This ain't a rumour, this is clearly opinion. 
I've used plenty of notebooks in the past (PB 150, 180, 180c, 520c, 540c, 5300ce, 190, eMate 300, iBook 300, TiBook 500, iBook 12" G3 800, AluBook 15" 1.33, iBook 12" G4 1.2 as well as a Sony VAIO PictureBook and a few other PC notebooks).
I'm a writer as well as a graphics designer and layouter, so my needs vary. For the graphics jobs, I enjoy the 15" PowerBook and find it has the best performance/screen size/mobility ratio. Neither 12" or 17" would do it for me.
As a writer, however, I don't care about processor performance as much, nor do I care about graphics performance or screen size. The eMate 300 with its 25 MHz processor and 6 or 7 inch greyscale (well, greenscale...) display would still do it for me today if exchanging files weren't such a drag.
An iBook mini should be done for my type. I have a "pro" machine (the PowerBook) that serves all my needs but the writing on the way part (too big, too heavy, battery power is sub 8 hours and the display doesn't really 'work' in bright sunlight).
I say... Create an iBook mini. It should have a slightly miniaturised keyboard (not too much, though), a mini trackpad and a widescreen display of no more than 9". Resolution should be 1024*600 or something like that. Page width is an issue here. It should have a transreflective display. They're not very colour accurate, but that doesn't really matter for a writer, does it. The bright side is that in bright sunlight, you can completely turn off the backlighting and actually get a better picture. This way, a LOT of juice can be saved. Those displays are used by a lot of PDAs nowadays.
Power consumption should be a key issue. 8 hours of battery time in average use, but give me 12 hours or more if I turn off the backlighting and only write on a text (harddrive can be completely spinned down in my opinion). I don't even care whether the thing uses Mac OS X or some form of Newton OS derivate. The important thing is that it wirelessly connects to my home Mac via Bluetooth and/or WiFi and that it automatically synchs my documents.
The thing could double as an iPod, of course. For that it'd have to still play sound in closed mode, but that's doable. It could have the external controls of an iPod shuffle on top of the display shell. It could use a 40 or 60 GB iPod drive. Ideally, it'd also have 512 MB of flash memory to which it writes the documents you're working on (harddrive can be spinned down, documents aren't lost when the power goes out...).
If it also sports Mail.app and Safari and can use an iSync compatible phone for accessing the internet via GPRS, it could very well be the perfect PDA, I think.
I'm sure many of you think that the PB or iBook 12" address "enough" needs and that the market for such a device would be "too small". Well: I could care less. This is my opinion and my wish.)
I've used plenty of notebooks in the past (PB 150, 180, 180c, 520c, 540c, 5300ce, 190, eMate 300, iBook 300, TiBook 500, iBook 12" G3 800, AluBook 15" 1.33, iBook 12" G4 1.2 as well as a Sony VAIO PictureBook and a few other PC notebooks).
I'm a writer as well as a graphics designer and layouter, so my needs vary. For the graphics jobs, I enjoy the 15" PowerBook and find it has the best performance/screen size/mobility ratio. Neither 12" or 17" would do it for me.
As a writer, however, I don't care about processor performance as much, nor do I care about graphics performance or screen size. The eMate 300 with its 25 MHz processor and 6 or 7 inch greyscale (well, greenscale...) display would still do it for me today if exchanging files weren't such a drag.
An iBook mini should be done for my type. I have a "pro" machine (the PowerBook) that serves all my needs but the writing on the way part (too big, too heavy, battery power is sub 8 hours and the display doesn't really 'work' in bright sunlight).
I say... Create an iBook mini. It should have a slightly miniaturised keyboard (not too much, though), a mini trackpad and a widescreen display of no more than 9". Resolution should be 1024*600 or something like that. Page width is an issue here. It should have a transreflective display. They're not very colour accurate, but that doesn't really matter for a writer, does it. The bright side is that in bright sunlight, you can completely turn off the backlighting and actually get a better picture. This way, a LOT of juice can be saved. Those displays are used by a lot of PDAs nowadays.
Power consumption should be a key issue. 8 hours of battery time in average use, but give me 12 hours or more if I turn off the backlighting and only write on a text (harddrive can be completely spinned down in my opinion). I don't even care whether the thing uses Mac OS X or some form of Newton OS derivate. The important thing is that it wirelessly connects to my home Mac via Bluetooth and/or WiFi and that it automatically synchs my documents.
The thing could double as an iPod, of course. For that it'd have to still play sound in closed mode, but that's doable. It could have the external controls of an iPod shuffle on top of the display shell. It could use a 40 or 60 GB iPod drive. Ideally, it'd also have 512 MB of flash memory to which it writes the documents you're working on (harddrive can be spinned down, documents aren't lost when the power goes out...).
If it also sports Mail.app and Safari and can use an iSync compatible phone for accessing the internet via GPRS, it could very well be the perfect PDA, I think.
I'm sure many of you think that the PB or iBook 12" address "enough" needs and that the market for such a device would be "too small". Well: I could care less. This is my opinion and my wish.
)
