over "ultra portability"

my macbook pro is portable enough

how about giving us longer battery life?

does anyone really need a subnotebook. If they did, wouldn't they be rather popular by now. That must be really a niche product. Yeh, there's room to grow, but is there really a demand for such a device.

Distributing OSX on a flash drive isn't a terrible idea, but it would certainly add to the cost of buying OSX.

I don't use my Superdrive all that much on my MacBook Pro because I have another machine that I do all my burning on. I'd sure hate to see the DVD drive go away on future machines, though. I think it's a fine format.

Looking at my macbook, It would seem possible to shave about and inch in each L X W dimension and 1/3 inch thickness. That, combined with say, a 10 hour battery life would be pants. And flash drives are the way to go.

I wouldn't be too surprised to see this thing introduced at a higher price point than the current macbooks. If so, I already predict it will go the way of the cube.

Who writes these articles anyway? They are horribly written. Everytime I read them, and, I really don't know why I continue to, it is so predictable what they write. "Industry analysts"... "Apple Insider"... "Stock price"... It is always absurd to read stuff that is quickly slapped together where the writer really has no idea what he is talking about. I find 75% of everything written is illustrative of the latter. In the tech category, it is more like about 95%.

Has no one noticed the other article where it says how much those HD replacement flash drives cost?

c***, I've waited for months for the EEE PC to come out and now that it's close to release here in Germany, this Apple rumor gets stronger.

Guess I'll have to wait another 6 months, because even if this subnotebook is more expensive than the EEE (of course it'll be more expensive), I'd buy it---unless Apple chooses to give it a higher price than a regular Macbook, but that would be ridiculous.

$1100 just for an 64GB ssd drive alone? Is there seriously a big enough market for that?

it seems pretty obvious that optical media is something Apple is moving away from, much like the floppy in the 90s. And like the floppy, it will likely cause a fair amount of derision until people get used to the new paradigm. I'm sure Apple is looking years ahead, and envisions a future where movies and songs are downloaded and not bought on media.

They also seem to be establishing interdependence of hardware, with the iPod and iPhone leading the way. Perhaps this device is designed to be docked like those for system upgrades, syncing, etc.

Personally, I hope they release a small, thin tablet version without a keyboard or trackpad (using multi-touch). I would absolutely love to carry around such a device, especially if it had a pressure-sensitive stylus for sketching.

It seems that, like the floppy, optical media will soon be gone (good riddens!) and maybe Apple will be leading the way again. However too many people still use laptops to watch DVD movies. Not having an optical will automatically delete a sizeable portion of the mass market and mean Apple would be targeting 2nd computer owners in need of lighter weight / battery endurance. A sole 64GB flash HD is not going to cut it unless the price of the unit is competitive with other handhelds - and right now the price of those 64GB flash drives is more astronomical than economical...

Why is not including an optical drive light years ahead? I hate the fact that I have a machine with an optical drive, an optical I have NEVER used for software, other than to boot up with Leopard. I stopped using CDs and burning discs years ago. This is nothing new.

It is a total waste CDs are equivalent to the floppy drive. Computer makers should have cut the cord on these optical drives years back. Why in the h*** would I want to burn discs and such when USB pen drives are, for 8 GB, under $100? I don't care what an "ultra portable" device looks like or means, there is no such thing as ultra portable. Laptops are portable period. I just want computer manufacturers to have more space inside to put the stuff that we really want inside the laptop. Like, for instance, a larger battery. Imagine how large of a battery you could put in a laptop that did not have an optical drive. Or, through the AC adapter inside, if you could design one that was not too hot and heavy. Or, through more battery and processing power in. Please, lets KILL the optical drive. Everyone repeat that.

Kill a cd/dvd type drive altogether. Just like they took the floppy drive off the iMac and everyone b*tched about it until people discovered that there were better alternatives on the horizon and Apple as always was looking ahead a couple of years.

Sure, it's convienent to have the DVD burn capability right on the machine but, thumbdrive and expressbus technology can take care of that.

If you are going to have an almost full size screen you might as well have the optical drive, though I'm sure with better AppleTV's and WiFi most things will be done wireless and perhaps via .mac help.

However, if I was going to buy an ultraportable it would have to be the size of a large paperback novel and with smart keyboard. I want it in my coat pocket, not just something thinner that still needs a backpack or briefcase.

I lug my laptop around a lot and if it was a bit smaller, lighter and the battery lasted longer, fantastic. i am hoping for a tablet, i confess but if I could have an SD drive instead of a disk drive I think i would be very happy. yes I burn the odd DVD but have the iMac for that...

i think it will be a tablet !