For any computer to sell that many units, it would have to be something mind-boggling and different, a computer unlike anything Apple (or any other company) has yet unveiled. What would/could/should such a system be like?

It wouldn't be a netbook or tablet, despite the cry from some quarters for Apple to make such devices. And it would have to be more earthshaking than, say, merely a Mac with a Blu-ray player.

Lots of folks have developed concepts of what future Macs might look like. Some of them are very cool and worth revisiting.

In 2006 MacFormat ran a "Macs of Tomorrow" section with an illustration by 3D artist Adam Benton that's one of the coolest mock-ups I've ever seen. It's pictured below and is a full wireless Mac with a LCD screen that's transparent when it's not being used. The transparent keyboard also sports light sensitive illuminated keys. And, I'm sure the display is touch sensitive.

Or perhaps Apple could release a Mac that changes colors. An Apple patent (number 20020190975) for just such technology appeared back in 2003. It involves "electronic devices that are capable of dynamically changing their ornamental or decorative housing." Besides looking cool, imagine a Mac that would change colors to alert to specific things. Say, it turns red when you have new email, blue when the latest system updates are installed, etc.

Or perhaps Macs with foldable screens. Actually, that's almost certainly going to happen eventually, but not in the immediate future. As far back as 2006, researchers at demonstrated a flexible television screen that could theoretically result in people folding up their computer and putting it in their pocket. And they updated the technology last year.

How about Macs with scent technology? Some companies are looking at aromatherapy and connected media to interlace viewing experiences with interactive scent products. How about a Mac with a scent generator that can release everything from popcorn smells as if the computer user were at the movies to beach scents to accompany the sound of water or music.

According to the Digital Scent Technology Blog, digital scent technology intends to change the interactive entertainment experience. The idea is to scent-enable movies, games, music, animation, or any digital media.

In fact in 2007, ScenTeck Technologies released its Scratch-N-Sniff Pro product that includes a System Scent Card that reacts to normal auditory sensors generated from a computer’s hard drive. These sensors, once triggered, are combined with Hriful’s proprietary Scent Waves, and then broadcast from computer speakers, replacing the standard vibrating sound waves with a unique vibrating tone. It’s an inaudible tone that asks the brain to recognize it, not as a sound, but as a scent.

Of course, any earthshakingly new Macs would have the latest technology -- including state-of-the-art graphics and Wireless USB -- and screaming processors.

The question, of course, is if it's possible for Apple to make a revolutionary -- and I mean a truly revolutionary Mac, not just an evolutionary one -- at a price point that would tempt millions of current or new users.

Still, I'd like to see Apple shake up the computer world (again) as it's shaken up the smartphone world in recent months.

What do you think a revolutionary Mac should entail?

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