illa romza

...also known as The New Form-Factor Conroe Mini-Tower/Pizza-Box!

The problem with the all-in-one form factor of the iMacIntel is that when the LCD dies - you have a good computer that you can't use. And if the computer dies - you have a good screen that you can't use.

Or, more likely, when the computer is obsolete you have a good screen that you can't use.

Apple needs something between the horribly constrained MiniMac, and the preposterously huge ProMac.

A Conroe (64-bit, single-socket, dual-core) system would fit the bill.... When will The Steve see the light?

i agree.....when will they start listening to you?

Are you looking for a Mac for you or your parents? :rolleyes:
Eh... both? :D They need a simple computer... -> Mac Mini. I would love to get a Mac too, but can't be bothered with machines that can't be upgraded (ok, you CAN upgrade a Mac Mini and iMac, but not that much). And a Mac Pro would just be way to expensive. I think there are quite a few users who think the same and would like to see a downgraded Mac Pro for switchers who can then keep some of their hardware.

The iPod will gain a wireless dock (or wireless functionality integrated) so it can communicate with the other components such as iTV and wireless speaker systems that Apple are supposedly experimenting with.

According to vendors cited by the article, 17" widescreen monitors will not necessarily be more expensive than the current 17" 4:3 models.


Do the math! A wide screen 17" display has fewer pixels than a 4:3 17" display (given the same dpi).

So I sincerely hope they aren't going to charge more for a wide display that has less pixels than a 4:3 display.

Hmm, maybe we are thinking of two different things. How is this going to maintain a protected path? How would Apple keep us from grabbing the stream as it is being sent to the GPU (to be shown on the screen)? That is the part I am thinking of, that is what HDCP/DPCP is supposed to prevent. If we are sending data down the PCIe side then how is it being protected from snooping?

I've always found this obsession the industry has with "protected path" incredibly hilarious, because NO ONE in the piracy scene actually rips media from the video driver stream in any way, shape or form.

Ripping is typically done directly from the media; the actual h.264 or MPEG video is decrypted from the disc and saved without even "playing" it the traditional way. It's always been that way since the days of DVDs; no serious pirate back then ripped from component or S-video jacks either.

Why the media industry is so incredibly obsessed with protecting a path nobody actually rips from is beyond my understanding. It's like stationing an armed guard at your back door when all the robberies have happened through the front. In fact, I've never seen consumer equipment that can "record" a DVI stream.

Not expecting a huge update here other than Sandy Bridge, Thunderbolt, and 6XXX series AMD graphics.

Will the higher end models having the chance of 6XXX cards, will the lower end models, the $1199 and the $1499 have better graphics like 5XXX with 1GB GDDR5 or do you all think that they will stay the same? I say that the refresh will happen on either May 3 or May 10. If it does not happen on either of these days, it will happen at WWDC.

i highly highly doubt they are calling it the "macbook air." that's borderline laughable.

I said the same thing about the rumours of the Powerbook becoming the "MacBook Pro"

And to make things worse, there is no "Jobs" waiting on the wings to salvage Microsoft from itself, and that will be the sole reason why they won't last long (would've Apple had, if not for Steve and NeXT?)...

As for buying clues, sure! Maybe they'll hire someone from outside. But naaah, they're too proud to change their ways, I guess...

I agree with almost everything you wrote (you're a pretty smart guy!) but offer two comments:

1 - We don't know there isn't a Jobs waiting in the wings. We also don't know there isn't a Jobs in the #2 spot at some Fortune 50 company who could be in a MS executive suite in 3 years.

2 - MS being "too proud" is exactly the kind of thing I mean when I write about not being able to predict the post-Bill future. He is certainly too proud but who knows about Bill 2.0?

You make the point about the rank-and-file being mostly very talented and I agree. If MS gets executives who stay out of the way who knows what Zune 3.0 will be like?

The great numbers shown today just prove that this is the perfect moment to bury MS once and for all in the OS war...OS X is by far the best system, and Longsight is still more than 6 months away...Microsoft is doomed.

I figured out the secret air message!

What falls out of the air? ... Apple (s)

Sorry, you're wrong. Apples fall out of a tree.

Sir Isaac Newton was sitting under the tree and the damn Apple hit his head.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41C0o2GAJGL._SS500_.jpg

Props if anyone knows who used that bag.

I was an early adopter on iPhone 1st gen. I upgraded to iPhone 3G 18 months later. Skipped 3GS, and ordered the iPhone 4 on June 15th during the big frenzy.

My iPhone 4 was delivered to my home the day before launch day.

Granted I have always had a cheap thin rubberized case around my iPhone 4 (but I have also had one on all my other iPhones as well)...but the iPhone 4 has given me BETTER service...fewer dropped calls...increased versatility...amazing battery life...better screen...faster response...than any of my other iPhones...

While long ago, I generally enjoyed Consumer Reports, I believe their stance is nothing more than a blatant attempt at sensationalism based on initial reports of iPhone issues.

Personally, over the years, I have seen Consumer Reports almost imperceptibly slide into what it is today...a largely commercialized rag which long ago lost its "pro-consumer, anti-establishment" focus.

I remember the rumors of iPod docks in the Mini before the last Mini release (February 28th). I though they were pretty ridicolous.:p

Anway's, a chance of X3000 now? That would rock!;)

You are probably nursing those MS shares you bought at $90, hoping for a better day. It is not coming anytime soon sorry to say. Buying is about momentum. Apple has it and MS does not. Vista already has a great deal of bad press and it has not even hit the street. eWeek and other journals are already writing about Vista security vulnerabilities. That is not a good sign. Vista features and functionality has been scaled back numerous times. That too is not a good sign.

Vista will sell more copies in its first two weeks than Leopard in its first year. As several hundred thousand years of humanity have demonstrated, rhyme and reason matters little.

Who would have imagined that the common view. amongst the informed computer community, was MS was trying desperately to draw close to even-up with Apple? About the time MS established Windows 2000, they were at the top of the computer world in just about every SW market there was.

....and they still are. The anti-Apple and anti-Linux advertising games are defense, not offense.

They finally had a very stable desktop, server platform, mail server, yellow pages, browser, office suite, SQL engine, and so on. But once they reached this pinnacle, two things happened (or at least two I want to talk about). One, they became way too greedy with their predatory licensing. It just went through the roof. If you have never purchased SW at the enterprise level, you do not understand how expensive this has become. SW can cost (at least) as much HW at the enterprise level.

No doubt, but I don't see businesses exactly fleeing in droves.

The second thing that happened at MS is best described in a quote "When Alexander looked at his empire, he wept for there was nothing more to conquer." Instead of continuing on the path of R&D, they tried to find "new worlds to conquer", secure in the knowledge they had indeed subdued all competitors who could challenge them. Sun had tried to mount a charge in the early-mid 90's. Fortunately for MS, Sun's CEO lacked the wherewithal to do more than file lawsuits. Linux suffers from the exact problems that have plagued the Unix community; they cannot unify because they have no leadership.

Sun's ailments are a lot more complicated than that, as are SGI's. Most of their problem is that their workstation prices make Apple's seem like bargain-bin deals.

Gah. The Linux community doesn't want to unify. In fact, not unifying is the core of their philosophy. The vast majority of Linux users (ie, non-n00bs) don't really give a crap about mass adoption of Linux. Many even view such a possibility with horror and disgust. The only priority is choice. It's why there are 415 distributions (none of which are compatible with each other), 9,843 window managers (none of which have remotely similar configuration options), and 3.43x10^15 terminal emulators (none of which actually emulate terminals any better or worse than any other one).

Waving the "king of the OS hill" prize in front of a bunch of Linux users/developers will only result in them staring at you like a dog that's been shown a card trick. With very few exceptions, only n00bs (and uncomprehending businessmen who think they can somehow profit) want mass adoption of Linux.

Has Dell or any other PC manufacturer started shipping Merom notebooks or Conroe PC's?

Google Chrome Beta and regular version allow me to use them for around a minute, and then crash. Anyone else having this problem, and how to fix?

I already submitted a bug report.
Use the dev version instead. A lot more stable than the beta one.

I'm still driving the NSX every day. Coming up on 6 years.
http://techquarium.com/gallery2z/d/37750-2/DSC_5361.jpg

As a fellow Australian imac_japan i'll support your enthusiasm, but as one who is old enough to have actually witnessed the history of Apple I think you are about to be enormously disappointed

If indeed a headless Mac does materialize, it will not be the first to have come from Apple. Apple have tried this concept many times before and all attempts have failed miserably. Maybe a dual G5 Cube for the price of an eMac might have some success, but a miserably under specified G4 (as is being claimed) is DEAD even before it hits the stores.

True the end may be near for Apple's hardware (5 or 10 years so to speak), but MacOS will be around for as long as computers continue to be manufactured. Even the most pessimistic analyst will concede that MacOS X and Apple's apps on x86 would see Microsoft as the world's second largest software developer. And who really cares about the hardware. The best PC hardware is every bit as good as Apple's hardware....it's just that the software stinks.

Let's be honest here. Do we really want Mac OS X to become MS Windows? Yes, Windows has thousands of apps not available on Mac, but most are developed by egotistical script kiddies with absolutely no idea of what they are doing, and then trying to pass it off as the greatest app ever written solely because they coded it. The best Windows apps always have been and probably always will be available on Mac. But they are long established mature apps developed by long established developers. If you can't afford them, then buy a PC and be content with using script kiddie crap.

And therein lies the unique and most appealing aspect of Apple hardware. MORONS can't afford it. As long as Apple keeps developing MacOS X and morons are forced to buy Windows PC's, I'll remain very happy with the current situation as it stands. No $499 headless Mac and no Mac in every home for me thank you. As far as I am concerned, the last thing I want to see is a user base swarming with dickheads. Windows has already reached that plateau, and sadly Linux is running not that far behind.

23" Imac is a great size. Add HD resolution then that's great.
I would love to see dual display support. But I highly doubt they will allow it. Apple wants to make sure there is a distinction between their consumer and pro line. It would be cool to have the Imac 23" with a 23" Cinema display next to it.

You can already do that. The current iMacs support dual display, just not the 30"

Assuming for a second that this is true, I do not see Apple in this space. 17" LCD monitors have been around for years and they are inexpensive now. Why would Apple enter this market when it is unlikely to get the ussual return on investment?

Best point yet.

I think if we all dig deep down the only reason we want Apple to enter this market is so that we can have what can already be had, but with an Apple logo on it. Even I'll admit it.

17" cheap consumer monitors don't need innovation. They don't need a refresh, they don't need love from Apple's design team. Give it a few year s(if not a lot less) and the 17" monitors will be the equivalent of the 15" or 13" monitors. And who wants APple to design a cool 15" LCD :\

I think (and I could be wrong) that when people today buy a 17" monitor they are going for the cheapest display they can get so they can use their computer. If they have a little extra cash, they look at larger monitors. Aside from Apple never being able to compete for the cheapest of the cheap, it's also not what they do, or ever had done afaik.

I'd rather seem Apple make a consumer level 20" and sell it for $300 :D
And knock a little off the pro models if at all possible...

~Tyler

I'd be shocked if we saw Merom based Minis before Merom based MBP and MB.. maybe a Core Duo upgrade, to hold us over? A price drop and high speed Yonah?

OR wishful thinking from someone who doesn't want his Core Duo Mini to seem old(even though its not)

Merom would be a good jump up for the Mini. I think it'd be cool if they offer it (even though I've had my Core Duo for just a couple of months :P), but I agree with you that we might simply see faster Yonah chips in the new Minis. One way or the other though, I'm happy the processor isn't soldered. When Merom drops in price, I'll grab the fastest thing I can put in my Mini. Chances are it will make it faster than whatever's the ultimate you can buy from Apple at that time. It's a fun time to be a Mini owner...

So will there be any surprises at WWDC?

They weren't very clear...

If they told you it wouldn't be a surprise now would it? :D

Great concept, I love it. But it was poorly executed. Who picked the music for this ad? It's terrible. And the voiceover is on the verge of creepy.

I miss old Apple ads. Their advertising is going downhill while their products keep getting better.

So very sad but true. F1 fan here, and rally if I can ever find time to watch it. I might not be a F1 fan for much longer though if they keep making "the ultimate racing machine" slower and slower by limiting the technology :mad: I understand the safety reasons, but its getting to be worse than the bicycle world:eek:

IMO F1 died along time ago it's so boring now. My favourite, most entertaining and close action racing is British and World Touring Cars.