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 7 of 9)
Kuhnaydeein said 2:25AM on 9-23-2008
If it's really gonna 'break' windows, it could just take any PC and 'Break' it free from Windows. An ANY HARDWARE version of the Mac OS. Install a copy of Leopard on a Sony VAIO Laptop, or a VooDoo gaming machine...
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Uwe said 4:44AM on 9-23-2008
I would love to have my .NET applications running on OS X, without the hassle of installing Mono (if this actually works).
So the "Brick" must be a built-in Windows/.NET emulator.
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Matt Holihan said 5:48AM on 9-23-2008
brick definition
1 a small rectangular block typically made of fired or sun-dried clay, used in building.
• bricks collectively as a building material : this mill was built of brick [as modifer ] : a large brick building.
• a small, rectangular object : a brick of ice cream.
2 Brit., informal dated a generous, helpful, and reliable person.
brick synonyms
1 bricks and mortar block, cinder block, firebrick, adobe, clinker.
2 a brick of ice cream block, cube, bar, cake
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Telly Savalas said 7:37AM on 9-23-2008
Actually, the solution is quite simple.
The entire laptop paradigm is about portability. But the advantage of a desktop is configurability. How to accomplish both?
Simple.
Break the laptop up into three components: 1) screen, 2) keyboard, 3) guts (aka "brick").
Imagine a Mac Mini, but closer in size and shape to a large iPhone, running on a battery with a small (not a tablet), but serviceable touch screen.
I've always thought the notion of keeping screen attached to keyboard in a laptop was awkward, but a necessity because of technical constraints. No longer.
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mex said 7:40AM on 9-23-2008
Could be a box, with inside the RETAIL VERSION of OSX? :) running on any x86 PC?
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Eric Bohner said 7:45AM on 9-23-2008
It is server hardware with server back-end software. It replaces exchange on the server side, it has wiki and sharepoint functionality on the back-end end runs on OSX sever. On top it includes with free new versions of pages, keynote and numbers in the all new iWork 09 (with a different name?) breaking the monopoly in the business world for exchange, outlook and office-suite.
And uniquely, it will be free with any Xserve and at the same time fully compatible with MS office-suite.
Free usage of all above software would come with MobileMe subscription, which now also includes the option of personal domain hosting (so you're not required to use @me.com but can also use for example @mydomain.com).
Finally, to overcome the issue that MS stops all development on Office for Mac (as a countermeasure), Apple would release a next version of "rosetta for windows" allowing all MS Office applications to run natively in OSX (no Parallels, bootcamp or VMWare required).
That would brick some windows.
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Peter C said 7:47AM on 9-23-2008
I'm almost a hundred percent sure the "Brick" is the redesigned MacBook destined for release in a few weeks.
There wouldn't be enough space for a Windows® breaker in the same month, and the MB is going to be hard to beat.
The expanding market segment is portables and here Apple has a clear lead in the design stakes and the mid to higher end, but I believe there is a magic price-point just a little below the current MB price that would woo the majority of those settling on a lower -priced machine.
If the bottom MB is dropped just a little in price and the design and feature-set made even more compelling, then we would have a Windows®-smasher.
If the rumours are right, the new MB will have a thin, flat but curvaceous, aluminium case, a bright screen - I'm speculating OLED (although not likely, it would be the first in a laptop/computer, which would indeed be cutting edge). I also speculate it will be in three models with Blue-Ray in the top one. With the two lower models especially, VERY competitively priced.
Also a full, multi-touch trackpad with narrow button - or no button (tap only), and a glass surface (although this may be reserved for the new MBP's).
The HD may also very likely be easily accessible, because of the rapid proliferation of SSD's about to hit the market.
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david said 8:15AM on 9-23-2008
What about a Wine-like emulator designed and built by the folks at Apple? If it were near bullet-proof (for at least the big/common office applications), such a thing could very well indeed (in combination with perhaps lower priced Apple hardware) be a "brick" to Windows.
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Adrian said 8:50AM on 9-23-2008
i think the brick wuld brake windows onli if OS X Leopard would run on regular PC ,that would change completly the OS industri ,but on the other side i belive it would only be new MacBook Pro models .
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John Stone said 8:57AM on 9-23-2008
It is obviously inspired by the Pink Floyd song
We dont need no education.
We dont need no thought control.
No dark sarcasm in the classroom.
Teacher, leave those kids alone.
Hey, teacher, leave those kids alone!
All in all its just another brick in the wall.
All in all youre just another brick in the wall.
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h8rain said 9:26AM on 9-23-2008
The school system my wife works for recently bought MacBooks for every teacher, and apparently they are dropping like flies (HDs dying, won't power on, etc, ports frying out). My wife who is not rough at all on hers, is on her third replacement. So maybe the "Brick" is a new paperweight from Apple made from dead MacBooks. I kid (I am a big Apple fan, but quality in my opinion is definitely fallen in the past couple years).
I would love for an Apple desktop (like the mac pro, but less power and cost a lot less). I want an upgradable Mac, but I can't justify a $3,000 machine for personal use.
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Le Wild Beast said 9:40AM on 9-23-2008
It's going to be a "power brick" that charges stuff via induction (think like the braun-oral b toothbrush) that will allow apple peripherals to charge when placed on a special 'mat'...
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f said 10:05AM on 9-23-2008
Without a doubt, it's the Fifth Cyclon.
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Justin said 1:01PM on 9-23-2008
That is awesome. I nearly peed myself when I read that.
Big John said 10:24AM on 9-23-2008
"Say, here I am, on the road again. there I am, up on the stage."
Another round of rumors, this one came early. The end of the year is going to be exhausting.
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Dave said 10:54AM on 9-23-2008
You read it here first (ok, so this is a total guess based on absolutely nothing except wishful thinking):
New mac mini, half the size, with a built-in ipod/iphone dock. The OS will be hot-switchable between OSX and AppleTV, sharing the same iTunes library. All for $299. No monitor, kb or mouse included, of course.
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Nerol said 10:56AM on 9-23-2008
It will be a sub $500 integrated system similar to the mac mini but bigger. It will have 3.5 HD and upgradeable CPU and RAM and a PCIE slot. It will be Apples version of the DIY Hackintosh.
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SLLhotD said 11:37AM on 9-23-2008
it is probably a tablet mac
and a new line of notebooks
also probably a new iphone/ipod touch os
i know that 2.x just recently came out with the appstore but i guarentee you that the next major iphone/ipod touch upgrade will hold some great features
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Loca said 12:52PM on 9-23-2008
Watch my words... this "brick" could be the release (or at least the announcement) of Snow Leopard. Remember, that there were articles about Snow Leopard having the focus entirely on performance? That it will be lightweight, with applications less than half the size they are now, and a much faster and more stable operating system as a result? I guess this is what the "brick" effect is about: the next version of OS X, being the most stable and fast OS ever made, literally throwing the Windows glasses into pieces.
And, maybe, what about a sneak peak at Mac OS XI? Steve Jobs said at the introduction of OS X in 2000 that it would be the operating system for the next decade. As we're approaching the end of the first decade of the 21st century, I'm very curious at what's waiting in the wings for the next decade.
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homagetogorto said 12:57PM on 9-23-2008
It's a clock radio!
Gartner called it.
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