[TETENAL]

http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=1273

[budster101]

I hope that isn't the new PowerBook design because IBM already has a patent on that boxy shape...

[willed]

Cool. With wireless speeds how they are now, the time is right for built-in video iChat, especially with the advent of Intel's 'Airport Xtreeme Plus Ultra' or whatever the new standard is to be called.

[the_glassman]

Sony had one with a built in camera similar to that like 4 years ago.

[rickey939]

Yeah, what a waste of space...this will not happen.

[brapper]

Originally Posted by the_glassman

Sony had one with a built in camera similar to that like 4 years ago.

that was an awesome lil' computer

[production_coordinator]

Originally Posted by brapper

that was an awesome lil' computer

IIRC, it was slightly underpowered and very expensive. It is basically like purchasing an iBook, with a much smaller screen for $2000... so you really paid for the ultra compact style

Don't get me wrong... if they could get the price down, I would snatch one up in a second, but when it's in the $2K range, I think of it as more of a niche market.

[Hash]

I once helped my friend to install XP on such Sony notebook (it had Home before). Finding drivers was a main hassle, especially for the little camera, its actually USB one. I spent entire weekend searching and installing (and uninstalling) drivers. Somehow the camera later managed to lose sound ot something like that. But the notebook itself was nice. BTW, how Apple can patent something that Sony did for years??

[Spliffdaddy]

The same way Apple patents all their other 'borrowed' innovations.

[sugar_coated]

Some ideas are more interesting than others and thus some patents are more deserving than others.

[willed]

Like I said, the camera is worth it now that wireless networks are fast enough to handle video properly. When that Sony laptop was around, there was no real point to the camera.

[Mastrap]

I used to work for the ad agency that launched that little notebook in the UK. IIRC it had a battery life of about 60 minutes.

And Spliff, you can accuse Apple of many things, not being innovative is not one of them.

[OreoCookie]

I remember IBM had a notebook with Intel 486 processor with a built-in camera some aeons ago. Would still be a nice thing to have, though.

[Spook E]

i think you guys are missing the point / or i'm not reading it right

but

the description up in the corner says that the camera acts as the latch to hold the lid to the base of the machine and that the screen swivels around ala those notebook/tablet hybrids IBM ha.

Is this the birth of the iTab and the first usefully implementation of inkwell?