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Apple Working on Tablet Since At Least 2003

So far Apple is botching this issue with a vigor that could not be topped

So far Apple is botching this netbook issue with a vigor that could not be topped even if they tried to make it worse.

I have an ASUS Eee netbook with a partition for Mac OSX on it. I hate this thing but since I work with an ISP I need the added portability of a laptop this small that offers me 802.11N, RJ-45 port, RGB port, a full keyboard, three USB ports, built in video camera and microphone, 160G hard drive, a battery that lasts 10 hours, all this in a package that, when closed, is only about 6.5 by 11 inches and about a inch thick, runs a full version of a OS, and only costs me $500

The only Macintosh that comes near this is the MacBook Air that since it has a full size screen is no better than carrying around a full laptop, although lighter, I can’t stick it in the cargo pocket of my pants. If I need to use an Ethernet cable, I need an external adapter and take up the only USB port the computer has. I need to carry around an adapter to use the unit with a over head projector, only offers me 5 hours of battery life and costs a whopping $1500.

So as you can see I have been watching the Apple tablet news closely, wringing my hands. But now I am annoyed that this thing will most likely be yet another gismo that is basically an overpriced hand held dashboard only type of device that costs about the same or more then my Hackintosh Netbook. Although I love carrying around an iPod Touch to use in network diagnostics, it can’t do much more then helping me locate the issue, then I need to whip out the Hackintosh to work on it.

I would love for Apple to make something that has the functionality and size of the ASUS Eee with the battery life to make it through a workday, and to keep the price down to under $600. I personally know about 50 IT people that would get one and I can see this becoming the laptop of choice for college students, cops, Phone, Cable and Satellite TV repair men, or for that matter anyone who is mobile for a living.

Now six years later I am still waiting for the ever so overpriced, and possibly disappointing, Apple tablet to come out.
 
NewSc2 said:
I'd disagree. The rumors are all pointing at some sort of advanced media device (aka your digital music/photo/video frame), but in my guess it would fit as an enhanced Kindle. Imagine a Kindle, but in color, with video and sound. Newspapers would have animated text/videos, a la Back to the Future :D

I personally hope it would do more than just that, but if it's anything up to Apple's standards I'd probably get it just to use TouchOSC or as some sort of tethered 2nd monitor, or a multitouch trackpad for Logic or Ableton.
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I found what you're talking about; a color Kindle enhanced with video/audio. This is Apple's tablet!!
 
fluidedge said:
another day, another tablet "rumor" *sigh*

When will apple just get on and shelf this idea?
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How do you know that Apple hasn't? Just because the press (driven by the popularity of rumor sites like this one) won't let it go, doesn't mean Apple plans on releasing it.

Apple does R&D on a LOT of devices that never see the light of day. Technologies demoed in those devices may get used somewhere, but the device itself may never be released.
 
I have an ASUS Eee netbook with a partition for Mac OSX on it. I hate this thing but since I work with an ISP I need the added portability of a laptop this small that offers me 802.11N, RJ-45 port, RGB port, a full keyboard, three USB ports, built in video camera and microphone, 160G hard drive, a battery that lasts 10 hours, all this in a package that, when closed, is only about 6.5 by 11 inches and about a inch thick, runs a full version of a OS, and only costs me $500
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Sounds pretty awesome to me. What do you hate about it? That it doesn't have a "Designed by Apple in California" sticker on it?
 
The Apple Tablet:

- Must be LIGHT and SMALL. The MacBook Air is too heavy and too large!

- Must have Mac inside (Mac OS X Snow Leopard touch). The iPhone and iPod touch are not Macs!

- Must have video-out and USB2 ports for presentations from NATIVE Keynote and PowerPoint files.
 
Winni said:
Sounds pretty awesome to me. What do you hate about it? That it doesn't have a "Designed by Apple in California" sticker on it?
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No it is that I can't update the OS in a risk that Apple will lock out the Mac bootabilty.
 
devburke said:
...sounds to me like you need to get yourself a laptop.
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With a notebook there is always the screen between you and anyone who is sitting or standing in front of you, e.g. a teacher holding a lesson. This can distract and also is kind of rude towards the person beyond the opened laptop screen. Instead having a tablet lying on the table before you is very unobtrusive.

This would probably also apply to public, where people sitting in a Cafe or commuting train with an opened laptop often have a kind of "nerd" touch with others (not to mention how awkward it is to use a standard laptop e.g. in a commuting train), whereas people reading a book/magazine/newspaper are considered completely normal. May of course be different in your part of the world...

Some people argue that an iPod touch/iPhone would be pretty fine for "bathroom surfing" (or couch or balcony or garden ...), but fact is that people (not only) in the western hemisphere start to grow older and thus increasingly get problems with the tiny letters on the comparably small iPod/iPhone display (no - zooming in is not an option, as you would scroll all of the time to read the full sentence, not to mention the full paragraph). Also the usability of small virtual buttons like on the touch/iPhone starts to become questionable when your fingers start to tremble a little more etc. As Steve Jobs is growing older himself, he may experience this on his own and thus eventually reconsider.

So one could indeed argue about tablet vs. laptop. I could imagine a couple of possible scenarios (e.g. "silver surfers", hospitals, newspaper/magazines/books, university lectures, commuting etc.) that would allow such a device to find a comfortable niche of the market... if it's done the right way! But out of all the possible criticism of Apple, "doing things _not_ right" is rarely applicable ;-)
 
Henk Poley said:
Steve Jobs probably saw quite a few of Windows Tablet PCs during his 'medical leave' and questioned himself why they weren't in this business ;-)
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Actually, I've spent quite a bit of time in hospitals lately, and I have yet to see a single one.


Henk Poley said:
Hospitals seem to be one of the few places where Tablet PCs really make sense for replacing all the old paperwork, and simultaneously making access to that information easier for professionals who need it.
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I agree that to us laymen, it would seem that tablets would be a natural fit in hospital workplaces, but as I said, it definitely is not a widespread practice in the hospital industry at this point. And considering that I've heard several tech stories over many years now about hospitals giving tablets a trial here and there, so I presume that there must be good reason why they have not chosen to implement tablets widespread in hospitals.
 
please tell me

someone please tell me what ever happened to that commercial Apple was filming right before the last media event?? it was in California at some dinner and the owner mentioned that he coulndnt talk about it but that it was a new product. I havent seen a commercial from Apple that looks like it could have been filmed there yet. Any ideas on what it was for? the tablet maybe??:confused:
 
nycinhamburg said:
at some dinner and the owner mentioned that he coulndnt talk about it but that it was a new product.
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Hah! Sorry, the owner was talking out the side of his mouth. Apple is NOTORIOUSLY tightlipped about its new products. There's no way in heck that they would've even told this diner owner that the commercial was for a new unspecified product. Or maybe, to be fair to the owner, maybe he was asking honest questions to the people at the shoot and so some video staff person who didn't even have any inside info just made something up to tell him so that he'd go away.
 
gianpan said:
I want a tablet that will allow me to take lecture note's easily and quickly and keep them organised in a modern way (I got a billion papers here in my room and it's so annoying - of course after sometime I have to throw away some stuff which I would just keep in an archive in my hard disk!)

Then I also want to be able to share notes and ideas with the rest of the students quickly and easily through it.
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Sounds like you want EverNote or OneNote.
 
They need to take this thing and stick it in a car like Microsoft Sync. Why not?
 
The form is not a factor in this device, since notebooks are just popular awkward culture of the past stuck in the present.

It's always about what the device can do. If the tablet can't be productive, it is just an iPod Touch with a bit more screen: not bad, but nothing incredible, and possibly worth $500, but not worth $800.

People need a simple, mobile media/data device they can use as a mobile computer with much but not all the power of a desktop/notebook
 
I'm sure that IF this tablet ever comes out, it will be as good as the iPhone. So there has to be some special function it fulfils, and not just "Oh wow it's touch screen and so pretty". The iPhone and iPods also have precise functions that make them useful, and at the same time, they're cool to use.

If the Tablet is just one big iPod Touch, then no one will want to use it, since the iPod touch is more practical because it's smaller. So there has to be some killer feature on this that makes it worth using, and I think that's the hard part. What could this Tablet do that the iPhone and iPod Touch couldn't do?

Anyway, it looks like Apple is really working on such a device, but that doesn't mean we'll ever see it. There are probably loads of prototypes that we never even heard about.

Personally, I'd love to have a Tablet which is similar to a real computer, i.e. it runs normal applications and OS X. But who knows whether that's possible, I mean what if running normal applications is just better with a real mouse and a real keyboard, and not your fingers...
 
I personally think Apple should build a netbook that has this:

1) Circa 10" (25.4 cm) LED-backlight LCD touchscreen.
2) The latest Intel dual-core Atom N450 CPU using the Pine Trail chipset.
3) MacOS X 10.6.x booting from firmware, with up to 3-4 GB of RAM.
4) Around 128 GB of SSD memory.
5) 802.11b/g/"final" n Wi-Fi support, with optional HSDPA/EVDO cellular network connectivity.

Eventually, the LED-backlit LCD touchscreen will be replaced by a OLED touchscreen.
 
I doubt they make one of these. Who wants an iPhone that you CAN'T fit in your pocket? Very little market for a larger tablet. Maybe in education and medical fields, but since when has Apple catered exclusively to them?
 
Here are two ways I'd use a tablet:

  • As a cookbook whille cooking, usually on a web page recipe
  • While flying in a glider/aircraft as a moving map, flight computer, and to display navigation charts

Ideally it will have a superb battery life, and a screen you can read outside in sunlight/shade easily.
 
ipearx said:
Here are two ways I'd use a tablet:

  • As a cookbook whille cooking, usually on a web page recipe
  • While flying in a glider/aircraft as a moving map, flight computer, and to display navigation charts

Ideally it will have a superb battery life, and a screen you can read outside in sunlight/shade easily.
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So you would use the touch screen while you have food on your fingers? I can see you having to take it in to the genius bar quickly ;-)
 
to the people claiming they need one of these to take notes in college- am I the only one who can type close to 3-4x more quickly than I write? oddly enough, even if a professor throws in a diagram every once in awhile, I can just as easily sketch using my MacBook's touchpad as I could with just my finger(s) on a tablet/touch-screen... so at least speaking for myself, I really don't see a tablet being practical for note-taking when I can much more easily type out my notes.

also, now that we know the R&D for this tablet project has been going on for such a prolonged period of time, I get the feeling this thing is quickly going to become the "Chinese Democracy" of electronics... I wonder if we can get Dr. Pepper to work out a deal with Apple, too?
 
bbnck said:
I don't see what these tablets be used for; and if they will be used for general browsing then I expect people be looking for an affordable price tag. If ever this tablet becomes available would anyone actually buy one, truthfully? What would you use it for?
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I think it would be niche uses. I could use it on the 5-6 hour bus trips I take every month--sometimes twice a month. I like to pack light and rarely do I take something as heavy as a laptop--and I don't need the functionality of a laptop anyway. My iphone plays video great, but after awhile I can't take the small screen anymore.

So, for me a tablet would be nice. Basically, a larger screened entertainment device that I could use for videos and web access. If I didn't take those bus trips, I probably wouldn't get it however.
 
Just a big iphone

It just has to be a giant Iphone to be interesting for me. The Iphone is too small to allow easy Excel/Word editing, work on photos, etc. but with a larger touchscreen and maybe additional I/Os (ethernet, USB) it could become an interesting tool. Something between the Iphone and the MacBook.

The larger screen could be used to display an enhanced homepage :
- icons for most often used applications
- icons for documents recently used
- some post-its
- Calendar with today's tasks displayed
- Summary view of the last e-mails received
- Summary view of the last voice messages received

The problem is : it cannot really replace an Iphone, so it would be necessary to have a second SIM card (for free) for the Apple Tablet and have a way to setup the reception of phone calls (on the tablet OR on the Iphone).

The USB port could be used to connect a Midi interface. I dream of a sequencer with which I could move the notes on the score with my finger, or even just draw them !
 
Tiffy said:
It just has to be a giant Iphone to be interesting for me. The Iphone is too small to allow easy Excel/Word editing, work on photos, etc. but with a larger touchscreen and maybe additional I/Os (ethernet, USB) it could become an interesting tool. Something between the Iphone and the MacBook.

The larger screen could be used to display an enhanced homepage :
- icons for most often used applications
- icons for documents recently used
- some post-its
- Calendar with today's tasks displayed
- Summary view of the last e-mails received
- Summary view of the last voice messages received

The problem is : it cannot really replace an Iphone, so it would be necessary to have a second SIM card (for free) for the Apple Tablet and have a way to setup the reception of phone calls (on the tablet OR on the Iphone).
!
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Unlike a lot of MS haters, i've found the courier videos to be quite compelling.
I just imagine the default screen on this device could look like a analog journal, with post its, todays schedule, emails in inbox. Turn it sideways and you get to see 2 pages, which would make it easy to drag things from today to tomorrow or beyond. Use a multifinger gesture like a four finger drag to move the journal off the display and see an enhanced springboard in it's place.

Note, whilst i believe Apple will sell it with a 3G sim and contract, i also think there'll be a bluetooth tethering capability to use iPhone or other mobile connection.
 
bbnck said:
I don't see what these tablets be used for; and if they will be used for general browsing then I expect people be looking for an affordable price tag. If ever this tablet becomes available would anyone actually buy one, truthfully? What would you use it for?
Click to expand...

I'm guessing it will be a freakishly large iPod touch, with 3G optional and it will be able to play 720p movies and can be used as an eBook reader in addition to all the standard things the iPod Touch can do
 
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