3G MacBook Never Meant To See The Light of Day?

[TwisTtheTwiTcH]

Another interesting hobby besides modifying consoles is one that involves collecting consoles and games which were never released, or ones that were not supposed to fall into public hands. This article is about a Macbook that was never supposed to see the light of day.

Back on the first of September a private investigator hired by Apple arrived a Carl Frega’s home to reclaim the unreleased MacBook. What makes this particular MacBook interesting is that beneath the metal shell, a slot for a SIM card was found. The side of the screen holds a sliding 3G antenna, right where Apple’s patents said it would be. This MacBook was in development back whenever the first iPhone was released, so it is interesting that it has taken so long for this to surface.

Carl Frega purchased the nonworking MacBook for parts off of Craigslist, with the intent of using it for parts for his own repair business or as it turns out making it operational and trying to sell it. A new hard drive, a MacBook battery, and two sticks of RAM were some of the known parts that were invested into the computer.

The eBay auction Frega created to sell the MacBook called it a “Unreleased Prototype” and the bids soared, and exceeded $70,000. Apple contacted eBay directly, and eBay in turn had the auction taken down after the item had been bought. Frega has since then had to go to small claims court over the unruliness of the unhappy buyer.

Whenever Frega asked Apple to supply any proof that the device belonged to them, the answer they gave was the serial number is theirs, and thus the hardware is property of Apple.

-TwisTtheTwiTcH

Images by: eBay
Caption by: Josh Lowensohn of cNet



“An eBay user is selling what is claimed to be a fully functional 15-inch notebook from 2007 that sports a built-in 3G antenna on the lid. It's the very same spot Apple's displayed a cellular broadband antenna on multiple patents dating back to 2008, despite never having shipped a notebook with such a feature.”
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“For all intents and purposes, the computer looks totally normal to Apple's MacBook Pro circa 2007.”
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“And here's what's different: a 3G antenna sticking up from the right side of the notebook's lid, the same spot where it's been depicted on Apple patents.”
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“A close-up of the pull-out antenna, which has been marked as a prototype with a permanent marker.”
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“Just like a mobile phone, the prototype notebook has a slot for SIM cards to let users connect the machine to a wireless cellular data network.”
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“The SIM slot from inside the machine, with wiring held tight with clear tape.”
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“The circuit board from within the machine, which is bright red, typical of Apple's prototype hardware. The seller also notes that parts of it are hand-soldered.”
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“More red circuit board, as well as an optical drive that's marked as being a sample "for evaluation only."”
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“While the computer sports a serial number, missing is an EMC number, the unique identifier Apple uses for its computer lines. In this case it's "XXXX."”
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“The "fully functioning" notebook otherwise has the same specs of Apple's notebooks back then, which according to the seller includes:
Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz Dual-Core Processor, 4MB L2 Cache
2GB DDR2 RAM (2x 1GB Modules, Expandable to 6GB)
320GB Hard Drive
15.4" Widescreen LCD Display, 1440 x 900 resolution
Slot-load 8x SuperDrive Multiformat DVD-RW Burner
nVidida GeForce 8600m Video with 256MB Dedicated Memory
10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet
Dual-Link DVI Video Out
Built-in iSight Webcam
AirPort Extreme 802.11n Wireless
LED Backlit Keyboard with Ambient Light Sensors
ExpressCard/34 Expansion Slot
Built-in Bluetooth 2.1
2x USB 2.0 ports”

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“The 3G antenna showing up in Apple's system information utility as "Dynastream ANT2USB"
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“Despite not working with SIM cards that have been plugged in, the buyer demos that the 3G networking hardware is, in fact, identified.”
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Images by: eBay
Caption by: Josh Lowensohn of cNet

[Bonz]

great post.  i've always wondered why there was no 3g in the mac laptops.  to bad this one didn't come into my shop i'd have bought it in a second (i work at an apple warranty depo) now i want to see the Imac touchscreen proto type =)

[zack247]

its kind of hard to believe that they wouldnt want something like this released.
imagine what the sales would have been like if they did..

[Bonz]

its kind of hard to believe that they wouldnt want something like this released.
imagine what the sales would have been like if they did..

i think you'd be surprised how little mac users that buy the cheapest mac laptop would care about 3g it would drive up the price and that would defeat the point... 3g would sell really on 15" macbook pro's.  Now i think 3g should really be in the air i think that would be a great feature on the air

[TwisTtheTwiTcH]

Well at least they would be able to sell three of each to Robin. Next we'll see the MacBook Pro 4GLTE

-TwisT

[Bonz]

i think i am gonna log on to apple gsx and run that SN see what comes up... i'll post the results

[Bonz]

well that was boring literately no information... i basically got a google "did you mean" response