Well matte screen LCD's do the same, easy to read.
Let's not inject that Teckstud matte-screen drama back into these threads.
Having a matte-screen is not the issue. The e-ink (like regular paper-ink) requires no real backlighting so it's different than constantly watching a brightly-lit (regardless of adjustment) panel with black fonts. And like a regular book, if you want to read it at night, simply turn on a nice lamp somewhere and read away. The light source is better if it comes from somewhere else than shining at one's face.
And because it does not need backlighting, battery life is greatly improved. Power is only used to switch the "dots" to black or white. Once switched, no power is needed for it. Since these new readers are touch-aware, I would think some more juice will be used simply to sense for fingers but I think that is still minimal compared to having to run a light source.
I think this is the most pertinent point - e-readers are toasters. They are specific to one task only, and yes, I'm sure a lot of them do it well. But would you really spend hundreds of dollars to avoid carrying round a newspaper, for goodness sake? It's got to be heavier than or as heavy as a newspaper, doesn't fold up and it matters if it gets damaged. Yes, you can have multiple newspapers on it, but honestly, $500 - $700 for a newspaper replacement????
A kindle-type thing - one designed to replace normal books is perhaps more relevant - carrying a lot of books can be heavy and bulky, but again - it's very specific. Isn't there more utility in an approximately similarly sized device that allows you to read books, read newspapers, listen to music, surf the web, send and receive emails, watch movies, play games, catch up with 'social media' and produce documents???
Granted not everyone wants or needs all of that, and for those that just want to reduce the weight in their luggage for when they want to go on holiday the Sony eReader or Kindle are just great.
Me, I'm an 'everything in one package' kind of guy - and a techno-geek, lol - so I'm all up for an Apple uber-mega-slate-tastic device. Plus, you absolutely KNOW it's going to be very very cool.
People are wanting 64GB to 160GB in an Apple tablet with full 1080p video for under $500 so the Que seems to be failing right out of the gate.
I can see how the 8.5?x11? display might work at first thought since that is what notebook paper is, but that is only B/W, seems to have no video and not only doesn?t count for the margins on an 8.5?x11? piece of paper it has very large frame around it. For exclusively newspaper reading it looks to be nice, but I don?t think we?ll be hearing about the Que by the summer.
Just a thought, but the size might preclude it from the world market... The rest of the world is metric (what happened to the progress in the US towards this?) and standard paper is A4.
My wife's Kindle is actually impressive for reading, yet I did spend some coin to buy that thing. If you haven't ever seen the e-ink in person, you are truly missing out. The Kindle is an excellent book replacement, and not anything like reading an LCD/LED/OLED (or anything lit up for that matter.)
The thing about pricing, I'm guessing the Tablet will sit just below a Macbook, probably only $50-$75 cheaper. If it has cheap 3G coverage or even free, then it will cost more than a Macbook.
There is no viable market for a tablet costing as much as an Apple laptop. A very select few would be interested and despite Apple being a premium brand, I don't imagine the company is thinking niche market right now.
There is no reason for Apple to have to charge such outlandish amounts if they are smart about this. Stay away from a large device with limited appeal and all Apple has to do is follow up the wildly successful Touch with a similar unit that takes the whole form factor up a notch or two in size, with a modest jump in price, not a huge leap.
The way I see it, there is a market for a device costing closer to $500 which amounts to a larger version of the Touch. As such, if such a demand exists, why would Apple ignore that space and instead bring out a niche product with the potential to fail? Down the road, with the more obvious untapped market covered, sure, expand with a more expensive niche item. But with so much potential for a Touch with a screen in the 5-inch to 7-inch range, that can't possibly be a category that Apple would put aside to build a pricey, large tablet, I mean slate, for a select few. The larger slate would be something like a halo project that you'd build to up your brand's rep. But what good is a halo product if there is no mass-appeal item to go right along with it? It would be as if Apple had decided to build the MacBook Air but not the other laptops. There is a reason why the Air came later. Besides, if everybody jumps on the touchscreen band wagon, look for prices to steadily decline which means a couple of years from now the cost of making a larger slate will be significantly reduced. While Apple is innovative, it has also been prone to letting other manufacturers take a stab at a category first, stumble around, and then step in with a better product. It's not as if Apple invented the smart phone but it does make arguably the best smart phone.
A rational follow-up to the Touch is what I think we'll see next from Apple and a large, pricey slate isn't it.
Has anyone else noticed that nearly every new notebook at CES is using Apple's chicklet keyboard design. Appears its becoming the standard keyboard design. MS is even using it for their new Arc keyboard.
There is no viable market for a tablet costing as much as an Apple laptop. A very select few would be interested and despite Apple being a premium brand, I don't imagine the company is thinking niche market right now.
.
I recall lots of people saying how the MacBook Air was not going to sell, among many other less than positive statements. It sold very well. I also recall how people complained that the iPods and iPhone were overpriced, etc, but they seem to have sold quite well, too.
I think the Apple Pad or whatever they choose to call it will sell very well. I know I'll buy one.
This has to be one of the more disappointing CES shows I've seen. I'm always excited to see new TV technology, improved displays, some new innovations in GUI or hardware. The detachable laptops are worse than a joke. Thurrott posted like they were the 2nd coming. So I wasted time wading through youtube videos. When I saw the plastic junk with the GUI that lagged far behind the finger input, I was........stunned. This year is flooded full of mediocrity. I don't think Apple will have any trouble beating these uninspiring and tasteless companies.
I suspect the dilemma for them all is trying to anticipate Apple in so many areas yet not go too far out on a limb so as to be seen to have gone in the wrong direction if they have. I can imagine the tech spies must all have one mission these days, they're probably as numerous as Washington lobbyists around Infinite Loop. I chuckle imagining massage therapists, sushi waitresses etc. all undercover spies there for HP, Dell M$ and the all non-inovative companies. There must be a movie in this somewhere ...
I recall lots of people saying how the MacBook Air was not going to sell, among many other less than positive statements. It sold very well. I also recall how people complained that the iPods and iPhone were overpriced, etc, but they seem to have sold quite well, too.
I think the Apple Pad or whatever they choose to call it will sell very well. I know I'll buy one.
Yep you are correct I think. To all the morons that claim we Mac fans would buy anything Apple make, this is not true we are very discerning and it is simply because the products are insanely great that we do.
BTW, I dropped my beloved iBook G4, used for web and mail when not on my Mac Pro last week . It is kaput ... my wife refuses to believe this wasn't timed to justify a new Tablet! It is pure coincidence I tell you, really.
I hope it has an e-ink to color display with a kindle app. Then I ebay my Kindle 2 and say hello to iSlate.
I've never seen e-ink in action. Reading about it I see it claims to give a reading on paper experience. Is it really better? Given I find reading a Mac computer screen preferable to paper I wonder if this is the case. You seem to be a fan, I obviously will have to see for myself.
I had seemingly endless debates here with anti-MBA bashers; am prepping for endless debates with iSlatePodTabletWhatever.
LOL. I am actually trying to buy a another defunct 12" iBook G4 to cannibalize for parts but they are bastards to open up so I dread the process.
Anyone have one out there? I will need a working keyboard and HD - hopefully that's all.
I suspect the debate won't be too harsh, like the iPhone I have a feeling sales will be pretty good and the debates will be from the dark side as usual as to why their Windows 7 slates are superior. I doubt any Mac user will doubt it, although many will probably struggle mightily to justify one if they have a MacBook.
The 19th Century called and want their Black & White back. I'm not paying hundreds of dollars if I'm not even ***** getting a color screen. WTF?
*Sigh* looks like physical paper/ magazine/ books as well as laptops and netbooks will still be around over the next few years.
This eReader stuff is garbage. CES has been a big letdown for me. Not that I was expecting much in the first place! Sure, call me an Apple zealot, I'm typing this from a Windows PC with a Samsung 21" screen and Microsoft wireless keyboard and Logitech mouse, so whatever.
And they're all contributing to even more different, competing standards and DRM of e-publications...!!! ???
And if the fabled Apple tablet functions as an e-reader with content available from iTunes, you don't think it's going to be wrapped in Fairplay DRM or some other Apple-specific DRM that renders it incompatible with every other e-reader device on the market? If you going to complain about this, at least admit that Apple WILL be contributing to the problem as well.
And if the fabled Apple tablet functions as an e-reader with content available from iTunes, you don't think it's going to be wrapped in Fairplay DRM or some other Apple-specific DRM that renders it incompatible with every other e-reader device on the market? If you going to complain about this, at least admit that Apple WILL be contributing to the problem as well.
Apple is at least a completely different platform. It's amazing to see the Windoze world work against itself so hard.
Comments
Well matte screen LCD's do the same, easy to read.
Let's not inject that Teckstud matte-screen drama back into these threads.
Having a matte-screen is not the issue. The e-ink (like regular paper-ink) requires no real backlighting so it's different than constantly watching a brightly-lit (regardless of adjustment) panel with black fonts. And like a regular book, if you want to read it at night, simply turn on a nice lamp somewhere and read away. The light source is better if it comes from somewhere else than shining at one's face.
And because it does not need backlighting, battery life is greatly improved. Power is only used to switch the "dots" to black or white. Once switched, no power is needed for it. Since these new readers are touch-aware, I would think some more juice will be used simply to sense for fingers but I think that is still minimal compared to having to run a light source.
A kindle-type thing - one designed to replace normal books is perhaps more relevant - carrying a lot of books can be heavy and bulky, but again - it's very specific. Isn't there more utility in an approximately similarly sized device that allows you to read books, read newspapers, listen to music, surf the web, send and receive emails, watch movies, play games, catch up with 'social media' and produce documents???
Granted not everyone wants or needs all of that, and for those that just want to reduce the weight in their luggage for when they want to go on holiday the Sony eReader or Kindle are just great.
Me, I'm an 'everything in one package' kind of guy - and a techno-geek, lol - so I'm all up for an Apple uber-mega-slate-tastic device. Plus, you absolutely KNOW it's going to be very very cool.
People are wanting 64GB to 160GB in an Apple tablet with full 1080p video for under $500 so the Que seems to be failing right out of the gate.
I can see how the 8.5?x11? display might work at first thought since that is what notebook paper is, but that is only B/W, seems to have no video and not only doesn?t count for the margins on an 8.5?x11? piece of paper it has very large frame around it. For exclusively newspaper reading it looks to be nice, but I don?t think we?ll be hearing about the Que by the summer.
Just a thought, but the size might preclude it from the world market... The rest of the world is metric (what happened to the progress in the US towards this?) and standard paper is A4.
My wife's Kindle is actually impressive for reading, yet I did spend some coin to buy that thing. If you haven't ever seen the e-ink in person, you are truly missing out. The Kindle is an excellent book replacement, and not anything like reading an LCD/LED/OLED (or anything lit up for that matter.)
The thing about pricing, I'm guessing the Tablet will sit just below a Macbook, probably only $50-$75 cheaper. If it has cheap 3G coverage or even free, then it will cost more than a Macbook.
There is no viable market for a tablet costing as much as an Apple laptop. A very select few would be interested and despite Apple being a premium brand, I don't imagine the company is thinking niche market right now.
There is no reason for Apple to have to charge such outlandish amounts if they are smart about this. Stay away from a large device with limited appeal and all Apple has to do is follow up the wildly successful Touch with a similar unit that takes the whole form factor up a notch or two in size, with a modest jump in price, not a huge leap.
The way I see it, there is a market for a device costing closer to $500 which amounts to a larger version of the Touch. As such, if such a demand exists, why would Apple ignore that space and instead bring out a niche product with the potential to fail? Down the road, with the more obvious untapped market covered, sure, expand with a more expensive niche item. But with so much potential for a Touch with a screen in the 5-inch to 7-inch range, that can't possibly be a category that Apple would put aside to build a pricey, large tablet, I mean slate, for a select few. The larger slate would be something like a halo project that you'd build to up your brand's rep. But what good is a halo product if there is no mass-appeal item to go right along with it? It would be as if Apple had decided to build the MacBook Air but not the other laptops. There is a reason why the Air came later. Besides, if everybody jumps on the touchscreen band wagon, look for prices to steadily decline which means a couple of years from now the cost of making a larger slate will be significantly reduced. While Apple is innovative, it has also been prone to letting other manufacturers take a stab at a category first, stumble around, and then step in with a better product. It's not as if Apple invented the smart phone but it does make arguably the best smart phone.
A rational follow-up to the Touch is what I think we'll see next from Apple and a large, pricey slate isn't it.
Has anyone else noticed that nearly every new notebook at CES is using Apple's chicklet keyboard design. Appears its becoming the standard keyboard design. MS is even using it for their new Arc keyboard.
Lenovo Skylight
MS Arc Keyboard
HP Envy 15
Sony Viao
LG
wow the hp envy looks exactly like a macbook pro
You might want to qualify your posts with “I speculate…”.
I speculate he is just about hit the nail on the head
Except the price .. I am totally unable to guess myself ... other than 799-999 range I suspect.
There is no viable market for a tablet costing as much as an Apple laptop. A very select few would be interested and despite Apple being a premium brand, I don't imagine the company is thinking niche market right now.
.
I recall lots of people saying how the MacBook Air was not going to sell, among many other less than positive statements. It sold very well. I also recall how people complained that the iPods and iPhone were overpriced, etc, but they seem to have sold quite well, too.
I think the Apple Pad or whatever they choose to call it will sell very well. I know I'll buy one.
wow the hp envy looks exactly like a macbook pro
Yep. The 'Copy Apple' folks simply have zero pride these days.
This has to be one of the more disappointing CES shows I've seen. I'm always excited to see new TV technology, improved displays, some new innovations in GUI or hardware. The detachable laptops are worse than a joke. Thurrott posted like they were the 2nd coming. So I wasted time wading through youtube videos. When I saw the plastic junk with the GUI that lagged far behind the finger input, I was........stunned. This year is flooded full of mediocrity. I don't think Apple will have any trouble beating these uninspiring and tasteless companies.
I suspect the dilemma for them all is trying to anticipate Apple in so many areas yet not go too far out on a limb so as to be seen to have gone in the wrong direction if they have. I can imagine the tech spies must all have one mission these days, they're probably as numerous as Washington lobbyists around Infinite Loop. I chuckle imagining massage therapists, sushi waitresses etc. all undercover spies there for HP, Dell M$ and the all non-inovative companies. There must be a movie in this somewhere ...
I recall lots of people saying how the MacBook Air was not going to sell, among many other less than positive statements. It sold very well. I also recall how people complained that the iPods and iPhone were overpriced, etc, but they seem to have sold quite well, too.
I think the Apple Pad or whatever they choose to call it will sell very well. I know I'll buy one.
Yep you are correct I think. To all the morons that claim we Mac fans would buy anything Apple make, this is not true we are very discerning and it is simply because the products are insanely great that we do.
BTW, I dropped my beloved iBook G4, used for web and mail when not on my Mac Pro last week
I had seemingly endless debates here with anti-MBA bashers; am prepping for endless debates with iSlatePodTabletWhatever.
I hope it has an e-ink to color display with a kindle app. Then I ebay my Kindle 2 and say hello to iSlate.
I've never seen e-ink in action. Reading about it I see it claims to give a reading on paper experience. Is it really better? Given I find reading a Mac computer screen preferable to paper I wonder if this is the case. You seem to be a fan, I obviously will have to see for myself.
A ghost must have shoved it...
I had seemingly endless debates here with anti-MBA bashers; am prepping for endless debates with iSlatePodTabletWhatever.
LOL. I am actually trying to buy a another defunct 12" iBook G4 to cannibalize for parts but they are bastards to open up so I dread the process.
Anyone have one out there? I will need a working keyboard and HD - hopefully that's all.
I suspect the debate won't be too harsh, like the iPhone I have a feeling sales will be pretty good and the debates will be from the dark side as usual as to why their Windows 7 slates are superior. I doubt any Mac user will doubt it, although many will probably struggle mightily to justify one if they have a MacBook.
*Sigh* looks like physical paper/ magazine/ books as well as laptops and netbooks will still be around over the next few years.
This eReader stuff is garbage. CES has been a big letdown for me. Not that I was expecting much in the first place! Sure, call me an Apple zealot, I'm typing this from a Windows PC with a Samsung 21" screen and Microsoft wireless keyboard and Logitech mouse, so whatever.
And they're all contributing to even more different, competing standards and DRM of e-publications...!!! ???
wow the hp envy looks exactly like a macbook pro
and unlike MBP's it's using the new i5 laptop CPU's at a very nice price
downside is that no internal optical drive
and unlike MBP's it's using the new i5 laptop CPU's at a very nice price
downside is that no internal optical drive
I'm pretty sure the MBP's will be updated soon. CES is just out of Apple's cycle.
And they're all contributing to even more different, competing standards and DRM of e-publications...!!! ???
And if the fabled Apple tablet functions as an e-reader with content available from iTunes, you don't think it's going to be wrapped in Fairplay DRM or some other Apple-specific DRM that renders it incompatible with every other e-reader device on the market? If you going to complain about this, at least admit that Apple WILL be contributing to the problem as well.
And if the fabled Apple tablet functions as an e-reader with content available from iTunes, you don't think it's going to be wrapped in Fairplay DRM or some other Apple-specific DRM that renders it incompatible with every other e-reader device on the market? If you going to complain about this, at least admit that Apple WILL be contributing to the problem as well.
Apple is at least a completely different platform. It's amazing to see the Windoze world work against itself so hard.