Forums | MacLife

NAG wrote:

Czachorski wrote:

Pariah wrote:

Man, I am still having a hard time swallowing the Mac-YouTube tie in. Maybe it's just me but I have always thought of YouTube as being a part of the internet ghetto like MySpace, AOL, Yahoo 360 and such.
A shame Apple can't or won't make dot Mac work well for posting content.

There is the .mac web gallery that is integrated with iLife now.  Here's mine.  It works amazingly well.

Yeah, I use my gallery now too. It is the first new dotmac feature in a long time that is actually useful (they need to give us more space though...always more space).

I'm not so sure about removing optical though. A lot of software hasn't made it to the downloadable content side of the fence (unlike during the killing of the floppy where software wasn't published on floppies anymore).

You know they upped it to 10 GB, right?

Pariah wrote:

:snip:
I think the whole drive issue rests on whether or not one should consider a sub-notebook as a primary computer or not. I would look at something like that as a companion to a proper full featured computer and I would expect that Apple would provide the software to make syncing and updating from the main machine a piece of cake. Something like you have your synced files all flagged in a utility and all you would have to do is get within wireless range for an auto-sync to occur.
Practically all software is down loadable now anyway, with the exception of high end pro stuff so I don't see the software point carrying much weight.

This is what I'm saying. If the device is not a full featured computer, then it becomes something else; like, a PDA or smart-phone. It is a device for accessing data that is stored remotely. It can change and save and display that data. I can think of situations where such a thing would be really useful.
But in every one of those, I keep coming back to the idea that something pocket sized would do the same job, and be a lot more convenient. Thus: big iPod/iPhone

DukeofNuke wrote:

Pariah wrote:

:snip:
I think the whole drive issue rests on whether or not one should consider a sub-notebook as a primary computer or not. I would look at something like that as a companion to a proper full featured computer and I would expect that Apple would provide the software to make syncing and updating from the main machine a piece of cake. Something like you have your synced files all flagged in a utility and all you would have to do is get within wireless range for an auto-sync to occur.
Practically all software is down loadable now anyway, with the exception of high end pro stuff so I don't see the software point carrying much weight.

This is what I'm saying. If the device is not a full featured computer, then it becomes something else; like, a PDA or smart-phone. It is a device for accessing data that is stored remotely. It can change and save and display that data. I can think of situations where such a thing would be really useful.
But in every one of those, I keep coming back to the idea that something pocket sized would do the same job, and be a lot more convenient. Thus: big iPod/iPhone

I dunno. I could see a market for a really small, light laptop for the starbucks types. Something with a proper keyboard and decent screen for surfing and email on the go.
I gotta think there is a limit to the number of people who think hitting the WWW on the tiny screen of a smartphone while typing away with your thumbs, is much fun for any length of time.

oatmeal wrote:

Many people have been saying something similar... but I just don't understand the attraction of a laptop without an optical drive.

Without a floppy?  Apple was on to something there when they released the first iMac.  It was an old technology even then, and CDs and CDRs had largely begun to replace them.

But EVERYTHING comes on CD or DVD these days.  If they really want to release a crippled portable computer, why not release one without a monitor?

And usb flash drives have begun to replace optical media.

It has completely replaced it in academia and science in general from what I can tell. Everything is all network or usb memory sticks.

^^Agreed.  The potential is there and they have completely replaced optics on the student/professional level (as far as moving documents/files around goes), but they just aren't quite there yet.

Removing optical media from an ultra portable is one thing. Removing it from supposedly pro hardware is quite another. CDs and to a lesser extent DVDs are the perfect transport for client files for service bureaus and printshops. Email is certainly growing as a means of exchange and some shops have dedicated FTP for that purpose but the CD remains the media of choice for most clients. People are comfortable with them and they are dirt cheap.
Damn few clients would want to drop off a $50 thumb drive at a shop.
That brings back unpleasant memories of the few years when zip drives were in use and the problem making sure to get the disks back to the client because they were relatively costly.
Then of course there is the reality of people wanting to be able to rip music CDs and movie DVDs to their drives. It's going to be quite awhile before optical media is ready to join floppies on the technology scrap heap.

ScifiterX wrote:

I even seriously doubt it will completely be removed on the ultraportable end. Moved to a separate device, maybe but not removed completely.

I could see a driveless ultra-portible in my future.
I have no particular use for a fully featured laptop but I would like to have something small and light as a companion to my camera for file storage and previewing on the go.
In such a device I would just want a decent sized screen like most ultra portables have, anything over 40 gig of storage, a USB port and wireless for getting the images onto my desktop.
That would be great for photography on location.

Czachorski wrote:

NAG wrote:

Czachorski wrote:

There is the .mac web gallery that is integrated with iLife now.  Here's mine.  It works amazingly well.

Yeah, I use my gallery now too. It is the first new dotmac feature in a long time that is actually useful (they need to give us more space though...always more space).

I'm not so sure about removing optical though. A lot of software hasn't made it to the downloadable content side of the fence (unlike during the killing of the floppy where software wasn't published on floppies anymore).

You know they upped it to 10 GB, right?

You know that I make jokes, right?

robco wrote:

If Apple decides to use solid-state storage in the new device, it will be very expensive. But also very thin and very light.

I agree. If it includes 32GB of flash storage and the dedicated graphics some speculated about then I figure it will go for approx. $200-250 less than the MBP, certainly several hundred more than the MB. So $1900-2000 in Canada. With integrated graphics the price might be $100-200 lower.

But it will be cool and thin and light and so forth.

And with no spinny drives battery life may be useful.

Last edited by test (2008-01-06 3:47 pm)

What is the read/write cycle life of flash memory? I seem to recall there was one that was pretty far from infinite. Like in the thousands of cycles.
Is that right?

In what context do you define "normal usage"?

It seems so.

(64 GB * 2 000 000) / (80 (MB per second)) = 51.918872 years

As long as writing is evenly distributed, sounds like a party.