Are we certain that it can't rotate into portrait mode. I know in larger LCD monitors the video card determines whether you can rotate the monitor or not. But perhaps they've updated the video in some way to allow this?which would make writing with inkwell more natural feeling, and would avoide having to stroll to fill out forms.
There's a feature in OSX right now that allows for reorientation of the screen (i.e., from landscape to portrait). Problem solved.
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Originally Posted by vinney57
There is absolutely zero market for this. It won't exist in a year's time.
My hunch, from the activity of this board, is that you didn't read much before you posted. People talk about the graphic designer segment of the Mac market as being a "niche" interest, but let's not forget that it was graphic designers who legitimized the Macintosh back in the days of Photoshop 2.0/2.5 and Illustrator 2/3/4. I'd say it's a fairly important--and sizable--segment. If only a third of those types went for ModBooks, I'm thinking it would affect Apple's profit margins just enough to reconsider this tablet animosity.
This would also be a great product for the medical field, specifically for RNs and such who need to take information from patients. Their "high-end" solution right now is to wheel a cart into a room that has a Windoze laptop, keyboard, etc. and doing away with the paper charts. (Don't watch ER or Scrubs for a clue--even the "neighborhood" hospital in my town is using more current tech than these shows suggest.) People may complain about the weight, but there are a few hospitals using tablets, and I'm not aware of any complaints about the weight. At least they don't have to carry around a patient's entire file--and most people who end up in hospitals (i.e., the elderly) have been there a time or two before and probably have fairly heavy files already.
All that said, the machine does still need a standard keyboard and a swivel monitor. Even graphic designers and RNs don't use the touch-screen input ALL the time, and it will not be in our lifetimes that handwriting recognition will be flawless, all respect to Inkwell and its development team.
I'm saying yes, but if your talking about a PDA then your into iPhones category so keep them separate. If your talking about Slate only tablet computer's - I'm saying the reason it is a niche is because it is a slate, and there s no using it for many people with their limited functionality. That is why I don't have one, or a MacBook Pro, and still rely on PowerMac and a wacom to do everything. Adding an onscreen keyboard to a slate just wont work in Maya, or any art application that well. #1 it takes up a part of my screen, and if you remember the reason for the big screen from Apple was primarily for artists using our types of applications.
So your position is that because you can't run Maya on a slate that it is too limited for general use?
The PDA and iPhones are even more limited in size/performance and therefore even more useless from your perspective.
There is a middle ground between more power than a PDA will give you (note taking, presenting, etc) and less than Maya workstation would require. You may not want to build your keynote presentation with an undocked slate but you sure can present from it, take notes from other presentations and at meetings, do iChat and VOIP, see your email or surf the net in something other than a PDA/crackberry sized screen and run tablet (slate) friendly applications (like inventory, medical charts, etc).
Docked, a slate shouldn't be that much less capable than any other machine. And I can use a Cintiq and 3dConnexion 6-DOF puck (that now work in OSX!) with my MBP. Other than being slower there isn't anything I can't do with my MBP than I can do with my Mac Pro.
But it requires the right dock. One with slots that I can put a decent GPU into. I can live with a GMA for email, web surfing and so forth. At my desk I need something more. That's not something slate manufacturers have adopted and that might be niche but a lot of folks are using their notebooks as their only machines because they are now fast enough.
Heck I looked at the Sny UX50 briefly but said nah.
for instance, the tablet is the ideal form factor for use in a hospital. docs don't want to open a laptop and sit down and type at a keyboard every time they make a notation in a patient's chart. but they might use a tablet, which uses wi-Fi and GPS to open the individual patient's medical record as they walk into a room, to check a few boxes and make a few notes. that's actually a pretty great idea there.
but other industries that aren't necessarily conducive to sitting at a desk would be excellent markets for tablets.
I think the ideal for me on this would be if I could stick it in a docking stand where it'd act as a secondary monitor. Like I said before I don't really want a tablet with much more than a 10" screen.
Then, I could grab it from the dock as a slate to go to a meeting. At the meeting, I could either just hold it and use the stylus to take notes, or it'd have a flip down ~2" stand on the back to get it at a slight angle for typing and viewing the screen. Have a multi-touch on-screen keyboard, and I think the low angle of the screen would be perfect too (I always find everyone's laptop screens being up in everyone's faces at a meeting annoying anyhow). If I'm typing, I just need to see around where I'm typing, not the whole screen.
That's one idea ... I'd probably have a different one for how to interact with it tomorrow.
So your position is that because you can't run Maya on a slate that it is too limited for general use?
..............
Vinea
It's starting to look childish when you keep taking one part out of one of my sentences, and say that is every reason I'm giving. I just wrote a paragraph on the many reasons why many people have not chosen the slate. Let's not confuse the Slate style tablet with the Tablet concept as a whole. Slate is just a part of one bigger idea.
So if all you want is something that is probably not going to last because if it's limitations then that's ok, but I'm just saying that if it's not convertible a lot of people can not use it the way they would like to. And it cuts off Apple's heart and sole user base. The graphic designer, The movie editor, The Artist, And the Photographer.
Apple doesn't have to introduce a brand new product for everything. Recycling is a beautiful thing. They should just update an existing product line with added new fantastic capabilities.
Who knows. Maybe we could get the best of both worlds. Maybe apple will release a plain slate, and convert the MacBook lines into convertibles.
But I will go on the record now in saying if Apple did this, 95% of people would chose the convertible MacBooks. Functionality wise you would get everything you get with a slate, and still be able to turn it into a portable desktop when you needed it. And you only have to carry one item with you. You don't have to worry about some docking apparatus for every office situation your in. That's just one more item you need to carry around.
Basically, as far as I can tell, tablet computers take the functionality of a laptop and cripple it for the everyday user with an interface that's more difficult to use by taking away the physical point of interaction to suit a really small userbase with very specialised needs.
No, it substitutes the functionality of a constantly accessed keyboard with the functionality of computing while standing. It also allows you to do all of the things like read ebooks, check email, use widgets, read websites and draw or do a thousand other things that DON'T REQUIRE A KEYBOARD!!! Keyboards are not for everyone all of the time! My mom doesn't like or want a keyboard, but she would love to surf the web or read eMagazines that are automatically sent to her like podcasts.
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It's kind of a waste of everybody's time, really, and I can't see Apple doing it. I don't need one, I'd never even think about buying one.
You're right, it wastes so much time. Just 'cause you're stuck in a box, doesn't mean we all have to be. Jobs already dispelled the myth that phones need 100 plastic buttons on phones and many are saying that the same can be said for larger form factors. My preference is to have a very thin device, the size of a DVD case that I can use as a pda and ebook reader. The technology is obviously there, so Apple could make it with little R&D. Sure it would be expensive at first and if there were not a big market for it, it might stay uber expensive, but I believe that like the iPhone, the UI will be so intriguing ("You can touch your music!"), that people will buy it and find that they really don't need a keyboard as much as they think they do. YOU may be chained to a keyboard, but many are not or at least not more than 50% of the time. And most don't even know that they want or can be free of a keyboard until someone shows them greater functionality. Who would have thought they needed or wanted their whole library of music with them or that they wanted a camera on their phone?
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The only solution I can think of is combining the clickwheel technology with a virtual keyboard (which I understand from my impeccable sources has been developed and patented by a large technology corporation in California.)
And yeah, that is one good solution.
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Still. Tablets really irritate me.
And people who pontificate from a hole in the ground really irritate me.
No, it substitutes the functionality of a constantly accessed keyboard with the functionality of computing while standing. It also allows you to do all of the things like read ebooks, check email, use widgets, read websites and draw or do a thousand other things that DON'T REQUIRE A KEYBOARD!!! Keyboards are not for everyone all of the time! .
Absolutely. Try to walk and use your laptop at the same time.
No market?! People standng on a bus8) \ , Field Engineers , Doctors , Executives , Students , Teachers, Lab Techs, Real Estate Salesmen, Insurance Adjusters, Graphic Artists, Film Makers, and on and on and on, and (oh yeah) ME8) !
I seem to remember that people weren't interested in the 'Internet Junior Experience'.
Absolutely. Try to walk and use your laptop at the same time.
No market?! People standng on a bus8) \ , Field Engineers , Doctors , Executives , Students , Teachers, Lab Techs, Real Estate Salesmen, Insurance Adjusters, Graphic Artists, Film Makers, and on and on and on, and (oh yeah) ME8) !
I seem to remember that people weren't interested in the 'Internet Junior Experience'.
V/R,
Aries 1B
Yes but how many of those examples still need to type papers, or use the keyboard for hot-key access? Over 95%. I'm not saying people wont use it as a slate when they can, but it needs to convert, or most will still need either another computer, or just the other computer. I would like both a Mac Pro, and an Tablet. That is why I just use a PowerMac, and a wacom. I'd love to take a tablet with me, but I need it to convert. Just liike a Student, an Executive, Teachers, Real Estate Salesmen, Insurance Adjusters, Graphic Artists, Film Makers, and on and on and on, and (oh yeah) ME.
Yes but how many of those examples still need to type papers, or use the keyboard for hot-key access? Over 95%. I'm not saying people wont use it as a slate when they can, but it needs to convert, or most will still need either another computer, or just the other computer. I would like both a Mac Pro, and an Tablet. That is why I just use a PowerMac, and a wacom. I'd love to take a tablet with me, but I need it to convert. Just liike a Student, an Executive, Teachers, Real Estate Salesmen, Insurance Adjusters, Graphic Artists, Film Makers, and on and on and on, and (oh yeah) ME.
That is why there are USB ports. So people can usa a keyboard or whatever if they need to.
It's starting to look childish when you keep taking one part out of one of my sentences, and say that is every reason I'm giving. I just wrote a paragraph on the many reasons why many people have not chosen the slate. Let's not confuse the Slate style tablet with the Tablet concept as a whole. Slate is just a part of one bigger idea.
Heck, you also said that the MBP doesn't work for you because you run Maya which tells folks your opinion is highly biased toward your own workflow which calls into question your opinion about tablets, slates and notebooks. I also addressed your other concerns in other paragraphs but also you want to come back to this one line as if its all I had to say. Don't want one line comments about dumb things you say don't write dumb things in support of your position.
Especially don't pick one line out a whole post to whine about my taking one line out of a whole post to pick on. Because that's just bizzarely ironic.
So why don't you address the issue? What is it about a MBP or slate that you don't believe that you can't design the maya workflow to work around? See the Cintiq comment below which is just a slate tethered to the computer. I can tell you that taking your hands off the Ciniq to access the keyboard really does slow down the workflow but you can typically minimize that.
The difference between a slate and a flip top is you're trading size for always having a keyboard. In any case you ignore the fact that I said that you need either a good docking solution OR a better way of attaching the slate half to the keyboard half. AND that slates only work well when other input methods are improved (voice, gesture, handwriting).
You keep whining that slates suck regardless of any other potential improvement because you believe that you must have a keyboard to do any real/useful computing and you keep bringing up Maya as your example of why "artists" need a keyboard.
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So if all you want is something that is probably not going to last because if it's limitations then that's ok, but I'm just saying that if it's not convertible a lot of people can not use it the way they would like to. And it cuts off Apple's heart and sole user base. The graphic designer, The movie editor, The Artist, And the Photographer.
Yes, this is because we're going to ignore the fact that when a slate needs a keyboard it can either be docked or use a bt keyboard or any other number of possibilities. We're also going to ignore the fact that software UIs can be better designed for the stylus environment without a keyboard.
The Cintiq has 8 user definable keys that are chordable. Folks use it with maya and minimize keyboard/mouse use. Coupled with the assignable buttons on the 3dconnexion puck Maya workflow could probably be redesigned to work with nothing but that and the Cintiq interface.
Slates also have assignable buttons but not as many as the Cinitq (which is pretty nicely designed by wacom). Coupled with a BT version of the puck there's no difference except for size...not that you really want to be doing serious work on a 11" or 13" screen anyway but arguably in the tight confines of say an airplane a slate with a stylus is probably as useful as a regular laptop to do light work for a movie editor, artist or photographer. Both have limitations in different ways.
A flip top might be better than both slate and laptop in that scenario but not in the scenario where you want to carry around something lighter and thinner.
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Apple doesn't have to introduce a brand new product for everything. Recycling is a beautiful thing. They should just update an existing product line with added new fantastic capabilities.
Who knows. Maybe we could get the best of both worlds. Maybe apple will release a plain slate, and convert the MacBook lines into convertibles.
The best of both worlds is the ability to detach the screen portion from the MBP and use it without the keyboard half. Then a "convertible" isn't a fliptop but a laptop that converts to a slate when you want something lighter to carry around. Most fliptops aren't any smaller/lighter than their laptop counterparts because they are a laptop with a built in digitizer.
I have all three...flip top, slate and laptop. I rarely use the fliptop since when I want something light I grab the Motion Computing slate. When I go on the road I take the MBP. If I had to live with JUST one I'd probably pick the MBP since the current tablet software isn't really great enough to live with the implementation restrictions of the current tablets. I don't have the Toshiba convertible which if I didn't want OSX would be a viable middle ground (my convertible is a Toughbook).
An Apple designed slate with a gesture interface, better voice and handwriting support and some way to prop vertically (that didn't suck) in an airplane for use with a keyboard would work well. The hybrid slate/laptop would be best. In any case OSX would need better tablet PC support. Its not JUST the hardware design. An iTablet means so much more than a 3rd party slate.
OK first off I never said the MBP didn't work for me because of Maya. Your confused. And I don't see it quoted. Everything you did quote you didn't even address. I don't use a MBP because I'm waiting for a Mac convertible tablet that I can also use for Painter, ZBrush, Maya and Photoshop.
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Especially don't pick one line out a whole post to whine about my taking one line out of a whole post to pick on. Because that's just bizzarely ironic.
Secondly, you dissected a sentence and made it sound as if that was all I said in the sentence which took it way out of context. I took your sentence in it's entirety and addressed it as a whole. There is nothing Bizarre about that.
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We're also going to ignore the fact that software UIs can be better designed for the stylus environment without a keyboard.
This I don't understand at all. What makes you think there are limitations on software because there is a keyboard attached? That is ridiculous.
Having a keyboard wont do anything to affect the software you load to run the tablet interface.
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So why don't you address the issue? What is it about a MBP or slate that you don't believe that you can't design the maya workflow to work around? See the Cintiq comment below which is just a slate tethered to the computer. I can tell you that taking your hands off the Ciniq to access the keyboard really does slow down the workflow but you can typically minimize that.
I already have, but I'll do it again, (and I never said I could not use a MBP with Maya in that context), If you split the two you only have one, and most people need both. It's that simple.
If you go with your idea of docking you will always have to lug that dock around. If you go with your USB Keyboard idea you have the same problem. It's pain in the ass. Just flip he MBP with an Apple tablet interface, and you have one item that does both.
Has anyone used Inkwell on a regular touchscreen? I'm just wondering how well it works for input on a tablet. I'm sure most have never even seen Inkwell in use, and I suspect of the few people who have used it, they were probably doing it on Wacom input tablets, not writing on an actual screen. I've toyed with it a bit on large screen displays that had touch input, but that's not quite the same either.
I'd hazard that most tablets are still slates with external keyboards. There are good flip tops but primarily folks want a tablet for 3 reasons:
...
If you could make a fliptop about as thin as the MBP then that would work. Physically I don't think you can.
My primary (and really only) computer is an X41 Tablet ThinkPad from Lenovo. It's about as thin as a MacBook. And it's solid as a rock. Check out www.tabletpcreview.com. Out of the top ten most popular tablets there, eight are convertibles. The other two are UMPCs. The slate form-factor is on the way out. I say this as a matter of opinion as a tablet user, and as a statement of consensus from everyone else I know who uses one.
To everyone who is saying "just use a bluetooth keyboard!": that's not practical, and it's not the same thing. To start with, you have to carry and charge two devices with completely different form factors. Additionally, without an integrated stand (which is what I suggested in the first place, keyboard or stand), carrying a keyboard is basically useless. How are you going to prop that display up?
One thing that has occurred to me -- use a strapped-on Bluetooth FrogPad. That might be cool But would take some training time to learn to type.
My primary (and really only) computer is an X41 Tablet ThinkPad from Lenovo. It's about as thin as a MacBook. And it's solid as a rock. Check out www.tabletpcreview.com. Out of the top ten most popular tablets there, eight are convertibles. The other two are UMPCs. The slate form-factor is on the way out. I say this as a matter of opinion as a tablet user, and as a statement of consensus from everyone else I know who uses one.
To everyone who is saying "just use a bluetooth keyboard!": that's not practical, and it's not the same thing. To start with, you have to carry and charge two devices with completely different form factors. Additionally, without an integrated stand (which is what I suggested in the first place, keyboard or stand), carrying a keyboard is basically useless. How are you going to prop that display up?
One thing that has occurred to me -- use a strapped-on Bluetooth FrogPad. That might be cool But would take some training time to learn to type.
I like you already cromas.
That totally reaffirms what I was saying about people wanting to use a tablet as a Laptop when they want to, or feel they would prefer laptop use over tablet for what it is they were doing. Tablets are not for everything, and that is why there is the convertible style, and it's obviously the most popular version. People want freedom to choose, and I'm convinced that is why it's much more popular than the slate. Slates are confining, and pushing only half of the choices of usability options that would be available to you if it were able to convert.
read websites and draw or do a thousand other things that DON'T REQUIRE A KEYBOARD!!!
You still have to type in the URL. And the text for your Google search. And if you are doing graphic work you still have to type in your text and values etc. Sending email - typing. Posting in a forum - typing. I used an edit system for years that had the option of entering text using an on screen keyboard or a real hard keyboard. The hard keyboard was faster and more accurate. It's pretty easy to hit the wrong letter when using a pen/screen type selector and it is so slow.
Sure some people will use and like these things. In the medical field - eh. If tablet computers (either Mac of Windows) were a panacea for them we would see them everywhere in doctors offices and hospitals already. I haven't seen them much have you?
Tablets seem to me to have a built-in awkwardness since you have to hold them with one hand and operate the UI with the other. Put them in your lap and the screen is at the wrong angle so you have to prop them up. Same with a table.
I think Panasonic has the right design with the ToughBook-19, which is a laptop that flips over to become a tablet.
My primary (and really only) computer is an X41 Tablet ThinkPad from Lenovo. It's about as thin as a MacBook. And it's solid as a rock. Check out www.tabletpcreview.com. Out of the top ten most popular tablets there, eight are convertibles.
Okay, I stand corrected on which tablets are most popular. On that site anyway.
However the primary advantage of a slate is still the slimness. I have a TransNote ThinkPad which is a tad larger and heavier but really the part that was most useful was the ThinkScribe part. The computer part is still too heavy and clunky to haul around.
The weakness of the X41 is still the GMA. Not an issue for many folks but really IMHO the only tablets that function as full desktop/laptop replacements are the Toshibas. I think there was one other that has a real GPU as well but I forget which.
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The other two are UMPCs. The slate form-factor is on the way out. I say this as a matter of opinion as a tablet user, and as a statement of consensus from everyone else I know who uses one.
Perhaps. And as a UI person and another tablet user I'd say that gesture UIs and better interfaces will allow us to work better with slates and technology will someday get a slate to the size of a 8.5"x11" paper notepad (in thickness and weight).
A convertible has many advantages to be sure. The keyboard is nice when you need to enter in a lot of text and most other forms of entry are slower. But voice email and other technologies can minimize the need for a keyboard.
Motion computing hasn't moved away from slates. There must still be a market and frankly the large portion of tablets I see in everyday use are slates in doctor's offices (motion and viewsonic). Of the remaining, I see a couple Toshiba convertibles and differing ruggedized slates and the ToughBook. More ruggedized slates than ToughBooks.
Convertibles are notebook PCs with a digitizer. These are great and I think many folks are going to add digitizers to their laptops in the future but there will always be product space for lighter, thiner slates used primarily with pen, not keyboard, input.
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To everyone who is saying "just use a bluetooth keyboard!": that's not practical, and it's not the same thing. To start with, you have to carry and charge two devices with completely different form factors. Additionally, without an integrated stand (which is what I suggested in the first place, keyboard or stand), carrying a keyboard is basically useless. How are you going to prop that display up?
An integrated stand is missing from most slates. Current slates aren't all that well designed.
Looking at my Transnote perhaps a good slate form factor is a portfolio with the keyboard half and prop built into the leather (or facimile) portfolio and the slate part on the other section. Make the slate easily detachable from the portfolio portion for single handed use. Leave enough room for some paper documents. Make the keyboard detachable as well.
Another level of integration would be desired so that the BT keyboard and slate would charge together when the field case is plugged in. If an optical drive, HD and extended battery were built into the base of the field case it might be heavy enough not to require the easel stand portion.
A detachable keyboard would be nice simply because I occasionally find that a little more seperation between keyboard and screen would be helpful. But its optional if that ends up with too many little pieces to break.
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One thing that has occurred to me -- use a strapped-on Bluetooth FrogPad. That might be cool But would take some training time to learn to type.
If you're going to learn a new typing method you're probably better off with a chording keyboard. Heck we can't get away from the QWERTY keyboard that's designed to slow down typing.
I think Panasonic has the right design with the ToughBook-19, which is a laptop that flips over to become a tablet.
It's okay. Yes, I have one. Unless you need a ruggedized machine the Toshiba's are far better.
I have a two ruggedized slates and they are IMHO better for what we do with them. An XplorTech one and...hmm...forgot the other one. Co-Worker has that one.
OK first off I never said the MBP didn't work for me because of Maya. Your confused. And I don't see it quoted. Everything you did quote you didn't even address. I don't use a MBP because I'm waiting for a Mac convertible tablet that I can also use for Painter, ZBrush, Maya and Photoshop.
Excuse me? I quoted the ENTIRE bleeding paragraph so the context was there. Which you accuse me of taking your statement out of context in the next sentence.
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Originally Posted by onlooker
I'm saying yes, but if your talking about a PDA then your into iPhones category so keep them separate. If your talking about Slate only tablet computer's - I'm saying the reason it is a niche is because it is a slate, and there s no using it for many people with their limited functionality. That is why I don't have one, or a MacBook Pro, and still rely on PowerMac and a wacom to do everything. Adding an onscreen keyboard to a slate just wont work in Maya, or any art application that well. #1 it takes up a part of my screen, and if you remember the reason for the big screen from Apple was primarily for artists using our types of applications.
You don't mention the MBP in any other context except in the sentence that complains a slate is too limited and this is why you still rely on a PowerMac for Maya (everything presumably includes Maya since you mention that next). There's no reason that you can't attach a wacom to the MBP. Essentially that's what I do when I attach the Cintiq. I can't read your mind to guess that the only reason you don't buy a MBP is because you're waiting for a convertible.
Which wouldn't work for you anyway if you believe what you just wrote (see below).
I addressed the onscreen keyboard limitation for Maya and art applications with the discussion of the Cintiq + SpaceNavigator providing sufficient input where the need for a keyboard is far less in a previous post. You simply repeated your assertion that you can't do art apps without a keyboard. Do I REALLY need to repeat myself if you aren't going to bother accepting that other artists like working with a Cintiq (essentially a big slate attached to a PC) and can get a lot done without a keyboard? Which I did anyway in that post...in any case an onscreen keyboard (with tranparency) doesn't impact you that much given that its only on screen when you need to type something anyway.
If you didn't intend to include the MBP in that sentence...cool...but in that context it sure makes you look too demanding to be satisfied regardless of how slate technology improves.
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Secondly, you dissected a sentence and made it sound as if that was all I said in the sentence which took it way out of context. I took your sentence in it's entirety and addressed it as a whole. There is nothing Bizarre about that.
You took ONE sentence out of the entire post out (ooh...in its entierty) and then complain that I didn't address your other points when I go on to reiterate that I can use the Cintiq again with a MBP? That the keyboard is helpful but not always required in the workflow?
I dissected a sentence? Please, the context was there for all to see. If I got it wrong its not like there wasn't the context to show your true meaning. At BEST your paragraph was poorly worded.
Yes, bizzarely ironic. Would you prefer stupidly ironic? You whine about something I did while at the same time do it even more...
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This I don't understand at all. What makes you think there are limitations on software because there is a keyboard attached? That is ridiculous.
Having a keyboard wont do anything to affect the software you load to run the tablet interface.
The limitation is that the software EXPECTS you to have a keyboard attached and therefore does not provide alternative methods to access commonly used functions. Even there, with enough programmable keys this isn't as big a deal. The only time you NEED a keyboard is lots of text entry OR the UI designer has specifically designed the workflow to require it.
THAT'S how its limited. The UI design does not provide the alternative methods of input (gestures, better tool layout, etc) but relies on keypresses. That impacts your workflow when you don't have a keyboard but its not a requirement on the task itself...art vs writing a paper.
If you're writing a paper then a pen interface kinda sucks unless you hate typing. It still sucks because handwriting recognition is still so-so.
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I already have, but I'll do it again, (and I never said I could not use a MBP with Maya in that context), If you split the two you only have one, and most people need both. It's that simple.
If you go with your idea of docking you will always have to lug that dock around. If you go with your USB Keyboard idea you have the same problem. It's pain in the ass. Just flip he MBP with an Apple tablet interface, and you have one item that does both.
Yes, and try using the digitizer in laptop mode with a fliptop. You can but its typically awkward ESPECIALLY if you're depending on pressure to determine line width. Even just normal use of the digitizer is awkward as you tend to tip the laptop a bit and its in an upright position. Hmm...perhaps some might hinge so you can essentially lay the tablet out flat but the screen part is usually much thinner than the rest of the machine.
In tablet mode the keyboard is typically hidden.
So essentially the keyboard is still not quickly available in tablet mode for art work. The USB keyboard is actually better in that regard if you have an easel case. If the keyboard is so essential to your wacom workflow the convertible tablet is not the answer.
And you don't lug the dock around. You have one at your office and one at home. In mobile mode you still have capability but much less than docked. Less HD space (unless you can see a NAS), poorer graphics, fewer input devices, smaller screen, etc.
Essentially that's what I do with the MBP and many folks do with their laptops aready. They dock and use a normal keyboard and mouse with a larger screen.
Comments
Are we certain that it can't rotate into portrait mode. I know in larger LCD monitors the video card determines whether you can rotate the monitor or not. But perhaps they've updated the video in some way to allow this?which would make writing with inkwell more natural feeling, and would avoide having to stroll to fill out forms.
There's a feature in OSX right now that allows for reorientation of the screen (i.e., from landscape to portrait). Problem solved.
There is absolutely zero market for this. It won't exist in a year's time.
My hunch, from the activity of this board, is that you didn't read much before you posted. People talk about the graphic designer segment of the Mac market as being a "niche" interest, but let's not forget that it was graphic designers who legitimized the Macintosh back in the days of Photoshop 2.0/2.5 and Illustrator 2/3/4. I'd say it's a fairly important--and sizable--segment. If only a third of those types went for ModBooks, I'm thinking it would affect Apple's profit margins just enough to reconsider this tablet animosity.
This would also be a great product for the medical field, specifically for RNs and such who need to take information from patients. Their "high-end" solution right now is to wheel a cart into a room that has a Windoze laptop, keyboard, etc. and doing away with the paper charts. (Don't watch ER or Scrubs for a clue--even the "neighborhood" hospital in my town is using more current tech than these shows suggest.) People may complain about the weight, but there are a few hospitals using tablets, and I'm not aware of any complaints about the weight. At least they don't have to carry around a patient's entire file--and most people who end up in hospitals (i.e., the elderly) have been there a time or two before and probably have fairly heavy files already.
All that said, the machine does still need a standard keyboard and a swivel monitor. Even graphic designers and RNs don't use the touch-screen input ALL the time, and it will not be in our lifetimes that handwriting recognition will be flawless, all respect to Inkwell and its development team.
I'm saying yes, but if your talking about a PDA then your into iPhones category so keep them separate. If your talking about Slate only tablet computer's - I'm saying the reason it is a niche is because it is a slate, and there s no using it for many people with their limited functionality. That is why I don't have one, or a MacBook Pro, and still rely on PowerMac and a wacom to do everything. Adding an onscreen keyboard to a slate just wont work in Maya, or any art application that well. #1 it takes up a part of my screen, and if you remember the reason for the big screen from Apple was primarily for artists using our types of applications.
So your position is that because you can't run Maya on a slate that it is too limited for general use?
The PDA and iPhones are even more limited in size/performance and therefore even more useless from your perspective.
There is a middle ground between more power than a PDA will give you (note taking, presenting, etc) and less than Maya workstation would require. You may not want to build your keynote presentation with an undocked slate but you sure can present from it, take notes from other presentations and at meetings, do iChat and VOIP, see your email or surf the net in something other than a PDA/crackberry sized screen and run tablet (slate) friendly applications (like inventory, medical charts, etc).
Docked, a slate shouldn't be that much less capable than any other machine. And I can use a Cintiq and 3dConnexion 6-DOF puck (that now work in OSX!) with my MBP. Other than being slower there isn't anything I can't do with my MBP than I can do with my Mac Pro.
But it requires the right dock. One with slots that I can put a decent GPU into. I can live with a GMA for email, web surfing and so forth. At my desk I need something more. That's not something slate manufacturers have adopted and that might be niche but a lot of folks are using their notebooks as their only machines because they are now fast enough.
Heck I looked at the Sny UX50 briefly but said nah.
Vinea
but other industries that aren't necessarily conducive to sitting at a desk would be excellent markets for tablets.
Then, I could grab it from the dock as a slate to go to a meeting. At the meeting, I could either just hold it and use the stylus to take notes, or it'd have a flip down ~2" stand on the back to get it at a slight angle for typing and viewing the screen. Have a multi-touch on-screen keyboard, and I think the low angle of the screen would be perfect too (I always find everyone's laptop screens being up in everyone's faces at a meeting annoying anyhow). If I'm typing, I just need to see around where I'm typing, not the whole screen.
That's one idea ... I'd probably have a different one for how to interact with it tomorrow.
So your position is that because you can't run Maya on a slate that it is too limited for general use?
..............
Vinea
It's starting to look childish when you keep taking one part out of one of my sentences, and say that is every reason I'm giving. I just wrote a paragraph on the many reasons why many people have not chosen the slate. Let's not confuse the Slate style tablet with the Tablet concept as a whole. Slate is just a part of one bigger idea.
So if all you want is something that is probably not going to last because if it's limitations then that's ok, but I'm just saying that if it's not convertible a lot of people can not use it the way they would like to. And it cuts off Apple's heart and sole user base. The graphic designer, The movie editor, The Artist, And the Photographer.
Apple doesn't have to introduce a brand new product for everything. Recycling is a beautiful thing. They should just update an existing product line with added new fantastic capabilities.
Who knows. Maybe we could get the best of both worlds. Maybe apple will release a plain slate, and convert the MacBook lines into convertibles.
But I will go on the record now in saying if Apple did this, 95% of people would chose the convertible MacBooks. Functionality wise you would get everything you get with a slate, and still be able to turn it into a portable desktop when you needed it. And you only have to carry one item with you. You don't have to worry about some docking apparatus for every office situation your in. That's just one more item you need to carry around.
Basically, as far as I can tell, tablet computers take the functionality of a laptop and cripple it for the everyday user with an interface that's more difficult to use by taking away the physical point of interaction to suit a really small userbase with very specialised needs.
No, it substitutes the functionality of a constantly accessed keyboard with the functionality of computing while standing. It also allows you to do all of the things like read ebooks, check email, use widgets, read websites and draw or do a thousand other things that DON'T REQUIRE A KEYBOARD!!! Keyboards are not for everyone all of the time! My mom doesn't like or want a keyboard, but she would love to surf the web or read eMagazines that are automatically sent to her like podcasts.
It's kind of a waste of everybody's time, really, and I can't see Apple doing it. I don't need one, I'd never even think about buying one.
You're right, it wastes so much time.
The only solution I can think of is combining the clickwheel technology with a virtual keyboard (which I understand from my impeccable sources has been developed and patented by a large technology corporation in California.)
And yeah, that is one good solution.
Still. Tablets really irritate me.
And people who pontificate from a hole in the ground really irritate me.
No, it substitutes the functionality of a constantly accessed keyboard with the functionality of computing while standing. It also allows you to do all of the things like read ebooks, check email, use widgets, read websites and draw or do a thousand other things that DON'T REQUIRE A KEYBOARD!!! Keyboards are not for everyone all of the time! .
Absolutely. Try to walk and use your laptop at the same time.
No market?! People standng on a bus8)
I seem to remember that people weren't interested in the 'Internet Junior Experience'.
V/R,
Aries 1B
Absolutely. Try to walk and use your laptop at the same time.
No market?! People standng on a bus8)
I seem to remember that people weren't interested in the 'Internet Junior Experience'.
V/R,
Aries 1B
Yes but how many of those examples still need to type papers, or use the keyboard for hot-key access? Over 95%. I'm not saying people wont use it as a slate when they can, but it needs to convert, or most will still need either another computer, or just the other computer. I would like both a Mac Pro, and an Tablet. That is why I just use a PowerMac, and a wacom. I'd love to take a tablet with me, but I need it to convert. Just liike a Student, an Executive, Teachers, Real Estate Salesmen, Insurance Adjusters, Graphic Artists, Film Makers, and on and on and on, and (oh yeah) ME.
Yes but how many of those examples still need to type papers, or use the keyboard for hot-key access? Over 95%. I'm not saying people wont use it as a slate when they can, but it needs to convert, or most will still need either another computer, or just the other computer. I would like both a Mac Pro, and an Tablet. That is why I just use a PowerMac, and a wacom. I'd love to take a tablet with me, but I need it to convert. Just liike a Student, an Executive, Teachers, Real Estate Salesmen, Insurance Adjusters, Graphic Artists, Film Makers, and on and on and on, and (oh yeah) ME.
That is why there are USB ports. So people can usa a keyboard or whatever if they need to.
It's starting to look childish when you keep taking one part out of one of my sentences, and say that is every reason I'm giving. I just wrote a paragraph on the many reasons why many people have not chosen the slate. Let's not confuse the Slate style tablet with the Tablet concept as a whole. Slate is just a part of one bigger idea.
Heck, you also said that the MBP doesn't work for you because you run Maya which tells folks your opinion is highly biased toward your own workflow which calls into question your opinion about tablets, slates and notebooks. I also addressed your other concerns in other paragraphs but also you want to come back to this one line as if its all I had to say. Don't want one line comments about dumb things you say don't write dumb things in support of your position.
Especially don't pick one line out a whole post to whine about my taking one line out of a whole post to pick on. Because that's just bizzarely ironic.
So why don't you address the issue? What is it about a MBP or slate that you don't believe that you can't design the maya workflow to work around? See the Cintiq comment below which is just a slate tethered to the computer. I can tell you that taking your hands off the Ciniq to access the keyboard really does slow down the workflow but you can typically minimize that.
The difference between a slate and a flip top is you're trading size for always having a keyboard. In any case you ignore the fact that I said that you need either a good docking solution OR a better way of attaching the slate half to the keyboard half. AND that slates only work well when other input methods are improved (voice, gesture, handwriting).
You keep whining that slates suck regardless of any other potential improvement because you believe that you must have a keyboard to do any real/useful computing and you keep bringing up Maya as your example of why "artists" need a keyboard.
So if all you want is something that is probably not going to last because if it's limitations then that's ok, but I'm just saying that if it's not convertible a lot of people can not use it the way they would like to. And it cuts off Apple's heart and sole user base. The graphic designer, The movie editor, The Artist, And the Photographer.
Yes, this is because we're going to ignore the fact that when a slate needs a keyboard it can either be docked or use a bt keyboard or any other number of possibilities. We're also going to ignore the fact that software UIs can be better designed for the stylus environment without a keyboard.
The Cintiq has 8 user definable keys that are chordable. Folks use it with maya and minimize keyboard/mouse use. Coupled with the assignable buttons on the 3dconnexion puck Maya workflow could probably be redesigned to work with nothing but that and the Cintiq interface.
Slates also have assignable buttons but not as many as the Cinitq (which is pretty nicely designed by wacom). Coupled with a BT version of the puck there's no difference except for size...not that you really want to be doing serious work on a 11" or 13" screen anyway but arguably in the tight confines of say an airplane a slate with a stylus is probably as useful as a regular laptop to do light work for a movie editor, artist or photographer. Both have limitations in different ways.
A flip top might be better than both slate and laptop in that scenario but not in the scenario where you want to carry around something lighter and thinner.
Apple doesn't have to introduce a brand new product for everything. Recycling is a beautiful thing. They should just update an existing product line with added new fantastic capabilities.
Who knows. Maybe we could get the best of both worlds. Maybe apple will release a plain slate, and convert the MacBook lines into convertibles.
The best of both worlds is the ability to detach the screen portion from the MBP and use it without the keyboard half. Then a "convertible" isn't a fliptop but a laptop that converts to a slate when you want something lighter to carry around. Most fliptops aren't any smaller/lighter than their laptop counterparts because they are a laptop with a built in digitizer.
I have all three...flip top, slate and laptop. I rarely use the fliptop since when I want something light I grab the Motion Computing slate. When I go on the road I take the MBP. If I had to live with JUST one I'd probably pick the MBP since the current tablet software isn't really great enough to live with the implementation restrictions of the current tablets. I don't have the Toshiba convertible which if I didn't want OSX would be a viable middle ground (my convertible is a Toughbook).
An Apple designed slate with a gesture interface, better voice and handwriting support and some way to prop vertically (that didn't suck) in an airplane for use with a keyboard would work well. The hybrid slate/laptop would be best. In any case OSX would need better tablet PC support. Its not JUST the hardware design. An iTablet means so much more than a 3rd party slate.
Vinea
Especially don't pick one line out a whole post to whine about my taking one line out of a whole post to pick on. Because that's just bizzarely ironic.
Secondly, you dissected a sentence and made it sound as if that was all I said in the sentence which took it way out of context. I took your sentence in it's entirety and addressed it as a whole. There is nothing Bizarre about that.
We're also going to ignore the fact that software UIs can be better designed for the stylus environment without a keyboard.
This I don't understand at all. What makes you think there are limitations on software because there is a keyboard attached? That is ridiculous.
Having a keyboard wont do anything to affect the software you load to run the tablet interface.
So why don't you address the issue? What is it about a MBP or slate that you don't believe that you can't design the maya workflow to work around? See the Cintiq comment below which is just a slate tethered to the computer. I can tell you that taking your hands off the Ciniq to access the keyboard really does slow down the workflow but you can typically minimize that.
I already have, but I'll do it again, (and I never said I could not use a MBP with Maya in that context), If you split the two you only have one, and most people need both. It's that simple.
If you go with your idea of docking you will always have to lug that dock around. If you go with your USB Keyboard idea you have the same problem. It's pain in the ass. Just flip he MBP with an Apple tablet interface, and you have one item that does both.
check this out, I posted this a few years again on Apple original idea of table back in the 90's.
They did the exact same thing even copied the way to store the pen.
Look here
Do you still own this?
I'd hazard that most tablets are still slates with external keyboards. There are good flip tops but primarily folks want a tablet for 3 reasons:
...
If you could make a fliptop about as thin as the MBP then that would work. Physically I don't think you can.
My primary (and really only) computer is an X41 Tablet ThinkPad from Lenovo. It's about as thin as a MacBook. And it's solid as a rock. Check out www.tabletpcreview.com. Out of the top ten most popular tablets there, eight are convertibles. The other two are UMPCs. The slate form-factor is on the way out. I say this as a matter of opinion as a tablet user, and as a statement of consensus from everyone else I know who uses one.
To everyone who is saying "just use a bluetooth keyboard!": that's not practical, and it's not the same thing. To start with, you have to carry and charge two devices with completely different form factors. Additionally, without an integrated stand (which is what I suggested in the first place, keyboard or stand), carrying a keyboard is basically useless. How are you going to prop that display up?
One thing that has occurred to me -- use a strapped-on Bluetooth FrogPad. That might be cool
My primary (and really only) computer is an X41 Tablet ThinkPad from Lenovo. It's about as thin as a MacBook. And it's solid as a rock. Check out www.tabletpcreview.com. Out of the top ten most popular tablets there, eight are convertibles. The other two are UMPCs. The slate form-factor is on the way out. I say this as a matter of opinion as a tablet user, and as a statement of consensus from everyone else I know who uses one.
To everyone who is saying "just use a bluetooth keyboard!": that's not practical, and it's not the same thing. To start with, you have to carry and charge two devices with completely different form factors. Additionally, without an integrated stand (which is what I suggested in the first place, keyboard or stand), carrying a keyboard is basically useless. How are you going to prop that display up?
One thing that has occurred to me -- use a strapped-on Bluetooth FrogPad. That might be cool
I like you already cromas.
That totally reaffirms what I was saying about people wanting to use a tablet as a Laptop when they want to, or feel they would prefer laptop use over tablet for what it is they were doing. Tablets are not for everything, and that is why there is the convertible style, and it's obviously the most popular version. People want freedom to choose, and I'm convinced that is why it's much more popular than the slate. Slates are confining, and pushing only half of the choices of usability options that would be available to you if it were able to convert.
read websites and draw or do a thousand other things that DON'T REQUIRE A KEYBOARD!!!
You still have to type in the URL. And the text for your Google search. And if you are doing graphic work you still have to type in your text and values etc. Sending email - typing. Posting in a forum - typing. I used an edit system for years that had the option of entering text using an on screen keyboard or a real hard keyboard. The hard keyboard was faster and more accurate. It's pretty easy to hit the wrong letter when using a pen/screen type selector and it is so slow.
Sure some people will use and like these things. In the medical field - eh. If tablet computers (either Mac of Windows) were a panacea for them we would see them everywhere in doctors offices and hospitals already. I haven't seen them much have you?
Tablets seem to me to have a built-in awkwardness since you have to hold them with one hand and operate the UI with the other. Put them in your lap and the screen is at the wrong angle so you have to prop them up. Same with a table.
I think Panasonic has the right design with the ToughBook-19, which is a laptop that flips over to become a tablet.
My primary (and really only) computer is an X41 Tablet ThinkPad from Lenovo. It's about as thin as a MacBook. And it's solid as a rock. Check out www.tabletpcreview.com. Out of the top ten most popular tablets there, eight are convertibles.
Okay, I stand corrected on which tablets are most popular. On that site anyway.
However the primary advantage of a slate is still the slimness. I have a TransNote ThinkPad which is a tad larger and heavier but really the part that was most useful was the ThinkScribe part. The computer part is still too heavy and clunky to haul around.
The weakness of the X41 is still the GMA. Not an issue for many folks but really IMHO the only tablets that function as full desktop/laptop replacements are the Toshibas. I think there was one other that has a real GPU as well but I forget which.
The other two are UMPCs. The slate form-factor is on the way out. I say this as a matter of opinion as a tablet user, and as a statement of consensus from everyone else I know who uses one.
Perhaps. And as a UI person and another tablet user I'd say that gesture UIs and better interfaces will allow us to work better with slates and technology will someday get a slate to the size of a 8.5"x11" paper notepad (in thickness and weight).
A convertible has many advantages to be sure. The keyboard is nice when you need to enter in a lot of text and most other forms of entry are slower. But voice email and other technologies can minimize the need for a keyboard.
Motion computing hasn't moved away from slates. There must still be a market and frankly the large portion of tablets I see in everyday use are slates in doctor's offices (motion and viewsonic). Of the remaining, I see a couple Toshiba convertibles and differing ruggedized slates and the ToughBook. More ruggedized slates than ToughBooks.
Convertibles are notebook PCs with a digitizer. These are great and I think many folks are going to add digitizers to their laptops in the future but there will always be product space for lighter, thiner slates used primarily with pen, not keyboard, input.
To everyone who is saying "just use a bluetooth keyboard!": that's not practical, and it's not the same thing. To start with, you have to carry and charge two devices with completely different form factors. Additionally, without an integrated stand (which is what I suggested in the first place, keyboard or stand), carrying a keyboard is basically useless. How are you going to prop that display up?
An integrated stand is missing from most slates. Current slates aren't all that well designed.
Looking at my Transnote perhaps a good slate form factor is a portfolio with the keyboard half and prop built into the leather (or facimile) portfolio and the slate part on the other section. Make the slate easily detachable from the portfolio portion for single handed use. Leave enough room for some paper documents. Make the keyboard detachable as well.
Motion comes really close with their field case.
https://store.motioncomputing.com/TA...elID=3&TabID=1
Another level of integration would be desired so that the BT keyboard and slate would charge together when the field case is plugged in. If an optical drive, HD and extended battery were built into the base of the field case it might be heavy enough not to require the easel stand portion.
A detachable keyboard would be nice simply because I occasionally find that a little more seperation between keyboard and screen would be helpful. But its optional if that ends up with too many little pieces to break.
One thing that has occurred to me -- use a strapped-on Bluetooth FrogPad. That might be cool
If you're going to learn a new typing method you're probably better off with a chording keyboard. Heck we can't get away from the QWERTY keyboard that's designed to slow down typing.
Vinea
I think Panasonic has the right design with the ToughBook-19, which is a laptop that flips over to become a tablet.
It's okay. Yes, I have one. Unless you need a ruggedized machine the Toshiba's are far better.
I have a two ruggedized slates and they are IMHO better for what we do with them. An XplorTech one and...hmm...forgot the other one. Co-Worker has that one.
Vinea
OK first off I never said the MBP didn't work for me because of Maya. Your confused. And I don't see it quoted. Everything you did quote you didn't even address. I don't use a MBP because I'm waiting for a Mac convertible tablet that I can also use for Painter, ZBrush, Maya and Photoshop.
Excuse me? I quoted the ENTIRE bleeding paragraph so the context was there. Which you accuse me of taking your statement out of context in the next sentence.
I'm saying yes, but if your talking about a PDA then your into iPhones category so keep them separate. If your talking about Slate only tablet computer's - I'm saying the reason it is a niche is because it is a slate, and there s no using it for many people with their limited functionality. That is why I don't have one, or a MacBook Pro, and still rely on PowerMac and a wacom to do everything. Adding an onscreen keyboard to a slate just wont work in Maya, or any art application that well. #1 it takes up a part of my screen, and if you remember the reason for the big screen from Apple was primarily for artists using our types of applications.
You don't mention the MBP in any other context except in the sentence that complains a slate is too limited and this is why you still rely on a PowerMac for Maya (everything presumably includes Maya since you mention that next). There's no reason that you can't attach a wacom to the MBP. Essentially that's what I do when I attach the Cintiq. I can't read your mind to guess that the only reason you don't buy a MBP is because you're waiting for a convertible.
Which wouldn't work for you anyway if you believe what you just wrote (see below).
I addressed the onscreen keyboard limitation for Maya and art applications with the discussion of the Cintiq + SpaceNavigator providing sufficient input where the need for a keyboard is far less in a previous post. You simply repeated your assertion that you can't do art apps without a keyboard. Do I REALLY need to repeat myself if you aren't going to bother accepting that other artists like working with a Cintiq (essentially a big slate attached to a PC) and can get a lot done without a keyboard? Which I did anyway in that post...in any case an onscreen keyboard (with tranparency) doesn't impact you that much given that its only on screen when you need to type something anyway.
If you didn't intend to include the MBP in that sentence...cool...but in that context it sure makes you look too demanding to be satisfied regardless of how slate technology improves.
Secondly, you dissected a sentence and made it sound as if that was all I said in the sentence which took it way out of context. I took your sentence in it's entirety and addressed it as a whole. There is nothing Bizarre about that.
You took ONE sentence out of the entire post out (ooh...in its entierty) and then complain that I didn't address your other points when I go on to reiterate that I can use the Cintiq again with a MBP? That the keyboard is helpful but not always required in the workflow?
I dissected a sentence? Please, the context was there for all to see. If I got it wrong its not like there wasn't the context to show your true meaning. At BEST your paragraph was poorly worded.
Yes, bizzarely ironic. Would you prefer stupidly ironic? You whine about something I did while at the same time do it even more...
This I don't understand at all. What makes you think there are limitations on software because there is a keyboard attached? That is ridiculous.
Having a keyboard wont do anything to affect the software you load to run the tablet interface.
The limitation is that the software EXPECTS you to have a keyboard attached and therefore does not provide alternative methods to access commonly used functions. Even there, with enough programmable keys this isn't as big a deal. The only time you NEED a keyboard is lots of text entry OR the UI designer has specifically designed the workflow to require it.
THAT'S how its limited. The UI design does not provide the alternative methods of input (gestures, better tool layout, etc) but relies on keypresses. That impacts your workflow when you don't have a keyboard but its not a requirement on the task itself...art vs writing a paper.
If you're writing a paper then a pen interface kinda sucks unless you hate typing. It still sucks because handwriting recognition is still so-so.
I already have, but I'll do it again, (and I never said I could not use a MBP with Maya in that context), If you split the two you only have one, and most people need both. It's that simple.
If you go with your idea of docking you will always have to lug that dock around. If you go with your USB Keyboard idea you have the same problem. It's pain in the ass. Just flip he MBP with an Apple tablet interface, and you have one item that does both.
Yes, and try using the digitizer in laptop mode with a fliptop. You can but its typically awkward ESPECIALLY if you're depending on pressure to determine line width. Even just normal use of the digitizer is awkward as you tend to tip the laptop a bit and its in an upright position. Hmm...perhaps some might hinge so you can essentially lay the tablet out flat but the screen part is usually much thinner than the rest of the machine.
In tablet mode the keyboard is typically hidden.
So essentially the keyboard is still not quickly available in tablet mode for art work. The USB keyboard is actually better in that regard if you have an easel case. If the keyboard is so essential to your wacom workflow the convertible tablet is not the answer.
And you don't lug the dock around. You have one at your office and one at home. In mobile mode you still have capability but much less than docked. Less HD space (unless you can see a NAS), poorer graphics, fewer input devices, smaller screen, etc.
Essentially that's what I do with the MBP and many folks do with their laptops aready. They dock and use a normal keyboard and mouse with a larger screen.
Vinea