Apple Mac Tablet with Docking Station in 2007?

[matthewHUB]

Too many buttons - if there were any more I'd think it was a Microsoft product.

lol my point exactly... and look at the status lights! What a joke. Was this mock-up meant to be a joke, or was it actually serious? Kind of lacking in the apple-ness department (OSX aside)

Anyway... thank god at least for a new rumour. Was getting annoyed abotu having to read the 'thanksgiving sale confimed' BS.

give me an ultraportable... interface is up to steve.

 

[Mainyehc]

Transmeta sucks....like black hole sucking.

Ehe... I had no idea... Then again, (I hope I'm not starting a flamewar here ), the G4 kinda "sucks", performance-wise, when compared to a C2D...

I'm not saying that the OQO is a top performer. I never tried one and haven't seen benchmarks on the Trasmeta, so I'll take your word for it.

But, I mean, just look at the *size* of that thing! Apple could conceivably produce a product like that with an ULV processor, and with similar (or even better) specs, right?

 

[Squire]

My Thoughts (from 2005)

The likelihood of an Apple tablet increases with time because the technology gets better. Here are some of my rumblings from some similar threads started in 2005.

I think the tablet idea is plausible. Here's why:

-Many people wouldn't think twice about buying a new iPod. One problem is everyone already has one. Another problem is that you can't do any "computing" with an iPod.

Enter the tablet. It has a pod-ish name to keep people interested. It plays video, if that's your thing. It's cross-platform compatible (files and stuff) and the bundled software is amazing. Non-Mac users weren't afraid of buying an iPod. Non-Mac-using iPod owners will not be afraid to buy this. It will give them a little taste of what OS X is all about.

I think Apple needs a product like this, especially with Palm's new LifeDrive out (a PDA with a 4GB hard drive).

...And...

hmmm....maybe it's some sort of glorified remote control with a touch-screen interface to manage all your media via wi-fi and/or BT between yor mac, airport, stereo & tv?

Some random thoughts:

Good point. I seem to recall reports of Steve just grinning when asked about the problem of getting up and walking to your computer to change tracks (Walt Mossberg referring to the AirPort Express).

The thought of a video iPod doubling as an AE remote, although initially interesting, seems a bit out of whack. I wouldn't want a remote control any larger (width-wise, anyway) than a normal iPod. And I wouldn't want an iPod video any smaller than the current iPod.

Ever notice how Steve gives a reason for almost everything they do, especially if they were originally against doing it?
* entering the mp3 market: The devices had a limited capacity and/or terrible UI.
* iPod photo: Finally there was some content to display (while there was no content providers for portable video players) [Now, of course, there are music videos.]
* Flash-based mp3 players: They have crappy little screens and cumbersome controls. Solution= ditch the screen and make simple controls.
* Tablets: Who knows? They'll refine them or give us a good enough reason to want one. Same goes for video iPod, I guess.


Squire

 

[toughboy]

Well whatever Apple puts inside that 'tablet' thing, I want it to be named as 'Newton'.. That is the name the product deserves, something with respect to Apple's own history..

We should be done with the cheap code-names like iTV and etc.. Newton is 'Apple-ish' enough...

For the spec side, all I want is a machine running a croped version of Mac OSX that can be used as a GSM cellphone and can surf internet via WiFi.. We already got iPod for music, so we dont need tens of gigabytes of storage.. 4-8gb is fair enough for a device like this..

 

[MacMan93]

http://www.oqo.com/ as posted before..


If Apple were to pull of somthing like that with the sliding keyboard with a full-featured OS X WITH the ability to function as a normal computer it would be tight as hell!

 

[trhall]

That's a Fujitsu Tablet

That's a Fujitsu ST-5000 series device with a Mac OS X screenshot on top:

http://store.shopfujitsu.com/fpc/Ecommerce/buildseriesbean.do?series=ST5100&ptype=TB

I owned one, and they're great tablets. Would love to be off of Windows totally and have a Mac tablet, but there are two important things still holding me on a tablet: handwriting recognition (actually, storing my notes in Ink which is indexed in text) and speech recognition (iListen isn't as good as Dragon Naturally Speaking... even David Pogue who loves Macs has a PC specifically for speech recognition).

Still, if Apple comes out with a tablet, I'd get one.

 

[princealfie]

F****ing A. It's about time. I can't wait to retire my Toshiba Tablet PC. This would be an awesome thing for my artwork and drawing and sketching if they can get this right. Go Apple iTablet!

 

[Lepton]

Listen my children. Take a Sony PSP. Chop off the two ends with the game controls, leaving just the screen. This is the form factor. Remove the Sony drive put in a hard disk and infrared port and touch sensitivity. Leave the WiFi, removable rechargable battery, USB 2, headphone.

This is pocketable. It runs OSX. It is 'the' video iPod. It is a smart remote. It is an Apple Remote Desktop device that can control ANY Mac over WiFi or the Internet from anywhere.

Now add quad GSM and you have the Apple iPhone. I'm tellin' ya. $500.

And, Apple becomes a cellular carrier using that huge enormous data center they just bought. The phone works on any carrier but with Apple yoiu get all you can eat high speed Internet, perfect iSync, music/video downloads/purchase, ARD and so on.

 

[Gosh]

I've always thought the tablet PC was cool tech in search of a practical application to take off in popularity.
Using a tablet as remote for your iTV media center? check
Using a tablet to wirelessly surf the web/email? check
Using a tablet as portable music and video player? check

With the right specs and price, Apple could pull this off.

Using a tablet to wirelessly open the curtains? check!

Seriously I'm visualising a home digital interface perhaps replacing the Mac mini in the range. With flash hard drive, rechargeable battery and with a 8" screen. A user might sync it with their main Mac or add a larger display, keyboard and mouse and use it alone.

Answer the iPod phone with it and iChat whilst sat on the sofa watching iTV and playing with the the iCurtains - brilliant!

We shouldn't underestimate what progress will be made on voice entry and touch screens - way beyond what we already know!

Yes, I think this rumor has legs! It's 12" PB meets Mac mini meets past attempts at tablets meets all those who wanted more useable PDA!

 

[Rocketman]

Just look at the specs:

1GHz Transmeta Crusoe
30GB hard drive (shock-mounted)
512MB DDR RAM
Dimensions: 4.9" x 3.4" x 0.9"
Weight: 14 ounces
800 x 480 W-VGA 5" transflective display (indoor/outdoor readable)
3D accelerated graphics with 8MB of video RAM
QWERTY thumb keyboard with mouse buttons and TrackStik
802.11b wireless
Bluetooth wireless
4-pin FireWire (1394)
USB 2.0
3.5mm stereo headphone jack
Microphone
Speaker
Digital pen
Removable lithium polymer battery
Battery life up to three hours, depending on usage
OQO docking cable includes:
3D accelerated 1280 x 1024 VGA video output
Additional USB
Additional FireWire (1394)
Ethernet
DC power
Audio out

My reply about the video iPod.

0.7 GB processor
16 GB flash (doubles as deep video memory) (exceeds your spec)
60 GB HD (exceeds your spec)
Dimensions unknown. Allscreen however
Weight 4 oz (exceeds your spec)
Onscreen keyboard ala crackberry
802.11a/b/g/n wireless, receive dominant
Bluetooth wireless (battery penalty)
Dock has ethernet gigabit, firewire, USB, audio I/O, power, ...
Microphone
Video/still camera/isight
Bluetooth audio out
Bluetooth speaker/headphones
no digital pen
HDMI/DVI/VGA video (with dongles) from dock
Integral battery

This is the device as shown in the guides
http://guides.macrumors.com/Image:videoipodflickr.jpg

Rocketman

 

[dernhelm]

Do they have more or less credibility if they spell Mac like MAC?

 

[FFTT]

I would worry too much about the swivel joint and the connections and cables within breaking, however I do use a touchscreen display ToughBook at work
and I can certainly see where that option might be popular
IF the protective shield to the touch screen could be easily replaced.

They get scratched bad after using them for a while.

 

[smallduck]

Another tablet concept

I always thought the direction Apple would go with a tablet was as a consumer device extension to iPhoto, almost how iPod extends iTunes. Like how iTV will wirelessly pull viedo from Macs in your household, this could have been doing the same with photos years ago. Although primarily a picture frame, it could have had a touch screen and perhaps running full (or limited) OS X and permitting additional functions that users come up with.

Before recently, its likely this would either been too expensive a product for someone using it as just a picture frame, either that or too limited for someone wanting other functions. But that's surely not as true anymore, seeing how small and cheap devices are getting so capable these days.

 

[SeaFox]

2002 called, they want their platform idea back.

Seriously, does anyone here even hear about tablet PCs anymore? Nope.
What happened with Microsoft Origami? Nothing.
What are people wanting to use for computing on the go? A smart phone.

Apple didn't get involved when this was "the rage" and I couldn't be happier. The idea never became anything more than a niche product in health care, manufacturing, and perhaps education. It bombed. And Apple wasn't left holding the bag on a bunch of unsold product. Another "failure in this companies beleaguered history" as it would be used as fodder in the press.

 

[YS2003]

I would worry too much about the swivel joint and the connections and cables within breaking, however I do use a touch-screen display ToughBook at work
and I can certainly see where that option might be popular
IF the protective shield to the touch screen could be easily replaced.

They get scratched bad after using them for a while.

I think the swivel mechanism is build to last. I have Fujitsu T4020 and it has the solid swivel mechanism. Passive and Active Screen have their pros and cons. Passive one is like the ones you find on Palm and Pocket PC. Active one requires the special digitizer which is made for active screen. For better sensitivity, the active digitizer unit is better. It's like Wacom's Intuos (pro grade) and Graphire (consumer grade which has less "sensitivity" on your input).
With tablet PC, you need put on screen protector; no question about it. I use Vikuiti screen protector to protect the active digitizer screen. It is un-wise to use Tablet PC without screen protector. If you scratch the screen without using the screen protector, the blame is only on the user of that tablet PC.

 

[Rocketman]

2002 called, they want their platform idea back.

Seriously, does anyone here even hear about tablet PCs anymore? Nope.
What happened with Microsoft Origami? Nothing.
What are people wanting to use for computing on the go? A smart phone.

Apple didn't get involved when this was "the rage" and I couldn't be happier. The idea never became anything more than a niche product in health care, manufacturing, and perhaps education. It bombed. And Apple wasn't left holding the bag on a bunch of unsold product. Another "failure in this companies beleaguered history" as it would be used as fodder in the press.

But now Apple has incentive.

And patents.

And verge products.

Rocketman

 

[timmillwood]

and of course there will need to be a built in iSight

 

[dernhelm]

Too big! This is what M$ didn't understand. The value of a tablet is NOT simply being able to write on the screen of a laptop. Tablets need to be comfortable in one hand, they need to be able to collect information (text, drawing, audio, still and motion video), they need to be able to play back information (on its own screen, but also on TVs, projectors, etc), and they need to be able to sync up with home computers. I probably want some functional capabilties (e.g. iPhoto red eye and retouch, or simple text/excel type input) but I DO NOT NEED TO RUN PHOTOSHOP ON MY TABLET! I will transfer my data/photos/video onto my main computer to do that kind of work.

If you give me a highly portable dock (something I can toss in a bag, and whip it out if I need it), then I won't need a bevy of I/O devices (firewire, s-video, etc) on the tablet itself. That can shrink the size, weight, and heat output.

If Apple does release a device like this, I make only one prediction about it. Some idiot will try to run Quake on it and report the framerate. "Because how can you justify an $(N*100) device that runs Quake at only (F) fps?"

 

[Rocketman]

Microphone

Whoever named a microphone "micro" in the 60's needs 1000 people to buy him a beer.

Rocketman

Send it via the internet!

 

[Hattig]

This can be done quite cheaply, if Apple doesn't use off the shelf PC components - which is why current tablet PCs are so expensive. An Intel ULV processor is not cheap.

Shame that Apple moved away from the PowerPC really, when it comes to applications such as this. They could use a $20 PPC 750CL processor (16mm^2 die size, compare to the ~150mm^2 PC processors) at up to 1GHz (~2W power consumption at 700MHz), with a 30GB 1.8" hard drive (same as iPod), 512MB memory ... that'd be cheap (the display would probably be the most expensive part).

However if this is aimed at Q12008 then Intel will have some processors on 45nm, which will reduce size and power consumption. Also the chipsets are cheap and good.

I don't understand why PC tablets cost so much when they use components that you see in cheap laptops. Maybe there's a hefty OS + software cost, which Apple would not have as its inhouse. So there is a good chance for Apple to be competitively priced. The cost is the major issue with tablets - $500 - good. $1000 - can deal with probably. $2000 - haha.

 

[NorCalLights]

To me, Tablets are worthless. I've had to deal with them at work because some people continue to order them for all their tasks, but they're less mobile than some laptops. They're usually the same thickness or size as a portable, so why carry something that's going to be crippled in some manner?

What makes you think that an Apple tablet would be the same as every other tablet you've seen? Apple isn't one for releasing "crippled" products... they haven't made an ultra-portable laptop since the Duo, and their full-featured laptops are as thin as most ultra-portables in the PC world.

There are plenty of applications for tablet computers that may be outside the scope of your imagination. I can think of many in my own life. A tablet running a full version of OSX would fit nicely into my life. I hope it happens.

 

[Sweetfeld28]

Like i stated in one of the other threads, this would be a great buy for Teachers, Artist, Photographers, or anyone else on the go. But, i think it would also be better if it was like IBM's tablet PC; one where you have be a laptop one minute, then a tablet the next minute.

 

[Cinch]

notepad and/or sketch pad with a laptop

Like i stated in one of the other threads, this would be a great buy for Teachers, Artist, Photographers, or anyone else on the go. But, i think it would also be better if it was like IBM's tablet PC; one where you have be a laptop one minute, then a tablet the next minute.

I still think a notepad/sketchpad in combination with your MacBook/Pro is still far superior from a tablet. You guys get the feeling that a lot of people here and elsewhere wants to unify things that are not meant to be together e.g. TV-computer, Camera-cellphone, mp3-player-cellphone.

I think a notepad or sketchpad is save here, rest assure. Until a tablet has a feel and responsiveness of a notepad, I just don't see a tablet beating out a superior notepad and laptop

Cinch

 

[roach]

As a tablet PC user. Vista and tablet are an Awesome combo. Vista added so much function that helps computing work on pen alone. I have a slate with removable keyboard which I don't bring anymore.

 

[Rocketman]

This can be done quite cheaply, if Apple doesn't use off the shelf PC components - which is why current tablet PCs are so expensive. An Intel ULV processor is not cheap.

Shame that Apple moved away from the PowerPC really, when it comes to applications such as this. They could use a $20 PPC 750CL processor (16mm^2 die size, compare to the ~150mm^2 PC processors) at up to 1GHz (~2W power consumption at 700MHz), with a 30GB 1.8" hard drive (same as iPod), 512MB memory ... that'd be cheap (the display would probably be the most expensive part).

Valuable post.

Rocketman