That's even worse, ergnomically speaking -- One-handed keyboards are too slow/awkward. One of the problems with the laptop/notepad dichotomy is that typing is clearly better, but it isn't always possible --ie when standing & holding your computer in which case a notepad is much better. But if the notepad gets too big, then it's nearly as much of a pain as trying to juggle a notebook. I don't see a useful tablet any bigger than a letter-size sheet folded in half. It wouldn't be pocketable (except in a lab coat where it might be most useful), but it'd be small enough to hold with one hand and write with the other. If it were made light, thin (a half inch) and durable, you'd get a useful information-gathering notepad device. Still big enough to view useful pages, but small enough to work like an old fashioned notebook.
You'd still need a PDA for go everywhere functionality. However, your mobile phone may soon absorb most of that functionality. Sony may be the closest to the perfect lightweight notebook/notepad hybrid with it's picturebook. The formfactor is pretty damn close, but the technology is wrong. It's too fragile, and battery life is too short for it to fulfill our proposed function.
What to do? Take the picturebook format. Juggle the keyboard layout a tad -- so that the letters remain full-size but the numbers, tabs, F-keys, etc... are slightly reduced in size. Let the keyboard swing right around (the same as the open pages of a paperback held in one hand) when you want to use it as a notepad. Some circuitry would recognize this mode and auto-disable the keyboard. Use a smaller 1.8" HDD (the 5GB is OK), with a bigger cache (so it spins less). Find a lower power chip (perhaps a new Sahara down-clocked a tad). Same firewire charging scheme as iPod. A USB port. A decent amount of RAM, and one of those new litium polymer batteries. No optical drive. Lightweight polycarbonate plastic, completely sealed against dust and moisture. All no bigger (or thicker) than a 5.5"x8.5" spiral-bound notebook.
It's lighter than 3 pounds, has to be under two. Uses iBook level procs/vid/IO, but with a smaller (less power hungry) HDD and display. The rest is all battery, the li-Poly can be molded so as to fill out all the empty space with energy cells. It's not fast, but it should run OSX, office and internet well. It's rugged b/c of a minimum of moving/openable parts. It has very long battery life (from 12-16 hours) And it's cheaper than a full-fledged notebook at about 999. I think it's doable. If an iBook costs 1299, the use of a smaller screen and HDD, the loss of an optical drive, and the resultant simpler internal design would make it possible.
But would you or anyone buy it? If it were no bigger than the pre-described spiral bound notebook, ran OSX, were nearly instant on, were rugged, and no more than 999? I think I'd still just get an iBook. I don't know what kinda midgets you guys are, but the iBook is small enough. Unless they can make it extremely light, small, portable, rugged, long running, and dual functioning (notepad & keyboard) I see no reason to get a sub-powerbook instead of an ibook.
Frankly I don't notice any difference between 3 and 5 pounds. Nor do I, spacewise, have trouble carrying an iBook size device in any bag that would be needed to carry a sub-notebook.
You'd still need a PDA for go everywhere functionality. However, your mobile phone may soon absorb most of that functionality. Sony may be the closest to the perfect lightweight notebook/notepad hybrid with it's picturebook. The formfactor is pretty damn close, but the technology is wrong. It's too fragile, and battery life is too short for it to fulfill our proposed function.
What to do? Take the picturebook format. Juggle the keyboard layout a tad -- so that the letters remain full-size but the numbers, tabs, F-keys, etc... are slightly reduced in size. Let the keyboard swing right around (the same as the open pages of a paperback held in one hand) when you want to use it as a notepad. Some circuitry would recognize this mode and auto-disable the keyboard. Use a smaller 1.8" HDD (the 5GB is OK), with a bigger cache (so it spins less). Find a lower power chip (perhaps a new Sahara down-clocked a tad). Same firewire charging scheme as iPod. A USB port. A decent amount of RAM, and one of those new litium polymer batteries. No optical drive. Lightweight polycarbonate plastic, completely sealed against dust and moisture. All no bigger (or thicker) than a 5.5"x8.5" spiral-bound notebook.
It's lighter than 3 pounds, has to be under two. Uses iBook level procs/vid/IO, but with a smaller (less power hungry) HDD and display. The rest is all battery, the li-Poly can be molded so as to fill out all the empty space with energy cells. It's not fast, but it should run OSX, office and internet well. It's rugged b/c of a minimum of moving/openable parts. It has very long battery life (from 12-16 hours) And it's cheaper than a full-fledged notebook at about 999. I think it's doable. If an iBook costs 1299, the use of a smaller screen and HDD, the loss of an optical drive, and the resultant simpler internal design would make it possible.
But would you or anyone buy it? If it were no bigger than the pre-described spiral bound notebook, ran OSX, were nearly instant on, were rugged, and no more than 999? I think I'd still just get an iBook. I don't know what kinda midgets you guys are, but the iBook is small enough. Unless they can make it extremely light, small, portable, rugged, long running, and dual functioning (notepad & keyboard) I see no reason to get a sub-powerbook instead of an ibook.
Frankly I don't notice any difference between 3 and 5 pounds. Nor do I, spacewise, have trouble carrying an iBook size device in any bag that would be needed to carry a sub-notebook.
IBL!
IBL!
) release such a beast, in fact it is my secret desire that one day Apple will dissolve it's desktop line in favour of an all portable/semi-portable lineup. After using a desktop for sometime I find them to be an incredible waste of space and an annoying obstruction to my work routine. One of the reasons I have been a Powerbook fan is because I hate having to regularly fight with clunky keyboards and mice, large monitors and towers which hog my desk leaving me barely enough room to fit a cup of coffee, let alone notepads and books from which I work. I really like the ability of sitting down to a small compact machine that leaves me plenty of room for my non-digital work tools! As they say, "size matters"!! 
