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mac ultra portable / tablet

speakerwizard

speakerwizard

macrumors 68000
Original poster
PLACE YOUR BETS PLEASE!, ok so, just read something about someone bitching about no 12" macbook / pro, and i thought, it is strange that apple stopped the 12" version, im pretty sure it was a strong seller, anyhow, i got to thinking, this along with the plethora of patents and the coming of leopard with 'secret features' leads me to believe this product, 'ultra portable' or 'tablet', or optical drive-less lappy, will be with us VERY shortly, either spring or jan (if apple decide to surprise us and microsoft with an early release) we all know something is coming right? gonna be a bust year for apple, and a damn expensive one for me lol
 
Its acually been rumoured for a while that there will be a mac laptop and was actually thinking about it today. Maybe call it something like the tmac and tmac pro, or tabletbook 😀.
 
yeah, the macbook, isnt big, but its not ultra portable, and it also has integrated which is a big no for a lot of people, not that an ultra portable / tablet wouldnt have that. only time will tell i suppose, ill add it to my list lol:
*iphone
*fullscreen ipod
*leopard
*Ultra portable / tablet
*n-airport base-station
and pretty much anything with an i infront of it 😉 lol
 
A subnotebook will most likely use the ULV processors and hence not very appealing for those of us who want performance as well.

Well remember, I said it here first!
 
Apple going Intel and not making use of their ULV processors would be, IMHO, a tragic waste of potential. If Apple release an ultraportable then I'll buy it that same second.
 
psychofreak said:
The 13.3" is widescreen, and so does not take up much more space than the 12" powerbook.
Click to expand...

Bigger bezel as well maybe? I have two 12" powerbooks and the macbook feels a little big.

I'd love a LV based apple laptop and funnily enough Intel release a 1.5Ghz, 4MB cached LV Core 2 Duo chip (not ULV that's later) in January 2007.

Hmmm I'm starting to think there's a real possiblity of something coming at Macworld now I've found that info (Intel LV and ULV roadmap)
 
I hate to keep banging this drum, but I can't see this happening anytime soon, if ever.

Us tech geeks may want a tablet Mac (well, I don't, but many here do), but there is no market for these devices.

There are very few consumers that have a PC tablets. Do you know anyone?

Dell doesn't make thier own tablets, but they do re-sell some, and it is not easy to find them on the site and they are expensive.

Think about where Apple has positioned itself in the market, and think about the tiny market tablets have now and tell where where a tablet fits in Apple's plans?

And if Dell can't think of a good reason to make one, and they sell to everyone, why would Apple?

I just can't see a tablet or PDA coming out of Apple. It looks to me that "Smart Phones" are the future of mobile computing.

Who would want a tablet, phone, iPod, pda, and/or laptop?

But feel free to quote me with an "I told you so!" if this ever happens.
 
slu said:
I hate to keep banging this drum, but I can't see this happening anytime soon, if ever.

Us tech geeks may want a tablet Mac (well, I don't, but many here do), but there is no market for these devices.

There are very few consumers that have a PC tablets. Do you know anyone?
Click to expand...

Well, I agree it's not likely to happen soon, but yeah I know several people with tablets. Me for one. My two colleagues down the hall. One on my third floor. Two deans at my university, and an associate dean as well. My student. More of the undergrad students in classes are showing up with them every year.

Have you used a tablet? It's very useful in many situations. Not perfect, true, but definitely valuable for some people.

I'd switch to an Apple tablet in a heartbeat, but the market is small, so it'll probably a good, long time before we see one.
 
slu said:
I hate to keep banging this drum, but I can't see this happening anytime soon, if ever.

Us tech geeks may want a tablet Mac (well, I don't, but many here do), but there is no market for these devices.

There are very few consumers that have a PC tablets. Do you know anyone?

Dell doesn't make thier own tablets, but they do re-sell some, and it is not easy to find them on the site and they are expensive.

Think about where Apple has positioned itself in the market, and think about the tiny market tablets have now and tell where where a tablet fits in Apple's plans?

And if Dell can't think of a good reason to make one, and they sell to everyone, why would Apple?

I just can't see a tablet or PDA coming out of Apple. It looks to me that "Smart Phones" are the future of mobile computing.

Who would want a tablet, phone, iPod, pda, and/or laptop?

But feel free to quote me with an "I told you so!" if this ever happens.
Click to expand...

Do you remember what the portable music player market was like prior to the iPod? The hardware was clunky. The UI was convoluted. The software was a joke. In short the PMP was what the tablet market is NOW.
This year or last year I wrote a 5 paragraph post as to why Apple would do well in the tablet PC. IN short there are two reason. When they jump in they don't do a half***ed approach like MS's craptastic tablet PC OS which it nothing more then XP with a few cab files installed ontop. To MS the tablet PC was Billy boy's pet project which they have tried before. Its never been a major focus and it shows. (A major memory leak was not plugged for over 6 months.) # 2 is simple. Apple, collectivly are geniuses at the human interface when they really put their minds to it. They have been lacking in the last few years but the skill is there. If Apple came out with a Tablet PC make no mistake that it would mesh into people's lives.
The biggest problem right now is Apple has too many projects going and I'm 120% certain that its heavily eating into resources. Does it mean they will bring out a tablet PC? I don't think so. Today's Apple isn't the Apple of the 1990's who took risks. Yes that Apple was the same one that had serious problems before Jobs came back but they tried REAL honest to go innovative products. I mean crap the Newton? The Quicktake? How about the LaserWriter? Or their scanner line?
Apple can make some DAMN good products when they push themselves. Its unfortunate that Jobs has lead Apple down a play it safe road. Granted its a road that has increased their market share, their stability, their userbase, and their profits but at what cost? Some would say their soul but that is a tad over dramatic and off topic. What it boils down to is I doubt that the new Apple will be releasing a tablet anytime soon. Granted the iTV could be an interesting product. But its no great leap. I mean so far it sounds like airport express on uber steroids for your TV. Gah this was going to be a short post!
 
SiliconAddict said:
Today's Apple isn't the Apple of the 1990's who took risks.
Click to expand...

I recognize that you pointed out some of these, but...

Apple 21st Century Innovations

-Transitioned from PowerPC to Intel (a radical and risky architecture shift)
-iPod portable music player (radical new interface sets it apart)
-iPod portable video player (first successful portable video device)
-Shuffle G1 and G2 (the G2 is going to sell like wildfire)
-iTV
-iPhone and Smart iPhone (clearly 2007)
-Streaming lossless music (Airport Express)
-Dual-booting systems with free tools to support competition's OS
-Numerous great innovations in OS X
-Abandoned old tech (modem) first as they did with floppy in the 90s
-All 64-bit platform by January 2007
-integrated Multimedia software and appropriate hardware in ALL machines
-Flat-panel integrated with all-in-one computer
-Beauty where the rest of the market creates hideous products (Ives is first computer designer to be recognized by the queen)

I could go on. Sure, they haven't made an ultraportable yet, but I would reconsider asserting that "Today's Apple isn't the Apple of the 1990's who took risks." Many of the above which turned out to be home runs were quite risky when proposed. The ones coming in 2007 have yet to be proven. Nonetheless, Apple is surging ahead with a media center where no company has yet succeeded, and with thin and less thin smart phones that integrate well with your existing data-pools and the online world (first mobile to PC video chat for instance) where the Windows and Symbian smart phones have achieved minimal penetration into the enormous mobile market.
 
slu said:
Us tech geeks may want a tablet Mac (well, I don't, but many here do), but there is no market for these devices.

There are very few consumers that have a PC tablets. Do you know anyone?

.
Click to expand...

By the same logic, there had been very few people with iPods, or those who thought they wanted one, before Apple came up with them. 🙂

Apple is known to globally change the market and they might pull the trick yet once more. At this point, a "conventional" ultraportable might be better off than the tablet Mac, but what do I know ....
 
Don't Hold Your Breath Waiting for MacTablet....

OK, here's my take on Apple tablets and their portable hardware....

First thing I'd like to say is that I would love to see an Apple 'Convertible Tablet PC'. I'd buy it as soon as it was available!

However, as much as I'd love to have one, don't think it's coming anytime soon....

As long as ol' Stevo is running the place, Apple won't release anything like a tablet PC....for several reasons....

1) The Newton was Sculley's pet project and Stevo hated Sculley. As soon as Stevo came back to Apple, he killed off the Newt!

Even though some new model Newts were well on their way in development.

2) When he did this, he said that "computers have keyboards for input."

So as much as I'd really like to see an Apple 'MacTablet' I don't hold out much hope while Steve is still there....

Sorry kids....

😡

Second thing, while I use my trusty ol' PMG4 as my daily workhouse at home, at work I use a Fujitsu T4010 convertible Tablet PC. Works great! Handwriting recognition, MS OneNote, and other tablet PC apps are excellent products and have made me much more productive at work.

Also, I've had several other Tablet PC's of various sizes and designs from Fujitsu, Advueu, and Averatec as well as a Sony Vaio VGN-UX90S micro-PC with touchscreen/slide-out thumbboard that almost fits in your pocket....

I mention this as I've now had lots of experience with these type of devices, the various flavors they come in, and using MS WinXP Tablet PC edition.

For those of you here who only see the world through 'Apple colored glasses', you're missing out on some excellent, innovative devices that run very well. I say this as someone who really likes Macs and I've been using them since '86!

So while I'd love to stay Mac platform only, it's not possible as Apple is just not that innovative when it comes to portable devices. While the iBook/MacBooks/PowerBooks/MacBook Pros are nice, nothing really that different about them anymore...Apple just keeps refining them, which is nice, but I don't see anything exciting about them compared to what designs I see from Sony UX, ASUS R2H, Samsung Q1, OQO 01+, Fujitsu P1610, RAON Vega, etc....

OK, flame shields on.....

😉
 
One flaw with your otherwise impeccable logic, ArchiMark, is that Steve also has a long history of saying one thing then doing the polar opposite and claiming it was always the best.

Examples... optical drives. When he brought out the iMac G4, he said something about how bad vertically mounted drives were, so that's why they designed it the way they did.
Had a look at the G5/intel iMac lately? How's the optical drive oriented?

That's just one, very small example.

So I wouldn't rule it out.

What would be really nice would be the ability to use it as a graphics tablet/second monitor/distributed processing device plugged in to another mac for more power and versatility besides being an ultraportable.
 
Silentwave, not sure that your example is really that applicable to what we're talking about.. the issue of vertical vs horizontal mounted drives is not a major design concept IMHO...rather a technical issue that probably at the time that Stevo said it was not worked out well and then later it got solved.

That to me is a much different issue than how one should or shouldn't interact with their computing device, ie keyboard vs handwriting, etc...much larger fundamental philosophical issue of how you can use a computer....

😉

Silentwave said:
One flaw with your otherwise impeccable logic, ArchiMark, is that Steve also has a long history of saying one thing then doing the polar opposite and claiming it was always the best.

Examples... optical drives. When he brought out the iMac G4, he said something about how bad vertically mounted drives were, so that's why they designed it the way they did.
Had a look at the G5/intel iMac lately? How's the optical drive oriented?

That's just one, very small example.

So I wouldn't rule it out.

What would be really nice would be the ability to use it as a graphics tablet/second monitor/distributed processing device plugged in to another mac for more power and versatility besides being an ultraportable.
Click to expand...
 
netdog said:
I recognize that you pointed out some of these, but...

Apple 21st Century Innovations

-Transitioned from PowerPC to Intel (a radical and risky architecture shift)
-iPod portable music player (radical new interface sets it apart)
-iPod portable video player (first successful portable video device)
-Shuffle G1 and G2 (the G2 is going to sell like wildfire)
-iTV
-iPhone and Smart iPhone (clearly 2007)
-Streaming lossless music (Airport Express)
-Dual-booting systems with free tools to support competition's OS
-Numerous great innovations in OS X
-Abandoned old tech (modem) first as they did with floppy in the 90s
-All 64-bit platform by January 2007
-integrated Multimedia software and appropriate hardware in ALL machines
-Flat-panel integrated with all-in-one computer
-Beauty where the rest of the market creates hideous products (Ives is first computer designer to be recognized by the queen)

I could go on. Sure, they haven't made an ultraportable yet, but I would reconsider asserting that "Today's Apple isn't the Apple of the 1990's who took risks." Many of the above which turned out to be home runs were quite risky when proposed. The ones coming in 2007 have yet to be proven. Nonetheless, Apple is surging ahead with a media center where no company has yet succeeded, and with thin and less thin smart phones that integrate well with your existing data-pools and the online world (first mobile to PC video chat for instance) where the Windows and Symbian smart phones have achieved minimal penetration into the enormous mobile market.
Click to expand...

Everything you posted is evolutionary not revolutionary at best (Removing a modem? At that lind of nit picking level you may as well include any font changes in OS X from version to version.) and an arch transition is hardly anything special to your average consumer. As for the iPod? Revolutionary interface? The scroll wheel has been around since '01 now. Look at the iPod line? Same design, just smaller. Nothing that really pushes designs to the "next level" I still stand by my comment that Apple has moved into the play it safe phase of their existance. I think this is mainly due to Jobs brush with death. I think they are well aware that without Jobs there really isn't an Apple and as such he/they are trying to grow Apple into a dominant computer player and you don't do that by taking chances with revolutionary products which I'm sorry to say includes a tablet.
 
Silentwave said:
One flaw with your otherwise impeccable logic, ArchiMark, is that Steve also has a long history of saying one thing then doing the polar opposite and claiming it was always the best.
Click to expand...

The problem is that in this case Jobs's actions clearly show that he's not a fan of the newton. I can tell you as someone who has a friend who worked on the Newton Development Team (He routinely came to our Pocket PC user group meetings and brought some really cool, really old Apple wares.) that Jobs had it out for the Newton, day one of when he came back. It pretty much was the top of the rumor mill that Newton was GONE and supposedly there were hints along the way as well. If you've ever been in a downsizing ev=nvironment you know what I'm talking about. You can smell it in the wind. In his case he told me it was more of a hostile coolness and borderline ignoring them. Granted he is a tad on the biased side, but all things considered I'm inclined to believe him.
Whatever. Apple dropped the ball. They could have been the Palm of the PDA world right now, just with less sucking. 😛
 
i think 12" is only have slight difference with the current 13,3" MacBook

if apple wants to make ultra portable, i think they should atleast bring 10,6" MBP or even 8,9" hehehe 😛

that way i will have reason to dump my Fujitsu 10,6" lappie 😛
 
I think right now, ultra portable is the way to go for the next few years. I wouln't be surprised to see a 10.6" MBP in 2007 and then a tablet later in like 2009 or something. I give the specs a try:

10.6" MacBook Pro
Intel Low Voltage Chip (I didn't find the exact model and clock speed but it must be based on the Core Architecture)
No Optical Drive
16 GB of flash (Operating system, software, small documents)
80 GB iPod Hard drive 1.8" (Used only for backup or extra storage)
1 GB of ram
x1300 (or something not too powerful, as long as it is dedicated vram, I hate shared ram!!)
12 hours battery life
Firewire 800
Airport 802.11n and Bluetooth
1/2" thick!!!
Price: probably pretty expensive considering the 16 GB of flash, I'd guess like 1499$

Frederic
 
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