
Did Some Insider Just Spill The Beans On New Apple Laptop? - pius
http://whydoeseverythingsuck.com/2008/10/did-some-insider-just-spill-beans-on.html
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hugh
Accurate or not, that's a pretty good idea. Being able to detach the screen
and plug the computer into a bigger monitor would suit perfectly the way I use
my laptop at the moment.

Plus, with the screen removed the "brick" is presumably a computer in a
keyboard form factor, just like in the good old days.

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mariorz
I don't get it. I plug a bigger monitor to my laptop when I'm at my desk. Why
the need to detach the laptop screen?

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wheels
The main limiting thing there for me that's annoying is that Mac OS seems to
require me to use my laptop's screen as the main one putting the menubar there
instead of on my larger external monitor.

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raganwald
You know abhout this "drag and drop" thing? Open up the Displays preference
pane. You see the two (or more) screens and you can drag them around to
decicde how to arrange your virtual desktop.

Now drag the menu bar to whichever screen you like. And remember, Google is
your friend.

~~~
wheels
Ah, didn't realize that you could drag the menubar separately.

~~~
raganwald
In your defense, a lot of "elegant" GUI designs are like this: they lack
affordances, so you have no idea that they can be manipulated. But once you
learn them, they seem to make sense.

The common alternative, some sort of configuration wizard with 1,000 controls,
seems worse. But only just.

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wheels
In some cases it's just a little more thought -- like here if, for instance,
the border of the menubar was highlighted as the mouse rolled over it, it
would be pretty obvious, in my opinion.

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mikedouglas

      * Sounds clunky, and overspecialized.
      * Awkwardly splits the product (display/no display).
      * Competes with the low-end Macbook, while being a lower-margin product.
      * Can't imagine a design for this that isn't ugly.
    

Very Un-Apple. Jobs isn't going to follow up the iPhone 3G with this, aptly
described, 'brick'.

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netcan
The $800 might be wishful thinking. Unless they're planning an all out
assault.

~~~
Create
"Some analysts are expecting the laptops to start at less than $800, compared
with $1,099 now" -- WSJ

~~~
netcan
Looking forward to it. I use a mac. But I would like to pay (on sale) windows
pc prices.

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Create
[http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-
Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Se...](http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-
Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=%2220080002350%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20080002350&RS=DN/20080002350)

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alaskamiller
LOL. Nothing said at BJ's is ever real. Would be more credible if he's having
breakfast at Caffe Macs. No one shows off gadgets during lunch.

~~~
dfarm
I think he's saying that he IS an Apple employee (that eats at BJ's) not that
he overheard it. The the patent link below seems to indicate that he's dead
on.

