#iOhNo!
Mike… Weren’t we just talking about the inevitable iDVR? Except that they’re calling it “iBox” apparently. Which is about as sexy a name as “iCrap” but whatever. So here is what MacOSX.com reports (re: tech specs):
Here’s what I don’t grok about those tech specs… (1) If this thing is supposed to be honkin’ on video and other bandwidth intense media, wouldn’t it be much better served with Gigabit ethernet? As far as streaming around the house goes (from yr TV to yr iMac anyway) I guess you could do it over 10/100 (utilizing the 100, of course) — but this isn’t what I’d expect from future-fast-fwd Apple … the company that not but 4(ish) months ago released a laptop line featuring Firewire 800 even though there really weren’t any Firewire 800 peripherals on the market yet. (Not for a week or so anyway…) So that’s my *FIRST* reaction — Whoa! Where’s the gigabit!?
(2) Would probably be Only 120 GB of HD storage? With the meteoric plummet of hard drive prices in the past two years, it’s only a matter of time before your standard desktops come with petabyte RAID pre-installed for your pleasure. So why make an offering with a paltry 120? I would’ve figured at least 250 to start. (A quarter terabyte! Now that’s some storage!)
(2b) And what about xfer format? Is that hard drive ATA or Serial ATA? Where’s your intelligence now?
(3) Firewire 400? (See #1 above, modify rant accordingly.)
(4) RAM. 128 MB isn’t even enough to run floating point calculations these days. If it’s going to run video, we’d better START at 256 and definitely make an offer to expand out to at least 1 GB. Then again, it’s not like this thing is running Apache and other assorted daemons and process apps in the background. Or is it?
(5) Bluetooth: I can see it now — the ultimate in universal remotes. All 50 lbs. of it there in your lap. Or integrated into the arm of your La-Z-Boy.
(6) G3 Processor? (see #4 above, modify accordingly)
