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There are a lot of people who have lost credibility trying to predict what Apple will do next. It's usually fruitless, misdirected - sometimes pundits suspect Apple has a hand in spreading disinformation just to throw them off.
It's clear that in the immediate future, several machines are due for a refresh. These have been expected for months but Apple's focus on the iPhone 3G would have precluded finishing anything else off.
For one thing, Apple has moved comprehensively away from plastic computer bodies (polycarbonate), partly as a response to recycling issues, but several machines are still made in the hard-to-break-down material - the MacBooks and the little mini have yet to get aluminium versions, so they are refresh candidates.
The iMacs have been recently remodelled into slimmer aluminium cases with slightly speedier CPUs. This happened a few months ago, confirming the latest iMac design as a winning one as it has already survived two chip families (it started off with the IBM 'G5' CPU) and a case change to this current aluminium job.
The polycarbonate Mac mini still mystifies some commentators - they wonder why it's still around. Steve Jobs is known to be a fan of little, quiet computers - maybe that's the only reason, or maybe it has a position in Apple's range that isn't wholly clear yet. The Apple TV and Time Capsule both closely resemble the mini.
The biggest problem Apple has in its Mac line-up is the Mac Pro, if you ask me. It's so big and expensive and iMacs are almost as fast, though much less expandable - companies often buy three iMacs in preference to one Pro plus its large monitor, which is extra.
The MacBook Air laptop is over-expensive and, really, little more than a wealthy jet-setter's toy - but it boasts several technologies that will inevitably migrate into new, slimmer, better Apple laptops.
The MacBook Air introduced gesture support on the trackpad, a new multi-use connector, the expensive Solid State Drive option and, perhaps most importantly, slimmed down CPUs.
Apple worked with Intel engineers to shave considerable size and power consumption off the CPU. Due in August, a Small Form Factor (SFF) version of the new Centrino 2 takes up less space than the Centrino 2 released last week. This was reported by Macworld UK.
The SFF version uses the same chip-packaging technology Intel developed for the special Core 2 Duo processor designed for the MacBook Air, which shrinks the processor size significantly.
The new Centrino 2 processor was showcased last week in HP, Lenovo, Sony and Toshiba laptops, but many of the Centrino 2's improvements should make their way into Mac systems.
The Centrino has power saving features and improved integrated graphics. The new Mobile Intel GM45 Express chipset offers faster frame rates and support for full hardware decoding of VC1/MPG2 and AVC content, meaning you can watch an entire Blu-ray movie on one battery charge. Not only that, but the Centrino 2 can also accommodate faster, more discrete graphics from third-party graphics chip companies.
Intel's new Centrino 2 chipset contains a more powerful Wi-fi capability, too. This newer wireless technology is called WiMax and allows for high-speed data transmission at distances of up to about 100 meters away from 'hot spot' transmitters.
Intel plans to roll out more processors in the next few weeks, including the first mobile quad-core processor.
The CPU roadmap is predictable, but the way you interact with a computer may be set to change, too. With Apple's deployment of touch screens in the iPhone and iPod touch, who knows what will migrate into other devices Apple is planning? The trackpad is definitely evolving, but Apple has filed patents in the past for more touchscreen capabilities and even for an LCD monitor that can capture pixels - that's right, it effectively be a camera in its own right.
A 'tablet Mac' is getting talked about around the net again - this has been rumoured for over a decade. It's certainly more feasible now than ever before.
What else? Apple's patent filings are fascinating - the LCD camera patents were filed last year. Recently, an Apple patent application discovered by MacRumors outlines a method in which a solar panel could be sandwiched between an LCD panel and the circuit board.
By placing the solar panel underneath the LCD display, the light-gathering solar cells would be protected from scratch damage and by combining a solar charger with an LCD would help preserve a device's form-factor. Light would be absorbed by the solar cells as it passes through the display. The downside might be that it's still hard to read an LCD display in direct sunlight. (Motorola has filed similar patents for solar LCD panels.)
Like the LCD camera, it's more likely to be useful in a device smaller than a desktop or laptop computer. The patent application doesn't guarantee that Apple will implement the technology in future handsets or other portable electronics, but it would be great to see this solar technology make its way to future iPhones and laptops.
On laptops, though, Apple was filing patents last year on using structural glue instead of metal screws inside laptops.
Apple was also filing patents on laptops with bizarre bottom-loading optical drives.
- Mark Webster mac.nz
