Apple released a new line of notebooks at yesterday’s special media event. The new family of laptops delivers enhanced performance and extremely sleek new exterior designs, not to mention an adopted manufacturing process that allows the notebooks to be machined from one piece of aluminum.
But just as the rumor mill loves to do, information and speculation had drawn up enough veracity that rumormongers were let down when their dream-products didn’t come true. After wrapping up the notebook event, Steve Jobs and Co, sat down with the attendees and members of the media for a question and answer section.
Blu-Ray - Jobs answered this in the Q&A segment by saying “It’s great to watch the movies, but the licensing of the tech is so complex, we’re waiting till things settle down and Blu-ray takes off in the marketplace.”
$800/Netbook - A question came up in Q&A about if Apple would create a “netBook” commonly defined as a small, light, low-cost, subnotebook optimized for Internet access and word processing. Jobs called the netbook “a nascent market that’s just getting started.” I find this question curious because Apple already has a thin and light MacBook in the Air and I don’t see them adding a fourth notebook model.
Touchscreen display - The problem is that touchscreens are expensive, so it probably won’t happen for a while. When asked about touchscreens, Jobs responded “so far it hasn’t made a lot of sense to us.”
HDMI - Jobs explains that HDMI is limited in resolution. Phil Schiller responded that for typical computer use, display port is the connector of the future.
Although it’s easy to get caught up in juicy rumors and wild speculation, Apple has never been a company to rush high technology to the market. Even from a consumer standpoint, a touch-screen tablet, or netbook doesn’t feel right at this point, and Blu-ray seems like it would demolish my battery life. Maybe Apple could build into desktops as an option, but the addition of a Blu-ray drive is not a priority for Apple and its notebook line.
While people will continue to focus on what Apple left out of the event yesterday, Apple has always remained extremely focused when it comes to their notebook line. All of the models are at the top of the industry and in many ways Apple sets the bar for the rest of the market. Both externally and internally, the new notebooks are spot on. MacBlogz will be providing in depth coverage and reviews in the following days.
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