Official Apple Multi-touch 'Mac tablet' discussion, poll and mock-up thread.

Feeling EDGY? Take two MacTablets and call me in the morning?

THANK GOD

i was in desperate need of relief from the iphone

Yes.

Right on Ireland, I think I actually posted on this (among with many others) a while back. I think 10 inches would be the perfect size and maybe a 7 inch too, to round out the line. I believe one of the coolest features it could have, would be a picture viewing action when it was docked, maybe even with some sort of frame. It could even sync wirelessly while it charges in a dock in your house away from your computer.

kcd

There was a Newsweek (?) article a while back about the iPhone where it stated that during the big Microsoft tablet computer push, Apple indeed was going to respond with a tablet of there own. These patent sketches were part of that development process. Obviously, they took a lot of the ideas and applied them to the iPhone.

There's room for an Apple "tablet" like computer. Perhaps it is the rumored MacBook thin. But imaginary spec-wise:

11" 1152x768 resolution multi-touch screen
10.5 x 7 x 0.75 inch form factor
Full-size hardware keyboard
1.2 GHz Core 2 Duo
32 GB flash
1 SO-DIMM slot with 512 MB memory
BT/WiFi/HSDPA/WiFi radios
2 USB ports
Audio in/out ports
Min-DVI out.
No optical
No trackpad/nipple
$799

Why hardware keyboard? I don't think a soft keyboard UI would be there yet. Too many people feel the top of the keys to get themselves oriented while typing. That's a really tough piece of software to write...

Yeah, I was hoping for a Macbook sized 13" touch-screen computer but I've always wanted to see Apple make a 10-inch machine. I don't particularly agree with removing the optical drive though. If there's no keyboard and Sony can fit one on a 10-inch with a keyboard then I'm sure they can fit it in quite easily.


I don't see it being cheaper than the lowest Macbook but you never know. If it was cheaper, it would be a big hit in schools. I think it would be very popular in hospitals too. The processor, although slower isn't terrible. It's still dual 1.2GHz and the lowest Mini is dual 1.66GHz and it's fine for most things. It would be great to see a dual 1.83 though.

I think they can get rid of the keyboard as people can easily plug in a USB one.

I think it would also come with a magnetically latched fold over panel to prevent scratches.

The iPhone has me in it's spell. I voted yes.

1. I voted no.

2. It's a freaking 1.2 GHz Core 2 Duo! And it has to be an enclosed that's 0.75 inches thick. It really only can live in an enclosure thats 0.5 to 0.6 inches thick. That's 2 cores operating at 1.2 GHz. I chose it because it's the ultra low voltage version that has a TDP of something like 10 watts. It's fast enough and it's really really low power.

3. It's a price point slotted between the iPhone ($599) and the MacBook ($1099). You don't want it to have the same price as a iPhone or the MacBook

4. One could. But I'll take the extra 0.25" in thickness required to make it a laptop with a touchscreen and a unique folding mechanism to put it in a tablet form.

5. For a tablet, it probably needs to be less than 1 lb, maybe even 1 lb. I'm afraid all I've got are fantasy specs. For something of this size, 10+ inches, to weight less than one pound, it would require some ultra light weight materals. I don't think it really can be done...

Plug?\

PLUG?!

This is the early 21st Century, man! Get a hold of yourself!

Bluetooth!

And a STYLUS!!!!!!

V/R,
Aries 1B

Do you see the unrealized genius of the iPhone?

When Apple launched The Phone Everyone Wants, they also distributed the environmental test article for the Tablet to more than half a million testers and they made about 50% profit doing it!. Now they'll get real-world data on the durability of the materials, manufacturing techniques and packaging techniques that they'll use for The Tablet. My iPhone regularly notifies me that it's notifying Apple how things are going in/on my phone!

God those people are smart!

And I still want my STYLUS!

V/R,

Aries 1B

I didn't vote because you omitted many options on the tablet debate. But I don't think this one is going to happen. And actually I think that the size of that screen in the picture was just to throw people off. I think was intended for iPhone all along. This patent is only a year old. Apple has been working on the iPhone for that long at least.

Null.

I could be wrong, but anyway, the problem I see with a tablet is that by its' nature might need more processing power due to the graphical interface. Yet the market seems to want a lower priiced product.

Why not a small tablet, maybe 4" X 7" or there about? I see people in stores going around with devices about that size, apparently taking shelf inventory. A small touch screen table might be ideal for that job, and many other jobs to for that matter.

Null.

I think the iPhone has proven that you wouldn't need a hardware keyboard on a device like this. Granted it's not something you would want to write your thesis on, but that's not the what tablets are aimed at, and as Ireland said, just plug in a USB keyboard if you really need to.

There are YouTube clips of people already typing quite quickly and accurately on the iPhone. A larger touch interface would make it almost as fast as a regular board once you were used to it.

I think I remember seeing a handheld barcode reader plugged into these inventory devices. If the application put up a keypad, the user could enter the quantity easily. I think a 4 X 7 inch hard-faced tablet would be useful in business, as well as personal life. And it's small!

Null.

Null.

I guess no one likes my 4 X 7 tablet for scanning inventory. Hey, it could even have a built-in barcode reader, so the user doesn't need two pieces of hardware. Also a built in camera, so it's a large viewing screen camera. It could do the Google Maps too, and maybe even a GPS navigation option. It could dock in your car for finding places and trip planning along the road, with notification of traffic conditions.

Hell, I would take something like that over the iPhone. It's bigger and more readable, though I could read the tiny print on iPhone Maps without too much trouble. I've got a name for it too: the iPad.

Null.

I still don't think there needs to be a keyboard. Tactile feedback is good on a keyboard simply because you are looking in a different direction from where you are typing. On-screen keyboards can be as close as you like to where you type.

A physical keyboard can't be used with the machine at all in portrait mode so in the interests of keeping the dimensions down, I don't think it has to come with it. No hinge and therefore no extra plastic can reduce the thickness considerably.

The modbook doesn't have a keyboard built-in and it doesn't have multi-touch:

http://www.macworld.com/2007/01/firs...index.php?pf=1

One huge advantage I can see with a software-based keyboard is that one product is immediately international. No keyboard replacement required for China, Brazil etc.

Null.

Of course not, although in lectures, I wrote out notes faster than I could type them so I went with pen and paper so I think that handwriting would be used a lot. For the likes of essays, you'd probably use an external keyboard but I don't see how that would be any different from a touch keyboard. As a lot of people are finding out with the iphone, touch typing isn't any harder than using a physical keyboard, it just takes getting used to.

You get fold-up keyboards if you need portability.


I agree but I don't think this would be as long as the CPU was fast enough. If they just remove the keyboard and trackpad, you basically have a portable touch-screen iMac.

I can live with a slate that has a sensible mobile dock to turn it into a erzatz notebook.

A MT slate really only needs to last a couple hours by itself so can have a slimmer battery. A second battery in the base with keyboard, optical drive and HDD that allows for a slim, very light slate with a SSD would be very nice. The weight of the larger battery, HDD, and other stuff should help offset the weight of sticking the CPU/GPU into the slate body to make it less tippy than it would otherwise be.

Vinea

Slewis: you've taken to posting my thoughts for me, and I appreciate that. Saves time .

I guess I'll dredge up my old form factor rant, haven't used it for a while now....

There are things that fit in your pocket, like the iPhone. They are great, because you can literally have them on you at all times.

Then there are laptops. They're great, because they provide a full computing experience in a portable form factor.

And then there is the endlessly championed "in-between" something something that never seems to go anywhere. Why is that?

Because as soon as you get bigger than pocket size, you've left behind the "always have it on you" advantage, and you might as well go straight to the "full computing experience" level, AKA a sub-portable laptop.

I don't want to carry around a 5x7 thing that has all of the compromises of a handheld without being pocket sized, anymore than I want to carry around a 8x10 thing that has most of the bulk of a sub-notebook without having all the functionality.

That's the reason there isn't any natural "middle ground" between pocket sized and sub-notebook sized: either it fits in my shirt pocket, or it doesn't, in which case the next logical size is "big enough to accommodate a keyboard."

So, OK, you say, I want a sub-notebook sized tablet. And I say, once I have a form factor that accommodates a more-or-less full sized keyboard, why do I want to leave that off?

Because a keyboard is so incredibly heavy and massive? It just isn't. And what do you get in trade-off (and it's always about trade-offs) for your slightly thicker, slightly heavier has-a-real-keyboard sub-laptop? Much, much, much more functionality.

For a pure tablet to justify jettisoning a physical keyboard, it would have to offer a great deal of size or weight advantages in order to offset all that functionality, and it doesn't.

But, you say, iPhone shows us the wonders of a virtual keyboard! But what iPhone shows us is how smart UI designers can make a virtue of a limitation and cram functionality in that all-important "fits in my pocket" segment. Once we leave that behind, that's pointless.

I'm with Slewis-- I would be interested in a tablet/sub-notebook hybrid that lets me carry around a tablet if I just want to look at the internet or watch a movie, but provides a proper keyboard when I want to use a real computer. For that huge improvement in convenience, I am willing to add a few ounces and .25" of thickness. Who wouldn't-- it's basically a win-win.

Just fixating on the "coolness" of a pure tablet doesn't take into account some pretty basic truths about how people use computers.

Null.

Null.

I'm in favor of an Apple Tablet like a lion is in favor of fresh meat.(Grrrrr!)

V/R,
Aries 1B

Null.