I could use the caddy.

I think if it had a fair amount of flash memory (how much would something like 64Gb cost?) and 2Gb of RAM, I would pay around £1000. It would have to be quite a bit smaller / lighter than my 15" MacBook Pro though.
 
I've had a 12in laptop without any drives for the past year or so. Can't say I've ever missed them. The only time I used one was to put XP on it.
 
Some more rumoured specs based on an intel prototype:


  • 2.25lbs
  • 0.7 inches thick
  • 14 hours battery life
  • WiMax, Cellular, Wifi support

I would definitely consider one, but based on a large number a variables. My current MacBook for a start does everything I want it to.

No optical drive might put me off. I'd much rather have one than do without. I watch DVDs on my laptop and I really think I'd miss it. Secondly would be expense. If it comes with the "Pro" tag, which it probably will, it pretty much rules me out.

Light, thin, massive battery life... all great but I'm not sure I could make the sacrifices. If they are going to distinguish it from the other two laptops then they are going to go the whole hog in my opinion: no optical drive, solid state storage, etc. Otherwise it'll just be a thin MacBook.

I'm sure some people would love an ultra portable, but it won't suit everyones needs. I think the kind of people who would consider an ultra portable won't be buying it to use as their main machine; instead using it to supplement their setup.

Of course, I will look at them if and when they come out, but it would have to be something special to make me replace my MacBook.
 
My MacBook does what I want, apart from games (thats what 360s are for) and it's not that "un-portable"... so the ultra-portable will be next to useless unless it's got all sorts of fancy stuff :p

Even then, it'll be a supplement to my MacBook, perhaps when I save up and switch to an iMac... then a ultra-portable will be handy.
 
USB DVD-ROM drives are quite cheap these days so I don't think the lack of one in the system would put me off as are external enclosures if hard disk space is lacking for whatever reason. If the price is rumoured to be $1500 then it'll probably be a bit too expensive for my liking once they do the conversions for the UK.

I'm still waiting for an Apple ultra-light notebook to come out before deciding what to buy as I want a notebook for light office work. Hopefully the rumours are true as we've been waiting ages since I first heard it mentioned. :)
 
i am hoping for a macbook pro redesign :) its a bit clunky as is.. and hopefully the will bring the style down to this new tiny notebook
 
It's weird how 13.3" and ultra-portable are being mentioned together. An ultra-portable is smaller than that.
 
Well optical isn't a problem looking at it:
a) iTunes is Apple's preferred way of delivering music.. including films..
b) USB sticks are large enough to take over from CD/DVD.
 
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