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January 2008
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Future Apple Hardware? Four Outrageous Prototypes Revealed!
Posted 12/02/2008 at 6:01:00am | by
Words by Jon Phillips and Illustrations by Adam Benton
Click image to embiggen
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Eighteen months. It’s been 18 long months since Apple last released a game-changing piece of hardware, a product that reinvented a category and captured our imaginations, provoking eyes agoogly and jaws agape. That product was, of course, the original iPhone, a smart phone that could have been aptly named iPhone SG--iPhone Sui Generis--for it truly belonged in a class by itself.
But can any product release since the iPhone be considered an indisputable game-changer? The MacBook Air--slim of profile, portly of charm--came close. However, once you come down from the high of marveling at its aesthetics, the Air is still a rather prosaic notebook from a functionality standpoint. A changer of games it is not.
And so we’re left to wonder what comes next. It’s been 18 months, and an Applequake is due. Just three months ago, we were anticipating a new form of MacBook, something of the nano or touch persuasion, remarkable for its small size or novel user interface. But that MacBook never emerged, and its rumored code name, the “brick,” turned out to be a reference to a new manufacturing process, not a game-changing product, in and of itself. Well, we’re still smitten by this whole brick concept, so to satisfy our curiosities, we conjectured, spec’d, and illustrated how this notebook could take shape. And then we went further, designing three more game-changing fauxtotypes that could maybe, possibly, conceivably find a home in the Apple product universe.
Is it presumptuous to think our ideas could ever pass the muster of Apple’s design team? Most certainly, yes. We’re not privy to any official, codified design briefs (which surely must be the most fascinating design documents of the 21st century), and we’re not handcuffed by the limits of technology, economy, legality, and all the other factors that stop wild ideas at the cocktail-napkin stage. Nonetheless, it’s because we’re so entirely inspired by Apple design that we’re compelled to play along. The following four products are just fanciful “what ifs” to explore and hypothesize while we wait for the real game-changers to emerge.
Check out our first prototype, the triBook. More screen real estate than you can shake a stick at.
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Tricked
Submitted by the_saltminer on Tue, 2008-12-02 09:53
When I read the headline, I thought these were actual prototypes from Apple. Turns out MacLife just made this stuff up. Interesting concepts and pretty 3D renders. But "Future Apple Hardware? Four Outrageous Prototypes Revealed!" implies that MacLife did some investigative reporting when in fact, this is all fiction.
Submitted by JonPhillips on Tue, 2008-12-02 10:40
Maybe we overestimated our audience's familiarity with Apple and its practices? Because with all due respect, it's well established that Apple doesn't share *any* prototypes with anyone, ever, let alone "outrageous" ones. Regardless, I apologize for the confusion.
Submitted by user on Sat, 2008-12-06 15:34
You apologize for the confusion? How sincere. Considering that I also initially thought the prototypes were Apple's, I'd like an apology for being called "overestimated."Then I'll apologize for cancelling my MacLife renewal.It was fun while it lasted.
Submitted by mathue on Mon, 2008-12-15 10:57
Yeesh! Talk about the ultimate in offended indignation. Apology? You're practically bleeding drama! I guess I just can't understand why someone would go into meltdown mode over this, honestly. If this can set you off one wonders how you would manage to get through any day without going postal every hour. You need to seriously take a king sized chill pill. : )
Legos
Submitted by Roberto Baldwin on Tue, 2008-12-02 11:56
I'm seriously considering ripping apart the Mac|Life Mac mini and rebuilding it with Legos.
Does that make me a super nerd?
Submitted by bryan1884 on Tue, 2008-12-02 11:29
i did want to point out however that I think the tribook and the icom were both very creative!
Submitted by pauldacheez on Tue, 2008-12-02 13:52
The problem with the triBook is that the screen's obnoxiously wide. Not only will it annoy people nearby, but imagine some guy accidentally elbowing a screen off...
Also it looks kinda ugly and there's too much bezel between the screens.
Perfectly cromulent
Submitted by dizastor on Tue, 2008-12-02 16:06
Clicking the image embiggens us all
Submitted by djpink889 on Tue, 2008-12-02 16:43
while these products most likely won't become a reality, its nice to dream. i think it would be great to have any of these products. especially the tri-book and icom.
iCom
Submitted by Applefreak72 on Tue, 2008-12-02 17:40
That's not possible at all!!!
Submitted by saintlouisranger on Tue, 2008-12-02 19:34
Hello applefreak72,It seems that Apple can indeed make a silk purse out of a sows' ear. I have been selling the MacBook Air, light, sexy, under powered, over priced with a perception of weakness in the shell and that, "I am afraid I'm going to break it feeling." If folks will spend $2,700 for a 17" MacBook Pro - What would they pay for a triBook? The iCom is a real winner, I can see a number of those devices in every home... Well done to Jon Phillips and Adam Benton. Imaginative and fun...
Submitted by JonPhillips on Thu, 2008-12-04 12:03
Thank you!
Submitted by DanKnight58 on Mon, 2008-12-15 09:13
Low End Mac conceived of this six years ago - http://lowendmac.com/rumormill/02/1104.html
Submitted by jbach220 on Sat, 2008-12-27 08:49
As these products were presented I believed them to be real prototypes. The iCom is by far one of the most intriguing concepts I have ever come across. What makes it so convincing as a true prototype is that it is such a typical Mac design. I'm putting this product on watch. As soon as something like this is put into production - whether it be in 12 months or 12 years - there will be one on my nightstand.
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