Apple ‘Macbook Mini’ to be Asus EEE based?

Wednesday January 2, 2008

With the recent rumors swirling about regarding an Apple sub-mini notebook - as well as Asus divulgence of an Apple tablet PC in the works, it seems almost a given that an Apple sub-notebook will be of the EEE form factor.

Ideally, the ‘Macbook Mini’ would be touchscreen using multi-touch and running a mish-mash of OSX from both the iPhone/Touch and ‘normal’ Leopard. But even if it is released as a traditional notebook (keyboard, trackpad and Leopard), it would be a sure-fire winner.

Reasons it would work:

OSX would clearly run on the hardware - spec-wise it isn’t out of bounds at all. Turn off a few of the snazzy graphics (or toss in a slightly more powerful GPU) and Leopard would run just fine on a 1ghz CPU.
The EEE already has a built-in webcam, EVDO capabilities (in the Mini-PCI slot) and other niceties including VGA out and SD slots - perfect for an ultra-portable desktop replacement
The price point for the EEE ($299-499) allows Apple plenty of wiggle room to create a sub-compact that could still feasibly be priced under $1000 USD - a space that Dell and HP can’t touch
Apple fans would fall all over it - especially if it were a full blown ISX installation

That being said, there would have to be several enhancements to make it truly Apple’esque:

The speakers on the sides of the screen have to go. Put them elsewhere and free up that 2″ of space, seriously.
Firewire and Bluetooth support would have to be added - this isn’t that big of a deal considering the free space on the logic board - but it would have to be done to make it a true Mac.
Disk space would have to be bumped - the EEE currently ships with 2, 4 and 8gb. But there are numerous manufacturers offering 16, 32 and even 64gb of SSD (solid state drive) storage.
Desktop (and even full-size notebook) synchronization would be handy - taking your Macbook Mini on the road, making document or library changes and then having different versions on your home system would be a pain for the end user. I’m confident a solution (other than .Mac) could be found though.

For Apple, the door is open to create something truly unique, and with Asus already making strong inroads with the EEE, it only makes sense that the two companies would put their heads together and release something like the Macbook Mini.

What do you think?

Technorati Tags: apple, iphone, leopard, macbook, EEE