I can read books on my MBP
I can listen to music on my MBP
I can watch video on my MBP
I can access the internet on the go with my MBP
So what is my compelling reason to buy this thing? Long battery life and the ability to read newspapers and magazines (for me). But I ain't gonna shell out $2000 just to read the newspaper on my daily commute. I also just do not see that the battery life on this thign is going to be as long as my Sony 505 e-reader.
Still puzzled at this whole tablet thing, and becoming more pessimistic as time goes by, and less like to fall under the effects of the reality distortion field.
Tom
If it costs $2000, and is as big as a MBP, then you've got a point. After all, you can get a Modbook for that ... and in the Windows world, they showed that high priced, laptop sized, tablets (ie. priced as high as a non-tablet) didn't sell at all. For that category, what you need is a convertible tablet (a laptop with a swivel screen), and even those aren't major sellers.
But what does seem to be attractive to the market are low-priced, low-powered, mid-range devices (5"-10" screens). Basically, netbooks without keyboards ... that are optimized for certain tasks. The Archos media player tablets (5", 7", 9"), Amazon Kindle and Kindle DX, the Sony e-reader you mention. Especially if they're usable for general purpose tasks (web browsing, email, maybe PIM, maybe taking notes in a meeting, reading e-books or documents on the go). And now we're seeing an emergence of Android devices in that space (so, they not only can do general purpose tasks, they have software add-ons for even more tasks).
The price has to be under $600ish, it has to be both usable for general purpose tasks, and a strong primary task. The new Archos 5 IT is a 5" media player with LOTS of video and music support (on a screen that blows away any iPod) ... and it's also a general purpose Android tablet. The B&N nook is a 6" e-reader ... and a general purpose Android device.
Now, back to your MBP. Can you put your MBP into a large jacket pocket? Because people seem to be doing that with their Archos 5 ITs. Or can you put it into a small gadget bag (no need for a specialized, giant, and annoying, laptop bag)? I put my 9" netbook into a courier bag that's too small for an MBP ... and quite enjoy the fact that I'm not lugging around one of those dinosaurs. Yet, I there definitely times that I wish my netbook was a tablet or convertible tablet (easier to read on a slate than on a clamshell). And I absolutely would love to see you balancing your MBP on your lap, on the over-mountain pass commute I do every day. Yet, those of us with netbooks and tablets have no problem solidly holding the smaller devices with one hand while going about our tasks. Meanwhile, the laptop users are having to stop what they're doing and grab on to their laptop through every curve of the pass ... and even in between those moments, they're precariously balancing them on their laps.
Laptops are NOT ultra-portable. They're luggable. Lighter and smaller than the luggables of the 1980's and early 1990's, but still just luggable. A 5"-10" device, on the other hand, is much easier to use "on the go" than a laptop. Yet, they're also big enough to run a desktop OS (not for power applications, but for fidelity of running the same environment).
For me, 9" or 10" is the ideal screen size. And I can fit that in half the foot print of a MBP or MBA ... Where they say you can put a MBA into a large shipping envelope, I can put many of the 9" tablets (and some 10" ones) into a 6"x9.5" (A10) envelope. The mobility of such a device is MUCH better than a 13"+ laptop. And, yet, the target price of the devics I'm talking about ... $500. Less than half the price of a low-end MBP, and 1/3 the price of the starting MBA.
If what we're talking about (as you said) is "reading an ebook", "listening to music", "watching video", or "accessing the internet", why would I pay $1200+ for a MBP or MBA, when I can pay $500 for a device that does all of that (and more), use it more comfortably, use it in more mobile situations, and have less encumbrance in doing so?
There's no question that an MBP or MBA can do all of the same things (except "be held in a tablet mode", unless you modbook it). If they couldn't, there'd be a serious problem. But the point is: for the tasks we're talking about, an MBP or MBA* is over-kill. Over-kill in price, size, and CPU.
(* or any other full size, $1200+, laptop, whether it's from Apple, HP, Lenovo, Dell, Gateway, etc.)
For me, an Apple Tablet only makes sense in the 6"-10" size, for well under $1000 (under $750). It's not going to compete with the MBP or MBA (and probably not with the Macbook, either) because it will be lower powered, and less featured. But it should still be running "real OS X", and not iPhone OS X. You're not going to run Photoshop on it (you _can_, but it will be so painfully slow and small that you'll want to rip your hair out), but you should be able to run the common and/or light tasks (Mail, Address Book, Safari, light/low-end text editors, remote desktop, iTunes, Quicktime player, Kindle for Mac, B&N eReader for Mac, Preview, or other 3rd party add-ons that you want to run).
(it could be done with iPhone OS X, but I wouldn't buy that ... for my own reasons, it has to be Mac OS X; and I'd only buy a 9" or 10" one ... if the rumors of the 6" tablet come true, but not the 10" tablet, then I wont be buying that, either ... there are enough 10" Android device choices out there, that I'll go with one of those over a 6" iPhone-based tablet)
