Apple NCs on the way?

According to rumors, Apple Computer will announce a new line of NetworkComputers (NCs) at the January MacWorld and will release the new machines"no later than March." Apple officials declined to comment.

The issue of Apple-branded NCs has come to forefront ever since NC championLarry Ellison joined the Apple Board of Directors last month. The combination of Rhapsody servers and lightweight NCs (similar to Microsoft'splans for multi-user NT Servers and CE 2.0-based NetPCs) is a natural forApple, which pioneered the concept of easy-to-use computing. Apple'srecent flip-flop on Newton indicates that such an NC might be based on theNewton OS.

According to MacWeek, however, the Apple NC will be powered by the PowerPC750 CPU, a relatively high-end chip, and run the MacOS. The units will cost$700-800 each