Flatter iMacs and Smaller Laptops>
The government should send AppleInsider to Iran or perhaps North Korea - they seem to be able to get the secret scoops on Apple’s weapons of mass construction better than most other rumor sites.
Their latest, to be found here, exposes plans to upgrade the venerable FlatMac iMac design and bring laptops to a new low in size and weight. Both are good ideas. The one-piece iMac case that houses their new Intel-based computers is no more than a hack of the PowerMac container. It’s even less elegant - the power button is no longer right behind the power light and the easy to get at one-piece back was replaced by a tiny door on the bottom. So news of a more sveltish, more elegant design is welcome.
And look, just like I said, there may be a teeny flash-based laptop in our futures! Imagine the battery life of a laptop with no moving parts. If it runs Second Life, I may even get one.
AppleInsider has learned that Apple’s popular line of iMac personal computers are about to undergo a substantial facelift that will showcase striking new industrial designs aimed at leaving both competitors and onlookers smitten.People familiar with the matter say the Cupertino-based Mac maker has called upon its award-winning design chief Jonathan Ive and his team to cut the fat from the the current iMac line and outfit a pair of new Core 2 Duo-based models in a form factor that will be both slimmer and sleeker than today’s offerings…
…As part of an industry-wide shift away from desktops and towards high-powered portables, Apple’s industrial design prowess in 2006 was largely reserved for its notebook lines, which saw cutting-edge design revisions replace aging form factors at both the consumer and professional ends. In turn, those designs and compelling Intel-based underpinnings helped the firm sell nearly 3 million MacBook and MacBook Pros during the 2006 fiscal year, boosting its share of the U.S. notebook market to over 10 percent.
Apple has no plans to relent in its assault on the notebook sector in 2007 and has arranged to boost it 15-inch MacBook Pro models with more vivid L.E.D.-backlit display panels later this Spring and followup with a tiny flash-enabled ultra portable model sometime thereafter. But while 2006 was clearly the year of notebooks for the Mac maker, the electronics firm now has its sights set on high-definition digital media and plans to bring the iMac along for the ride.