Ultralight Mac notebook rumors gather steam

Set to debut at January's Macworld, petite portable will cost $1,500, says CNBC

By Gregg Keizer

December 6, 2007 12:00 PM ET

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Computerworld - Rumors that Apple Inc. will unveil a new thin, lightweight MacBook in just over a month gained strength today as the CNBC cable network cited sources claiming the portable was real.

Jim Goldman of CNBC said that the subnotebook system will be 50% thinner and lighter than the MacBook Pro, which is approximately 1-in. thick and weighs between 5.4 and 6.8 pounds, depending on the model.

Citing a source close to Apple's Asian manufacturing partners, Goldman also said that the new notebook would use NAND flash memory in lieu of a traditional hard disk drive, and would be equipped with a 12-in. display.

Other reports, including one by Taiwan-based DigiTimes, however, have claimed that at least one display maker shipped 10,000 13.3-in. LED-backlit screens to Apple in November and will deliver another 90,000 this month. The displays, 13.3-in. rather than the 12-in. claimed by Goldman, are a good fit for the unnamed ultralight machine, since the LED-lit screens consume less power than traditional fluorescent-lit LCDs.

Currently, only the 15-in. MacBook Pro notebooks use LCD-backlit displays.

The retail price for the new Mac will be around $1,500, Goldman claimed, a price point that falls between the $1,099 of the cheapest MacBook and the $1,999 of the least-expensive MacBook Pro.

The subsize Mac will launch during the Macworld Conference & Expo, Apple's annual blowout in San Francisco, which will run Jan. 14-18.

Read more about hardware in Computerworld's Hardware Knowledge Center.

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