I’ve slowly accumulated a slew of Apple gear over the past couple years, not entirely intentional. I use a 2008 MacBook Pro for work and a 2009 iMac at home, both of which have held up nicely. However, times have changed, as have my needs. Today I want (and to some degree) need MORE!
I expect to upgrade both my laptop and desktop in 2011, IF Apple can provide the gear to satisfy my discerning needs. I’m what you call a power user. In my day job, I run Windows 7 (via bootcamp) for Office, Visual Studio, SQL, etc. with most of my personal computing done via Mac OSX; Adobe Suite, Aperture & Final Cut Pro. I also run VM Fusion with RedHat & Ubuntu and of course, expect everything to place nice together. I’ll publish another post outlining my home-network (spoiler alert: I have a 42U rack, cisco/juniper equipment w/native 1GB connectivity & 10+TB of home storage!)
Today, I’d like to cast my 2011 Apple Wish List; and I promise if Apple upholds their end of the bargin, I’ll gladly acquire equipment upon pre-order. I’m intimately aware there are many reasons why they have not shipped such amenities to date, but the ‘consumer’ in me doesn’t care about that – I just want the goods Apple, make it happen.
2011 MacBook Pro/iMac:
- 3.4 Ghz 4+ Core, 2nd Generation i7 (aka Sandy Bridge) Processor (likely) or 6-core Gulftown i7 (unlikely)
- USB 3.0 (unlikely, but possible)
- 500GB SSD primary hard-drive (possible, 256gb likely)
- 1TB SATA secondary hard-drive (likely)
- eSata External Port (possible)
- Blu-Ray BDR & BD-RE Drive (unlikely)
- 8+ GB DDR3 RAM (likely)
- 2560 by 1600 native resolution (unlikely) w/Open CL – 1920 by 1200 (likely)
- Intel Light Peak
- 10+ hr battery for MacBook Pro (likely)
- And of course, all the standard stuff: 802.11n, bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, SD card slot, Firewire 800, Mini DisplayPort, audio in/out, etc.)
iPhone 5
- VERIZON!
- GSM/CDMA/LTE (4G) WORLD PHONE
- Dual-Core ARM11 processor
- 4X more memory
- Accessories that work with the apple bumper
- Drastically improved battery life with removable/replaceable battery
- FM Radio
- iOS 5 (unlikely, not yet seeded to developer community)
- RFID-enabled
iPad 2
- Of course, dual-camera’s (although, I only need 1 high-quality front-facing, won’t be taking pics with it, but some might?)
- Dual-Core ARM11 Processor
- 4X more memory
- Price reduction (to justify my 3G/Wifi model upgrade)
- Retina Display
- Intel Light Peak
- $99 iPad Mini offering to compete with Kindle
- Multi-User support w/separate profiles!
- More Storage – 256GB!?
- Dare I say it? Flash support!
Apple TV
- Tivo-integration (or comparable recorder, hosted in the cloud?)
- App-store capabilities (e.g. hulu plus, boxee & slingbox players)
- Offer a hard-drive version (else, support usb-hacks for external USB hard-drives)
- USB 3.0 external port!
- AirPlay support for older AppleTV unit (w/Hard-Drive!)
