Adding Tablet Technology to the next PowerBook?
You know, I have been waiting and waiting for new PowerBook models. So, it struck me peculiar when Apple announced new rebates this week, with expiration dates of December 31st. That could very well be interpreted as a sign that new PowerBook models won't appear until MacWorld in January.
Why wait three months to give the PowerBooks a marginal bump, in the present form-factor, as was rumored heavily prior to the announcement of these new rebates? Or is something more radical planned for the PowerBook? Something like this:
<a href="http://www.acer.com/APP/AKC/INTERNET/AACPubli.nsf/HeadingPagesDisplay/ProductsTablet+PC?OpenDocument&ML1.3&"; target="_blank">http://www.acer.com/APP/AKC/INTERNET/AACPubli.nsf/HeadingPagesDisplay/ProductsTablet+PC?OpenDocument&ML1.3&</a>;
Hey, we've got inkwell now built into OS X. We'll need bluetooth built-in too. And, of course Firewire 2 might just be the icing on the cake. The present PowerBook, while nice with it's big screen and all, has issues with heat dissapation, flaking paint, and cracking hinges.
With the thought that all we'll get is a faster-processor PowerBooks with no other improvements, while the PC world starting to market their tablet technology; I hope that Apple's marketing and engineering geniouses have it all worked out so that we won't be stuck with a mediocre upgrade.
Why wait three months to give the PowerBooks a marginal bump, in the present form-factor, as was rumored heavily prior to the announcement of these new rebates? Or is something more radical planned for the PowerBook? Something like this:
<a href="http://www.acer.com/APP/AKC/INTERNET/AACPubli.nsf/HeadingPagesDisplay/ProductsTablet+PC?OpenDocument&ML1.3&"; target="_blank">http://www.acer.com/APP/AKC/INTERNET/AACPubli.nsf/HeadingPagesDisplay/ProductsTablet+PC?OpenDocument&ML1.3&</a>;
Hey, we've got inkwell now built into OS X. We'll need bluetooth built-in too. And, of course Firewire 2 might just be the icing on the cake. The present PowerBook, while nice with it's big screen and all, has issues with heat dissapation, flaking paint, and cracking hinges.
With the thought that all we'll get is a faster-processor PowerBooks with no other improvements, while the PC world starting to market their tablet technology; I hope that Apple's marketing and engineering geniouses have it all worked out so that we won't be stuck with a mediocre upgrade.
Comments
I also don't see any screen larger than the current one (16" is getting a bit carried away).
Yet, I don't see any tablet in the near future. It's just too radical for Apple. If there was one, it would be a stand alone, not incorporated into the Powerbook.
The only other feature they could add is a SuperDrive and perhaps dual processors (not likely).
Egad!
Apple is radicalism! Apple is about grabbing people by the eyes and expanding their horizons! A tablet would do that!
I don't know what it is, but I'm getting so that I hate typing. I'd rather marshal my thoughts and express them through a pen. A stylus would be acceptable I suppose.
I also hate navigating through a spreadsheet with a keyboard and mouse. I'd rather just point at the damned cell and input my inputables.
My engineering career is about to end, I think, and it would have been a helluva lot more effective with a tablet than with a goddamned keyboard and mouse.
I can't believe that Apple is going to let the Windowzian Herd lead the way to a tablet oriented future.
Aries 1B
When you think of the way apple innovates it's often an intelligent and considered twist on a more way out concept.
<strong>"
Egad!
Apple is radicalism! Apple is about grabbing people by the eyes and expanding their horizons! A tablet would do that!
B</strong><hr></blockquote>
Apple was radical in it's early day (i.e. Newton). But today, it's more practical than radical.
Even today's LCD iMac while different looking, uses existing technology. They just make it better looking and easier to use. Apple understands much better that unless there is a market, it's pointless to bring out a product simply because it's cool.
Just because it can be done, doesn't mean it will be or should be.
Converting a laptop's screen into a tablet is relatively easy. I'm sure they could do it if they wanted to. I'd much rather Apple take the lead and not follow. Give us something different and really mind blowing.
I understand the fascination, but people have to chang their thinking a bit if such an idea is ever going to take off.
For one, the 14-15" sizes trotted out in this space are just too huge. You can't comfortably stand and write or even imput to such a device for any extended period. Even reading from such a device while "On The GO" which must their modus operandi is tiring. Think about it, how often have you held one of those slightly larger than letter size textbooks (like many of the first year science books) aloft to read any portion of it while standing? You don't. You sit. Once you're seated, either at a desk or just in a chair, a notebook is by far the superior weapon (because of the imput system.) Any extended reading/imput especially on such large screens, is going to happen when you're seated.
"On the Go"
That doesn't mean travelling, just moving about the lab/hospital, office, classroom, or home. Even so, the size has to be MUCH smaller. 12" would actually still be quite large, but at least moving in the right direction. Pen and paper already holds the answer as to the most appropriate size, A5 about 8.5"x5.5", about the same as a letter size sheet folded in half, or a DVD jewel case, I dunno the exact measurement, but about there. I see these all over labs, in nap-sacks, at lectures. It's a highly useful size cause it's big enough to write on comfortably, but it's small enough to hold aloft and without support and make a few quick notes, or even something a bit longer. Now, the demands of multimedia entertainment vs actual functionality might push the size up a bit, but in practical terms 10-12" is already pushing the limit as far as utility goes. The screen I describe would be much larger than a PDA, and the device itself needn't be as small as a PDA because it's purpose isn't to live in your pocket, it's to function as a sort of electronic spiral bound. High res and small dot pitches shouldn't be a problem because unlike a traditional (or even notebook) display, you can hold this display a lot closer to your face. The output quality should be very high contrast, easily readable in daylight, and smooth and paperlike, color isn't very importatnt (though people will probably demand it.)
This is to say nothing about the issues of cost and HW/SW functionality. It needs big storage, if it is to replace volumes of text (good for students, doctors, lawyers, and business people alike) Imagine carrying a library full of case law in your bag, or a semester's worth of novels. A full wireless and wired i/o complement: USB, firewire (for fast sync), airport and bluetooth for wireless sync. A processor that can handle streaming media, handwriting recognition, voice, a real office suite, PDF viewer, etc etc... Now you have to get that down to a truly useable yet viewable size (about the same as a DVD jewel case/spiral A5 notebook with battery life of at least 8-10 hour, but preferably measured in days not hours. And finally they have to do it for less than 1000 dollars, 500 if they wish to go mainstream.
There's a long way to go yet, and so far the makers haven't even got the form-factor right, let alone then the cost/technical issues.
Making a powerbook into a convertible tablet would just result in a horrible expensive kludge.
The way I see it is that a tablet is merely a mode for a laptop to work in. Some of the machines I've seen pictures of are just laptops with screens that flip around and sit in front of the keyboard (imagine a PowerBook closed, but with the screen facing outwards rather than inwards).
How is a tablet more useful than a laptop? Well, when you're in a position where you're walking around taking notes, or checking boxes on a form. Imagine a macanic walking around a plane doing flight checks, tick, tick, tick - oh what's that... I'll call up the PDF plans and check...
Not what people are doing every day, but new tools bring new ways of working.
Now take your tablet and stick in your car, with some GPS and route planner software...
Now sit in a lecture and take some notes...
There are some ergonomic issues, how do you carry the thing around, where do you rest your hand if the whole screen is input sensitive (ie how not to mess up the input and not get the screen dirty).
But, people will overcome such issues, someone will sell over the should straps that hold the weight and make them usable while standing.
What about size... difficult one. I think A4 (210*297mm) is about it - iBook sized. But probably with higher res screens and must definitely work in portrait mode.
(PS A5 is 148*105mm)
Chose A5 in the set-up and it lists the dimensions as width=5.83" and height=8.27" ???
Now imagine if they added a method to use a stylus with the laptop screen. With Inkwell you could write directly to the laptop, with it closed on a conference table, and then print out notes from the meeting using Airport.
This also probably would have helped me avoid ever buying a notebook again while I was in college. There are times where you don't want a laptop sticking up, its very obvious. On the other hand, if I could have closed it and had something small on my desk I may have used it more.
I still love the idea of a 1 inch think 15 inch portable dvd player in the car or on a plane though. Same thing with an iBook.
As to the flip around keyboard. Yes, that would make for a nice sub-note/tablet, provided the machine were small and the keyboard sealed against the elements. Some sort of circuitry could automatically shut off the keyboard when it was flipped around (intyo tablet mode.) Ideally such a machine would be built around the size of a stripped down keyboard (something liek the picture-book dimensions but with emphasis on full size alpha keys, the rest are minimized/or performed through the touch screen.
What if there was a simple way to just turn the screen around, and then close the book again. You could still cover the keyboard, the cabling could be inside the pivot somehow.
I don't know exactly how it would work, that is what engineers are for. But I can see functional uses for the design. Then you could add the Inkwell features.
But what if I want to install/load something larger, like an application on a CD. Well, I'll just look for a PC(or Mac, but you're "roaming" so assume a PC is nearer at hand) with a CD-ROM drive. But wait, USB1.1 is glacially slow. USB2 is a bit better, but isn't universal. There's Firewire, but the chances of finding one are slim. Ok, now I've hunted down such a machine. I plug the iPad in and pop my CD in the PC. Nothing happens. I have no way of getting information from one machine to the other.
I plug into a network, but can't directly access the PC with the CD-ROM. I try to directly network the machines with a cross-ver cable. No dice. I don't have permission to do that on the PC.
Why do you think most all the tablets so far are just laptops with funky screens? It's because PC makers can't justify charging people an arm and a leg for a machine that's going to be a slave to desk-bound PCs. This is why Apple isn't in this market, and rightly so.
If you build a tablet, it better darn well be a complete system.
The hard bit is getting price/features right. Getting software on it is easy.
Blackcat
[ 10-15-2002: Message edited by: Blackcat ]</p>
First, this is aimed at a the enterprise market where they will be deployed with a set disk image.
Most of the time the optical drive does not do anything, so why include it? Many of the tablets have wifi built. I know at least half of all the announced ones have firewire. Most will also include USB, ethernet, and PCMCIA. Optical drive is simply not essential for this segment of the market.
[QB]You know, I have been waiting and waiting for new PowerBook models. So, it struck me peculiar when Apple announced new rebates this week, with expiration dates of December 31st. That could very well be interpreted as a sign that new PowerBook models won't appear until MacWorld in January.
SEE!!! what did I say! - there WILL NOT be a revision in the powerbook range till Feb 2003 - I really don't know how else I can keep trying to convince you all
<strong>Agreed. Getting the software in is easy.
First, this is aimed at a the enterprise market where they will be deployed with a set disk image.
Most of the time the optical drive does not do anything, so why include it? Many of the tablets have wifi built. I know at least half of all the announced ones have firewire. Most will also include USB, ethernet, and PCMCIA. Optical drive is simply not essential for this segment of the market.</strong><hr></blockquote>
That is of course true, but I think Apple could do good consumer tablets.
What would it need? 256MB, 10GB, 1 Firewire, 1 USB, DVDROM*, Airport - that's not high cost stuff at all. Anything else can be added or docked.
I see a 10" Apple Tablet as a student/trendy thing. Something easy to carry but not compromised like a PDA and not tricky like a laptop (most of which need a bag, AC adapter, 2nd battery, not to mention a flat surface to type on).
Okay, iBook does this, but is no good for taking notes in meetings. Plus MS are doing it, Apple should do it better.
*might as well, for music, video, gaming
Blackcat (countb too!)
[ 10-16-2002: Message edited by: Blackcat ]</p>
<strong>[QUOTE]Originally posted by Dave Hagan:
[QB]SEE!!! what did I say! - there WILL NOT be a revision in the powerbook range till Feb 2003 - I really don't know how else I can keep trying to convince you all</strong><hr></blockquote>
I believe you
The major problem I see is that the Apple version would still have that Apple $$$ premium.