CNBC: Apple sub-notebook for $1500, 3G iPhone in June
updated 02:15 pm EST, Thu December 6, 2007
CNB on Apple Ultraportable
Apple's widely rumored subnotebook is close enough to release that the company has priced it, CNBC show host Jim Goldman has said in a financial TV report broadcast today and observed by AppleInsider. The presenter refers to alleged sources close to Apple's manufacturing plants in southeast Asia who have seen the 12-inch notebook and appear to confirm earlier details of the computer, which include a design half as thin as today's systems and the use of slimmer, more efficient flash memory for storage. The device is scheduled for an announcement at Macworld San Francisco in January and will be priced at $1,500, matching the cost of the top-end 13-inch MacBook, according to Goldman. [updated]
An actual ship date for the product is unknown, though the CNBC program claims that production has already begun, suggesting a release at or near the event. The report also said that the screen is 12-inches, contradicting previous reports. Separate sources from Taiwan corroborate the claims, reporting that Apple has validated 13.3-inch LED-lit displays that would both conserve power for and slim down any notebook that would use it, offering the new LCD panel as an ideal candidate for a future ultraportable.
The TV report additionally suggests that remarks by Steve Jobs over the possibility of an iPhone with third-generation (3G) Internet access are pessimistic. Apple's development progress is such that the company will have a 3G iPhone available by late may or early June, Goldman claims while citing anonymous sources.
In keeping with company policy, Apple is said to have declined comment on the rumors.
sub-priced?
12/06, 03:10pm reply
shouldn't a sub-notebook be sub-priced??? like less than a macbook?
arajara
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Oct 2003
How soon you forget......
12/06, 03:22pm reply
....the iPhone introduction. Sell the first few hundred thousand to the "gotta have it now" crowd for $1,500 and then drop the price to $999 in six weeks for a second wave of news flashes.
psdenno
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: May 2003
re: sub-priced
12/06, 03:55pm reply
Actually, not at all. A lot of sub-notebooks and ultraportables cost considerably more, because they are inherently more expensive - cramming all of these components into an ultraportable thin enclosure adds to the cost. It's also similar to why a 1" thick 5.4 pound MacBook Pro costs more than a 1.5" thick 7 pound Dell Inspiron 1520.
Ultraportables have historically cost quite a bit; Sony's 11" TZ for example is in the $2000-3000 range. Sony's 12" G1 and G2 ultraportables are also in the $2500-3500 range........ components like SSD hard drives also can ramp that up.
Elektrix
Dedicated MacNNer
Joined: Sep 2001
sub $500
12/06, 04:46pm reply
Bleh, i hoped for a cheap powered down 8" tablet, not a 12" macbook pro. It has his place in the market but a small tablet is missing in the portable lineup.
Peter Bonte
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2001
How quickly we forget...
12/06, 05:22pm reply
Dimensions seem right, no?
http://www.macplus.net/magplus/IMG/gif/050510_tablet_patent.gif
My money is on the MacPad. Not a MacBook, not an iPod. Touch interface (with optional keyboard), no optical drive, solid-state memory, etc.
Mixotic
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Apr 2005
Again with the rumors?
12/06, 05:56pm reply
That's hardly a credible source. This rumor has reared its head and been summarily dismissed time and time again with new product launches. My money is on it, yet again, being only a rumor.
Still, it's good to see climbing sales in the computer hardware already in place.
danviento
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Dec 2005
Only rumors...
12/06, 06:31pm reply
The CNBC folks are anti-Apple fools. They are all over the place with these rumors. Apple may be ordering parts for updating current devices and these people are trying to fit it into one new device.
These people can talk as long as it gets Apple some good publicity. It'll be a pity for a subnotebook to cost that high. I was hoping for something in the $1000 range, but if subnotebooks traditionally cost more money than regular notebooks, then so be it.
An $800 tablet sounds nice to me. Something like a scaled up iPod touch. If they can manage a decent virtual keyboard with feedback, I'm sold. It'd make a nice portable web browser/movie viewer sort of thing. Still it wouldn't fit anywhere unless it could be sold to schools in quantity.
Constable Odo
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2007
Screens
12/06, 06:48pm reply
Those new screens will be going into Macbooks. Jobs has already alluded to that fact in his open Green memo.
Terrin
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jan 2006
SubMacBook
12/07, 11:42am reply
I'm figuring that Apple will build a machine that will include some sort of integration with the MultiTouch tech that's in the iPhone.
I'm hoping they will make it powerful enough to run iMovie so we can go all Mac here at the school I work at...
jpruden
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jan 2005
graphic card
12/07, 07:14pm reply
Would the new ultra-portable have a dedicated video card?
magicbumone
Junior Member
Joined: May 2007