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Apple Working on 10-, 13-, and 15-Inch Tablets?
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Wild Speculation.
OK, I'm way late on this, but here's my take:
Apple created the laptop as we know it. They made one mistake in putting the keyboard up against the screen instead of at the edge, like all previous portables, forcing you to constantly hold your hands in midair to avoid getting greasy paw-prints all over that useless blank area below it.
The major mistake they made, though, was putting all the circuitry behind the keyboard side. The ill effects of this weren't obvious right away, but as laptops have become thinner and lighter, putting a fragile glass LCD screen in the thin, flexible side of the device is becoming more and more undesirable.
I wonder, first, if these witnesses saw what they thought they were seeing. Are these large devices tablets, or are they prototype laptops with the fragile display mounted in the rigid part of the device, and a thin, flexible, fold-out keyboard on the flimsy side?
If it is a tablet, perhaps it would come with an (optional?) portfolio-type cover that would open to form a (bluetooth?) keyboard, with some kind of L-bracket opening out of the back to prop up the main body? If you're just walking around, you can use it as a touchscreen tablet. If that's all you ever do, you don't even need the cover. If you have the cover, and you find a place to sit down, you can unfold it and use it as a laptop.
Maybe that's the insight that Apple came to—that a laptop has all its circuitry in the keyboard side and a tablet has all its circuitry in the display side. That's the fundamental distinction. Even if it's not wireless, the connection between a keyboard and a computer would go through a hinge much more reliably than the wiring for a display.
P.S.: A couple of guys e-mailed me after my last post, and I managed to lose them somehow. Sorry, I wasn't ignoring you! I can almost remember the names, but not what came after the @. Feel free to write me again if you notice this late post.
OK, I'm way late on this, but here's my take:
Apple created the laptop as we know it. They made one mistake in putting the keyboard up against the screen instead of at the edge, like all previous portables, forcing you to constantly hold your hands in midair to avoid getting greasy paw-prints all over that useless blank area below it.
The major mistake they made, though, was putting all the circuitry behind the keyboard side. The ill effects of this weren't obvious right away, but as laptops have become thinner and lighter, putting a fragile glass LCD screen in the thin, flexible side of the device is becoming more and more undesirable.
I wonder, first, if these witnesses saw what they thought they were seeing. Are these large devices tablets, or are they prototype laptops with the fragile display mounted in the rigid part of the device, and a thin, flexible, fold-out keyboard on the flimsy side?
If it is a tablet, perhaps it would come with an (optional?) portfolio-type cover that would open to form a (bluetooth?) keyboard, with some kind of L-bracket opening out of the back to prop up the main body? If you're just walking around, you can use it as a touchscreen tablet. If that's all you ever do, you don't even need the cover. If you have the cover, and you find a place to sit down, you can unfold it and use it as a laptop.
Maybe that's the insight that Apple came to—that a laptop has all its circuitry in the keyboard side and a tablet has all its circuitry in the display side. That's the fundamental distinction. Even if it's not wireless, the connection between a keyboard and a computer would go through a hinge much more reliably than the wiring for a display.
P.S.: A couple of guys e-mailed me after my last post, and I managed to lose them somehow. Sorry, I wasn't ignoring you! I can almost remember the names, but not what came after the @. Feel free to write me again if you notice this late post.
1. Laptops all over the world would topple backwards because of the weight of the circuitry and other hardware. The weight needs to be distributed with an emphasis to the part that's on the table.
2. I have about 2000 colleagues with laptops and work very close to the IT department and haven't seen any broken screens come in yet.
It seems to me the laptop design is quite a succes. Especially considering the fact that sales of laptops are now really starting to eat into desktop sales..
This doesn't mean though that it's the ideal design and no-one can improve it..
If they made a 10" tablet, I would seriously look into getting one to take notes in class. I wonder if you'd be able to write with a pen that acts as your finger? This could be some exciting stuff.
No effin' way! Obviously, Tablets will have SSD in them, hence, the minimum price of $1,999.
If I was using it for entertainment purposes (including forums), I would want the 10 inch. 
If I was using it for work-related tasks, I would want a 15 inch (but then again, if it's work-related, I would probably want a regular laptop with keyboard and mouse).
So, 10 inch it is!
(note to Apple: please make it a full computer, like a MacBook Air. thank you)
If it is a full computer, I will buy one. If it is less than a full computer, I can live with just my iPhone.
If I was using it for work-related tasks, I would want a 15 inch (but then again, if it's work-related, I would probably want a regular laptop with keyboard and mouse).
So, 10 inch it is!
(note to Apple: please make it a full computer, like a MacBook Air. thank you)
If it is a full computer, I will buy one. If it is less than a full computer, I can live with just my iPhone.
God Dammit
Enough is enough. These tablets are not coming out. The very fact that no one can seem to find an actual use for these hypethtical devices that isn't already better fulfilled by either the iphone or a laptop speakes volumes.
Let's suppose it is real. By sheer logic, it must run either it's own OS, iphone OS or Mac OS. none of these make sense. if it had it's own OS, then it would be its own app platform, and no one here honestly belives that apple will introduce a third platform so soon after the app store, which it is currently working hard to cultivate.
If it ran iphone OS, then you have 2 major, unfixable problems. 1) Apps designed for the iphone first (and they would be, since it is the bigger platform) would more often than not fail to translate well in a large device. there are many, many apps that would make absolutely no sense at all, like, say, every driving game app. 2) the simple fact that no one in their right mind would pay for a device that does only a fraction of iphone/ipod touch stuff well, in an unpocketable form-factor, when they could instead spend the same amount of money and get a similarly unpocketable laptop that is better at everything because it runs a full OS. They get browsers with plugins, movies in any format, a real windowing interface, and much much more.
Finally, what if it just ran Mac OS. here we have a classic problem. look at the GM PUMA. it's actually not a terrible idea. An extremely compact, reletively fast transportation device has a lot of merits and could very well make sense for many people... except not in a world with SUVs and speed bumps. The world we live in is shaped by the tools we use, and visa versa. A tablet computer running a full OS might make sense, but not in a world where every app people would want to run assume mouse-over, pixel perfect pointers, keyboard shortcuts, and off screen text entry. Mac OS apps simply wouldn't work well. This is the reason tablet PCs never took off, and the situation would be no different for apple.
These are not fixable problems. You can't just make 3rd party software work on a new device with a hugely different form factor and interface, and you can't just start up a new platform while you still have a baby one that desperately needs cultivation and focus. Apple magic is powerless here.
So for the love of god, please stop buying into these rumors.
Enough is enough. These tablets are not coming out. The very fact that no one can seem to find an actual use for these hypethtical devices that isn't already better fulfilled by either the iphone or a laptop speakes volumes.
Let's suppose it is real. By sheer logic, it must run either it's own OS, iphone OS or Mac OS. none of these make sense. if it had it's own OS, then it would be its own app platform, and no one here honestly belives that apple will introduce a third platform so soon after the app store, which it is currently working hard to cultivate.
If it ran iphone OS, then you have 2 major, unfixable problems. 1) Apps designed for the iphone first (and they would be, since it is the bigger platform) would more often than not fail to translate well in a large device. there are many, many apps that would make absolutely no sense at all, like, say, every driving game app. 2) the simple fact that no one in their right mind would pay for a device that does only a fraction of iphone/ipod touch stuff well, in an unpocketable form-factor, when they could instead spend the same amount of money and get a similarly unpocketable laptop that is better at everything because it runs a full OS. They get browsers with plugins, movies in any format, a real windowing interface, and much much more.
Finally, what if it just ran Mac OS. here we have a classic problem. look at the GM PUMA. it's actually not a terrible idea. An extremely compact, reletively fast transportation device has a lot of merits and could very well make sense for many people... except not in a world with SUVs and speed bumps. The world we live in is shaped by the tools we use, and visa versa. A tablet computer running a full OS might make sense, but not in a world where every app people would want to run assume mouse-over, pixel perfect pointers, keyboard shortcuts, and off screen text entry. Mac OS apps simply wouldn't work well. This is the reason tablet PCs never took off, and the situation would be no different for apple.
These are not fixable problems. You can't just make 3rd party software work on a new device with a hugely different form factor and interface, and you can't just start up a new platform while you still have a baby one that desperately needs cultivation and focus. Apple magic is powerless here.
So for the love of god, please stop buying into these rumors.
The Apple Oracle
Wow, just when the tech. world has written off tablets as a failed would-be gimmick, leave it to APPLE to say this is the future and mould the the future the way they see fit.
Actually, I don't mean this sarcastically... and I'm a huuuuge anti-fanboy.
The reason why I say this is, Steve Jobs must see an explosive trend in the future, otherwise he'd release a singular 10" tablet as a test that could either succeed or fail. But, no. Not to put words in Steve's mouth, but I think he's saying the future for the all-in-one laptop is tablets. A "virtual keyboard". Now before you groan, think of it this way: It was the famous click wheel in the original iPod that Steve said "this is the best way to access your music". We were taught how to use it (not terribly difficult) and we accept it as the standard. Others have tried to imitate it.
So what he did for the click wheel and the iPod, he must want to do for the tablet and the virtual keyboard. I think we can learn and perhaps it's the better way of typing. Those cashiers who use touch-screens to enter prices at the stores use this type of technology. Maybe the concept of a book computer (folding) is antiquated.
I must be in a weird mood or actually drank the fanboy Kool-Aid to be so gung-ho about the future of tablets, assuming this rumour is accurate.
Wow, just when the tech. world has written off tablets as a failed would-be gimmick, leave it to APPLE to say this is the future and mould the the future the way they see fit.
Actually, I don't mean this sarcastically... and I'm a huuuuge anti-fanboy.
The reason why I say this is, Steve Jobs must see an explosive trend in the future, otherwise he'd release a singular 10" tablet as a test that could either succeed or fail. But, no. Not to put words in Steve's mouth, but I think he's saying the future for the all-in-one laptop is tablets. A "virtual keyboard". Now before you groan, think of it this way: It was the famous click wheel in the original iPod that Steve said "this is the best way to access your music". We were taught how to use it (not terribly difficult) and we accept it as the standard. Others have tried to imitate it.
So what he did for the click wheel and the iPod, he must want to do for the tablet and the virtual keyboard. I think we can learn and perhaps it's the better way of typing. Those cashiers who use touch-screens to enter prices at the stores use this type of technology. Maybe the concept of a book computer (folding) is antiquated.
I must be in a weird mood or actually drank the fanboy Kool-Aid to be so gung-ho about the future of tablets, assuming this rumour is accurate.
My Take
1) Prototypes Get Made
And not all of them make it to retail products - their presence just means some research is going on, if they truly exist at all.
2) It won't be called the iTablet
That's because a company called AMtek has already got that name for its products.
3) Size matters
If you had a fully capable laptop in a tablet form factor - think ModBook - then 13- and 15-inch make sense as you have enough room for proper components and can use it as an actual computer as opposed to some half-baked media device. A lot of tablets are around the 10- and 12-inch mark. What I wouldn't like is an oversize iPhone with cheap internals that I couldn't do sketches with Photoshop on, for example.
4) Keyboards matter
Unless there is some cool way of giving you tactile feedback that can mimic the feel of a keyboard - which you need so that you don't drift off what you want to type (auto-correction is another option, but would be annoying if using a lot of non-English terms eg programming). There has to be a way of getting a keyboard connected to the tablet if it is to be a serious replacement for a MacBook.
5) I am skeptical
But I am open minded. The thing is, tablets have been around for about 7-8 years - but they do not sell in the same way that laptops do, except to special buyers eg graphic design. Tablets have problems - see post two above!
1) Prototypes Get Made
And not all of them make it to retail products - their presence just means some research is going on, if they truly exist at all.
2) It won't be called the iTablet
That's because a company called AMtek has already got that name for its products.
3) Size matters
If you had a fully capable laptop in a tablet form factor - think ModBook - then 13- and 15-inch make sense as you have enough room for proper components and can use it as an actual computer as opposed to some half-baked media device. A lot of tablets are around the 10- and 12-inch mark. What I wouldn't like is an oversize iPhone with cheap internals that I couldn't do sketches with Photoshop on, for example.
4) Keyboards matter
Unless there is some cool way of giving you tactile feedback that can mimic the feel of a keyboard - which you need so that you don't drift off what you want to type (auto-correction is another option, but would be annoying if using a lot of non-English terms eg programming). There has to be a way of getting a keyboard connected to the tablet if it is to be a serious replacement for a MacBook.
5) I am skeptical
But I am open minded. The thing is, tablets have been around for about 7-8 years - but they do not sell in the same way that laptops do, except to special buyers eg graphic design. Tablets have problems - see post two above!
You managed to be wrong on the first sentence of your "take" on this. NEC beat Apple to the punch as far as Book type laptops go. The NEC UltraLite came out a few months in advance of the Mac Portable :
And the Mac Portable had nothing to do with the book type laptops we have today :
If you want to get even more technical, Compaq came up with the design 1 year earlier :
So please. Let's not try to be too fanboyish here. Apple makes good product, but they didn't invent the laptop concept at all.
No, connected is not enough. If it is to replace the Macbook, it has to have a keyboard attached to it. Otherwise, it just lost it's portability edge. No one in their right mind wants to have to carry 2-3 devices seperate from each other and have to assemble them to use them.
A laptop is an all-in-one device. I don't need to carry anything with it and I am still able to fully utilize it. These are general computing devices which can serve to just surf the web or do complex programming or even modeling, same as a desktop computer. A Tablet is more of a niche thing, where it can do some Web/Internet things, but doesn't replace a desktop as far as more advanced functions go.
15-inch makes me wonder if it really will come with a stand, essentially becoming a hybrid mini-desktop and portable tablet. Would be nice for those who need that, I guess.
You managed to be wrong on the first sentence of your "take" on this. NEC beat Apple to the punch as far as Book type laptops go. The NEC UltraLite came out a few months in advance of the Mac Portable :
And the Mac Portable had nothing to do with the book type laptops we have today :
If you want to get even more technical, Compaq came up with the design 1 year earlier :
So please. Let's not try to be too fanboyish here. Apple makes good product, but they didn't invent the laptop concept at all.
No, connected is not enough. If it is to replace the Macbook, it has to have a keyboard attached to it. Otherwise, it just lost it's portability edge. No one in their right mind wants to have to carry 2-3 devices seperate from each other and have to assemble them to use them.
A laptop is an all-in-one device. I don't need to carry anything with it and I am still able to fully utilize it. These are general computing devices which can serve to just surf the web or do complex programming or even modeling, same as a desktop computer. A Tablet is more of a niche thing, where it can do some Web/Internet things, but doesn't replace a desktop as far as more advanced functions go.
How about correcting him without being so extraordinarily rude and snotty?
Why would you have hurt my feelings? You didn't say it to me. It just amuses me the level of arrogance and rude behavior people display on the internet.
Not to mention the guy you criticized said Apple created the laptop as we know it, which you followed up with "they didn't invent the laptop". Seems to me you have a rough time with reading comprehension. Apple didn't create the mp3 player, but they created the mp3 player as we know it. See the difference? Eh, probably not. They redefined laptops. They innovated. They didn't invent. Apple doesn't really invent anything, they wait to see what ideas are out there, then they refine them with their own take and style.
Fair Point
Carry more than one piece of equipment when you don't have to would be a pain, you're quite right.
As you say, the pure tablet is a fairly niche product - which is why, while I maintain an open mind and the possibility of an Apple tablet of some description, I doubt they'll produce one.
And if they do, I sincerely hope it isn't an oversize iPhone with low spec internals...
Carry more than one piece of equipment when you don't have to would be a pain, you're quite right.
As you say, the pure tablet is a fairly niche product - which is why, while I maintain an open mind and the possibility of an Apple tablet of some description, I doubt they'll produce one.
And if they do, I sincerely hope it isn't an oversize iPhone with low spec internals...
My reading comprehension is perfectly fine. I pointed out that Apple didn't create the laptop as we know it, NEC did. Apple's portable Mac, which came after the NEC, wasn't anything like the notebook style laptops we have today contrary to the NEC Ultralite which was exactly the notebook style we have today.
Apple didn't redefine laptops. Guess what ? Apple isn't the sole innovator in the computer industry, sometimes, they just follow along what others have done.
If you want to believe that every trend in computing history is thanks to apple, then Fanboy is the appropriate term to describe you. There's nothing rude or condescending about it.
OK—I stand corrected on the NEC UltraLite. It was definitely ahead of its time. What I was thinking of was the early Powerbooks. It's hardly fanboyish when I'm criticizing Apple for their design.
If you notice, the NEC has its keyboard where you can reach it. Apple came up with the idea of putting the keyboard up against the screen. How do you use it? Do you put your greasy hands down flat on this blank space below it? Do you keep your arms levitated constantly while you type? This has become the universal design, and it's incredibly awkward.
If you notice, the NEC has its keyboard where you can reach it. Apple came up with the idea of putting the keyboard up against the screen. How do you use it? Do you put your greasy hands down flat on this blank space below it? Do you keep your arms levitated constantly while you type? This has become the universal design, and it's incredibly awkward.
Attachments
Whether or not they created it "as we know it" is subjective, and doesn't necessitate your initial reaction.
I don't recall me saying they were.
Look at my signature, as it shows I'm not a "fanboy". If I were, would I also be using a Windows and Linux machine? Probably not. But you're free to think what you wish.
Exactly. Ergonomically, you rest your hands there. Easier to clean that space than to remedy any hand cramps when you rest your machine on your laps or any portable situation.
Thanks, gwangung. (From Balloon Juice and Pharyngula? How you doin'?) That's what I do. The whitebooks get quite discolored there. I don't have a unibody (yet) but I also know how hard it is to clean surfaces like that, especially with anything Apple would endorse you putting on it.
Of course, the edge of the whitebooks are quite delicate as well, you have to carefully watch how much weight you put on them. I just think this whole problem would go away if the keyboard were on the edge of the unit where it had been for 150 years previously.
And where would you put the pointing device (or trackpad)? If you put it next to the keyboard then the machine has to get larger. Anywhere else but in front of the keyboard, where it is now, seems pretty awkward.
Before the trackball, there was a dead key you pushed up and down or sideways like a joystick. IBM stuck with this for years.
A tablet 13"+ with osx makes sense since they have a large portion of the graphic design and student market. Just give me a detachable or swivel keyboard and I will be happy.
They still use it, though all their laptops now have regular trackpads too. I'm surprised they haven't come out with an ultra small laptop with just the nub.
No trackpad.
We just got one of the new X301's in, and they're quite nice, but still have the trackpad. also not worth 3K either.
EDIT
The X200s still has only the nub, no trackpad. Cool little laptop.
http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/...-category-id=27260E1983734A91A115802FE145A51A