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Apple Touchscreen Netbook to Launch in October at $800?
- Thread starter Divine Comedy
- Start date
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Time to chime in
Not that anyone will read this after 400 comments, but I pretty much gave up on my tablet speculation 6 months ago, and now I can't resist. Although it looks like Apple may come out with a line of lower-priced macbooks, I don't think they'll be touchscreen and I don't think that's where all the excitement will arise. I do think all macbooks will run Mac OSX. I'm sure they'll sell, but that's not why Steve came back from death.
Steve came back to drop the big one! I believe the mystery product will be a tablet. It will run a version of iPhone OSX and will not be much different from a big ipod Touch. EXCEPT- it will have a dockable keyboard, using a standard iPhone dock. (Do you think Apple disabled this obvious feature from iPhone out of spite?) It will have an SD slot. Probably not 3G since Steve will want you to tether your iPhone. Definitely wifi and bluetooth. AND it will have 16:8 proportions. Curiously, an 8.5" wide screen at 16:8 is 9.75" diagonal. So, when I take it to my desk and dock it in landscape mode I will see the full width of my word processing project. When I take it to the TV room to surf while watching the bigscreen, I'll use the touchscreen keyboard. When I'm traveling, (or sitting on the back deck on a summer night) I'll be watching movies in HD. Or playing games.
edit: The iPhone doesn't allow external keyboard connection via dock or bluetooth because, in my opinion, they've been saving this feature for the tablet!
Steve doesn't want this to replace your laptop. He wants this to be an augmentation that fills the gap between your iPhone and your Mac. Of course, you'll want mobile me so you can stay synced with everything else.
I humbly request to be iCal'd on this.
Not that anyone will read this after 400 comments, but I pretty much gave up on my tablet speculation 6 months ago, and now I can't resist. Although it looks like Apple may come out with a line of lower-priced macbooks, I don't think they'll be touchscreen and I don't think that's where all the excitement will arise. I do think all macbooks will run Mac OSX. I'm sure they'll sell, but that's not why Steve came back from death.
Steve came back to drop the big one! I believe the mystery product will be a tablet. It will run a version of iPhone OSX and will not be much different from a big ipod Touch. EXCEPT- it will have a dockable keyboard, using a standard iPhone dock. (Do you think Apple disabled this obvious feature from iPhone out of spite?) It will have an SD slot. Probably not 3G since Steve will want you to tether your iPhone. Definitely wifi and bluetooth. AND it will have 16:8 proportions. Curiously, an 8.5" wide screen at 16:8 is 9.75" diagonal. So, when I take it to my desk and dock it in landscape mode I will see the full width of my word processing project. When I take it to the TV room to surf while watching the bigscreen, I'll use the touchscreen keyboard. When I'm traveling, (or sitting on the back deck on a summer night) I'll be watching movies in HD. Or playing games.
edit: The iPhone doesn't allow external keyboard connection via dock or bluetooth because, in my opinion, they've been saving this feature for the tablet!
Steve doesn't want this to replace your laptop. He wants this to be an augmentation that fills the gap between your iPhone and your Mac. Of course, you'll want mobile me so you can stay synced with everything else.
I humbly request to be iCal'd on this.
Price is speculative. I'm in for one if I like the interface and it runs OS X. Nothing was said if it ran a C2D. Could it run on an Atom like the rumors that started after the hackintosh netbooks got a battery bump with 10.5.7? Possibly.
I'm in to hear what it has to offer. Personally, if it could run the games and such off the phone and touch then it's a done deal. Otherwise my next laptop is a MacBook Air. I love them.
I'm in to hear what it has to offer. Personally, if it could run the games and such off the phone and touch then it's a done deal. Otherwise my next laptop is a MacBook Air. I love them.
I showed our Apple rep this rumor tonight. He thought it would be way cool and so do I. I could sell a ton of them and Apple would do an end run around all the cr*p netbooks, if they can hit the $799 price point. Come on Apple, go for it. 
Hp
I actually by looking what they were doing in the commercial, I couldn't see a real function for it. Other then moving pictures around like it showed.
Hugh
I actually by looking what they were doing in the commercial, I couldn't see a real function for it. Other then moving pictures around like it showed.
Hugh
And when exactly will you find time to use it? You got your iMac at home, your iPhone for the really on the go situations, and since it doesnt replace a laptop you have your macbook or MBP for when you are in the library or in school.
And so if you have an iPhone and laptop and potentially an iMac/MacPro, when are you going to find the time or place to use this $800 gadget? Is it going to be something you buy so you can use it for 45 minutes a week while you're taking a crap or something?
I guess to phrase it another way.. what exactly is the UTILITY gap between an iPhone and a Macbook IF YOU OWN BOTH? In what instance is neither device really good to use and, therefore, a 3rd device worth paying nearly a grand for could come in handy?
Instead of a netbook, perhaps something that exceeds the raw specs of a Viao P. A keyboard doesn't need to be attached and sold with the device. Some folding Bluetooth keyboard options would give users the choice of how big a keyboard they want to carry with their giant iTouch. Apple has a team that can design ARM CPUs that will run OS X faster than any current Intel Atom. It's looking like full Snow Leopard might run just fine on a multi-core ARM system. Desktop apps would have to be re-compiled to run on something like this. A portion of a book-sized multi-touch display could be used for a virtual touchpad for apps with the old legacy UI. Crazy ideas, but since when does Apple follow the lead of Acer and Dell in styling and packaging?
I totally see a tablet or UMPC fitting a lot of people's needs. NOT everyone wants or needs an Iphone. I have a macbook (old one) for my desktop usage at home. A SE phone (Iphone is too expensive where I am and I don't feel like charging it every night). I just placed an order for viliv x70 with 3G; a tablet like that suits my needs to a T. Sometimes I am on call for support and I need VPN..yes it has windows but I don't care..for me it's just a tool to connect to the office for emergency purposes and it doesn't hurt my shoulders weighing at 1.45 lbs.
Sorry but I can't see myself surfing for a long time even at a coffee shop on a tiny little screen like the Iphone and eating away at my battery life when I want to make an important call.
Nor do I want to lug around my now SUPER heavy macbook who's battery does not last more than 10 minutes when not plugged in.
A tablet will certainly serve that growing niche market and being that it's from Apple a lot of macsheeps will buy one regardless if they need it or not.
Please could I order two of these for immediate delivery? Thats almost exactly what I want and what I believe we will see in the not too distant future.
Mobile Internet Devices (MID) and other small tablets and PDA's have been coming and going for many years now. All one has to do is browse Engadget.com for a few days and you see these things announced almost daily with different OS's. None has gained traction, I think because of the reasons stated above. Who has $500 (or in the Apple rumor case - $800) for an extremely niche gadget? It will not replace either a phone or a laptop which for many people are products that meet very specific needs for business or personal use.
If you look at Apple's current consumer laptop product line, they have only ONE offering - the white Macbook which starts at $999. It needs a refresh.
So, I think they build up their consumer laptop products with a redone 13", and (to satisfy the rumor) a 9.7" "netbook" which I think has a new interface on top of SL including some touchscreen features to help differentiate it from the competition and justify a higher price.
If this is what is coming, Credit Card at the ready for the extra protection.. and FIRE AT WILL, MR WORF!
Time to bring back the "Butterfly" keyboard.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTlQxHFCaDo
Apple isn't the only one who can innovate
This wouldn't surprise me, similar to how screen spanning was disabled on the iBooks.
What if you don't own both?
I would like this too…
A G4 is way better than a netbook! Give me a Unibody Intel G4 with a matte screen, barring that I'll stick with my original G4......maybe forever!
C'mon apple, one of your best products ever is five years old!
I actually got the parts to build a 22" touchscreen from eBay and intend to use it for music production on the Mac. Didn't want a bunch of motorized faders because they're not really versatile and you easily lose track of which fader is assigned to what channel. And since Logic still does not support undo for the track mixer or any plugin (WTF, APPLE!?), this can be annoying.
So I got one motorfader (Presonus Faderport), a jogwheel (Tascam FireOne), a 25-key keyboard (M-Adio Oxygen 8 v2) with some knobs and all the keys mapped to useful shortcuts (knobs for zooming, EQ, compressor and drawbars). The only thing I missed is the ability to instantly mute or solo a track, do rough adjustments while recording, etc.
After watching this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-59BxTuHFio and doing some research, I got the necessary parts off eBay to build the same thing, but a lot larger. If I can get OSX to work nicely with multiple touch screens, I intend to build a slanted console with two (or more) touch screens built into it (as flush as possible), support for the near-field monitors and mount for all the other audio gear. I might even go for the geeky star trek look. ;-)
If you wanna try out OSX with a touchscreen, you can get those 15" ELO screens for 100 bucks on eBay. They're capacitive (same tech as the iPhone, i.e. no pressure required) and work well with Macs.
So I got one motorfader (Presonus Faderport), a jogwheel (Tascam FireOne), a 25-key keyboard (M-Adio Oxygen 8 v2) with some knobs and all the keys mapped to useful shortcuts (knobs for zooming, EQ, compressor and drawbars). The only thing I missed is the ability to instantly mute or solo a track, do rough adjustments while recording, etc.
After watching this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-59BxTuHFio and doing some research, I got the necessary parts off eBay to build the same thing, but a lot larger. If I can get OSX to work nicely with multiple touch screens, I intend to build a slanted console with two (or more) touch screens built into it (as flush as possible), support for the near-field monitors and mount for all the other audio gear. I might even go for the geeky star trek look. ;-)
If you wanna try out OSX with a touchscreen, you can get those 15" ELO screens for 100 bucks on eBay. They're capacitive (same tech as the iPhone, i.e. no pressure required) and work well with Macs.
Another missing feature
I forgot to say: I also believe multitasking was omitted from OS 3 because they want to limit this feature to the tablet, which really would need it. That'll be another reason for you to buy the tablet even if you have the iPhone already.
And another thing: surely you guys are bumping up against the 5 computer limit in iTunes? Well, there's no limit to the number of iPods you can sync. Therefore, this can't be called a Mac or Macbook. It must not run Mac OSX!
Apple, we are waiting and waiting, what is the problem!
Multitasking in the Iphone, updated graphics in the Macbook Pros (1gig VRAM), netbook, TABLET!
Let's get going!
I forgot to say: I also believe multitasking was omitted from OS 3 because they want to limit this feature to the tablet, which really would need it. That'll be another reason for you to buy the tablet even if you have the iPhone already.
And another thing: surely you guys are bumping up against the 5 computer limit in iTunes? Well, there's no limit to the number of iPods you can sync. Therefore, this can't be called a Mac or Macbook. It must not run Mac OSX!
I am very excited about this new device and if half the rumors are true I will be buying one even at the $800 price. I would love to see a device similar to the Touch but with a 9-10" screen. I would prefer OS X running on it, but if some variant of the iPhone OS is installed I hope it has multi-tasking and full blown Safari with Flash. I hope it is very thin and has fantastic battery life. In addition to WiFi, I hope you can tether it to your iPhone. It would also be great if it had USB ports and the ability to connect an external keyboard. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. I hope we're not setting ourselves up for a big disappointment.
Waiting for a souped up ebook reader!
Sorry to barge in here, but I know what "utility" gap I'M waiting for! I own a iMac, a MBP, and a ipod touch. I NEVER thought I would ever read a book/novel on a computer screen. Thus, I never even gave Kindle a "thought". Through the Kindle for iphone app on my ipod touch, I've been introduced to the world of ebooks and discovered:
-Amazon always has a couple of ENTIRE ebooks for FREE every day. First 5 pages of all books are free to preview.
-Google has a zillion books for "free" (copyright free ones)
-there are too many online "repositories", digital libraries to name here. But, they all offer free books.
-you can find .pdf (and other formats) of pretty much every "Classic" that's out there for FREE because the copyright has expired
-Ebooks are priced quite a chunk cheaper than "real" books. $9.99 for all New York Times Sellers. Flat price.
-Other online books sellers are entering the ebook game and giving pressure to Amazon to lower the prices even more...
I used to love reading but haven't read any novels for a long time. I guess reading the internet satisfies my desire to read. With this Kindle for iphone app, I've "rediscovered" the enjoyment of reading novels and I'm shocked by how much free and nearly free content (fiction and non-fiction) is out there.
Money talks and its been convincing to me that I will put up with the computer screen now in order to read books.
It's hard on the eyes to read on a touch/iphone. I'm a convert now to ebooks now but am NOT going to buy the kindle. Why? I have this gut feeling that Apple is going to come in and try to elbow Kindle out of the way. AND, I know that if Apple does, they will blow Amazon/Kindle out of the water with the type of device. I can't wait to see what they come up with!
and when am I going to use it? When I'm commuting on the subway and have no wireless access and am hungry to read something, when I go to the beach and want access to a number of books, without having to lug them. When I want to read at night in bed, when I'm standing in line waiting for something, when I want to read laying down on the coach.
I'm thinking an ipod touch the size of a paperback book (that does everything the touch does now, including allowing me to listen to music while reading (it's possible!) and also a bigger screen for playing the app games. Plus, allow you to handwrite notes on the screen like a tablet.
University students could consider using this "tablet" or whatever you want to call it to hold their textbooks and their handwritten study notes. Schoolboards are now experimenting with Kindle to hold textbooks. It's happening and it's coming... This tablet would be particularly appealing to people who write in Chinese, or any other non-keyboard language. (By the way, the Chinese are also voracious readers of books!) Imagine how much money Apple would make if it sold a "tablet" to every person who writes in Chinese script in the world --not even counting the other script languages. There is no need for a keyboard if the device can read your handwriting.
Just as Apple took digital music and made it "mainstream" and "every man's" commodity, I see Apple taking digital books/texts/magazines/newspapers and making it "every man's" commodity. I know Mr. Jobs has said that reading is dying but isn't he known to throw in red herrings to throw people off? and Mr. Jobs is very supportive of anything "educational". Perhaps he wants to revive book reading again. You might not be much of a book reader now--but such a device might change that. Newspapers and magazines are now selling digital subscriptions. You might not read fiction, but I bet you read magazines and newspapers. Imagine having it delivered to you wirelessly and you can read it standing on the bus when you wouldn't be able to open up a laptop?
When Apple first introduced the ipod, people didn't "get it". What "gap" was this little square box supposed to fill? Sometimes you don't know there is a "gap" until something comes in to fill it.
Most of you don't realize this, but Google and Amazon and Apple are jostling for control of this emerging form of media If you don't believe me, follow this blog: http://ireaderreview.com/ This new "tablet" is the same size as the original Kindle. Hmm. I also don't believe the rumors that it's going to be $800 (that's another red herring). I think it will be priced to compete directly with the Kindle $300-$500. Apple wants everyone to have THEIR device and not a Kindle in their hand when this new form of media becomes common place. They would be stupid to pass up this opportunity. Especially when they've been through this already with the ipod and digital music. Digital music existed before the ipod (Sony?) but it took Apple to make it mainstream.
Kindle was ONLY launched in Nov 2007 and it's only available in the USA now. How about the rest of the world? It's too early in the game to say there is no market for ebooks and it's a tiny niche.
It wouldn't make sense for Apple to make a smaller "macbook" and undercut purchases of the more expensive macbooks etc. So, I don't believe this will be a macbook replacement at all. More like an e-reader, tablet, notetaking, music playing, gaming device. It will create a new "niche" and not compete with the old.
In the end, it may be that Amazon allows their books to be read on ANY device and focusses on selling content while Apple produces the most popular device. Or Apple supports Google's format as Google sells advertising and provides free/cheap books. Or Apple works with book publishers or even directly with AUTHORS skipping over the heads of Amazon and Google and sells through itunes. We're all waiting to see. (I'm hoping the latter, because I've seen what a fantastic job its done with music in itunes.) Whichever way it goes, I already know that Apple will produce the slickest, best working, most popular device--whether this October or at another future date. I'm impatiently waiting for it and am willing to refuse a Kindle purchase as I wait because I love Apple so much and I know I won't regret the wait (and don't want to waste the money on an inferior, overpriced for the few features it offers --Kindle). Sorry Kindle! In the meantime, I'm enjoying reading the "shopaholic" series on my ipod touch. and I'd better hurry and finish writing up that digital novel of mine I started ;D
Sorry to barge in here, but I know what "utility" gap I'M waiting for! I own a iMac, a MBP, and a ipod touch. I NEVER thought I would ever read a book/novel on a computer screen. Thus, I never even gave Kindle a "thought". Through the Kindle for iphone app on my ipod touch, I've been introduced to the world of ebooks and discovered:
-Amazon always has a couple of ENTIRE ebooks for FREE every day. First 5 pages of all books are free to preview.
-Google has a zillion books for "free" (copyright free ones)
-there are too many online "repositories", digital libraries to name here. But, they all offer free books.
-you can find .pdf (and other formats) of pretty much every "Classic" that's out there for FREE because the copyright has expired
-Ebooks are priced quite a chunk cheaper than "real" books. $9.99 for all New York Times Sellers. Flat price.
-Other online books sellers are entering the ebook game and giving pressure to Amazon to lower the prices even more...
I used to love reading but haven't read any novels for a long time. I guess reading the internet satisfies my desire to read. With this Kindle for iphone app, I've "rediscovered" the enjoyment of reading novels and I'm shocked by how much free and nearly free content (fiction and non-fiction) is out there.
Money talks and its been convincing to me that I will put up with the computer screen now in order to read books.
It's hard on the eyes to read on a touch/iphone. I'm a convert now to ebooks now but am NOT going to buy the kindle. Why? I have this gut feeling that Apple is going to come in and try to elbow Kindle out of the way. AND, I know that if Apple does, they will blow Amazon/Kindle out of the water with the type of device. I can't wait to see what they come up with!
and when am I going to use it? When I'm commuting on the subway and have no wireless access and am hungry to read something, when I go to the beach and want access to a number of books, without having to lug them. When I want to read at night in bed, when I'm standing in line waiting for something, when I want to read laying down on the coach.
I'm thinking an ipod touch the size of a paperback book (that does everything the touch does now, including allowing me to listen to music while reading (it's possible!) and also a bigger screen for playing the app games. Plus, allow you to handwrite notes on the screen like a tablet.
University students could consider using this "tablet" or whatever you want to call it to hold their textbooks and their handwritten study notes. Schoolboards are now experimenting with Kindle to hold textbooks. It's happening and it's coming... This tablet would be particularly appealing to people who write in Chinese, or any other non-keyboard language. (By the way, the Chinese are also voracious readers of books!) Imagine how much money Apple would make if it sold a "tablet" to every person who writes in Chinese script in the world --not even counting the other script languages. There is no need for a keyboard if the device can read your handwriting.
Just as Apple took digital music and made it "mainstream" and "every man's" commodity, I see Apple taking digital books/texts/magazines/newspapers and making it "every man's" commodity. I know Mr. Jobs has said that reading is dying but isn't he known to throw in red herrings to throw people off? and Mr. Jobs is very supportive of anything "educational". Perhaps he wants to revive book reading again. You might not be much of a book reader now--but such a device might change that. Newspapers and magazines are now selling digital subscriptions. You might not read fiction, but I bet you read magazines and newspapers. Imagine having it delivered to you wirelessly and you can read it standing on the bus when you wouldn't be able to open up a laptop?
When Apple first introduced the ipod, people didn't "get it". What "gap" was this little square box supposed to fill? Sometimes you don't know there is a "gap" until something comes in to fill it.
Most of you don't realize this, but Google and Amazon and Apple are jostling for control of this emerging form of media If you don't believe me, follow this blog: http://ireaderreview.com/ This new "tablet" is the same size as the original Kindle. Hmm. I also don't believe the rumors that it's going to be $800 (that's another red herring). I think it will be priced to compete directly with the Kindle $300-$500. Apple wants everyone to have THEIR device and not a Kindle in their hand when this new form of media becomes common place. They would be stupid to pass up this opportunity. Especially when they've been through this already with the ipod and digital music. Digital music existed before the ipod (Sony?) but it took Apple to make it mainstream.
Kindle was ONLY launched in Nov 2007 and it's only available in the USA now. How about the rest of the world? It's too early in the game to say there is no market for ebooks and it's a tiny niche.
It wouldn't make sense for Apple to make a smaller "macbook" and undercut purchases of the more expensive macbooks etc. So, I don't believe this will be a macbook replacement at all. More like an e-reader, tablet, notetaking, music playing, gaming device. It will create a new "niche" and not compete with the old.
In the end, it may be that Amazon allows their books to be read on ANY device and focusses on selling content while Apple produces the most popular device. Or Apple supports Google's format as Google sells advertising and provides free/cheap books. Or Apple works with book publishers or even directly with AUTHORS skipping over the heads of Amazon and Google and sells through itunes. We're all waiting to see. (I'm hoping the latter, because I've seen what a fantastic job its done with music in itunes.) Whichever way it goes, I already know that Apple will produce the slickest, best working, most popular device--whether this October or at another future date. I'm impatiently waiting for it and am willing to refuse a Kindle purchase as I wait because I love Apple so much and I know I won't regret the wait (and don't want to waste the money on an inferior, overpriced for the few features it offers --Kindle). Sorry Kindle! In the meantime, I'm enjoying reading the "shopaholic" series on my ipod touch.
and I'd better hurry and finish writing up that digital novel of mine I started ;DThe problem is you haven't a clue as to what his background is to be making claims of his ignorance, and yes, you are rude doing it.
Sorry you lack the social skills to realize that.