I think it's usefulness is comparatively limited. Because all you really did is spec out a PDA phone, and added the OS, and a real processor. It looks more like a hardware hacked PDA really. \
Or a very small MacBook.
That's the thing. Technology has progressed to the point where you can pack a lot of power into a very small space. Phones themselves were getting so small that people couldn't use the buttons anymore.
So the sky's the limit now. You can pack as much power as you need into tiny form factors. Thinking of things as "a PDA" or "a phone" or "a notebook" or "a tablet" doesn't make sense any more. It's too limiting.
Hey, they put Linux on a watch a few years ago.
It's become trivial to put music on a phone (considering they'd use the same battery, screen, and memory, is an iPod nano combined with a phone going to be any bigger than the phone itself?) so those products are clearly converging. That's not to say that iPods won't continue to be available separately, but clearly some people are going to want a unified device (or both an iPhone and a large capacity iPod for long trips or something).
If it's physically possible to create an iBook/MacBook that's half the size of the current 12-inch iBook, and many people would find it useful as an accessory (much like an iPod) for browsing the web when they're away from their main computer, why not make one? And why would it have to displace the MacBook? It serves a different category.
Some people would call this a tablet because it's got OS X but is just a very small form factor.
I think it's usefulness is comparatively limited. Because all you really did is spec out a PDA phone, and added the OS, and a real processor. It looks more like a hardware hacked PDA really. \
Never really looked at smartphones much; waiting for a proper Apple solution?
For me, if Apple did the rumored 4" touchscreen iPod, and included cell capabilities, that would be better suited to be a 'PDA'?
The 8" tablet I would LOVE to see Apple produce (and they better just send me one of each color when they do, spec thieves that they are?) would be a truly useful, highly portable, mobile computing device?
No, I cannot run Shake or FCStudio on it, but then, that is not what it is for?
But I bet I could do simple 3d modeling on it?
Or interface with a laser rangefinder and do field surveys with it?
Or do thumbnail sketches while at lunch with clients on it?
And link to my database over the Internet with it?
And show photos with it?
And, and, and?
Yeah, it's just a 'PDA phone', but it is also SO much more?
?BECAUSE it has OS X running smoothly on it?!
;^p
And hey, I would prefer a larger tablet, and I would LOVE for Apple to have a three model lineup of tablets (as I have said many times before?), four actually, if you count the 4" iPod deal; but sometimes a larger tablet is not as functional or unobtrusive?
This poll seems to be missing a huge, perhaps the most important, option.
I want to buy a MacBook especially if it transforms in to a tablet.
Tablets are dumb. The whole thing is to be able to have a laptop AND a tablet, which can transform back and forth and in which neither function impedes the other at all. I believe Apple can and will tackle this, when feasible. Hopefully that'd be soon. I'm sure I'd get use out of it. Throw ArcMap and other stuff in Parellels, and be out in the field with a Bluetooth GPS unit, importing my data and field notes in to ArcMap on the fly while delineating wetland. HELL FUCKING YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!
Is this thread about a slate tablet or the folding kind? Because that matters in my poll choice.
The poll is about what version you would rather have. So far there are like more camps in this thread than I think were originally anticipated.
A few people that voted for slate style seem to want a Super PDA, A few People just want the slate, and a few out of that group want it really small: 8", which is smaller than the old 12" iBook. But the majority seems to want what Aquatic just summarized: A redesigned transformable laptop AND a tablet in one solution.
The poll is about what version you would rather have. So far there are like more camps in this thread than I think were originally anticipated.
A few people that voted for slate style seem to want a Super PDA, A few People just want the slate, and a few out of that group want it really small: 8", which is smaller than the old 12" iBook. But the majority seems to want what Aquatic just summarized: A redesigned transformable laptop AND a tablet in one solution.
Well there's your problem right there. You're making it an either/or proposition.
The models that you talk about serve different markets. There's no reason Apple couldn't produce all of them.
You could argue all day about whether Apple should make a very small laptop that's good for field use, or a very large screen laptop that's more a 'transportable'. Well, guess what? Apple makes both of them. They're called the MacBook Pro 17" and the iBook 12". They serve different markets.
I have just been looking at the Nokia 770 Tablet and I want Apple to enter the market and produce something 10 times better.
Ya know, maybe this makes even more sense than we thought.
Some people are complaining that the MacBook iBook replacement is "too big" at 13.x inches (widescreen). Maybe Apple is leaving the 8-, 10-, 12-inch market for a new line of tablet-like things?
Well there's your problem right there. You're making it an either/or proposition.
The models that you talk about serve different markets. There's no reason Apple couldn't produce all of them.
You could argue all day about whether Apple should make a very small laptop that's good for field use, or a very large screen laptop that's more a 'transportable'. Well, guess what? Apple makes both of them. They're called the MacBook Pro 17" and the iBook 12". They serve different markets.
And yes I believe what I summarized would be the best. It's simple. People type quicker/navigate the computer quicker with a keyboard. But for some things a tablet would be great. So let's have both in one! It's really the only way to go. Sorry Apple will never make something small. And never a PDA or UMPC. Perhaps a phone...but probably not. They aren't smart enough I guess.
Comments
Originally posted by onlooker
Looks like a large PDA phone with OSX to me.
I think it's usefulness is comparatively limited. Because all you really did is spec out a PDA phone, and added the OS, and a real processor. It looks more like a hardware hacked PDA really.
Or a very small MacBook.
That's the thing. Technology has progressed to the point where you can pack a lot of power into a very small space. Phones themselves were getting so small that people couldn't use the buttons anymore.
So the sky's the limit now. You can pack as much power as you need into tiny form factors. Thinking of things as "a PDA" or "a phone" or "a notebook" or "a tablet" doesn't make sense any more. It's too limiting.
Hey, they put Linux on a watch a few years ago.
It's become trivial to put music on a phone (considering they'd use the same battery, screen, and memory, is an iPod nano combined with a phone going to be any bigger than the phone itself?) so those products are clearly converging. That's not to say that iPods won't continue to be available separately, but clearly some people are going to want a unified device (or both an iPhone and a large capacity iPod for long trips or something).
If it's physically possible to create an iBook/MacBook that's half the size of the current 12-inch iBook, and many people would find it useful as an accessory (much like an iPod) for browsing the web when they're away from their main computer, why not make one? And why would it have to displace the MacBook? It serves a different category.
Some people would call this a tablet because it's got OS X but is just a very small form factor.
Free your mind.
I don't think that I actually NEED a tablet. The ability to quickly sketch a design idea on the screen would be nice.
Originally posted by onlooker
Looks like a large PDA phone with OSX to me.
I think it's usefulness is comparatively limited. Because all you really did is spec out a PDA phone, and added the OS, and a real processor. It looks more like a hardware hacked PDA really.
Never really looked at smartphones much; waiting for a proper Apple solution?
For me, if Apple did the rumored 4" touchscreen iPod, and included cell capabilities, that would be better suited to be a 'PDA'?
The 8" tablet I would LOVE to see Apple produce (and they better just send me one of each color when they do, spec thieves that they are?) would be a truly useful, highly portable, mobile computing device?
No, I cannot run Shake or FCStudio on it, but then, that is not what it is for?
But I bet I could do simple 3d modeling on it?
Or interface with a laser rangefinder and do field surveys with it?
Or do thumbnail sketches while at lunch with clients on it?
And link to my database over the Internet with it?
And show photos with it?
And, and, and?
Yeah, it's just a 'PDA phone', but it is also SO much more?
?BECAUSE it has OS X running smoothly on it?!
;^p
And hey, I would prefer a larger tablet, and I would LOVE for Apple to have a three model lineup of tablets (as I have said many times before?), four actually, if you count the 4" iPod deal; but sometimes a larger tablet is not as functional or unobtrusive?
I want to buy a MacBook especially if it transforms in to a tablet.
Tablets are dumb. The whole thing is to be able to have a laptop AND a tablet, which can transform back and forth and in which neither function impedes the other at all. I believe Apple can and will tackle this, when feasible. Hopefully that'd be soon. I'm sure I'd get use out of it. Throw ArcMap and other stuff in Parellels, and be out in the field with a Bluetooth GPS unit, importing my data and field notes in to ArcMap on the fly while delineating wetland. HELL FUCKING YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!
Originally posted by ecking
Is this thread about a slate tablet or the folding kind? Because that matters in my poll choice.
The poll is about what version you would rather have. So far there are like more camps in this thread than I think were originally anticipated.
A few people that voted for slate style seem to want a Super PDA, A few People just want the slate, and a few out of that group want it really small: 8", which is smaller than the old 12" iBook. But the majority seems to want what Aquatic just summarized: A redesigned transformable laptop AND a tablet in one solution.
Originally posted by onlooker
The poll is about what version you would rather have. So far there are like more camps in this thread than I think were originally anticipated.
A few people that voted for slate style seem to want a Super PDA, A few People just want the slate, and a few out of that group want it really small: 8", which is smaller than the old 12" iBook. But the majority seems to want what Aquatic just summarized: A redesigned transformable laptop AND a tablet in one solution.
Well there's your problem right there.
The models that you talk about serve different markets. There's no reason Apple couldn't produce all of them.
You could argue all day about whether Apple should make a very small laptop that's good for field use, or a very large screen laptop that's more a 'transportable'. Well, guess what? Apple makes both of them. They're called the MacBook Pro 17" and the iBook 12". They serve different markets.
Originally posted by jimbo123
I have just been looking at the Nokia 770 Tablet and I want Apple to enter the market and produce something 10 times better.
Ya know, maybe this makes even more sense than we thought.
Some people are complaining that the MacBook iBook replacement is "too big" at 13.x inches (widescreen). Maybe Apple is leaving the 8-, 10-, 12-inch market for a new line of tablet-like things?
Originally posted by bikertwin
Well there's your problem right there.
The models that you talk about serve different markets. There's no reason Apple couldn't produce all of them.
You could argue all day about whether Apple should make a very small laptop that's good for field use, or a very large screen laptop that's more a 'transportable'. Well, guess what? Apple makes both of them. They're called the MacBook Pro 17" and the iBook 12". They serve different markets.
Rumor has it Apple cut the 12".
And yes I believe what I summarized would be the best. It's simple. People type quicker/navigate the computer quicker with a keyboard. But for some things a tablet would be great. So let's have both in one! It's really the only way to go. Sorry Apple will never make something small. And never a PDA or UMPC. Perhaps a phone...but probably not. They aren't smart enough I guess.