A big MacBook Pro could conceivably replace the iMac, but it would be massively more expensive, if today's prices are any indication. If lack of a battery is what's keeping you from buying an iMac, get a UPS (uninterruptible power supply, i.e., a smart battery); a 24-inch iMac plus a good UPS would still be less expensive than a 17-inch MBP.

There's also a good reason why almost all laptop makers have stopped including PC card slots and expansion bays: Hi-speed USB and/or Firewire.

Apple is very conscious of price-points. A "jumbo MacBook" couldn't meaningfully replace the iMac in their line-up unless it could be offered at a comparable price ... and it can't.

The balance of computing power, good price, and portability is different for laptops than it is for desktops. That difference may shrink as the art continues to advance, but it's still there.

If you want to see what the next iMac form factor might look like, take a look at this keyboard PC concept Asus was showing off at CES:

http://www.geeky-gadgets.com/?p=8842

Wirless HDMI means the only cord you'd need to connect to this machine is the power cord. Everything else - from the mouse to USB to the monitor - could connect wirelessly. Although clearly there's room for a full set of connectors, if you did want to plug something in. The keyboard PC even comes with a built-in battery, so it can chug on for an hour or two even with the plug pulled.

I could see Apple going with a design like this - complete with a little multi-touch screen - for the next iMac.

The 17" MacBook Pro is large and barely portable as well as being expensive.

I think a better choice is a MacBook or MacBook Pro combined with a 22"-24" LCD. You gain better portability and probably a better monitor for less money.

I wouldn't trade it for the world. You netbook nerds have it wrong. Something bigger than that though is really not a laptop. It's a semiportable machine. I for one would worry about breaking a 22" 'laptop'. The stress on the frame would probably break that huge screen fairly easily unless it's in a bulky expensive titanium frame. We need to await the arrival of OLED (organic LED) screens in yield batches that offer up screens that large. They will be a quarter inch thick and one fourth of the weight of the LED panels of today. Possibly even flexible.

better choice for me. This laptop is more than fast enough to run my Word/Illustrator/Photoshop type apps. I wish I'd opted for a slightly smaller model, though. It's kind of large to lug around.

I'd suggest that iMacs have a place in households with kids -- you may not want your kid to be able to take their laptop into their room for inappropriate surfing. An iMac is not portable.

Apple will give you what THEY say YOU need, and you will LIKE it, OK!??!!?!

Seriously though, who's gonna lug around a 17LB laptop with a 20" screen? How will you put it on the tray in front of you on a plane?

Apple abandons more good ideas (Duo Dock, Newton, Firewire docking) than other companies never even come up with...

In the last month I've happened to have had occasion to both replace the DC-in board (power jack) on an aluminum powerbook and swap the hard drive out of my old Pismo G3 and boy do I appreciate what you're saying about the Wallstreet.

The Pismo was basically the Wallstreet plus firewire and minus one of the PC card slots. Swapping out the hard drive was about a 10-15 minute affair that anyone with modest tinkering ability could do. Years ago when something on one of the boards died I bought a used bottom half on eBay and swapped over the keyboard, memory, CPU, hard drive, DVD and display in about 1.5 hours.

Getting as far as the hard drive on the aluminum powerbook would have taken me about two hours; going as far as the DC-in board took just over three hours. Not for the faint of heart, either. Dozens of tiny screws and several places where I could have done crippling damage in there.

The aluminum book is much sturdier, though. The Pismo flexes, creaks and cracks, just not as solid. The new Unibody books are even tighter, no flex to speak of at all, but that much harder to get inside of. I don't think Apple wants to sacrifice any of that quality to get back the modularity.

Others have already pointed out the cost problems with having a jumbo MacBook replace the iMac. The duo is probably the best compromise, I'm mildly surprised Apple never revived it. Of course, with USB and Displayport, a formal dock is probably just added cost, redundant.

"..standards set by the 1978 WallStreet G3 Series PowerBook, "

I know it's a typo, but it's funny to think about.

Why a jumbo notebook at all? I use a white Macbook (not even a Pro) as a desktop replacement, and it's terrific. At home I use it connected to a 24" monitor, an external (Mac) keyboard, and a couple of backup drives (a Time Capsule, which is the home network router and NAS, and a WD MyBook). It's fast, stable, and runs all the software I need (Office, iWork, iLife, Adobe CS3, Opera, Safari, and other browsers). It disconnects from the external stuff in two seconds, and it's very portable.

Hardcore 3D gamers might find the video wanting, but those guys find any stock machine wanting (have a look at the custom game machine world, with liquid cooled motherboards and dual $500 video cards).

I couldn't quite understand your comments about the Duo, but I think you've got something there. I'd like to see a machine that has dual processors at a motherboard/docking connector that allows you to either use the system as a multiprocessor or as a portable and a desktop. I kind of see it as a tower that you can slide the laptop onto or into and it increases the processing capability. There'd be some tough work about how to keep file versions in sync and system software up to date, but it would be two computers for the price of one!