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If the Macbook Air 11 had a touchscreen, would you still use an iPad?

I will say, regarding the idea, I have no interest in swivel screen laptop tablets.

But I do long for the day that tech has improved to where we can have a full pc/mac with touch designed OS in a form factor of the iPad.

I would love to be able to run all my needed software, have a drag and drop file/folder system (sans jail breaking) etc. Pair that with a blue tooth keyboard and I could ditch my laptop and just have a desktop and a tablet.

But alas the tech is a ways off to get that much power in a thin tablet with 10+ hours battery life, so I'll stick with an iPad and a laptop for now as I travel a good bit and have to do real work (writing, data analysis etc.) on the road.
 
bwrairen said:
Thankfully, declaring an idea dead because other engineers weren't capable of pulling it off isn't really Apple's style. It seems completely natural to me to see these technologies eventually converge. It may be a few years away, but it will happen.
Click to expand...

I see that you're trying to be sarcastic but it's the reality.

Think about it. Such hybrid tablet/laptop will always require a thicker body than a tablet and more cost&complexity than a laptop. As tablets get more competent, more people will start to ditch the laptops. And those who stick with the laptops will go for the thinnest and the best built ones. The hybrid machine satisfies neither market. Yes techs do converge but not if there's little synergy with much cost.

If you really want a touch laptop, you could always try to pick one from Dell or HP and try to turn it into Hackintosh.
 
I don't want a touch laptop. I would like a single device that can handle all of my needs. Touching a laptop screen is not something that I find appealing or productive. The converged device would appeal to me right now even if I had to sacrifice battery life and footprint...so saying there is no market is a bit narrow. I guess we can agree to disagree...and maybe the tablets will just evolve to the point that we will not need a laptop anymore...I am ok with that as well. We'll wait and see.
 
I recently sold my Mac book air 11 inch screen and purchased two iPads for myself and wife. The 11 inch screen on the air to small and had to keep the dock hidden. Enjoyed my apps to much and cumbersome opening the screen all the time in public. It was nice to have full computer but iPad working better for my needs since owning 17 inch mbp also
 
Nope. Don't feel that way. I bought an iPad because it's an iPad. I didn't want a laptop, regardless of touch screen option. Defeats the whole purpose of the iPad design, which it seems you are missing. I like typing a post like this holding my iPad in one hand while lying in bed watching TV. Try that with a laptop.
 
MrWillie said:
Cool, crappy as a laptop, and flip the screen and you get a nice, fat, thick, and heavy crappy tablet too!!!
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Yup, hence why I said "without the jankiness/crapfactor".

Idea = sound. Implementation = utter gash.

And what bwrairen said. It ain't happening any time soon of course, but the possibilty is there. Go back 5 years, having a laptop with the power, battery life and form factor of an 11" mba would have been a pipe dream. Now it can be had for under a grand (UK).
 
I can say (and have said) that if the MBA 11 hd been available before the iPad, I would own one. And it might have kept me from getting an iPad.

That said, as much gadget lust as I have for the 11, you can pry my iPad out of my cold dead hands. See my signature - I am not a light user...
 
i want the opposite!!

no, i wont.
what i want is the opposite, an :apple: ipad with 2 os the osx and the ios
if you want to use the osx, simply just reboot, and wirelessly connect the magic mouse/ magic trackpad, and keyboard, and use the full computer experience, if you want to go back to ios, just simply reboot, and you are back.:cool:
 
a13x4nd3r said:
no, i wont.
what i want is the opposite, an :apple: ipad with 2 os the osx and the ios
Click to expand...

At the current rate, that's probably a much more realistic scenario I think. Microsoft is already moving that direction with the ARM version of Windows.

Funny that we always thought AMD was Intel's enemy, but at the end it turned out to be ARM, the offshoot of the failed Apple Newton and the obscure Acorn computer, that became the most direct threat to Intel.
 
Two screens vs. just one

For my purposes (performing live music, using software instruments via OSX and wishing for a touch interface to control them) an MBA with a touch screen in place of the keyboard would be perfect.

Many people are already using an iPad as an input device for their Macs. Why not create an all-in-one machine with enough screen real estate to see both a dedicated display window for non-touch elements (text, graphics, etc), and a touch screen window for everything from QWERTY keys to MIDI keys and faders.

And it should be quite possible to do in a form factor the size of an MBA.

It would be sweet to have a display that can be set at a good viewing angle while the touch pad portion lays flat on the table. At the very least you'd have one screen that doesn't have little finger prints on it most the time:p
 
I think Apple should make a hybrid type device like the Asus eepad transformer. Essentially a tablet that is able to dock onto a keyboard and touchpad. There are also tablets out there that are able to run windows when docked to a keyboard, and android when undocked.

The transformer was very high on my list, and would have trumped the iPad for my uses, if Android Honeycomb weren't such a POS. Great hardware and concept, terrible software.
 
Viewed more broadly than as simply a question of existing Apple products, the issue is really one of laptops offering tablet functionality and vice versa. Some observations...

() There are already a few laptops/notebooks with at least some touch screen functionality and tablet-like features. The best of the group is probably the Lenovo X220T.

The X220T is an interesting device: relatively powerful i3/i5/i7 processor, SSD, 12.5" screen, matte display. Up to 8 gigs memory. In short, a powerhouse laptop in a small package with a "convertible" form factor and a digitizer pen.

On the other hand, the X220T weighs nearly 4 lbs. Certainly "totable" but about three times heavier than an iPad. Furthermore, the 12.5" screen on the Lenovo is gorgeous, but while it's considerably larger and "denser" (in terms of pixel count), it's still a chore to view/work with multiple windows on the screen.

Could it be larger? Sure. But not without adding even more weight and making it even less usable as a handheld device.

() Then there's the other approach, exemplified by the ASUS Transformer and the Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet. Certainly more portable than a laptop but one sacrifices a lot in terms of processing power. Neither comes close to the Lenovo X220T or many less expensive laptops.

Make one of those (or an iPad) more powerful? Sure. But there goes the weight advantage of a pure tablet.

In short, adding tablet functionality to a laptop means sacrificing screen size and easy portability. Transforming a tablet into a laptop involves complementary sacrifices.
 
mystik610 said:
I think Apple should make a hybrid type device like the Asus eepad transformer. Essentially a tablet that is able to dock onto a keyboard and touchpad. There are also tablets out there that are able to run windows when docked to a keyboard, and android when undocked.

The transformer was very high on my list, and would have trumped the iPad for my uses, if Android Honeycomb weren't such a POS. Great hardware and concept, terrible software.
Click to expand...

I am signing this. Asus transformer is incredible device, but Honeycomb is pure trash. Nice thing about Transformer is that many people got it, so it will have custom rom tweaks and support from developers.

After having a Samsung Android I don't believe I will try anything Google/Samsung in terms of devices any time soon.

Yes it's fun, but I feel as I have Windows 98 on my phone, and not modern operating system suited for 21st century...

Powered by AlphaEfficiency.com on GT i9000
 
No way. I consider the tablet and the laptop completely different, if complementary, critters. I love them both for what they are and think the very idea of a touchscreen on a laptop is disgusting. If I need keyboard on an iPad for some reason, I'd go the bluetooth route but for myself I don't see using the iPad with that much call for hard keyboard.

And think of all those threads in MacR where people are talking "ewwwwwwwh and he's always touching the SCREEN.... ewwwwwh."
 
Eventually iOS and OS X are going to merge and I suspect Steve Jobs final blueprint for Apple's future included this. OS X is too bogged down by legacy technologies such as Intel processors, Flash and outside development not controlled by the App Store. Apple's future is in iOS and their proprietary ARM processors. Macs are going to eventually be running a variation of iOS and using an ARM processor. With that said, iOS will have to be modified to work with a cursor and touchpad. I don't see Apple making a touchscreen Macbook for at least a few more years if ever.

Now I could see a touchscreen iMac someday being released. Imagine a detachable 15" screen that would mount magnetically to an arm that could pivot similarly to the iMac G4.
 
dagreat01 said:
what? They are two different devices. No, i would not choose a touchscreen air over ipad.

1) $500<$1200

2) vertical touch screens arent as easy to use as flat down screen

3) os x doesnt look too fun to use with my fingers.
Click to expand...

+1
 
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