Imagine an updated version of this machine in all aluminum.

• All aluminum updated version of the original Macintosh – The product would be a “limited edition” run modern Mac redone that had a full blown emulator of all the classic software available on the original Mac. Part collector’s item, part novelty, part modern computer, such a machine would enable you run the old classic stuff side by side with the modern environment of OS X. Original Macs are collectors items; a special aluminum version would be both a homage to the Mac’s beginnings and to its current success and shiny future! How much could such a machine really fetch?  It depends on the size of the limited run. A 100k limited run might see machines fly off the shelf at very high prices, while a larger limited run at reasonable prices could see it become a “must have” Mac darling for macolytes around the globe. 
• New Mac Pro Ultra -  A dream power machine that would represent the “state-of-the-art” in technical capabilities possible. For starters it wouldn’t ship until Snow Leopard because it would need Grand Central and OpenCL. It would be the fastest computer in the world and hold that title for more than a year. Why? Because the PA Semi guys crafted an amazing energy efficient, multi-core processor based on the Power Architecture for which they hold unique expertise and capability. It would feature not four but eight (8) multi-core processors and run so cool you would think Apple found a way to pack the North Pole into it. It would feature multiple Nvidia Quadro GPU’s (making it the ultimate OpenCL dream machine) and it would come with new multi-touch capable monitors that could be positioned for touch-based drawing and input functionalities or run in conventional stand-up mode. Every engineer, scientist and architect would drool and lust for one. And though very expensive…they would sell like hot cakes! 
• New Mac touch – Back to a more Earth-based dream scenario, what Apple very well might introduce at Macworld Expo this January is the Mac touch. We have written about it here. The multi-touch patents that keep coming up in expanded and more elaborate form are, we think, somehow connected to the very existence of this machine. The Mac touch would be Apple’s answer to the rapid rise in the popularity of Netbooks. It would be very affordable. It would be multi-touch based but have a keyboard like an iPhone has a keyboard. It would make a wonderful media entertainment machine and work beautifully in ruggedized mode for specific industries like medicine and AEC (architecture/engineering/construction). We think the Mac touch has serious legs in verticals that need touch-based computing but today are poorly served by a clunky and worrisome Windows OS infrastructure. They would be much better served by OS X and Apple’s future. 

The Quadra had a special feeling to it. It was the ultimate Macintosh...wouldn't a new ultimate Mac be fitting for a Silver Anniversary?

 

Because it is a Mac, not an iPod, the Mac touch would be a new type of Mac computer whose primary interface methodology would be centered around Apple’s innovative Multi-touch technology. Brendan argues that a tablet is an obvious direction for Apple and that a convertible type of unit “doesn’t seem very Apple like.” We can’t argue with that.

One reader's vision of a Mac touch

Brendan swears the Mac touch idea was developed in his mind weeks ago and sent an email to a friend about it. Included were some very reasonable specs, including the use of solid state storage memory (64GB to 128GB), an included stylus for more intricate work (think of a new technical drawing program in iWork), a dock that works with iTunes, and WiFi and built in iSight camera.

Flushing out the Mac touch

Since Brendan started this ball rolling with his imageand imaginary spec sheet, we might want to elaborate a bit more.

The Mac touch is a full Multi-touch Mac with a modified OS X operating system. It’s primary CPU would be Intel-based, not ARM-based, though it may contain both ARM and ATi secondary processing units.

In particular, ATi may be tapped for its expertise in not just graphics processing units but OpenGL and OpenGL ES. Think of the Mac touch as a field Mac in industries like engineering, medicine, architecture, science and construction. With the included stylus or just your finger the Mac touch would be a wonderful drawing tool, like the old Newton was.

Media Infused Teens and the Nurse

In our crystall bar article, slanted towards the reasonable and the known, we emphasized consumer computing as the place where the leading edge now exists and just how important entertainment (digital forms) is in our life styles.

Unlike Brendan we don’t see the need for the Mac touch to have a dock to iTunes. It would contain the same technology that is built into theAppleTV and obtain all forms of media via iTunes through a WiFi connection. This is a device that would be designed to sit like a digital picture frame on the bedroom nightstand when not in use. It would display pictures from iPhoto in a semi-sleep mode. It would act like a clock if you wanted it to and could wake you and display your iCal calendar first thing in the morning.

The problem with tablet computers thus far is that they have tended to want to be full laptop replacements, rather than looking at how such a form factor can tackle new functional needs. The key function that splits the domains of use of tablets versus laptops is the need to seriously type. And because typing is a key function with general business domains, tablet PCs have not taken off in the enterprise.

However, a light-weight and inexpensive digital slate device like the Mac touch could serve many industries extremely well where typing is not a dominant function. The defunct Newton MessagePad became a popular device in many such fields, from the greeters at Disneyland to doctors and nurses in hospitals around the world.

At the the same time, media-centric users don’t need to type like business people either. A teenager would use a Mac touch to interact with Facebook, listen to iTunes music or watch an iTunes streamed movie and IM all at the same time — all from a position on their bed or the couch that is anything but ergonomically orthodox. A virtual keyboard like that in the iPhone will suffice just fine for these two branches of users.

In short the Mac touch could serve two very different audience segments with the same set of technology virtues. As a media viewing extension of Apple’s iTunes and AppleTV intiatives the Mac touch provides unique value. And because it can be cheap enough, light enough and because Multi-touch and OS X rock as platform technologies, the Mac touch could become a technology staple in industries such as medicine and construction.

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