In Apple’s Mind, It Is Not Building a Netbook

Concept image not created by Apple

If it is building anything at all, that said. I guess that it’s just fun to speculate on the rumored Apple “netbook”. Some background: leaks from components provider in Asia hint that Apple is building a 10″ laptop. Often, these rumors turn out to be true, because there’s little that Apple (or anyone) can do about them and there has been little repercussions from past leaks, at least in Asia.

The question is: what would this laptop be? One thing is certain: Apple won’t call it a “netbook” (what about Macbook Mini?) and the company will try to address key issues with today’s netbooks like full screen movie replay and “cheap” industrial design. Because it would come later this year, it is fair to suspect that it will use Intel’s new ultra-low power processor, which can induce a longer battery life, something that *everyone loves*. While we’re at it, we can even imagine having an ION chipset from NVIDIA – after all, GPU computing will be in the next Mac OS.

On top of that, some have been speculating about the touch-screen interface. That’s possible, but unless there’s a major Mac OS interface change, there’s little use for a multi-touch display. Will this be a tablet? I hope not – tablets are an interesting format for some tasks (inventory…) but they can certainly not replace a physical keyboard. Fire away in the comments.

In the end, Apple would give customers what they really want… Customers want more than a “netbook” that’s “just” capable of browsing the web. A lot of people want a small and ultra-light laptop, well designed, with a long battery life (6-8hrs) that is powerful enough to run most apps and even entertain, for a price close to $600-$800. This might sound expensive to some, but I feel like it would sell and generate good margins for Apple.

Does Apple build only computer “Rolls-Royce“? Certainly not: the Macbook is definitely more of Volkswagen than a Rolls. Just like many brands, Apple’s revenues comes from their low-end.

Hubert Nguyen
Categories: Apple, Computers, Featured, Rumors, Top Stories
Tags: Thoughts