i'm wondering what the appropriate reply for the first post is to this thread. i figure it's either

a) I give Apple a thumbs up as this is the best possible thing they could do. Horray for Apple. Horray for Jobs. Boooo the rest of the known universe

or

b) APPLE IS TEH DOOMED


coffee, anyone?

Since this is a rumor site, I think the obvious thing to say is that this means Apple is going to release a third laptop option soon. I'd imagine it'll be the 'subnotebook' people were talking about.

Now that Apple has transitioned their product lineup to Intel, with no changes to cases save for the MacBook in a bid to not scare off Apple customers used to PowerPC, they can start to do more radical things with the case designs and product matrix.

Oh, yeah? Are you calling us childish? Well, your mother uses Dells! :P

I'm also hoping for a subnotebook, but I'm not optimistic about the chances of one. The fact is that Apple seems to have good-size holes in the middle of their lineups. There's a $500 difference between a black MacBook and a MacBook Pro and even more if you take out the premium for black. There's a huge, yawning crevasse between the most expensive iMac at $1700 and the basic Mac Pro at $2500 (stock configuration), more if you don't already own a screen for the Mac Pro to attach to. What's a person to do if he needs more than an iMac but can't justify another $800? Yeah, you can strip down the Mac Pro via BTO, but that still leaves the machine at over $2100 with a paltry 1GB of RAM and 160GB of storage. Not chicken feed, to be sure.

I'm all for a subnotebook. Will have to go to pc hardware + linux if one doesn't show up from apple within 6 months. 10" screen and optical drive is possible, look at the fujitsu p-series and the averatec 1000 and 1100 series - the 1100 has a dvd burner and is 3.4 lbs. They are pretty little beasts too. If you must, apple can toss out the optical drive, but clearly it can be done.