Filed under: Rumors
What is The Brick?
The friendly folks over at Macenstein have a theory about The Brick -- a widely-rumored Apple product that may be debuting mid-October. So far, all we really know is the code name: "The Brick" (originally suggested by 9-to-5 Mac).
Many speculate that it refers to the form factor of the product -- whatever it may be -- but Macenstein has a different take: it's the Windows breaker. Get it? Like a real brick with a real window.
Apple may have a plan to pull significant market-share away from Microsoft using this product (or series of products). If true, it could be the missing piece of the puzzle that executives hinted about in Apple's Q3 conference call in July.
The question, of course, remains: what the heck is it already? A new, low-cost MacBook? An iTablet? Software? Let us know your predictions by leaving us a comment below.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 9)
Ben Holeton said 4:35PM on 9-22-2008
I think it's a real brick you throw at Windows computers when you're frustrated with having to deal with them
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War Machine said 9:18PM on 9-22-2008
It's the Apple banana! A special kind of banana made by Apple. They'll beat Microsoft in the produce section at the grocery store.
Tim said 3:42PM on 9-23-2008
I don’t believe the brick is going to be what most bloggers are speculating. Steve Jobs & Co. mentioned earlier this year that there was going to be some products released that will be breakthrough. So, what is breakthrough? Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO, made the comment that there was going to be some change. Ubergizmo wrote, “The new, unnamed product will continue to have “technologies and features that others can’t match,” according to the Oppenheimer.” So, there are two points a new product associated with product transition to cut back on its profit margins. Secondly, price changes. Note the correlation. I don’t think the “product transition” is another iteration of a laptop. A new product is not another style of something Apple has. The clues: Earlier this year Apple bought PA Semi for some $268 Million. The processor that was produced, at the time of acquisition, was the PPC based PWRficient processor some 2Ghz dual core 64bit running between 4 -7W, current stakeholder in the chip is the DOD. John Carmack, of ID and speaking about the iPhone technology, stated that “PowerVR SGX” was more powerful than Nintendo DS and PSP he also stated at another time that he thought programming in Objective-C was the one of if not the best platform to program. So, I believe the Next system the “Brick” will be a gaming system that includes both console and portable it will run the same games on both systems and the user will purchase the games from the online Apple store. Sure there will be a new portable line but Apple will introduce something new and I think this will be that new “transitional” product.
Kipp said 10:42PM on 9-23-2008
Interesting...
...but does it have Bluetooth?
Derek Martin said 4:41PM on 9-22-2008
VMWareFusion/Parallels built-in to the OS.
OSX runs Windows apps right out of the box.
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joe said 3:35PM on 9-24-2008
running windows programs right out of the box sounds like the "windows breaker" a brick would be. wouldn't that be nice.
Josh said 7:02PM on 9-22-2008
That would surely be the Windows breaker right there. Give OS X all the functionality of Windows without any extra work. What would be the point of buying a Windows PC anymore?
Will said 8:10PM on 9-22-2008
Except doing it that way requires a Windows license to be included with every copy of OS X. Not a very effective brick.
It could be done WINE style, but then you end up with a lot of programs not working.
gm said 9:43AM on 9-23-2008
Also, if you make it too easy and seamless to run Windows apps on OS X - people won't bother writing Mac apps, just Windows ones, and OS X will fade into obscurity. It works both ways.
Stop Changing Back! It! said 4:41PM on 9-22-2008
It is a brick, the gap between the macmini and the mac pro that we all want and could much more easily afford.
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Modano said 9:29PM on 9-22-2008
Please, please let this be the case.
SpinThis! said 6:09PM on 9-22-2008
Brick = the Cube (revisited)?
Sounds about time... full size hard drive, quad core, removable graphics. $999. Bam!
jamminman said 6:23PM on 9-22-2008
Boom!
paperless said 9:31PM on 9-22-2008
Bang!
bl8ant said 5:01AM on 9-23-2008
uhh, bing?
DerekJ said 9:19AM on 9-23-2008
I'd love to see a headless iMac that was on some level customizable.
That or a MacPro that wasn't ludicrously overpriced.
I mean, I love my Mac, don't get me wrong, but without a headless iMac, I'm tempted more and more each day to make a hackintosh.
Eric said 4:42PM on 9-22-2008
If the "brick" is a Windows-killer, a tablet doesn't make sense.
The market for a tablet isn't big enough to kill Windows...
To "kill Windows," Apple has to become everything that they aren't... they have to offer twice as many models, at incredibly low prices. They have to have lower-spec machines in order to meet the lower price.
The Mac mini is a good start, but many "average" users like to have monitors that match their computers... and Apple's cheapest monitor is the same price as their cheapest computer... which aren't cheap, together.
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PSM said 6:24PM on 9-22-2008
On the one hand, this makes sense. On the other hand, I see Apple's point that to lower their prices as much as Windows machines go for, they would be producing computers crappier than the standard they hold themselves to. With this philosophy they will never get the market share to beat Windows because some people can only afford crappy computers, and others just don't care. What Apple has is a very loyal group of users willing to pay premium prices, go out of their way to make sure that every element of their electronic life is made by Apple, and worship the CEO as a god. How many companies can say that?
Diego said 10:38PM on 9-22-2008
In addition to this, they would have to gain leverage in the enterprise world... one of the biggest strongholds of the Windows platform.
Josso said 10:51AM on 9-23-2008
@PSM:
Agreed!
One of the reasons to I'm gonna buy a Macbook Pro 15" is that it's so much higher quality than a PC at same specs.
I would hate to see Apple producing low cost computers - cause I know that they wont keep the quality that high at that price.
- Johan "Josso" Jensen