The Totally Wireless MacBook

So there I was at my local computer store, idly checking out ThinkPads and Acers and other notebooks and comparing them to their Mac brethren.

And one of the things about them that struck me was the sheer number of ports that festooned and adorned the poor things. I mean, one still had serial and VGA ports.

Seriously. In this day and age.

Which lead me think about Apple's rumored ultraportable and this year's wireless MacWorld theme and wonder.

Just how far away are we from a truly wireless notebook?

I recently got an iMac because of the larger screen and because some of my projects needed a lot more disk space. Terabytes of space, to be exact.

But before that, my main "desktop" machine was a 17" MacBook Pro that most days had exactly one wire connected to it: the MagSafe power cord.

I'd come in, set the MacBook down, snap in the power cord, and be good to go.

I had a printer and speakers of course, but those were plugged into an AirPort Express, their wires tucked away across the room, out of sight.

A couple of times a week I'd attach a FireWire cable and run a backup, but that was pretty much it in the cable department.

Everything was simple, neat, and elegant. Apple all the way.

Now, one reason notebooks are as thick as they are the ports. An ethernet connector, for example, has to be the height and width and size of an ethernet plug. Tough to make it much smaller.

But what could you build if you decided to get rid of all the wires and ports and connectors?

All of them.

Picture a superslim ultraportable with the design aesthetics of an iPhone, all curved edges and smooth unblemished lines, not a port in sight. Handle everything wirelessly via 802.11n and Bluetooth. Add WiMax and wireless-USB for good measure.

Backup wirelessly using Time Machine (once they fix it, of course).

Possible? Probably. Desirable? Probably not. We still need to plug in peripherals and whatnot from time to time.

But most of that is done at home.

So add USB ports and FireWire ports and Ethernet ports... but offload them them to the external SuperDrive. Make that your "docking station", attached to the notebook by a special adaptor that plugs directly into the notebook's sole "port", an ExpressCard/34 slot.

As an added bonus, the ExpressCard also gives you some expansion capabilities when you're out and about. Pop in a Sprint 3G card or SD-card reader or an additional flash drive if needed.

One could even use the adaptor to recharge the notebook via dedicated panels on the side of the card that activate when the card is plugged in.

Again, come home, slid in your dock's ExpressCard connector, and you're done.

Forget the "iMac" docking station.

I want one of these.

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Related Articles:

• The Wireless MacBook
• The MacBook Air: An Ultra-Portable Concept
• The MacBook Air: The AT&T Connection
• Want A Small Thin Light Notebook? Here's How.

Comments

[John Jacobs]

Me too!