Rumor Roundup: Apple-branded HDTVs, Blu-Ray, more NVIDIA
The rumor mill is heating up this weekend in advance of Tuesday's press event, and one left-field rumor is coming from a familiar, yet unlikely source: Weblogs Inc./Mahalo founder and TUAW godfather Jason Calacanis, who dropped a mild bombshell in an interview with a CNET.uk blogger on Friday (yo, JC, where's the love?): Apple is developing HDTVs that will support streamed content from iTunes, says Calacanis, integrating the Apple TV functionality along with the display and tuner.
I would file this one under "signs unclear, ask again later" -- while Apple clearly has both the display and playback engineering already done (Cleve @ 9to5Mac suggests that "[t]echnologically speaking, Apple could probably put together [this] product in a three day weekend") it's not clear that a single-box product is that much more compelling than an Apple TV with a cheap HDTV. Then again, the magic of Apple integration could make the whole a stronger sell than the sum of its parts.
Word from London, meanwhile, reported via Edible Apple: star rumormonger and Digg founder Kevin Rose announced his expectation that the next round of MacBook laptops will feature Blu-ray drives onboard. This one rates a "probable" and certainly would be a great value differentiator for the new machines.
Lastly, as the NVIDIA-related reports continue, AppleInsider and PC Perspective are stating with high confidence that the new MacBooks will be the first to move away from the Intel integrated graphics chipset and onto the Nvidia MCP79 'system on a chip' platform. Intel processors will still be at the core of the laptops, but the NVIDIA chip will handle graphics, memory access and more. Interestingly, one of the purported features of the NVIDIA hardware is full Blu-ray functionality... ties in nicely with the Rose rumor above. Call it "more than likely."
[via Techmeme]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Josh said 12:50AM on 10-12-2008
Not sure about everyone else, but I really like the idea of an Apple-branded HDTV. I'm in the market for one anyway, and would DEFINITELY give that a look if they released one.
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THJ said 9:19PM on 10-12-2008
Me too. Hopefully Tuesday will give me a compelling reason to lose the 6 year old Apex 25"
Phoenix said 1:13AM on 10-12-2008
Wait, if they put BD drives in the MacBooks, that means they would have to put a full HD screen of at least 1920x1080 in there. And what would that mean for new MacBook Pros? What would the resolution of that screen be? If they put full 1080p HD screens in the MacBooks, will the new MBP screens have an even greater resolution? It wouldn't make sense to me for them to make them the same. Hardly anybody would want to buy the MBP.
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redhorse_jdom said 1:25AM on 10-12-2008
Forgetting that Blu-Ray also serves as a data storage. So many more gigabytes than a DVD or CD. Screen estate isn't the only reason people go for the MBP - it's also got the dedicated graphics and usually better processor.
Kyle Derouen said 1:26AM on 10-12-2008
Correct me if I'm wrong, but just because they have Blu-Ray support doesn't mean they would have to have a 1920x1080 screen for Blu-Ray to be supported. It would just mean they wouldn't get the full functionality of Blu-Ray's high definition on their built-in screen.
If they had new Nvidia graphics chips, they may be able to support higher resolution external displays to fully show off their Blu-Ray drives.
All this being said, I don't particularly think they'll include Blu-Ray drives in either model, but if they do, it will certainly be MBP only.
Simon Arch said 1:38AM on 10-12-2008
Every MacBook can display HD video right now. 720p for the lower-resolution models and 1080p for the high-res 17" MBP. 720p might not be quite as spectacular as full 1080p, but it still looks good.
Frankly, I'm more interested in Blu-Ray as a storage medium.
Luke Westlie said 1:30AM on 10-12-2008
I have heard that the MacbBook Pro will be the only one getting Blu-Ray support and that it will be a $100 Build To Order feature except for on the 17" model
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Christian said 2:57AM on 10-12-2008
I think the NVIDIA 'system on a chip' platform will be a good reason to not by the first rev or gen. I see problems coming up
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vandil said 3:56AM on 10-12-2008
I agree. The "system on a chip" can be a single point of failure and Nvidia was recently outed for faulty GPUs and lying about it.
I'll let those with more disposable income participate in the "public beta" (first few months at retail).
mex said 5:01AM on 10-12-2008
right... good to move to nvidia, but for the first year I'll let other "test" the new macbook (also the brand new aluminium case sounds problematic) and for now I stay with my good working white plastic macbook :)
THJ said 9:22PM on 10-12-2008
Meh, It's not like if the integrated graphics/discrete cards go bad in the current line, you can skip a trip to the Apple Store.
The Mac Pros are the only ones that can reasonably be repaired by an end user, so it's a non-issue, imo.
vandil said 5:25AM on 10-12-2008
I should also comment that I do hope these new notebooks do actually work well with their new designs and come in robust (graphics-wise) configurations that can be more affordable.
As a long-term 17" PowerBook G4 owner, I've been wanting go Intel-based, and merge my Mac with my PC (for light MMO gaming) but not pay a premium for the hardware.
The current Macbooks underwhelm my needs in graphics hardware and the current Macbook Pros cost too much for the graphics hardware they have.
So I'm looking forward to Tuesday's announcement.
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Ethan said 7:12AM on 10-12-2008
Put it in as an option.
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Mike said 7:54AM on 10-12-2008
kevin rose didnt say he thought there would be blu ray in the next mac books, he said quote
"I have some rumours...but they're from bad sources so i doubt they're true, I have good sources who tell me about iPods and iTunes and i have bad sources that tell me all kinds of crap"
i was in the audience.. it should also be noted he was very drunk! who ever it was that initially posted the story about Kevin and his foresight twisted it up for more hype.
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the jones boy said 11:50AM on 10-12-2008
Desperate to hop to a 17" MBP(I see them more portable rather than 'laptop') from my G5 power PC - but the irony of replacing a Rev A machine that Apple replaced 3 times (buzzing mosquito power supply) is not lost on me.
Looking forward to the announcement.
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Matt said 9:27AM on 10-12-2008
Anyone hearing anything about maximum ram on the new laptops? I really could use an 8GB or 16GB RAM laptop. At this stage, that's about all that would make me upgrade my year old 15" MBP.
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Adam said 10:15AM on 10-12-2008
You know, I'd finally like the new computers to be able to play/read mini DVDs. Even if you can't import them into iMovie, it would still be nice to play them. We all know the technology is out there (the Wii has had this ability and it's been out for a couple years now).
And this is just speculation, but if Apple would decide to support Sony and include a Blu-Ray drive in the new notebooks, could they possibly finally support Sony's digital camcorders?
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THJ said 9:27PM on 10-12-2008
Considering that there isn't even a built in memory card reader or broadband access (2 things I would consider to be MUCH more widely used than a mini-DVD), combined with the need to switch to a tray (since, AFAIK, there are no PC slot-loading optical drives that accept both full size and mini/business card optical media), I would not count on it.
Whew, that was a long sentence.
Galley said 10:32AM on 10-12-2008
All I want is a $200 external Blu-ray SuperDrive for the 24" iMac I bought a few months ago, and movie playback support in 10.5.6.
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rcmarz said 12:18PM on 10-12-2008
I need this to haapen!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rcmarz/2931738501/in/set-72157607935697570/
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