I had a quick read through the DisplayPort spec (at vesa.org). Apparently the spec includes some bits about wiring up the connectors a certain way so that the computer can recognize when an adapter is plugged in and what type. It can then signal the video circuitry to output a different type of signal (HDMI or DVI or VGA or whatever) out of the same pins. So, these DisplayPort->DVI or DisplayPort->VGA adapters should be fairly standard beasts, and work on any DisplayPort equipped computer, assuming the underlying graphics hardware supports HDMI or VGA or whatever it is you're trying to get out of the port.

So, there's no translation of the signal going on here (with the possible exception of that Dual Link DVI box). It's just signaling the computer to repurpose some pins on the connector.

This is all completely disregarding the physical incompatibility introduced by the "mini" DisplayPort connector (a connector which is completely absent from the spec, by the way). I don't fault Apple for wanting a smaller connector. Their connector seems much better for laptops than the bigger standard connector. That said, any hopes for interoperability depend on it either getting into the next rev of the spec, or Apple selling so much equipment that the market forces its adoption.

Nice to know I'm right every now and then.

Do you guys think we'll see a quad core chip in the MBP at some point? It's not as if the clock speed has rocketed in the last few years.

Quad core? Maybe. They're just as likely to use all those extra gates, assuming they have them, to shove an entire GPU on the same core as the CPU.

There's no reason that they couldn't put a desktop CPU in a MBP, but they currently don't, and Intel doesn't seem to have any plans to make a quad-core mobile CPU.

I would've thought it's only a matter of time before intel realise there's possibly a market out there for insanely powerful laptops. Given I have to use my work laptop as a desktop replacement I'd welcome the extra power.

DVI does the same thing. It can carry 1 or 2 digital signals and 1 analog signal. None of the pins overlap however so the adapters are all just straight through.


Unless other laptop manufacturers all adopt it, it will just stay an Apple only thing. Apple made a mini VGA connector on some of their old iMacs and iBooks which never caught on. You were stuck with using an adapter.

You won't see a desktop CPU in an Apple laptop because they're too big, too power hungry and too hot.

But you'll likely see a quad core sooner or later in a MBP, especially since they're on Intel's roadmap:

http://www.intel.com/products/processor/core2xe/mobile/index.htm

Intel® Core™2 extreme mobile processor QX9300

I read about this earlier this year, but I think they're only slated for 1Q09. Hopefully we'll see them in the 17" MBP.

If it were to happen anywhere, it would be in the netbook space, where Apple isn't the only vendor wanting to build skinny little laptops, and a VGA connector is way too big.

It amazes me that while some companies copy many superficial Apple actions, such as the format of their ads and on-the-street commentary, no one out there grasps the reason for their success.

In terms of product design and process, practically every manufacturer out there still produces a poorly built and afterthought-designed product, both in the mobile and desktop space. [EDIT] I am talking about all notebooks and all desktops here. [EDIT]

Just look at some of these notebooks that pundits are using to price compare against Apple's latest. Flimsy plastic construction and other low-end materials, no leadership in features and some seem like they were designed in a vacuum, without any concern for use. Tossing on as many little blinking lights as possible and stickers isn't going to help you move product or make any impact on the industry.

Is it any wonder Apple has 18% of the US market? That's huge for a "proprietary" ecosystem.

Another 20 Eee variants from Asus isn't going to help them make any gains. The company has totally and utterly destroyed that brand.

I hate the removal of ports as much as the next guy, but the MacBooks are still BMW-class compared to the 1980's Yugo stuff most of the rest of the industry is producing. In fact the only recent example I've seen of a decent looking notebook by anyone else was the VooDoo Envy. But recent news from that camp indicated HP is likely going to ruin the brand and ideology. (Compare to what ATI did with FireGL)

I'd agree with your argument if the Eee PC/netbooks were even close in price to the Apple machines. Most of the netbooks that you are lambasting for a lack of design and innovation are a third of the price of the cheapest Mac laptop. Some are closer to a fifth of the price of the cheapest Mac book.

Sure they don't have the finesse of a Mac, Apple make some really excellent hardware, but they are still innovating. They are just innovating in different areas, in this case the amount of functionality you can get for a very, very low price.

They also weigh half as much as the cheapest Mac book, which is another feature some people score above class leading industrial design.

Don't get me wrong, I nearly bought a Mac book recently and did buy an iPhone, so I don't dismiss Apple out of hand. But they really can't compete on price, functionality and weight with the netbooks at the moment.

Everyone I know with an Eee PC seems to be very happy with them, including their durability.

True. If I did use the connector however, I'd prefer it to be the regular one. I don't want to have to remember to lug around a little adapter or special cable.

Sorry, I was replying to multiple posts, so I think some of what I wrote should have had a little better separation.

I did mention the netbooks, but I was lambasting all portables from all manufacturers/designers other than Apple and VooDoo, at all price ranges. Some of the prices are as high or considerably higher than any MacBook or MacBook Pro.



You won't get any arguments from me there because Apple don't have any systems to compare. They don't offer an sub-notebooks at all right now. I don't like the term netbook, too ambiguous. Though I think Apple will slaughter the netbook market with the iPhone. Which is just as silly to compare to a "netbook" as one is to a proper notebook.

I can agree on netbook being a lousy term, I can't agree with the rest though.

What most people do with a notebook is edit documents, spreadsheets and presentations, send email and browse the web. The great think about these new "netbooks" is that they can do all of that pretty much as well as a full blown notebook while at the same time costing 2-3 times less and weighing 2-3 times less.

Much as I love my iPhone (which is a lot), the only two things from that list that it is ever going to be very good at is browsing the web and dealing with my email. Yes the keyboard is unfathomably good, but that doesn't mean it is ever going to be good an editing/creating anything other than the most basic documents.

Which just goes to show how silly the netbook term is, because I don't think people are buying them to surf the web with any more than they would buy a notebook just to do that sort of thing.

The iPhone is of course good at a whole load of other things as well, such as: social networking, music playing*, listening to podcasts, todo lists, traffic info, mapping, calendaring, train timetables, looking up reference data, IM, BBC iPlayer, last.fm, geocaching, geo-enabled searching, photo browsing, on-the-go-gaming, news, ebook reading - which the notebook/netbook is far interior at doing.




* ignoring for a moment the appalling design of the iPod app, iTunes and all that goes with it

I picked up a high end 15 yesterday from the Apple Store, and I've been getting used to it today.

This is my first real experience with the new style keyboard, and it's OK, but I'm not sure if it'll grow on me to be as comfortable as my Powerbook. The spacing between the keys is visually appealing but means the keys seem further apart.

The screen is very glossy. I'm not sure if it's worth it, in my house with the brightness all the way up, it's not bad. On battery with the brightness turned down? We'll see. It seems like the keys won't touch the screen anymore, which will be nice. The hinge is much weaker, which means when tilting the whole machine more than 45 degrees, the screen falls down to close. It's nice and smooth to open and adjust, so it's just something to get used to.

The build quality is really disappointing. I'm not sure if it's just mine, but the plastic piece on the back of the hinge is warped (and still wouldn't be attractive if installed properly), and one of the screws on the bottom isn't flush. This one's going back to the store as soon as I can get it there.

The trackpad is also just OK. Occasionally it doesn't pick up a finger, but it may be that I'm resting a second finger on it or something that I haven't figured out. It ignores my thumb resting on the bottom third of the trackpad just fine, if it's above that, it does its multitouch thing. The clicking seems to require more effort that I'm used to, but that may just be getting used to it and getting it broken in. I find myself right clicking by accident, but I'll get used to it.

The bottom removable piece it fiddly. Getting it open is easy, but putting it back requires careful alignment. It'd be fine for the hard drive, but for swapping out the battery it's annoying. Of course, the battery should last twice as long as my powerbook ever did, so the increased time should even out.

The new design is amazingly sturdy. There isn't any flex in it anywhere. The aluminum is incredibly smooth, and the black bezel does make the screen pop.

Matthew

Update: Apple has broken bluetooth PAN. Exhibit A. Exhibit B. Exhibit C. In every computer they've released since the macbook air.

I'm on the train now. Connected and got 10 to 15 second ping times with 30% packet loss. I plugged in my $12 compusa firesale bluetooth dongle and re-paired, and it gets 136ms ping times with 1% packet loss.

The Ol' Powerbook could handle the same phone just fine, and it seems to be widespread over multiple phone manufacturers.

I've got my Genius appointment set for Tuesday morning, I'll report back how it goes.

Matthew

To be fair, there have been a number of particularly clever Japanese laptops. For example, I'd probably prefer a Sony Vaio G2 over my MacBook Air (a pound lighter, available with 12 hour battery, and it even includes a PCMCIA slot). I bought the MBA because it ran OS X. That and I don't trust Sony support normally, much less when buying from a grey market importer.

I don't want to take away from the fact that Apple is producing truly innovative gear, but at the end of the day, others can make hardware just as good or even better, but it's going to be high-end fringe stuff for high-end consumers. What Apple truly excels at is bringing high-end stuff down to earth and making it work.

[Example: it's marvelous how well an iPhone, running Apple's Remote app, can remote control iTunes and display on my AppleTV.]

Yup, same here. Our academic discount on Lenovo can be pretty decent, and Lenovo makes some pretty well built machines. But they don't run OSX worth a damn.

I don't want to get into the "is ubuntu ready for desktop use" debate, but I know that Vista definitely isn't ready for the desktop. XP works, but it's nothing like OSX for sheer usability.

Matthew

Sorry, I completely disagree. The iPhone was first announced two years ago. The EeePC was a year old last week. The netbook market exploded around the same time the App Store was getting huge. Obviously the netbooks aren't hurting from the iPhone.

I'll agree that Asus has completely and totally screwed up their product line. There must be something like 20 different SKU's of the EeePC. They recently released a sort of "designer" model that costs almost as much as a white MacBook. That's ridiculous.

But other companies are doing it right. The Aspire One from Acer is $350 for a machine running XP with 1GB or RAM and a non-solid state 120GB hard disk. That's a really attractive price, and [IMO] an attractive machine (though I'd be happier with black instead of blue and without that red ring on the corner). That kind of product exists in a separate market from the MacBook or the iPhone, and I consider it to be quite innovative.

I think the netbook market will founder on its own. They're cute, and I can see them being useful for some people, but I really don't think there's a viable market between the top-end PDA (of which the iPhone is just one of several) and the small laptop (e.g. Sony).

The SSD netbooks excel for travel use. With digital cameras having replaced film, more and more people are discovering that they need to lug a computer along simply to unload their flash cards each day.

A tiny little computer with dual USB ports (one for the flash card reader, and another for an external hard drive) fits the bill nicely.

Plus, it also gives easy access to all of those free wifi hotspots at cafes and the like, fits in a ladies purse (or a backpack) without any noticable weight, and can even be used for reviewing/culling those photos at days end.

Huge market potential there alone.

Cheers

There perhaps isn't a detectable technical gap (I use my small Sony laptop as, essentially, a netbook) but there's certainly a price gap. Sony, like Apple or Toshiba, still charge more for the very small laptops than for the normal-size ones -- a Vaio or Air comparable in size to a netbook costs three times as much as one. The Tier Ones, it seems to me, are busily pretending that netbooks are cheap nonsense made only by second-tier manufacturers, and it's interesting that Dell has broken ranks.

If, heaven forfend, anything were to befall my beaten-up old Vaio PCG-SRX41, I'd probably get the Dell netbook. And that's despite also having an Iphone.

Peter

My comment was mainly directed at some people's notion that Apple needs to make small and cheap notebooks. They could do that, but obviously don't see a reason for it. Neither do I. The iPhone will likely outsell every Eee sku combined for every quarter from here to perpetuity. You could probably add on a few other manufacturer's systems into the Eee sum and still fall short. On top of the raw numbers, Apple's margins will be higher on the iPhone. It makes a lot more sense to sell this even more cut-down mobile platform.

An Air actually costs a six times as much as an Aspire One.

Sounds like a fair price for the Air then, because it's probably 8 times better than the Aspire One. You're getting an extra factor of 2 for "free."

I do see that smiley there, but isn't this the opposite of your other point? A Macbook Air with a 10in screen would probably cost three or four times what a netbook does, both because they're pricier to make and because of the margins Apple expects -- but, if what you're saying is near true, people would still buy them.

Peter

I'm not sure, my retention is down to a few hours now and I can't remember what my prior point was.



Nothing wrong with a light and somewhat smaller form factor, but the market for something smaller than the Air would be miniscule compared to the other lines Apple is already promoting. Except maybe the Mac Pro desktop systems, but it might also eat away some of the other notebook sales to get those numbers.

Most people want a notebook for use as a primary system, not a second or sync-and-run system. Apple is catering to the right market segments right now. Can they make improvements throughout their entire product line? Absolutely, lots of room there.

Another request you'll see from some Apple fans is for the release of a tablet Mac. Ya, the idea sounds "cool" but I think the reality would be a let-down. For the life of me I can't find any purpose for one over a more standard notebook other than for use as a (very expensive) sketchpad. They've done right by staying out of that game.

Toshiba does me proud.

This could be the ugliest notebook you've ever seen. With more plastic than a recycling depot and a paint job that makes the cars from Fast and the Furious (all of them) look understated.

Shiny shiny, only $4200. But it does have that quad-core QX9300 in it.

Wow. That's the most garish laptop I've ever seen!

Ewww. Ewww!

Toshiba are designing for the candy raver crowd now?