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The Road Warrior MailBag - Monday, January 29, 2007

Has Apple Hit A "Glass Ceiling" In Notebook Design?

From HC

You have made a valiant effort in refuting my allegation that we are seeing the Apple laptop becoming a commodity. We have now entered the world of Dell and Lenovo mediocrity. I do not say that with regret. The Apple user will continue to have a very satisfactory user experience. I did not say that laptop development should stop "because we have developed the laptop to the point no more progress is foreseen". I simply said it is now a commodity. Refrigerators can also have Acer racing stripes put on them. But they are still refrigerators.

I can think of few things my fairly new refrigerator can do better than the one I used in my parents home during the 2nd World War. Yes, it is probably more energy efficient and has 2 doors with wood inlays on the handles. But it does the same function equally well.

Most non-Macintosh people do not "get" it! The software is the thing that makes Apple appliances better.

All of the "room for possible improvements" items you list are nice. But in the end, we will have a laptop that does the same thing your iBook does. Probably faster, noisier and hotter.

THAT is why Jobs has moved into the field of appliances. He is a visionary. He sees things most of us fail or do not want to see. He is moving on! Don't take it personally. It is just business.

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Hi HC;

I agree that the Mac OS is the primary reason for using a Mac - at least for me, but I still find Apple notebooks exciting - a je ne sais quoi quality (elegance?) that I just don't perceive in Windows PC laptops - even the Ferrari and Lamborghini models.

Charles

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Has Apple Hit A "Glass Ceiling" In Notebook Design?

From Fritz;

Frankly, I think the Powerbook/Macbook Pro case design is boring, and has been since the TiBook. I appreciate the clean, simple design, and I think they look "nice," but there hasn't been an Apple laptop design that's made me go "wow" since the Wall Street/Pismo/etc. machines. Those were beautiful.

The current MBP case design just looks like corporate desk jewelry. Which is fine, I suppose, but it's a bit like kissing your sister, y'know?

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Hi Fritz;

Thanks for your comment.

These things are of course very subjective.

I own a Pismo and love it dearly, but I've never been that smitten with its looks. I definitely prefer the aesthetics of my 17" PowerBook, or for that matter my G3 iBook.

Still love those Ferrari and Lamborghini PC laptops, tho....

Charles

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Re: Has Apple Hit A "Glass Ceiling" In Notebook Design?

From Fritz

One last note on the Pismo case - If I'm not mistaken, that was a Porsche design.

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Hi Fritz;

If Porsche had anything to do with the Pismo's case design, it's the first I've heard of it. To the best of my recollection the WallStreet PowerBook, of which the Lombard and Pismo case designs are directly derivative, was an in-house effort at Apple, the last I think before the Jonathan Ive era.

I have heard of at least one Porsche-designed PC laptop. More info on that here:
http://www.cnet.com/4520-6022_1-105286.html

Charles

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Re: Has Apple Hit A "Glass Ceiling" In Notebook Design?

From Fritz

You may be right. I can't Google up any reference to Porsche having designed it.

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Has Apple Hit A "Glass Ceiling" In Notebook Design?

From CGD

The MacBook is smaller (10% by volume) and only about 4 oz. heavier than the 12" iBook. MacBook is sturdier, faster, easier to upgrade, has a bigger and better screen, has a better keyboard, has built in iSight and is in almost every way an improvement on the 12 inch iBook. Apple has always improved it's notebook lines and will likely continue to improve them.

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Hi CGD;

Here are the dimensions of the 12" PowerBook and the MacBook respectively:

12" PowerBook
Height: 1.18 inches (3.0 cm)
Width: 10.9 inches (27.7 cm)
Depth: 8.6 inches (21.9 cm)
Weight: 4.6 pounds (2.1 kg)

By comparison, here are the MacBook's vital statistics: Height: 1.08 inches (2.75 cm)
Width: 12.78 inches (32.5 cm)
Depth: 8.92 inches (22.7 cm)
Weight: 5.2 pounds (2.36 kg)

When I run the dimensions (h x d x w) I get 22.78" for the MacBook and 19.87 for the PowerBook 12" - or the PowerBook has only 87.3 percent the volume of the MacBook. The MacBook is nearly two inches wider than the PowerBook, slightly narrower in depth, and weighs over half a pound more (and the PowerBook isn't exactly a lightweight in the context of subcompact laptops).

The MacBook is of course faster and has the bigger screen (a mixed blessing in terms of portability characteristics), the ease of hard drive upgrades is great, and it probably is more rugged with its polycarbonate case, but I'm not so sure the keyboard is better. iSight is not a biggie for me.

However, it's not a zero-sum game. The MacBook is a really nice Apple notebook. I will probably buy one. It's just not an adequate replacement for the 12" PowerBook.

Charles

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Re: Has Apple Hit A "Glass Ceiling" In Notebook Design?

From CGD;

Agreed.

The PowerBook 12" is smaller and lighter than the MacBook. But your original article suggested the 12" iBook as superior to the "less-handy" MacBook and this was where I disagreed.

As you noted, the MacBook is the replacement for the iBook, not the 12" PowerBook. In it's role as the iBook replacement it is in almost every way an improvement. One doesn't see evidence of a "glass ceiling" in notebook design when looking at the ever-improving consumer line.

The MacBook is similarly better than the 12" PowerBook except for size and weight. But Apple has not yet replaced the 12" PowerBook unless you consider the iPhone as a possible candidate. Rest assured that there will likely be a replacement for the 12" PowerBook that will be better in every way than its predecessor.


CGD

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Hi CGD;

Not to nit-pick, but I still think the conventional SVGA display dinensions make more sense for a truly portable laptop, however, with the emergence of movie (etc.) watching on computers, I guess widescreens are inevitable.

The "glass ceiling" thesis is not mine; I was responding to recent comments from a couple of readers.

I don't doubt that the MacBook Pro mini (or whatever) will be awesome.

Charles

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Has Apple Hit A "Glass Ceiling" In Notebook Design?

From Soft_guy

The article stated that current mac laptops use flourescent tubes for the backlight. I believe this to be incorrect. It is my understanding that they are using a high pressure mercury vapor lamp.

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Hi Soft-guy

I'm positive that Apple used Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamp (CCFL) backlights at least up to the Pismo, and I have no information so far indicating that this is not the type of backlight still used in the current Macbook family, but I welcome correction if you can provide documentation.

From Soft_guy

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Re: Has Apple Hit A "Glass Ceiling" In Notebook Design?

From Soft_guy

Hi Charles,

Sorry, I don't have documentation on this; I'm just repeating something that was told to me by an optical engineer who I worked with at a company that makes data projectors. And now after you say this and I think about it, I'm not really sure whether this person knew what they were talking about in the first place.

So, I'm thinking you are probably right.

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Hi Soft_guy,

Sometimes we just get tangled up in terminology. I'm hazy at best on flourescent tube technology, but I think I recall that mercury toxicity is a potential hazard of flourescent tube disposal. If the halide used in CCFL backlights is mercury vapour, we may all be right.

Charles

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Has Apple Hit A "Glass Ceiling" In Notebook Design?

From nikster

The lack of a small ultra portable or 12" er in Apple's lineup is stunning.

I can understand that Apple isn't going to bring out a pure bragging-executive laptop - tiny but missing a CD drive and with 1 hour battery life or the option of a battery half the size of the laptop. Apple wouldn't do that.

But they have got to bring back the pro 12". It will happen the only thing that's puzzling me is what's taking them so long. Especially now that they have integrated graphics perfectly capable of running OS X.

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Hi nikster;

The rumor mills are grinding overtime on this, and the scuttlebutt suggests that we might see a 3.5 lb MacBook Pro mini or some such at WWDC in June. We shall see in the fullness of time.

I agree that Apple has to replace the 12" PowerBook with a real subcompact.

Charles


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