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As a UMPC it would be. Logical evolution from Iphone, Ipod touch to MacTouch w. 8" WS display.

Except one wonders how popular such a device would be. I'd rather see an "iSmartPhone" using the current iPhone form factor with better PDA features and MS Exchange functionality.
 
Except one wonders how popular such a device would be. I'd rather see an "iSmartPhone" using the current iPhone form factor with better PDA features and MS Exchange functionality.

Except for people such as myself who won't/can't buy an iphone because of ATT factor. An 8" MacTouch would fit into the market of non-iphone users who would like a full featured ultra portable computing device that the Ipod touch can't fulfill.
 
Except for people such as myself who won't/can't buy an iphone because of ATT factor. An 8" MacTouch would fit into the market of non-iphone users who would like a full featured ultra portable computing device that the Ipod touch can't fulfill.

The iPhone won't be on AT&T forever.

Also, an iSmartPhone might very well work with more then just AT&T since Windows SmartPhones are available on AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon. And it would have enough differences from the base iPhone that it would not violate the AT&T exclusivity agreement. Plus it would cost much more (like $599 again) so it really would not be a way to "side-step" the agreement.
 
The iPhone won't be on AT&T forever.

Also, an iSmartPhone might very well work with more then just AT&T since Windows SmartPhones are available on AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon. And it would have enough differences from the base iPhone that it would not violate the AT&T exclusivity agreement. Plus it would cost much more (like $599 again) so it really would not be a way to "side-step" the agreement.

I may be wrong but the Iphone is GSM and Verizon uses CDMA. They would have to make a whole other version of transceiver to work outside of GSM networks. Most European networks are GSM. I'm sure that next Iphone rev.'s will have more capabilities but I wouldn't hold my breath on being able to use an Iphone on Verizon, my carrier of need.
 
I may be wrong but the Iphone is GSM and Verizon uses CDMA.

Correct. Which is why T-Mobile is the only other service an unlocked iPhone can be used on in the United States, because they are also GSM.

But an iSmartPhone would have different electronics then an iPhone. All models of the iSmartPhone would have a common systemboard, but different transceivers depending on the system you wish to connect to, just as with Windows Smartphones.
 
okay, then how bout this:

Let's put these to rest..

Note the pixelated off-center corner and the "lights" bleeding off the edge..
 

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I've never been right about any of this before, but...

I think a track pad the width of the laptop is dumb. I may be missing some application for it but how much horizontal scrolling and dragging/highlighting do most of us do on a daily basis? Isn't most of it vertical?

I think the idea of a multi-touch track pad is dumb. Isn't the point of multi-touch to put your finger right on the object and slide it around? Not sort of guessing where an object is on this strangely stretched blank grey slate with a distorted relative x axis. That being said, the two finger dragging and right clicking on a standard track pad is suitably brilliant.

I think a giant docking station for a single little multi-touch ultra-mobile is dumb. The only way a dock would be commercially viable is if it were part of the new cinema display line and worked with all (or at least all of the smaller) mobile computers.
 
I think a giant docking station for a single little multi-touch ultra-mobile is dumb. The only way a dock would be commercially viable is if it were part of the new cinema display line and worked with all (or at least all of the smaller) mobile computers.

Didn't the dock feature for the PowerBook however many years ago fail horribly?
 
Didn't the dock feature for the PowerBook however many years ago fail horribly?

Sounds likely considering I've never heard of it. I haven't been geeking that long so my knowledge base is limited and my memory is short. However, aren't laptops a bit more commonplace now?

My point though, however horribly I may have put it across, was that it would be a poor move to tie a giant peripheral to one untested product when you could mitigate risks by providing support to an installed product base. The biggest problem I see is that they would have to update all of their mobiles with the same docking hardware.

Also, as something of an aside, I think that if their is a cinema display update on the way, the new iMac look would be a likely direction, if only because the black bezel complements the screen so nicely. Seems to work for HD TVs.
 
Oh man...

Let's see.... in 2007 Apple brought us the iPhone whose only advantage in the phone industry is the UI. And Leopard, which like every new OS is buggy. It will get fixed and the iPhone will be better, especially when it's off of the AT&T network, but that's about it.

NOW. HP worked with ATI and Nvidia to get us Crossfire and SLI in one machine. Dell improved their industrial design and gave us a good looking laptop in 13" and 15" models that offer configurations that the MBP can't offer. Intel is.... well we all know about Intel and what they are doing.

Sprint is introducing WiMax into cities and will offer speeds that are much faster than anything EDGE can match, and do so with less power than 3G.

Nikon offers a full frame DSLR that blows away the competitions and a cropped sensor model that sets a new standard for cameras in it's class.

And in the meantime... Apple has an 18 month old Mac Pro that they are still charging full price for. And outdated MacBook Pro with a very limiting design, iMacs with screen issues, no mini tower, and the Apple TV and Mac Mini which many are still wondering if they are relevant anymore.

So... we have the UI of the iPhone and Touch, and Leopard ( or the possibility of what Leopard could be)

Not that Apple hasn't been working hard... just that they haven't been doing that much. Other than the toys, they haven't been doing anything at all. So I am hoping this MacWorld will show us what they have been doing. There had better be some breakthrough stuff there, at least a Mac Pro, Mac Book Pro, and iTunes Rental Store and Leopard update.

If you think that Apple isn't doing anything, I suggest... buy a Sony Vio (or is it Via?)
 
This I not understand. All the things you mentioned are existing products which have existed for years and are being refined by the respected companies. Me thinks your looking for a rise but to suggest all the iPhone is mealy but a UI is inane. Its the very first multi-touch device to market - forget he phone bit its a groundbreaking UI. Think how antiquated the very first iPod looks now but at time I thought it was just amazing. Think about the very first Mac. These are leapfrog products. Because there is a lot of R&D out there but not of lot of it comes to market or comes to the market and doesn't find its niche or becomes useful. Nikon is the example of this.... in ten years times the technology that is in their high-end cameras will be in every digital camera even those under 100USD. Multi-touch in time will be in every device we know and our kids will think how did we ever use a mouse to do our computing. The iPhone is just the beginning.

Oh man...

Let's see.... in 2007 Apple brought us the iPhone whose only advantage in the phone industry is the UI. And Leopard, which like every new OS is buggy. It will get fixed and the iPhone will be better, especially when it's off of the AT&T network, but that's about it.

NOW. HP worked with ATI and Nvidia to get us Crossfire and SLI in one machine. Dell improved their industrial design and gave us a good looking laptop in 13" and 15" models that offer configurations that the MBP can't offer. Intel is.... well we all know about Intel and what they are doing.

Sprint is introducing WiMax into cities and will offer speeds that are much faster than anything EDGE can match, and do so with less power than 3G.

Nikon offers a full frame DSLR that blows away the competitions and a cropped sensor model that sets a new standard for cameras in it's class.

And in the meantime... Apple has an 18 month old Mac Pro that they are still charging full price for. And outdated MacBook Pro with a very limiting design, iMacs with screen issues, no mini tower, and the Apple TV and Mac Mini which many are still wondering if they are relevant anymore.

So... we have the UI of the iPhone and Touch, and Leopard ( or the possibility of what Leopard could be)

Not that Apple hasn't been working hard... just that they haven't been doing that much. Other than the toys, they haven't been doing anything at all. So I am hoping this MacWorld will show us what they have been doing. There had better be some breakthrough stuff there, at least a Mac Pro, Mac Book Pro, and iTunes Rental Store and Leopard update.
 
I don't think we'll see a tablet/UMPC at MWSF. Maybe later in mid-2008, along with the new iPhone, we'll see a larger version of the iPhone which will very much be a UMPC. It would do well, but I think Apple has to sort out their multitouch keyboard/feedback issues beforehand, and they aren't quite there yet.

Considering how popular the 12" Powerbook was, and that there's no Intel replacement, I think that is what Apple will be aiming for this month (except super slim with a 13" screen, I hope).
 
I think the wide-trackpad is only viable as a touchscreen. The mockup of coverflow on the trackpad seems like the most accurate depiction. Particular elements of a software could be dragged onto the trackpad and manipulate; think palates in CS3 and Studio software equalizers.
 
I think the idea of a multi-touch track pad is dumb. Isn't the point of multi-touch to put your finger right on the object and slide it around?

No, that is multitouch on top of a screen. Two different things.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-touch

That being said, the two finger dragging and right clicking on a standard track pad is suitably brilliant.

Well there ya go. Expect more of that kind of thing (pinching, gestures, etc) with a multitouch track pad.
 
No, that is multitouch on top of a screen. Two different things.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-touch



Well there ya go. Expect more of that kind of thing (pinching, gestures, etc) with a multitouch track pad.

Yes agreed from the orginal: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=PLhMVNdplJc I note that Apple have yet to implement "pan" and "chording" and greater than two finger gestures. I also note from the video the use of the keyboard and being able to resize it dependent on finger size or specification. Can also see the keyboard being transparent on over the screen as similar in the example above. Finally iPhone only uses 2D multi-touch and we are yet to see a 3D use of the technology.
 
This I not understand. All the things you mentioned are existing products which have existed for years and are being refined by the respected companies. Me thinks your looking for a rise but to suggest all the iPhone is mealy but a UI is inane. Its the very first multi-touch device to market - forget he phone bit its a groundbreaking UI. Think how antiquated the very first iPod looks now but at time I thought it was just amazing. Think about the very first Mac. These are leapfrog products. Because there is a lot of R&D out there but not of lot of it comes to market or comes to the market and doesn't find its niche or becomes useful. Nikon is the example of this.... in ten years times the technology that is in their high-end cameras will be in every digital camera even those under 100USD. Multi-touch in time will be in every device we know and our kids will think how did we ever use a mouse to do our computing. The iPhone is just the beginning.

I fully agree. Many people fail to see what a step forward the iphones UI is. This is only the tip of the iceberg as far as handhelds go.
 

Hooray for newegg... lol.

O/T but I was gonna get a fan for my GeForce 7800 from them, but they don't have the one I want :-(

Now for on topic. Flash memory is becoming cheaper and cheaper very rapidly. However I'm concerned with the speed of a flash hard drive. I don't really know much about them so noob question. Wouldn't an HDD be much faster than an SSD?
 
This I not understand. All the things you mentioned are existing products which have existed for years and are being refined by the respected companies. Me thinks your looking for a rise but to suggest all the iPhone is mealy but a UI is inane. Its the very first multi-touch device to market - forget he phone bit its a groundbreaking UI. Think how antiquated the very first iPod looks now but at time I thought it was just amazing. Think about the very first Mac. These are leapfrog products. Because there is a lot of R&D out there but not of lot of it comes to market or comes to the market and doesn't find its niche or becomes useful. Nikon is the example of this.... in ten years times the technology that is in their high-end cameras will be in every digital camera even those under 100USD. Multi-touch in time will be in every device we know and our kids will think how did we ever use a mouse to do our computing. The iPhone is just the beginning.

I fully agree. Many people fail to see what a step forward the iphones UI is. This is only the tip of the iceberg as far as handhelds go.

The issue isn't that the iPhone UI isn't wonderful, just that the intention of the device doesn't cut it compared to other phones. The UI is amazing and simple, and will make for a great phone later, but now it's not the case.

The issue many people have, is that currently, it seems that Apple hasn't been doing much, so we want to see what they were really doing during the past year. Speculating on things to come, isn't a measure of how good a company is currently doing.

When Apple updates the Mac Pro, MacBook Pro, and Leopard we will see what they have been working on since the Leopard release and not too far back. When they come out with the ultra portable Mac with touch and the new computer that has everything our heart desires then we will really see what they were doing during the past year.
 
However I'm concerned with the speed of a flash hard drive. I don't really know much about them so noob question. Wouldn't an HDD be much faster than an SSD?

Quite the opposite. SSDs have no moving parts, and therefore no rotational latency or seek latency in waiting for a physical head to move. Plus the read and write speeds are consistent, whereas normal HDDs read slowly from the inner part of the platter and speed up as they reach the outer part. HDDs are, by far, the slowest component in computers (in terms of latency).

That is why even if the SSD ultraportable has a "slow" 1.5-1.8Ghz processor, in everyday use and responsiveness it will still blow a HDD-based system out of the water.

For example, here some SSDs get put against a normal 150GB Western Digital HDD.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/12/17/solid_state_drives/page6.html
 
Didn't the dock feature for the PowerBook however many years ago fail horribly?

here's the way i see that life cycle: the smaller Duo laptop lacked some of the ports the much larger & heavier apple laptops had, so the solution was to design the duos around several dock choices. As technology improved more and more was packed into "acceptably-sized" apple notebooks, particularly the fairly revolutionary titanium powerbooks, so the need for docks was mitigated. Now, to shrink a new category of laptop to the size and weight the market seems to want, features will have to be omitted (optical drives, hard drives, 15 and 17 inch screens) and once again laptops will lack features many deem necessary but which will only be available through docking systems. It's fairly organic development.
 
... it would be a poor move to tie a giant peripheral to one untested product when you could mitigate risks by providing support to an installed product base....

that's good biz sense. so a question:

suppose apple intro'd a umpc or sub notebook that docked into a "giant peripheral". couldn't they also make only the docking portion--the part of the new computer that would connect inside the dock--as a little piece with output to the various ports that exist on the present laptop lines? that might be an interim solution until future revisions incorporated the specs necessary to fit into the dock.
 
Quite the opposite. SSDs have no moving parts, and therefore no rotational latency or seek latency in waiting for a physical head to move. Plus the read and write speeds are consistent, whereas normal HDDs read slowly from the inner part of the platter and speed up as they reach the outer part. HDDs are, by far, the slowest component in computers (in terms of latency).

That is why even if the SSD ultraportable has a "slow" 1.5-1.8Ghz processor, in everyday use and responsiveness it will still blow a HDD-based system out of the water.

For example, here some SSDs get put against a normal 150GB Western Digital HDD.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/12/17/solid_state_drives/page6.html

I'm aware that SSD's don't have rotational and seek latency because they don't have any moving parts. But I thought that because of this, their read/write capabilities would be slower. But hey thanks for clearing that up. You learn something everyday right?
 
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