Mac Musings

Bring Back the Duo

Dale Critchley - 7 September 1999 -

While the world drools over the G4 and Apple sues the iMac plagiarists, it's time to innovate again. Apple can't rest on its iLaurels if it intends to remain the industry leader in innovation, but that doesn't mean they can't rest on previous innovation. So what's a creative leader to do? They've created the hands-down best laptops, both consumer (the iBook) and professional (the PowerBook G3), and no one can argue with the impressiveness of the G4 towers, so why not give the best of both worlds: the G4 Duo.

The Duo was a breakthrough machine. You could have your desktop and take it with you. I still get "oohs" from people who see the Duo 230 that serves as extra hard drive and portable lifesaver for the Quadra 800 in my office. If the iBook is "the iMac to go," the Duo is "Dine In or Carry Out."

Besides the innovative design, the Duo had several other nice extras. First, the power cord is the best laptop power cord I've seen. It wraps up on itself, is extendable, and holds up under a beating. I have the original power cord for it. My PowerBook 190cs, only three years old, is on his third power cord. Pathetic.

Also, besides the Dock, you could add a mini-dock for peripherals on the go. If you needed a SCSI port, floppy drive, or even a TV hookup, just pop on the appropriate mini-dock - redefining WebTV!

So how should Apple implement the G4 Duo? First, this is a business machine, so avoid the candy coating. Business people don't take light colors seriously, no matter how well it boosts morale. Something curvy like the current PowerBook G3 would be good, but removing the internal CD would make it even thinner. Black is popular, but opaque dark blue or green could still be considered stylish-yet-professional. Avoid metallics. They smudge too easily. Keep the single slot and built-in modem (and add an AirPort card), but move the slot to the bottom. Having the slot in the back isn't as sturdy. Mini-docks could instead rest on the bottom, causing better lap stability and less chance of damaged connections.

The G3 processor already dwarfs any PC laptop because of its reduced power requirement. Putting a G4 chip into a PowerBook would nail the coffin lid. With that kind of speed, the G4 Duo would be able to run an emulator like SoftWindows as fast as an unplugged Wintel laptop without ironing your pants - and for twice as long.

As for the dock, I'll leave it to Apple to decide how many slots they can fit on the motherboard, but if they really want to make it sing, allow space for another processor. The G4 can multiprocess, so why not make it available as an option? Allow space in this oversized pizza box for plenty of expansion: four drive bays, two each 3.5" and 5.25" for a second hard drive, Zip or Orb drive, a DVD and a CD ROM Drive. The second hard drive would have to be FireWire just to prevent bottlenecks on the multiprocessor model.

Remember that the docking port is on the bottom, so we'll have to change the design of the dock. This shouldn't be a problem. We've had auto-insert floppy drives for years. The same principle would work here. It could slide all the way in and be hidden by a door, which would also keep dust out. As far as case color, a translucent case would still reveal the wonder inside, but it might clash with the opaque 'Book. Use the same material for both.

So far, though, it's just taking a bunch of good ideas and mashing them together. Many people who've never seen a Duo will be impressed, but Apple's trademark is innovation, so this one needs something we've never seen before. That's where Apple comes in and I step back in awe. I spent two days trying to out-innovate Apple, but I can't do it, so I'll watch and wait, but if I wait somewhere else, I'm taking my Duo with me.