Hot on the heels of buzz about a possible Mac tablet comes word that a long-rumored ultraportable Mac could be on the horizon, maybe even in time for Macworld in January. As with all the tablet talk, though, the ultraportable rumors have been bouncing around for months, so I'd take the news with a grain of salt.

AppleInsider (a reliable source in the past) reports that Apple will introduce a subnotebook Mac that's much slimmer and only half the weight of the current 15-inch, 5.4-pound MacBook Pro. The supposed new ultraportable would do away with an optical drive, and would replace a standard hard drive with NAND flash memory. Also on board would be a redesigned, energy-efficient 13-inch LCD with LED backlighting.

The rumor sounds quite enticing—as it did back in February, when AppleInsider first speculated that an ultraportable Mac could be in the offing. Personally, I think it's a great idea; I'd much rather slip a 2.7-pound subnotebook in my backpack than my 5.5-pound MacBook Pro. However, my guess is that there's been reluctance in Cupertino about dropping the optical drive, an essential move for slimming down the MacBook to ultraportable levels.

So let's hear it: would you be interested in an ultraportable Mac, even if it meant no optical drive?

Related:
Ultra-portable Apple notebook to splash down at Macworld Expo [AppleInsider]
Rumor: Apple Jumping Into Tablet Market [Yahoo! Tech]