With the calendar flipping from one year to the next this retiring workweek , it ’s only natural to enquire what the next 365 twenty-four hour period have in storage . It ’s even more apprehensible if you ’re a Mac fan . After all , Macworld Expo brood just a week or so by , and with that yearly craft show come the promise of raw and exciting developments from Apple and beyond .

So for the preceding eight Januarys , we ’ve broken out the crystal formal and indulged in a trivial divination . We gather up the bright mind of the Mac universe and ask them to dig deep into their reservoir of cognition and expertise to determine which way the Mac market is headed .

Usually , they wind up just making wild guesses .

So without further ado , here ’s this year ’s edition of our unfearing prognosis from four Mac percipient hop to be capable to say the sweet words in the English language by this time next yr : I told you so .

Dan Frakes,Macworldsenior editor

A Mac subnotebook : Apple will ( at long last ) re-introduce a small , light laptop computer made for road warriors . Like elderly entrance in this market , such as thePowerBook 2400c , the fresh model will throw overboard an internal opthalmic ride to achieve a smaller sizing , but it will also feature unexampled engineering science that lease it slim down while providing unspoiled carrying into action and improved shelling life , such as a hearty - state voiceless driving , an light-emitting diode screen door , and a downcast - power processor .

A new screen background : Apple will ( finally ) give us a midrange , screenless Mac — something in between the Mac miniskirt and the Mac Pro — for the great unwashed who do n’t want an all - in - one desktop system . It will have a middling sinewy processor , a decent ( and upgradable ) graphics calling card , and way for a PCI placard and an extra laborious drive . This political machine will be great for “ switcher ” accustomed to such configurations on the Windows side , as well as for people who need upgradability but ca n’t yield — or just do n’t need — a Mac Pro . It will also be an excellent 2nd Mac for many in the Mac Pro grocery store .

A unexampled Mac marketplace : The debut of Leopard , along with a ecumenical dissatisfaction with Windows Vista , will open doors for the Mac in the go-ahead market . In fact , we ’ll see a few major U.S. companies switch to the Mac political platform — some gradually , but at least a couple in a major public migration . We ’ll also see a revitalisation of the Mac political program in high education .

Andy Ihnatko,Chicago Sun-Timestechnology and computer columnist, and formerMacworldcolumnist.

Apple ’s Modern platform : Look at the puzzle piece . A advanced , gesture - based user interface . OS X running on nontraditional devices . A new developer surroundings and API for iDevices that wassotricky that Apple could n’t release it or even hint at it until three month after the iPhone was free … and even then , only under duress . Features embedded in Mac OS that aid you invisibly tether two OS X devices ’ resource together , whether they ’re in the same elbow room or merely on the same planet . A movement from Apple to put the mass of its energy into consumer products and not computer product .

I ’m evenhandedly sure that 2008 will see an full fresh program . The iPhone is a phone , and the iPod touch is an iPhone without the speech sound stuff . The next i - Suffixwill be a totally new matter . Not a Mac … not really . An iPhone , kind of , but sort of not . Take the concealment off a MacBook and slice it in two vertically . That ’s the twist . It ’ll take on medium — admit Office documents , PDFs , and e - book — from its 16 GB of wink storage . It ’ll have Wi - Fi and the Safari web browser app … maybe even 3 G or EDGE , as with an iPhone . It will batten down - tunnel back to your home Mac or microcomputer , and you ’ll be able to utilize this matter to get at any imagination you might have left behind . It will put every digital resource you have at your fingertips , in one compact black slating .

It will incline aboriginal software , too . Curious , is n’t it , that in October Steve Jobs announced that Apple would n’t be acquire the wrapper off the iPhone developers ’ outfit until February ? It ’s almost as if the resources that are manifestly available in the SDK would have spilled the beans on the twist Steve intend to unveil during his Macworld Expo keynote in January .

peradventure I ’m slur - on with this . Maybe not . But I ’ll make one prediction about Apple ’s hot unexampled ware of 2008 that I ’ll stand behind without any waffling : whatever it is , the great unwashed will complain that it cost way too much money , and they ’ll blithely stand in line for a minimum of 18 hours to get one .

Dan Moren,Macworldassociate editor andMacUserco-editor

Why bribe when you could rent ? : People have become plenty comfortable with buy their medicine online , but sales of digital telecasting have remain lukewarm . Despite its bicker with message supplier like NBC , I expect to see a strong thrust from Apple on the digital video front in 2008 , probably involving a long - awaited update to the Apple television and a video - renting download service . ( Ed . line : Mr. Moren submitted this prevision before reports surfaced of a potential Apple - Fox iTunes film lease slew . ) And perhaps even another undefended letter from Steve Jobs , contain a list of his all - time favorite amorous comedies .

tinct the Mac : We ’ve seen an evolution in the Mac over the past couple of days , but it ’s been a while since we ’ve had a real revolution . With all the work Apple has put into the multitouch user interface , which has jumped from the iPhone to the iPod line , the Mac seems a likely next stop . I ’m guessing we ’ll see it in a portable form factor rather than a desktop . SorryMinority Reportfans ; you ’ll just have to waitress .

More iPhone development : Even if the iPhone is n’t the well - selling mathematical product Apple has , it ’s still the most iconic machine of the past year , inanyindustry . Look for Apple to capitalise on that momentum with a 2nd - contemporaries iPhone , base ( at last ) on 3 G wireless technology . But the literal doubtfulness remains “ Will the iPhone 2.0 ready me dinner ? ”

John Moltz,Crazy Apple Rumors Siteeditor in chief

A thinner laptop : At Macworld Expo in January , Steve Jobs will unveil a wafer - tenuous , 13 - inch Mac laptop based on flash memory , giving it 12 minute of assault and battery life . The resulting nerdgasm will shatter the glass outside of Moscone West .

NBC finds friend : More entertainment company will attempt to strong - branch Apple into raising Leontyne Price at the iTunes Store . Apple will then be forced to create its own content , and Jobs will form “ Stevie and the Apple Execs , ” a hip young son isthmus .

Look out , ModBook : Apple will liberate a tablet equipment with playpen - base remark capability . Strangely , the equipment will be called “ The First Person To Call It a Newton vex Socked in the Throat . ”

iPhone : The sequel : The next - generation iPhone will be released in the second quartern of the year . AT&T will remind client to promote by send them frequent text messages informing them that their original iPhones are no longer cool .

And one more matter … : Apple will preface another line of consumer products , this time in the realm of dental care . The Apple Toothbrush will include the first user - friendly program of DRM — dental rights direction . Using its patented FairBrush technology , each Apple Toothbrush will be locked to a single Apple ID . The equipment will be wildly popular because nobody likes it when someone else uses their toothbrush . Even John Dvorak will acclaim Apple ’s move .