I’m in the market for an ultra-portable laptop. I carry a 15 inch MacBook Pro. I also have a Nokia N810. A bit too small. I tried to buy an Asus Eee. But they couldn’t ship. Then I saw this:
Wow. Honestly. For me, I’m an IMAP and text guy. The OS doesn’t really matter. I’d like local copies of stuff. But the variations of SVN and git do that. Will this HP work with Ubuntu? Hmmm. Pilgrim: you may have a fellow traveler. HP, one request. Offer this below $1000. It looks spectacular.
Sorry, back to the title. Come on, Apple. Show us something we haven’t seen. AIR is good. But there are enough negatives to keep me away. 13.3” is not enough. Maybe a pane of glass with a memory card. Can you do that?
Update: prices are leaking out this will start at US$549, it is over 13” long and weighs more than 5 pounds. Hmmm…nah…
14 Comments
I can feel your pain.
Trouble with my Macbook (quality of the plastic, screen flickering, etc.) and the Macbook Air instead of a Macbook Nano (small, not thin, ethernet port, more usb ports, etc.) and the huge Macbook Pro made me realize that it is not fun to be dependent on Apple’s hardware.
I wanted a small Macbook pro, no design gadget.
That is why I purchased a Lenovo Thinkpad X61 recently and have switched to Ubuntu as primary system which works surprisingly well.
Some edges are still rough, but for experienced users it works. I love the gained freedom (of hardware choice and uncrippled software) and good package management.
David, you’re not the only one waiting for Apple to get with the program. While you’re waiting, here’s more info on the HP:
http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/26/hp-umpc-2133-specs-revealed-street-date-of-april-7th/
As you can see, price is expected to run between $549 and $849. You’ll be able to get SLED 10 preinstalled.
This is an inane blog entry for a corporate blog.
What exactly do you want Apple to do again? Lose money making an ultra-portable with lots of features and a huge screen that sells for less than $1000? Should they invent an infinite power source while they’re at it too? I’d also like all my food to be in pill form and have a sweet electro-magnetic hoverboard like in Back to the Future, thanks.
13.3” is not enough but 8.5” is? Or do you just mean 13.3” is not enough to spend $1700 on, but 8.5” is worth $1000?
@Tony: I want ultra-portable for a ultra-small price. Asus has been innovating in this space. No HP is doing the same. Apple? Is thin enough?
If you’re an “IMAP and text guy” then 13.3” is quite ample. Probably even too big – every inch above 12 reduces portability.
Just admit you’re a windows lover and you really just want a vista powered tablet pc.
@XXX: 13.3 is too much. And yes, I documented here my love for Windows for certain computing functions.
Haha: “Ubuntu Boxy Bitch.” Good luck with the laptop search, it’s fun to watch these new market segments evolve!
Ok, as someone who owns one of the Asus machines, and multiple MacBook Pro/PowerBooks, putting them even in the same category is absurd. They’re not aimed at even overlapping markets. If what you want is the Asus, buy it. It’s great… for what it is. Touch typing is a challenge, and performance doesn’t cut it for some of my uses.
Apple will never be everything to everyone. That’s why they’re successful. Trust me, if the market was even half as big as everyone self-styled geek visionary seems to think it was, Apple would be playing in it. It’s not. At least, not yet.
David, it sounds like what you want is something that is in between the MacBook Air and an iPhone, both in size and functionality. I really can’t say if there’s a big enough market there for Apple to pursue, but who knows?
I can’t imagine actually working on anything smaller than a Macbook Air. I have two of the DELL 24” that I normally work on. My laptop is 1600×1200. I’d love the Air for somehting smaller but I think I’d kill myself with a 13” 1280px screen.
I want ultra-portable for a ultra-small price.
Since when has apple ever done anything for an ultra-small price?
@Christoper: I want a computer that has a keyboard (sorry iPhone, but typing for an extended period of time on you would drive me crazy), and an OS stripped down to support a modern web browser and IMAP/SMTP. Maybe Jabber, too.
Sorry folks – I need to shut comments down as those darn spammers seem to really like this post. /raises fist