Apple Prepares the Mini-Notebook with Flash Memory

Apple prepares to launch a new mini-notebook equipped with flash memory meant to replace the old fashioned hard discs, Macworld reported today. Because it is extremely fast, the flash memory can help the Mac computer boot fast and load applications quicker than the systems equipped with hard discs. Although the price of the upcoming flash memory based Mini-Notebooks must be significantly increased, the new platform can be a real success, Apple planning to launch the product in the second half of 2007, the same publication reported.

It seems like Apple could cancel the launch date if the flash memory producers don't cut prices on their products because the company tries to avoid a huge price of the Mini-Notebooks, an aspect able to set the course of the new product's evolution. Macworld quoted Shaw Wu, an analyst with American Technology Research, sustaining the prices of the flash memories are continuously dropping.

"However, the launch date could slip if NAND vendors don't continue to cut prices for flash memory, Wu said. The cost of NAND flash has dropped to seven or eight times the equivalent capacity in hard-disk drives, compared to 10 times as much last year, he said. In current costs, 32G bytes of storage costs $160 in NAND flash, compared to just $22 on hard drives.

"Through 2007, NAND flash in notebook PCs will likely be limited to the high-end/ultra-portable market," Wu said in the report. For the same reason, Apple will probably wait until late 2007 or early 2008 to change its last remaining hard-drive based iPod - the Video iPod - to NAND flash," Macworld sustained in the article.

The Apple representatives refused to comment the rumors but it's very possible that the use of a Mini-Notebook equipped with a flash memory will become a reality soon. Although the main disadvantage of the flash memory integration is the huge price, the increased loading time bundled with a very low battery usage represent two of the most attractive facts for the Apple fans.