What is the likelyhood of this happening? It would be excellent for portability. I would buy one just for class. A rugged mobile mac with tablet-esce features would sell like hot cake to the student population.
for those of you who are yearning for a mac version of a tablet, i ask how many of you have used a tablet pc? we had one in our office for a while (pre-release). what i've observed is that they're fun to play with for a while, but when the novelty wears off, the tablet aspect of it just isn't that compelling. sure you can doodle on them while you're in a meeting, but that's not worth the extra money.
and what ends up happening with the tablets i've seen is that they spend probably 90% of their time in regular laptop formation. the other 10% is on airplanes and showing people what it can do. but it's just simply not all that useful as a computing interface if you know how to type. i'm sure the paradigm of what they can do could change, but right now, they're mostly just a nice novelty for folks with a lot of extra money.
We need a new way of inputting information in our machines. Before the typewriter we used pen to take notes and write information down. the typewriter introduced a method of doing the same thing but much quicker once you learned how to type. Computers are still using this. Why would we go back to writing out all our information? It's slower, using processing power better applied to other things, and impractical for something as big as a tablet (ignoring the benefits on smaller devices such as palm sized PDAs). Voice input is great but not so hot for taking notes in meetings or inputting information in spreadsheets, etc. Tomorrows input devices will most likely still be touch based, but nothing like the QWERTY flat keyboards he have now. Apple knows this and we'll see some great input devices from them in the coming years. You can't possibly think the BT Keyboard and mouse are the epitome of superior input design.
We need a new way of inputting information in our machines. Before the typewriter we used pen to take notes and write information down. the typewriter introduced a method of doing the same thing but much quicker once you learned how to type. Computers are still using this. Why would we go back to writing out all our information? It's slower, using processing power better applied to other things, and impractical for something as big as a tablet (ignoring the benefits on smaller devices such as palm sized PDAs). Voice input is great but not so hot for taking notes in meetings or inputting information in spreadsheets, etc. Tomorrows input devices will most likely still be touch based, but nothing like the QWERTY flat keyboards he have now. Apple knows this and we'll see some great input devices from them in the coming years. You can't possibly think the BT Keyboard and mouse are the epitome of superior input design.
Excellent points all around. We, too, tested an early version of the Compaq/HP tablet, and while it was ok, the speech recognition did not cut it for our intended audience - doctors. Nope, it got most of the terminology wrong. Sure, the demonstrator spoke the Constitution, but when you are speaking medical terminology, it misses the boat.
I want apple not to discontinue the laptop, or start a new product by adding a tablet to the lineup, but to be able to flip a PowerBook into a tablet. Have any of you seen Alias Sctechbook? What an app, and it would make an excellent bundled Application for a Mac tablet.
Comments
and what ends up happening with the tablets i've seen is that they spend probably 90% of their time in regular laptop formation. the other 10% is on airplanes and showing people what it can do. but it's just simply not all that useful as a computing interface if you know how to type. i'm sure the paradigm of what they can do could change, but right now, they're mostly just a nice novelty for folks with a lot of extra money.
Notice Amorph's discussion in
this thread
Originally posted by Outsider
We need a new way of inputting information in our machines. Before the typewriter we used pen to take notes and write information down. the typewriter introduced a method of doing the same thing but much quicker once you learned how to type. Computers are still using this. Why would we go back to writing out all our information? It's slower, using processing power better applied to other things, and impractical for something as big as a tablet (ignoring the benefits on smaller devices such as palm sized PDAs). Voice input is great but not so hot for taking notes in meetings or inputting information in spreadsheets, etc. Tomorrows input devices will most likely still be touch based, but nothing like the QWERTY flat keyboards he have now. Apple knows this and we'll see some great input devices from them in the coming years. You can't possibly think the BT Keyboard and mouse are the epitome of superior input design.
Excellent points all around. We, too, tested an early version of the Compaq/HP tablet, and while it was ok, the speech recognition did not cut it for our intended audience - doctors. Nope, it got most of the terminology wrong. Sure, the demonstrator spoke the Constitution, but when you are speaking medical terminology, it misses the boat.
Novelty still at this point.
Originally posted by bunge
People want a tablet so they can sit on the couch and browse the web.
I want a tablet so I can sit on my couch and browse porn!
Originally posted by bunge
People want a tablet so they can sit on the couch and browse the web.
This could be done with a laptop
Originally posted by Rhumgod
I do it all the time with my 17incher and Airport Base Station. Awesome!
Originally posted by Akumulator
Mmmmm, wide body model, to boot.
Originally posted by Rhumgod
Mmmmm, wide body model, to boot.
I want apple not to discontinue the laptop, or start a new product by adding a tablet to the lineup, but to be able to flip a PowerBook into a tablet. Have any of you seen Alias Sctechbook? What an app, and it would make an excellent bundled Application for a Mac tablet.