Apple subnotebook by Christmas?

By Stephen Withers
Thursday, 08 March 2007 12:03

Home IT

An Apple notebook that uses flash memory in place of a conventional disk drive is tipped for the second half of the year.

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.