[frdmfghtr]

Dell has availabe a 32 GB solid state drive...

Home & Home Office: 32 GB Solid State Parallel ATA Hard Drive for Dell Latitude D420 Notebook - Customer Install

How long do you think that a model will be available with the SATA interface from Apple or somewhere else so we can juice out Macs?

[frdmfghtr]

OK maybe I spoke too soon!

SanDisk | OEM | Products | <p>SanDisk SSD Solid State Drives</p> | <p>SanDisk SSD SATA 5000 2.5"</p>

What ya all think?

[chabig]

Low capacity and expensive, but rugged.

[mduell]

With a $36 adapter you can turn any CompactFlash card into a 2.5" SATA drive.

CF - SATA HDD Adapter from Addonics

8GB CF cards are about $80 these days... a little small for OSX, but it could still be functional if you stored your files on a (4-32GB) USB jump drive.

[Sparkletron]

You know things are bad when *Dell* is scooping you on new technologies. Not only don't we have SSDs but where are the LED backlit LCDs? Where are the carbon fiber laptop chassis? Where are the HD DVD SuperDrives? Where are the 20-hour laptop battery fuel cells? Apple needs to focus on the fundamentals, or at least demonstrate that they can walk (Mac) and chew bubblegum (iPhone) at the same time.

-S

[Gamoe]

Originally Posted by Sparkletron 

You know things are bad when *Dell* is scooping you on new technologies. Not only don't we have SSDs but where are the LED backlit LCDs? Where are the carbon fiber laptop chassis? Where are the HD DVD SuperDrives? Where are the 20-hour laptop battery fuel cells? Apple needs to focus on the fundamentals, or at least demonstrate that they can walk (Mac) and chew bubblegum (iPhone) at the same time.

Bubblegum is right!

I like the iPhone concept, and I'm sure it will be great (it better be, after all the fanfare and hype), and iPods are now ubiquitous icons, but I am going to be very disappointed if Apple starts neglecting its computers because of these other devices. Apple is indeed fooling itself if it believes that Macs aren't its most important products.

The only product that came close to being as great as the Mac (barring its predecessors) and deserved similar (but still not equal) attention was the Newton.

[chabig]

Originally Posted by Sparkletron 

You know things are bad when *Dell* is scooping you on new technologies.

Why do you think Dell is "scooping" Apple on new technology? Dell is all about selling custom configurations. Apple is all about selling well rounded machined to the mass market. If you want that SSD for your Mac, buy it. Apple isn't stopping you. They just aren't going to sell it to you...yet.

And if you want to talk about casing material, I don't think Dell is even close to Apple. Who built the first titanium laptop, the first aluminum laptop. Have you compared the solid feel of a MacBook or MacBook pro to the flimsy hollow plastic feel of a PC laptop? Carbon fiber is not a miracle material.

LED backlights...they'll come. Apple isn't behind the curve there either.

You seem to be forgetting that Apple took the lead with firewire, USB, laptop keyboard location, removing the floppy, adding optical drives, etc. Do all Dells come with built-in cameras?

Dell will never take the technology lead with any product. They'll sell you something that someone else makes, sure. But that's not leadership.

[Sparkletron]

Why do you think Dell is "scooping" Apple on new technology?

Because they are selling their CPUs with SSDs and Apple is not.

Dell is all about selling custom configurations.

And Apple isn't? Go to the Apple store and witness the long lists of custom configurations. Except that I see no SSDs mentioned.

If you want that SSD for your Mac, buy it. Apple isn't stopping you. They just aren't going to sell it to you...yet.

No one said Apple was stopping me. But Dell has scooped Apple on what is clearly the future of storage devices. Why is that so hard for you to accept? Meanwhile, I suppose you're going to give me the same line if I want an LED backlit LCD? Oops. That doesn't work now, does it? You can't just swap out LCDs like you can batteries.

Have you compared the solid feel of a MacBook or MacBook pro to the flimsy hollow plastic feel of a PC laptop?

Which PC laptop are we talking about? A carbon fiber Sony Viao? Cuz it not only feels solid but weighs significantly less than a MacBook or Pro.

LED backlights...they'll come. Apple isn't behind the curve there either.

Guess what? The Sony Viao already has LED backlit LCDs. They've had 'em for months. So, yes, Apple is behind the curve and has been scooped again.

You seem to be forgetting that Apple took the lead with firewire, USB, laptop keyboard location, removing the floppy, adding optical drives, etc. Do all Dells come with built-in cameras?

Actually, you seem to be forgetting that you're preaching to the quire. I know all about Apple's rep; I'm a Mac aficionado. But you're not helping Apple or its fans by excusing Apple for forsaking the principal reason why we choose them in the first, which the *Mac*--not the iPhone. Companies don't survive on what they've done; they survive on what they're doing. And what is Apple doing right now? Getting scooped.

-S

[chabig]

Preaching to what?

Apple is not getting scooped. If you want to pay $550 for a 32GB drive, be my guest.

[frdmfghtr]

Of course Apple isn't going to stop you from getting a SSD and dropping it in your notebook; if I had $600 to toss at it, I'd do it in a heartbeat just to see how well it performs.

I think the point is that Apple isn't HELPING you do so by offering it on any of its machines, either as a user-installed option or as a option on a custom machine. You can do both on a new Dell, and Dell can market the benefits and features of the SSD.; if I want to upgrade I have to go somewhere other than Apple; as it has no offering.

Sure, Apple was the point on a lot of new and important features (although I would argue how "new and important" a built-in webcam really is) but as far as SSD goes, Apple is behind the game by not having them available as an option.

I think this is the main point being made; Apple dropped the ball on making SSDs available on its notebooks, being passed up by Dell.

[mduell]

Has anyone seen anything about Leopard supporting hybrid hard drives? They're somewhat useful without OS support, but you really need the integration to get the most out of them.

Originally Posted by chabig 

Who built the first titanium laptop

You say that like it's some sort of achievement or event a positive thing. The titanium cover is expensive, hurts wifi range, makes painting difficult, etc.

There's a reason Apple dumped after 2 years when people noticed the paint fell off and the wifi range sucked.

[chabig]

I guess Apple has dropped the ball too by not putting 8 cores in their laptops.

[wilsonng]

Gosh, there's a lot of anger towards Apple for not adopting the latest technology as quickly as some other companies do.

Apple has historically waited for certain technologies to mature before adopting it. Sometimes they're a little late (CD-RWs and USB 2) and sometimes they hit it right on the button (iPod and iTunes).

Certainly, Apple was a late-comer to the portable music player market but they did revolutionize it. Take a look at the iPod. 'Nuff said.

Folks who love to customize their computers to the hilt are capable of choosing something besides Apple.

For those of us who wouldn't know anything about SSD, FSB, LED, RAM, gigabyte, terabyte and all that techno-jargon, we're not the consumer market who is looking for Blu-Ray, eSATA, and whatever new is out there.

I walked into an electronics store and had a look around for a home theater system. I just couldn't care about hooking up separate components to create a home theater setup. I just looked around at the different all-in-one systems and choose the best one I liked. It had the speakers, radio tuner, 5-DVD changer and multiple input connections. It was a nice little sweet setup.

yeah, it may be frustrating that Apple is slow to adopt new technologies. That's why we have USB2 and Firewire.

[mfbernstein]

Originally Posted by mduell 

With a $36 adapter you can turn any CompactFlash card into a 2.5" SATA drive.

CF - SATA HDD Adapter from Addonics

8GB CF cards are about $80 these days... a little small for OSX, but it could still be functional if you stored your files on a (4-32GB) USB jump drive.

Unless you disable virtual memory, your CF card wouldn't last too long. Plus read-write performance on the cheaper CF cards isn't very fast.

[Sleepkyng]

for laptops - pcs are the better choice for me.

and ssd is the wave of the future - but why i would spend $300 on an ssd drive is beyond me.

if apple incorporates them to fit in with their price range (still too high, i think) I think they'll be fine.

though i must say that of all the laptops i've owned, my acer travelmate has been the most satisfying - that's over the pismo, the g4 tibook, and some thinkpads.

but that's for my computer needs, which aren't very demanding.

[IceEnclosure]

ermmm......

to get into a Vaio with a carbon fiber body, you have to fork over $3000, and you get:

--11" screen

--1.33 GHz Intel Core Solo

THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS.

So Apple should do this? Like, right now?

[IceEnclosure]

Originally Posted by Sleepkyng 

though i must say that of all the laptops i've owned, my acer travelmate has been the most satisfying - that's over the pismo, the g4 tibook, and some thinkpads.

a Pismo will now kill you in your sleep, congrats. -_-

[Saint_Stryfe]

OMG Apple is beyhind da curv cus dey don'ts have neon glowy tubes and Limozeen Stickers on der 'pooters!!!!

Don't worry - when the technology is viable, Apple will indeed make it a market force. Dell buys up a ton of an over-priced gimmick, and will lose Money. Apple will wait till version two, see how well it runs, then make bank when the time is right.

I have full faith Apple will make good on this technology when it's something more then an interesting idea.

[Gamoe]

Extremes are not normally good. On the one hand, I agree that Apple does usually wait till a technology is at a certain maturity before adopting it. In fact, they seem to be doing a lot more of that lately. It seems like they don't want to get burned like with the Newton (that's a whole 'nother story now, though).

But, on the other hand, I think all this grand "faith" in Apple is a little misplaced. Apple has made mistakes. Many of them. And one of Apple's weak points is lack of options. Now, some people go to the other extreme and they want Apple to offer every option under the sun, which is not reasonable.

But, so often I see users here getting blasted because they *dare* suggest that Apple should offer this or that. At just the mention of such a thing, the naysayers and Apple extremist come with some crazy agenda to destroy the very thought or possibility of this.

We had this with the Mac mini before it came, and now we have this with the "headless iMac". Now, it's fine to think that something isn't going to happen, or shouldn't. But I just don't know why a person would invest such amounts of energy, with such vehement hostility and contempt, just to deny another's wishes. Things like "Then buy a PC!" aren't constructive or friendly. Obviously, if we're discussing the matter on a Mac forum, then we're discussing the possibility of it coming over to *our* platform.

Personally, I would like to see Solid State Hard drives as options, however, I do agree that they are far too costly for general adoption right now. I think Apple should offer it with an ultra-light portable if it ever decides to make one again, and as an option on the MacBooks and MBPs. What I would like to see in the near future is Apple using flash memory as a buffer to diminish hard drive usage and bring up battery life, such as Intel's Santa Rosa platform seems to do.

[chabig]

Originally Posted by Gamoe 

But, so often I see users here getting blasted because they *dare* suggest that Apple should offer this or that. At just the mention of such a thing, the naysayers and Apple extremist come with some crazy agenda to destroy the very thought or possibility of this.

Thankfully that didn't happen in this thread.

[mfbernstein]

Originally Posted by IceEnclosure 

ermmm......

to get into a Vaio with a carbon fiber body, you have to fork over $3000, and you get:

--11" screen

--1.33 GHz Intel Core Solo

THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS.

So Apple should do this? Like, right now?

Because the Sony weighs less than half as much as the lightest Mac EVER? Some of us actually do like having portable notebooks

[Simon]

Originally Posted by mfbernstein 

Because the Sony weighs less than half as much as the lightest Mac EVER? Some of us actually do like having portable notebooks

Sure, but only a handful would ever pay more for such a Mac than for any other Apple portable. I know exactly zero people willing to pay the price of a loaded 17" MBP for a Core Solo machine with a miniature screen. And that's why Apple isn't doing the $3k 10" MB mini.

If the 10" MB mini costs a bit more than a MB and less than a MBP it might have a chance. Even then it will likely be a niche product due to its low performance (Core Solo, integrated graphics, etc.). And we know that Apple pretty much stopped catering to niche markets a while ago.

[Gamoe]

Originally Posted by chabig 

Thankfully that didn't happen in this thread.

Yes, and I hope that it will stay that way.