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Apple Tablet Launch to Coincide With iTunes Digital Album Enhancements in September?

Undecided said:
The big question for me is whether it runs the iPhone OS or Mac OS X. If it's just the iPhone OS, I'd probably pass. Meh. If it's the real Mac OS X, that would be sweet.
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That's what I'm wondering too. Is it going to be a big iPhone, or a small laptop?
 
leandroc76 said:
A lot of hospitals, clinics and medical offices use tablets these days.
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I thought hospitals, clinics and medical offices had always used tablets...

Tablets.jpg




Sorry, I just couldn't resist. :rolleyes:
 
hmmm i don't know what I think about this, but I probably won't get one...



... until I walk past on in an Apple store or watch the keynote.... then I will want one lol.
 
gkarris said:
I'm there.

I have a MacBook but prefer a more powerful desktop and complementary tablet configuration...

(I had a Compaq Tablet years back, liked it but Windows XP Tablet was horrible so I sold it while it was still worth some $...)
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Rumor is that it's ARM and not x86.
 
skellener said:
Hmmmm....What's wrong with a laptop or netbook? I mean, at least they have their own stand to hold the screen up. I can't imagine the tablet being more "fabulous" for watching movies than a big screen TV in your home.
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I'd rather have this than a netbook; it would be more functional for a 10" screen.

I would rather watch movies on my home theater system too, but for travel this would be much more preferable than a netbook or full sized laptop.

Plus, I was going to buy a Kindle DX for pdf's anyway; if this does pdf's too, and everything else an iPod Touch does at a 10" size, I'm sold. Provided it's not too terribly expensive, of course.
 
I still don't see where it fits.

  • iPhone/iPod Touch
  • <---- Here???
  • MacBook Pro/MacBook Air
  • iMac/Mac Pro

If it is a middle ground between the iPhone and MacBook finding the right cost versus function balance will be difficult.
 
I'd only find a tablet useful if it were more like a scaled-down MacBook than a scaled-up iPod--or, bascially, a small MacBook with touch and maybe handwriting recognition. But I'm sure Apple knows what they are doing, if, in fact, they are doing this.


It will connect to the internet like the iPod Touch -- probably without phone capability...
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HAHA. Could you imagine a 10-inch device with phone capability? Maybe a cellular connection a la Kindle to browse the Web without Wi-Fi, but I think they're definitely right about it not being a cell phone. Could you see it? "Excuse me, my phone is ringing...", as someone pulls a 10-inch device out of their backpack (too big for pockets) and proceeds to hold it up to their face--with TWO HANDS, because that's what you'll need. :p
 
GeekLawyer said:
I almost hate to admit it, but I suspect the market for this device is lazy people; couch potatoes. People who come home from a hard day's work and plop on the sofa and turn on the television. Instead of opening a laptop, they can instead use their tablet to surf from the couch.

I think the market for this will be huge. (In more ways than one...)
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Why does it have to be for lazy people. Not everyone creates content/data. A lot of my job is reading, researching and analysis. A light handheld device that is larger than a Touch would be great. I would love one to; have more features than an eBook, large enough to read/watch video, light/small enough to have on hand, connected enough to get email, calendar and web on the go.

Desktops are in decline, and clamshells are next. A laptop for reading and research is pretty much a waste of time and space.
 
BoyBach said:
The sad truth is that we don't know what we want until Apple (or whoever) tell us that we want it. :eek:
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No, I know what I want. A 10" iPod Touch, MiniDisplayPort out for projectors/monitors, iWork Lite, iLife Lite, bluetooth for mini keyboard along with the onscreen one, and 64GB SSD. This along with everything else the iTouch already does oughta do it, for around $600-$700.
 
colanutnm said:
Why does it have to be for lazy people. Not everyone creates content/data. A lot of my job is reading, researching and analysis. A light handheld device that is larger than a Touch would be great. I would love one to; have more features than an eBook, large enough to read/watch video, light/small enough to have on hand, connected enough to get email, calendar and web on the go.

Desktops are in decline, and clamshells are next. A laptop for reading and research is pretty much a waste of time and space.
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It doesn't have to be for lazy people, I just think that people who want to sit or lie around and consume media with it will be a big part of the target audience. Or use it for ancillary functions as they consume content on a larger screen.

I can imagine taking such a device like this on-the-go, too. But more often than not, away from home, I can get by with my iPhone.

I know we're all supposed to pretend that we're athletes here on the internets. So... I'm... uhm... off to run. ;)
 
RMo said:
I'd only find a tablet useful if it were more like a scaled-down MacBook than a scaled-up iPod--or, bascially, a small MacBook with touch and maybe handwriting recognition. But I'm sure Apple knows what they are doing, if, in fact, they are doing this.




HAHA. Could you imagine a 10-inch device with phone capability? Maybe a cellular connection a la Kindle to browse the Web without Wi-Fi, but I think they're definitely right about it not being a cell phone. Could you see it? "Excuse me, my phone is ringing...", as someone pulls a 10-inch device out of their backpack (too big for pockets) and proceeds to hold it up to their face--with TWO HANDS, because that's what you'll need. :p
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I think what they meant was a data only 3G plan. But I certainly wouldn't want that personally.

I would, however, use it with Skype, provided it has Bluetooth to use with a headset of some sort.
 
GeekLawyer said:
I almost hate to admit it, but I suspect the market for this device is lazy people; couch potatoes. People who come home from a hard day's work and plop on the sofa and turn on the television. Instead of opening a laptop, they can instead use their tablet to surf from the couch.

Now, I use either my Macbook or iPhone for that kind of thing, depending on how interactive I want to be with what I'm browsing. But, what the hell, why not buy a third device that is the perfect marriage of the two?

I think the market for this will be huge. (In more ways than one...)
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Cute. I hope the demand for this device surprises the pants off of all you comedians and Apple purists alike. This, partly because it's a wonderful balance between laptop and iPod Touch / iPhone. Partly because if anyone can do it with style, it's Apple. Mostly though - I just want all you purist griefers de-pantsed. :cool:
 
Tablet Use

I think that a tablet is only useful if it can do significantly more than an iphone. If the tablet had a 5 second boot time into full Mac OS X I would be first in line, but unless it boots more quickly than a macbook, and runs full Snow Leopard, I wont buy one. I think the Tablet is a product which needs to be incredible to even be functional, and I would like to see how Apple attempts it.
 
I'm not sure why everyone is questioning the point of the 10" tablet...

Did you miss the ridiculous concept that album sales will increase with some crappy digital extras that no doubt will be available online already?
 
Anybpdy thought about the possibilities with this thing in Airline entertainment?

They could sell this to all premium airlines for the perfect in-flight entertainment system. With connector you could bring your own movies and series on board or connect to the XServes on board.
 
I really haven't contributed much to the tablet discussions as I personally have no interest in owning one, no matter what the final product (if any) looks like. However, I did think of a reason why people would want it. I would assume its going to have an SSD in it, so it would appeal to those who don't want to dish out the extra money to have SSDs in notebooks AND want a bigger screen than iPod for movies. I would take a guess that this would mean the end for the iPod Classic as the storage would probably be similar, possibly even larger.

It'll really be aimed at those who want their media portable. I don't think it'll be meant for a notebook/computer replacement but instead those who want a larger iPod. Plus you throw in the e-reader capabilities, and I can really see this being a popular product.

Personally, I prefer old-fashioned books and movies on larger screens, but if I did regular traveling I'd probably be all over this.
 
iTablet's form factor

Let's contemplate on the iTablet's screen size, aspect ratio and PPI:
- The iPhone has 3.5", 1:1.5, 163
- The MacBook Air has 13.3", 1:1.6, 113

I think the iTablet's PPI will be somewhere between the two.
What about 720 x 1080? ---> 10", 1:1.5, 130

Hint for Europeans: 10", 1:1.4 = DIN A5.
 
miiles said:
I still don't see the point to a tablet.
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My good man!! Have you NOT seen Star Trek?!?!?!? :eek:

Only half kidding btw....

Tablet is for use in places where you wouldn't necessary expect to see nor want a desktop or laptop computer.

- Kitchen comes to mind
- Living Room
- Deck/Patio
- Bedroom
- Reading Room*

* Substitute any other room that happens to come to mind... :D

1. Most of those places are not exactly conducive to desktops/laptops

2. Most are places where you mostly interact with other people and walking away to use a desktop or even a laptop would be considered antisocial.

3. Tablets unlike laptops are much more conducive to 'passing around the room' (like photo albums once were... photo albums? Yea, ask you're folks they'll tell you all about em). :rolleyes:

- No hinged screen/keyboard, just a slate..

- no CD/DVD (yea people will flip over this but knowing Apple, expect it)

- USB? I like to think so.. but again... not gonna bet money on it...

- WiFi yea sure

- FireWire not gonna hold my breath

- iPhone / iPod Touch accessory port.... now that would make sense but watch they hold off till v2.0 for that to be included.... its SO like them.

Well if its anything close to that for a reasonable price, I'm good for 2 or maybe 3.

I just want it to have an accelerometer so I can play the CHIRP noise from Star Trek whenever I pick it up... Well at least till I or more likely my wife got sick of hearing it. :D
 
We all have this image of how a tablet should look and operate and some of us are thinking "what is the point in a tablet?" Apple will release a tablet that has one or more features that none of us has ever thought of and we will say "oh, now that makes sense".
 
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