Concept! Apple Tablet
I know many people do not want a tablet or see the need for such a tool. As a creative person in the CG field, I know many other artists who would buy one in an instant, if done right. However, the problem lies in the fact that the artist market is a niche within Apple's already niche market. Oh well at least one can dream...
Here is the link to the animated concept. Once there just click the link to download, it is about a 5Mb .zip file
http://www.pixelmojo.com
Cheers,
Gary Haus(a.k.a. Iksnoo)
Here is the link to the animated concept. Once there just click the link to download, it is about a 5Mb .zip file
http://www.pixelmojo.com
Cheers,
Gary Haus(a.k.a. Iksnoo)
Comments
Cheers,
Gary
Here is why: If Apple makes a tablet it shouldn't be just a tablet. It should be a laptop that turns into a tablet. I know its been done before, but it's 2 products in 1. That way you know your getting your moneys worth. Plus when your having a hard time transition-ing to your new tablet you'll always have your keyboard/laptop.
I like the Alias sketchbook pro interface you put on there, but if anything I think Apple should just bundle it with Alias sketchbook Pro, and have the interface cocoa-ed into the system, and give Alias some credit for it.
Crusader, if it is a tablet then it should be an easy "software " switch between landscape and portrait for general use, but I do agree that if you have a base it needs to plug into that in landscape mode.
Originally posted by chych
It can be a laptop, just plug it into a keyboard (that can be dock like).
SO you carry around 2 things instead of one? Not to mention the dock. NO that's not good typical ease of use Apple design. It's too cumbersome.
Originally posted by onlooker
SO you carry around 2 things instead of one? Not to mention the dock. NO that's not good typical ease of use Apple design. It's too cumbersome.
Ok, plug it into the keyboard, which has a hinge, and fold it, carry one thing. Don't really need a dock if the keyboard part can do the same. Hey, it's a laptop that you can separate the monitor from the keyboard and supports pen recognition.
I like the movie very much. It's very attractive. I would buy the product if it came out. It should be reasonably inexpensive (no optical drive) but it must be very rugged and have long battery life. Please re-read Amorph's posts on this topic on several other threads on this board.
I love the design on this. This is what I imagine an Apple tablet to be.
The new new iMac (3).
I think it looks superb. Not too far away.
My recent thoughts lean to Apple launching a 'big' iPod 'computer'. And this might be something like what I'm envisioning. Many PC owners won't buy a Mac but are buying the iPod in greater numbers. Would they buy an iPod 'Mac'?
I like the portrait mode (so you get to see an a4 page without requiring a 20 inch monitor...). I'm guessing when non-docked you could use it in horizontal mode too. Something like this could be great for iChat AV, for Apple's handwriting tech'...
I like this alot. If all Apple release on 24th Jan' is a G5 iMac with a design bump then a real opportunity would have been lost. I hope they do something more groundbreaking like this.
Lemon Bon Bon
I like the movie very much. It's very attractive. I would buy the product if it came out. It should be reasonably inexpensive (no optical drive) but it must be very rugged and have long battery life. Please re-read Amorph's posts on this topic on several other threads on this board.
Agreed.
It's stunning. I think I'd buy that.
Lemon Bon Bon
I'll buy one.
MSKR
I'd buy all these products - and I don't believe that it's only a niche market. HD-based MP3-players were a niche until iPod came....
I'd rather argue that it's not the demand that's lacking, but decent products - some of the Windows-based tablets were awefull failures.
Concerning the convertible vs. slate argument - it's "unworthy" in the age of bluetooth keybords.
I'am not an expert, but I can't imagine it to be too difficult to rip the keyboard out of the existing PowerBook design and instead integrate the display. Keyboard functionality could, whenever the user wishes it, be added via bluetooth conncetion.
A specific keyboard could also serve as stand for the slate (...see the current HP-design...).
The limiting factor in design terms seems to me the display: it would need to be touch-sensitive and have better optical characteristics. You would need to be able to work for it in "normal", laptop-style landscape mode, but also in portrait-mode - and there are still big difficulties in providing decent viewing angles for both of them.
However, I hope it's only a question of time before these issues are resolved because I WANT one of these things. Working with such a solution would give to me the ultimate degree of freedom: normal laptop functionality in landscape mode, the BT-keyboard serving as stand. On the road: the perfect device to read documents or magazines (e.g. Zingy) and quickly and intuitively take notes, make corrections, sketch concepts etc. via the stylus.
Another important aspect (...after all, business is 90% psychology): SJ declared once that a real computer needs to have a keyboard - people with egos like him don't like to be shown wrong. And the BT-keyboard provides a gracefull exit opportunity from this rather unintelligent statement :-)
Again, I hope they make up their mind in Cupertino on the issue, because, at the risk of repeating myself: I WANT ONE - or there is a real risk that I'll switch the wrong way one day !
Apple being fond of intelligent new approaches to computer engineering could well use a tablet device to experimtent with some new configurations:
- no optical drive; instead, external device or hooking up to other Mac via Rendezvous.
- operating system on Flash-ROM or something similar; must be upgradable, though
- no hard drive; instead, fast-access SD-Cards for limited amount of storage of most important data and programs. Maybe two slots, 1 for programs, 1 for data - you only slide in the cards you currently need.
Now the idea: instead of the missing "standard items" an expansion bay to host additional modules
- module 1: additional battery to work in "limited mode" (only SD-storage): good for working on limited amount of documents, surfing the web via Airport etc.
- module 2: iPod serving as HD-module and taking full advantage of the home-on-the-iPod functionality, allowing easy transfer of all date from the "grown-up" Mac to work on it on the tablet.
Some beauties to this concept:
No canibalization of existing PowerBook / iBook - line, since clearly not a fully featured laptop
Like the iPod, allowing a transition to the Windows world: if they can sync mp3-files with Windows, they can sync other files, too, with the Windows world. You would only need to take out the iPod-module, connect it via FW or USB to the PC and hit the sync-button on a nice little piece of software. Would work for Office documents and other standard file formats.
The choice of mini or big iPod as module would only be a question of the form factor. The deliberate choice to limit the capabilities of the machine PLUS the smaller form factor would of course favour the choice of the mini-iPod. But progress in storage technology is so fast, that we can safely assume to see bigger capacities on the small iPods very soon.
- You don't want something like the G4 in this, really. Not the G5 (sadly). Too hot... Isn't Apple working with IBM on a new chip that produces less heat etc., at the cost of being slower? Something like that would be ideal.
- Hard Drive: you don't really want to be running off SD memory all the time. Put the 4GB drive in from the iPod mini, at least - that should be enough for the OS and most of the program files? Have options to upgrade this to bigger ones, and use the iPod for storage. This could also provide some limited amount of upgradability, but more like the upgradability of the Cube or iMac.
- Ports - you don't need that many, Have USB x1 (you can then use a hub to increase this if you need more), FireWire x1 (400Mb/s, 800 would be unnecessary). Throw in miniDV out too, so you can output to a bigger monitor. Possibly also have a specialised connection on the bottom, like the iPod. This would then plug into a base unit that has more connectiors - you would then be able to plug a keyboard of your choice (or a special laptop-style one for portability)into this via USB (or when on the move use the USB on the tablet itself. Charging would also be done through this, as well as being able to plug the charger directly into the machine.
- Screen: this wants to be functional with both a pen-like stylus, as well as with a finger. We're looking at about A5 sized, so probably just running at 800x600, maybe just 1024x768 if they can get the pixels small enough.
- Wireless connectivity - definately bluetooth, also WiFi at 54Mb/s (or maybe only 11Mb/s, but I doubt it). Also, have a wireless reciever for the mouse, possibly keyboard, built in.
- Software: I'd have thought MacOS would do the job, really. Maybe modified (read: reskinned slightly) so that buttons etc. were bigger. I'd expect people to use design and photograph software with this, e.g. photoshop, maybe CAD etc. So the machine should be able to cope with running these easily. We don't need real-time video editing or anything like that, by any stretch of the imagination.
- Battery life: here lies the problem. We want iPod-equivalent of 8 hours, ideally. The tablet just isn't useful enough if it's plugged in every few hours.
The expandability I describe is very like the ipod method - some ports on the iPod, charges through specialised connection, and dock adds extra functionality. Hope all that makes sense...Edit: forgot a few things. Bluetooth onwards.
Originally posted by Mike Peel
Screen: this wants to be functional with both a pen-like stylus, as well as with a finger. We're looking at about A5 sized, so probably just running at 800x600, maybe just 1024x768 if they can get the pixels small enough.
Software: I'd have thought MacOS would do the job, really. Maybe modified (read: reskinned slightly) so that buttons etc. were bigger. I'd expect people to use design and photograph software with this, e.g. photoshop, maybe CAD etc. So the machine should be able to cope with running these easily. We don't need real-time video editing or anything like that, by any stretch of the imagination.
These two points don't work together. Designer's will want a pressure sensitive tablet to work in graphics applications like Illustrator and Photoshop. As I understand this technology it required an active stylus and is different than the technology used in touch sensative screens similar to those used in Palm's which do not require a specialized stylus.