Apple subnotebook by Christmas?

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by Stephen Withers

Thursday, 08 March 2007

! An Apple notebook that uses flash memory in place of a conventional disk drive is tipped for the second half of the year. Related stories MacBook touch - here's hoping it's not a pipe dream Google goes to 'Android Market' in App Store challenge Why iPhone 2.0.2 fixed problems for some users Dark matter and ordinary matter separate as two massive galaxies collide Why Pod when you can Plum? Analyst firm American Technology Research (ATR) says the Mac and iPod vendor wants to introduce the new slimline model before the end of the year, but flash memory prices will be a factor in its timing. Apple needs prices to continue to fall for the new device to be affordable, but the additional demand it generates will help to hold prices up. The company can pick from off the shelf ATA and SATA flash-based drives with capacities as large as 160G to simplify product design and manufacture, but even at more modest sizes - say around 40G - conventional hard disks have a seven to eight-fold price advantage. Sony already offers a flash-based ultra-mobile PC that runs Windows Vista. The VGN-UX390N with a 32G flash drive sells for $US2499 (approx $A3200), while a similar model with a conventional 40G drive is offered for $US1999 (approx $A2600). Prevailing flash prices may also delay the migration of the iPod family to an all-flash lineup, ATR added. The firm also asserts that the current range of video-capable iPods will gain a bump in capacity before the middle of the year, ahead of the rumoured widescreen model that ATR believes is being held back until the second half of the year to avoid stealing the iPhone's thunder.{moscomment} Please enable JavaScript in your browser to post your comment! Tags See All Tags Apple  Cellphones  Gadgets  Hardware  Macintosh  Sony  Stephen Withers  Vista  Windows  iPhone  iPod  Get stories like this delivered daily - FREE - subscribe now

 

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