It's difficult to say anything definite at this point. But as long as we're speculating... I tend to think that 15" is very much. It is essentially a mid-range PowerBook without a keyboard. It's too big to hold it in one hand and write with the other. So, I presume, it's a laptop in the literal sense. Its size greatly restricts its possible usage: you can't put it in a pocket, for example.
A 15" tablet can possibly be made as powerful as current PowerBooks. Great. So tell me in what respect it is better than a PowerBook, tell me how two markets for PowerBooks and PowerTablets differ, tell me how it's easier to type with a pen than with a keyboard, how it's cheaper to protect the screen without a lid. I just don't get it. I'm afraid, Steve Jobs doesn't get it either.
Mac OS X? From one point of view, Apple is not going to write a separate OS for portables. On the other hand, Mac OS X wants too much real estate to live in 640x480 displays and loves modifier keys like Shift, Option, Command, Control too much to live without a keyboard. I can't see how they are going to make it.
Maybe, Quanta is just making new PowerBooks 15" and a tablet-rumour-makers are seeing things?
Who's buying them? The very sorts of industries Ensign Pulver writes about. Really, you should page back and read what he says, he gets it. So should Apple. And they'll have to, eventually.
Thanks michaelb for your kind support. Mr. Freely is right about one thing - current PC tablets suck. What he's wrong about is that simple fact makes a Mac tablet all the more viable and important. I only hope Steve is sandbagging and really does build one.
OK, I'm done with this subject (at least for a few weeks until the next inevitable Mac Tablet thread emerges. )
Tablets will be very successful, eventually. To say that there is no need or that the concept is flawed is just ridiculous. The concept is a few thousand years old...its a piece of paper.
The PDA started out as an analogue (or should that be 'a digital'?) of the small filofax style notebook and for many people is a successful substitute. Personally I prefer A4 sized notebooks as I tend to doodle drawings and diagrams all the time. I would love a digital extension of that for all the reasons that have been eloquently described already. The problem is the technology just isn't there yet.
I would say they need:
Self illuminated high contrast screens of at least 200dpi for a 'paper' look....which in turn means a fully scalable UI (Quartz Extreme is a move in that direction I'm sure)
Perfect HWR and gesturing (of course)
Textured writing surface (paper feel)
Bluetooth/ high speed Wi-Fi blah blah
Large local storage capacity (I want those pages stored as text AND graphics...Its amazing how well you can remember and reference stuff in your own handwriting and doodles )
Weight and thickness of the TiBook SCREEN not the computer.
If tablet PC accounts for 1.5 percent of portable PCs sold, what would Tablet Mac be like. Especially when Apple doesn't even have a toehold in any of the market other then Graphic/Design.
First, don't correct another's spelling when your's isn't correct either, the term is "other than".
Second, don't burst a vessle if you have a problem with people wanting a product that is not available then it is YOUR problem.
Third, if so many are arguing for a product that does not yet exist, then there must be a market.
Fourth, I plan on working with images, Photoshop, and yes the Graphics industry is heavily steeped in Macs. Does 1 and 1 equal two for you yet? If not let me hold your hand. A tablet Mac with a stylus sensitive screen, hmmm, artists who are used to using pen and paper to draw as oppossed to a mouse. This would be a great product for this market. Yes, Wacom makes a tablet and stylus peripherial but I as many would prefer to work on the image in a more direct manner.
First, don't correct another's spelling when your's isn't correct either, the term is "other than".
Second, don't burst a vessle if you have a problem with people wanting a product that is not available then it is YOUR problem.
Third, if so many are arguing for a product that does not yet exist, then there must be a market.
Fourth, I plan on working with images, Photoshop, and yes the Graphics industry is heavily steeped in Macs. Does 1 and 1 equal two for you yet? If not let me hold your hand. A tablet Mac with a stylus sensitive screen, hmmm, artists who are used to using pen and paper to draw as oppossed to a mouse. This would be a great product for this market. Yes, Wacom makes a tablet and stylus peripherial but I as many would prefer to work on the image in a more direct manner.
thank you
Firstly, Don't be a ass-hole, I never correct others spelling since this isn't a spelling bee and Grammar test. So, go F yourself. And I wasn't really correcting his spelling.
Secondly, I don't have problem with anything. All along I have stated that this is a dead market, and gave my reasons, but others on the forum mainly Ensign disagreed with my reasoning, so I am responding to him.
And why do you care why I say it, it's just a discussion. Can people have discussion where not everybody agree on same issues? I presented a dissenting view, and you have issues with that? Well guess what, stuff your condescending views and get lost. I have my rights to disagree with you or anybody, If you don't like what I have to say, ignore me. But don't engage me in a "chat" to tell me I shouldn't disagree with others wishes. Get out of my face Forum Nazi.
Quote:
Third, if so many are arguing for a product that does not yet exist, then there must be a market.
Thirdly, "so many"?!?!?! how many is many in your mind, 100, 200, there aren't that many people asking for this. Handful of people with wishes do not make market.
take a look at this before you tell me you want a Tablet Mac, that kind of device is already here, do you have one? since you think its really great thing to have. And I don't think Wacom is making a killing selling this stuff. Sony had the same product out in 2001, do you still see Sony selling them, NO
And I am in charge of purchasing these kind of equipment, and if someone asked me to get a TabletPC, I would tell them to stop wasting company money, and get a laptop. Its a gimmick that 99% of the market do not need.
Also, if you know anything, you would know that a tablet device is very slow, and has to use a lower end processor, In fact most of the Tablet PC's are underpowered and have a very weak graphic chipset. So I wish you luck working with 72 DPI jpeg, since that's just about only file you'll be working on with a Tablet Device.
Whoa, someone needs to lay off the coffee. Dude, I don't know what your problem is but I'm done with you. I was just responding with a tone to match your own.
I want to make few things clear, before another one of you take a pot-shot at me.
1. I have nothing against the idea of Tablet Mac.
2. I would get one if there was one on the market
3. I should be able to enter data as easily as I can on a laptop
4. But it has to be as powerful as a laptop
But the reality of the situation is this:
The technology isn't here yet, for a thin tablet size device with enough power for Mac users. (Graphics, Video, Audio or even games) Cant even watch DVD on it since optical drive can't be carried on the device. But if you do put it in, battery needs to be bigger so on and so forth. And I seriously doubt that any IT manger would purchase these for their company.
Whoa, someone needs to lay off the coffee. Dude, I don't know what your problem is but I'm done with you. I was just responding with a tone to match your own.
Now have a good day.
Sorry, I'm little high strung, didn't wish to sound like a maniac.
I do want to apologies to people for going off too harsh.
I think that interest in Tablet PCs will be sparked by the rise of public, wireless networks.
An earlier poster mentioned that they never check e-mail while standing up. Well, I do- with my TiBook. When I have to wait around anywhere and I have my machine with me, i open it up and launch MacStumbler. Usually, I am able to find an open network and jump on briefly and check my e-mail (I live in NYC, where coverage is dense).
Opening my laptop and swinging it around looking for a network is clumsy. I can't type while standing anyway, so the keyboard is useless. A smallish tablet would be much more convenient for working with these networks while walking around the city.
I think that interest in Tablet PCs will be sparked by the rise of public, wireless networks.
An earlier poster mentioned that they never check e-mail while standing up. Well, I do- with my TiBook. When I have to wait around anywhere and I have my machine with me, i open it up and launch MacStumbler. Usually, I am able to find an open network and jump on briefly and check my e-mail (I live in NYC, where coverage is dense).
Opening my laptop and swinging it around looking for a network is clumsy. I can't type while standing anyway, so the keyboard is useless. A smallish tablet would be much more convenient for working with these networks while walking around the city.
Well I live in NYC as well, and I do the same thing. I usually, go to a park bench and now with VerizonDSL with Wi-Fi its much easier, but I find it odd that you would open a TiBook, I use my PocketPC with Wi-Fi connection. because I can check my email. In fact I had used Palm with cell phone connector to check email before. So isn't that a overkill?
But I have not seen too many people do this.
And how many people do you know do this? Just because you and I do this doesn't mean everyone else would do it too.
I.P. & everyone, I apologize for flying a bit off the handle.
I.P. we know your misgivings on this matter, and yes I concede that the tech isn't up to snuff yet, but I can still dream, just like I'd really love to have a DSLR with a full frame CMOS chip that can capture an RGB image on 3 seperate layers for each color, but I'm not going to see that anytime soon either.
Yes, I know of the Wacom products, just doesn't meet my desires.
But as we know Apple has hushed naysayers in the past, if they were to throw their hat in the ring on this, we'd hope theu would do the same and not have another good product that doesn't sell b/c it's ahead of the times or a bad product based on good ideas.
Yes, a robust OS, screw half-assing it. give us a decent hard drive and a high res screen also.
The problem I see with tablets using today's technology is that they add little to no value to the market. There are devices out there that can do everything you want to do with a tablet and do it better, smaller and cheaper. For those who walk around a lot, but still need functionality there is the pocketPC or PDA. You can easily check e-mail, surf the web and do most things we would like to do with a tablet at probably 1/5 the cost and space. Using today's technology the value added is little to none. Given that I see the tablet evolving into a functional computer when battery and CPU technology improve considerably. To say that they have no future is not very smart and limited in my opinion. Nobody thought micorwaves, and Post-It notes and Rock and Roll had any future either. Once we can get the technology improvements to put the power of a laptop into size of a large PDA then you will have your tablet. Today that is not available, so any attempts will be almost futile and frustrating.
Are you people forgetting all of the people who want to use Alias|Wavefront Sketchbook but are too artsy and yuppy to even think about using it on anything other than a Mac?
Comments
A 15" tablet can possibly be made as powerful as current PowerBooks. Great. So tell me in what respect it is better than a PowerBook, tell me how two markets for PowerBooks and PowerTablets differ, tell me how it's easier to type with a pen than with a keyboard, how it's cheaper to protect the screen without a lid. I just don't get it. I'm afraid, Steve Jobs doesn't get it either.
Mac OS X? From one point of view, Apple is not going to write a separate OS for portables. On the other hand, Mac OS X wants too much real estate to live in 640x480 displays and loves modifier keys like Shift, Option, Command, Control too much to live without a keyboard. I can't see how they are going to make it.
Maybe, Quanta is just making new PowerBooks 15" and a tablet-rumour-makers are seeing things?
Originally posted by michaelb
Who's buying them? The very sorts of industries Ensign Pulver writes about. Really, you should page back and read what he says, he gets it. So should Apple. And they'll have to, eventually.
Thanks michaelb for your kind support. Mr. Freely is right about one thing - current PC tablets suck. What he's wrong about is that simple fact makes a Mac tablet all the more viable and important. I only hope Steve is sandbagging and really does build one.
OK, I'm done with this subject (at least for a few weeks until the next inevitable Mac Tablet thread emerges.
The PDA started out as an analogue (or should that be 'a digital'?) of the small filofax style notebook and for many people is a successful substitute. Personally I prefer A4 sized notebooks as I tend to doodle drawings and diagrams all the time. I would love a digital extension of that for all the reasons that have been eloquently described already. The problem is the technology just isn't there yet.
I would say they need:
Self illuminated high contrast screens of at least 200dpi for a 'paper' look....which in turn means a fully scalable UI (Quartz Extreme is a move in that direction I'm sure)
Perfect HWR and gesturing (of course)
Textured writing surface (paper feel)
Bluetooth/ high speed Wi-Fi blah blah
Large local storage capacity (I want those pages stored as text AND graphics...Its amazing how well you can remember and reference stuff in your own handwriting and doodles )
Weight and thickness of the TiBook SCREEN not the computer.
5 years away maybe?
If tablet PC accounts for 1.5 percent of portable PCs sold, what would Tablet Mac be like. Especially when Apple doesn't even have a toehold in any of the market other then Graphic/Design.
First, don't correct another's spelling when your's isn't correct either, the term is "other than".
Second, don't burst a vessle if you have a problem with people wanting a product that is not available then it is YOUR problem.
Third, if so many are arguing for a product that does not yet exist, then there must be a market.
Fourth, I plan on working with images, Photoshop, and yes the Graphics industry is heavily steeped in Macs. Does 1 and 1 equal two for you yet? If not let me hold your hand. A tablet Mac with a stylus sensitive screen, hmmm, artists who are used to using pen and paper to draw as oppossed to a mouse. This would be a great product for this market. Yes, Wacom makes a tablet and stylus peripherial but I as many would prefer to work on the image in a more direct manner.
thank you
Originally posted by LiquidR
originally posted by I.P. freely
First, don't correct another's spelling when your's isn't correct either, the term is "other than".
Second, don't burst a vessle if you have a problem with people wanting a product that is not available then it is YOUR problem.
Third, if so many are arguing for a product that does not yet exist, then there must be a market.
Fourth, I plan on working with images, Photoshop, and yes the Graphics industry is heavily steeped in Macs. Does 1 and 1 equal two for you yet? If not let me hold your hand. A tablet Mac with a stylus sensitive screen, hmmm, artists who are used to using pen and paper to draw as oppossed to a mouse. This would be a great product for this market. Yes, Wacom makes a tablet and stylus peripherial but I as many would prefer to work on the image in a more direct manner.
thank you
Firstly, Don't be a ass-hole, I never correct others spelling since this isn't a spelling bee and Grammar test. So, go F yourself. And I wasn't really correcting his spelling.
Secondly, I don't have problem with anything. All along I have stated that this is a dead market, and gave my reasons, but others on the forum mainly Ensign disagreed with my reasoning, so I am responding to him.
And why do you care why I say it, it's just a discussion. Can people have discussion where not everybody agree on same issues? I presented a dissenting view, and you have issues with that? Well guess what, stuff your condescending views and get lost. I have my rights to disagree with you or anybody, If you don't like what I have to say, ignore me. But don't engage me in a "chat" to tell me I shouldn't disagree with others wishes. Get out of my face Forum Nazi.
Third, if so many are arguing for a product that does not yet exist, then there must be a market.
Thirdly, "so many"?!?!?! how many is many in your mind, 100, 200, there aren't that many people asking for this. Handful of people with wishes do not make market.
Does 1 and 1 equal two for you yet?
http://www.wacom.com/lcdtablets/index.cfm
take a look at this before you tell me you want a Tablet Mac, that kind of device is already here, do you have one? since you think its really great thing to have. And I don't think Wacom is making a killing selling this stuff. Sony had the same product out in 2001, do you still see Sony selling them, NO
And I am in charge of purchasing these kind of equipment, and if someone asked me to get a TabletPC, I would tell them to stop wasting company money, and get a laptop. Its a gimmick that 99% of the market do not need.
Also, if you know anything, you would know that a tablet device is very slow, and has to use a lower end processor, In fact most of the Tablet PC's are underpowered and have a very weak graphic chipset. So I wish you luck working with 72 DPI jpeg, since that's just about only file you'll be working on with a Tablet Device.
And you're are NOT welcome.
Now have a good day.
1. I have nothing against the idea of Tablet Mac.
2. I would get one if there was one on the market
3. I should be able to enter data as easily as I can on a laptop
4. But it has to be as powerful as a laptop
But the reality of the situation is this:
The technology isn't here yet, for a thin tablet size device with enough power for Mac users. (Graphics, Video, Audio or even games) Cant even watch DVD on it since optical drive can't be carried on the device. But if you do put it in, battery needs to be bigger so on and so forth. And I seriously doubt that any IT manger would purchase these for their company.
Originally posted by LiquidR
Whoa, someone needs to lay off the coffee. Dude, I don't know what your problem is but I'm done with you. I was just responding with a tone to match your own.
Now have a good day.
Sorry, I'm little high strung, didn't wish to sound like a maniac.
I do want to apologies to people for going off too harsh.
Sorry for that.
An earlier poster mentioned that they never check e-mail while standing up. Well, I do- with my TiBook. When I have to wait around anywhere and I have my machine with me, i open it up and launch MacStumbler. Usually, I am able to find an open network and jump on briefly and check my e-mail (I live in NYC, where coverage is dense).
Opening my laptop and swinging it around looking for a network is clumsy. I can't type while standing anyway, so the keyboard is useless. A smallish tablet would be much more convenient for working with these networks while walking around the city.
Originally posted by marcsiry
I think that interest in Tablet PCs will be sparked by the rise of public, wireless networks.
An earlier poster mentioned that they never check e-mail while standing up. Well, I do- with my TiBook. When I have to wait around anywhere and I have my machine with me, i open it up and launch MacStumbler. Usually, I am able to find an open network and jump on briefly and check my e-mail (I live in NYC, where coverage is dense).
Opening my laptop and swinging it around looking for a network is clumsy. I can't type while standing anyway, so the keyboard is useless. A smallish tablet would be much more convenient for working with these networks while walking around the city.
Well I live in NYC as well, and I do the same thing. I usually, go to a park bench and now with VerizonDSL with Wi-Fi its much easier, but I find it odd that you would open a TiBook, I use my PocketPC with Wi-Fi connection. because I can check my email. In fact I had used Palm with cell phone connector to check email before. So isn't that a overkill?
But I have not seen too many people do this.
And how many people do you know do this? Just because you and I do this doesn't mean everyone else would do it too.
I.P. we know your misgivings on this matter, and yes I concede that the tech isn't up to snuff yet, but I can still dream, just like I'd really love to have a DSLR with a full frame CMOS chip that can capture an RGB image on 3 seperate layers for each color, but I'm not going to see that anytime soon either.
Yes, I know of the Wacom products, just doesn't meet my desires.
But as we know Apple has hushed naysayers in the past, if they were to throw their hat in the ring on this, we'd hope theu would do the same and not have another good product that doesn't sell b/c it's ahead of the times or a bad product based on good ideas.
Yes, a robust OS, screw half-assing it. give us a decent hard drive and a high res screen also.
I'm one of 'em.