Mac Touch anyone...? to accompany the iPod Touch.. this product is not neccesarily a laptop, it's just a mac, a new type of mac..
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MacBook Touch?
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Mac Touch anyone...? to accompany the iPod Touch.. this product is not neccesarily a laptop, it's just a mac, a new type of mac..
Digital Skunk
macrumors G3
Agreed, but you proved my point about the differences between pro users and trendy consumers. You want that redesign so the book can look different, and you can have a different looking machine. You want that God awful MacBook keyboard which is the worst for typing for long periods and can't work worth a damn with a key cover on top.
Thinner! That's where all the problems come now with the lack of hardware options, etc.
Most pros want a redesign to fix the problems it currently has with hardware or lack thereof. Most people that want a redesign don't mention why they really want it, just that it's needed. The other part say they just want it to have this from the Air and this from the MB.
The very few and far between pros want it because they want the book to have more hardware options, more FW ports or eSATA, and easy to upgrade HDD, a real reason to redesign. If the new MBP had the current specs but was made smaller and with terrible keyboard, it would be a failure. Especially while all other PC makers are blowing Apple away with design and hardware specs.
We don't need a f**king chichlet keyboard that still has all the problems of the old MBP one while NOT feeling as good to type on. We need more professional features, ports, dual HDDs, and customization.
That design is a great reason why non of us work for Apple's design team. And thank God we don't!
The price it way off.
Ultra mobile PC/tablet will NEVER BE $900 - $1200 for what you are asking for. More like $1500 - $2000. You can't have your cake and eat it to. You have to choose. More features and coolness = more money. Especially with the amount of flash you would want it in.
GUI objects too small for fingers?
This "MacBook touch" is expected to run full Mac OS Xnot iPhone OS.
Now, the Mac OS X UI is designed for a mouse/trackpad, not fingers. Even the multi-touch support in Leopard and Snow Leopard is trackpad-based.
A mouse pointer is 11 pixels across and has a click area of 1 pixel (or so). In contrast, a finger is easily 48 pixels across (at least on my iBook screen, and its DPI is fairly low) and has a click area of 48 square pixels (or so). So although Cover Flow and menu and window selection is unlikely to be much of a problem with fingers, smaller GUI objects like tab stops may be harder to select using fingers (iPhone OS's magnifying glass?).
The obvious way to solve this would be to have touchscreen in addition to a trackpad. This would mean that the MacBook touch would be similar to an existing laptop (or have a trackpad at the bottom of the screen).
The other way to solve this would be to use a 1600·900 13.3" screen with a resolution independence factor of 2x (800·450 effective) or so. This would mean that text and images would retain high levels of sharpness, and the MacBook touch would not need a trackpad.
This "MacBook touch" is expected to run full Mac OS Xnot iPhone OS.
Now, the Mac OS X UI is designed for a mouse/trackpad, not fingers. Even the multi-touch support in Leopard and Snow Leopard is trackpad-based.
A mouse pointer is 11 pixels across and has a click area of 1 pixel (or so). In contrast, a finger is easily 48 pixels across (at least on my iBook screen, and its DPI is fairly low) and has a click area of 48 square pixels (or so). So although Cover Flow and menu and window selection is unlikely to be much of a problem with fingers, smaller GUI objects like tab stops may be harder to select using fingers (iPhone OS's magnifying glass?).
The obvious way to solve this would be to have touchscreen in addition to a trackpad. This would mean that the MacBook touch would be similar to an existing laptop (or have a trackpad at the bottom of the screen).
The other way to solve this would be to use a 1600·900 13.3" screen with a resolution independence factor of 2x (800·450 effective) or so. This would mean that text and images would retain high levels of sharpness, and the MacBook touch would not need a trackpad.
I think a Mini Tablet is inevitable.
Few of the reasons:
* People love browsing Safari on the iPhone but want it to be slightly bigger
* Netbooks are very popular
* Artists, Students, Medical Staff & other niche markets are crying for one
* It has a lust factor
* Apple keep on refining the OS X UI for Touch interfaces (Stacks, Icon Previews, CoverFlow etc)
* Lack of Copy & Paste on iPhone (conspiracy theory)
* Ubiquitous Computing - Different Technology for different tasks
* It could work with your Desktop/Laptop as an Input Device
* I imagine the Japanese would start killing people to get one too 🙂
Form Factor:
1.5 times the size of the iPhone is the size of a small book.
This form factor is great for watching movies, digital books, browsing the web, playing games, document editing and sketching.
It could also be used for In-Car entertainment & Navigation, Presentations, Video conferencing and you could even route phone calls
and 3G data from your iPhone. WiFi and USB dongles would still be there.
I'm not sure running the full OS is a good idea or not (That said, Snow Leopard would be great on this device!!) but there could be some unique
ways to address tasks such as sketching/Photoshop work so you don't have to use intensive apps.
Apple could make a basic image editing app designed for MultiTouch. Have it export to .PSD and other popular formats. An Apple Pixelmator, bundled with iLife or iWork.
Final Thoughts:
It makes sense for Apple to increase their product lines slightly because of the dawn of ubiquitous computing. People are starting to mix and match technology
based upon their requirements. You don't always need to lug a Laptop around hence the multitude of attempts at creating smaller devices (MB Air, UMPC, Smart Phone, Tablet, Netbook).
As for price. I'm happy up to $999
PS: This could (unfortunately for some) kill the Mac Mini too and the idea of an iPhone Nano! The iPhone/iPod Touch in essence would become the Nano variation of this product line
Few of the reasons:
* People love browsing Safari on the iPhone but want it to be slightly bigger
* Netbooks are very popular
* Artists, Students, Medical Staff & other niche markets are crying for one
* It has a lust factor
* Apple keep on refining the OS X UI for Touch interfaces (Stacks, Icon Previews, CoverFlow etc)
* Lack of Copy & Paste on iPhone (conspiracy theory)
* Ubiquitous Computing - Different Technology for different tasks
* It could work with your Desktop/Laptop as an Input Device
* I imagine the Japanese would start killing people to get one too 🙂
Form Factor:
1.5 times the size of the iPhone is the size of a small book.
This form factor is great for watching movies, digital books, browsing the web, playing games, document editing and sketching.
It could also be used for In-Car entertainment & Navigation, Presentations, Video conferencing and you could even route phone calls
and 3G data from your iPhone. WiFi and USB dongles would still be there.
I'm not sure running the full OS is a good idea or not (That said, Snow Leopard would be great on this device!!) but there could be some unique
ways to address tasks such as sketching/Photoshop work so you don't have to use intensive apps.
Apple could make a basic image editing app designed for MultiTouch. Have it export to .PSD and other popular formats. An Apple Pixelmator, bundled with iLife or iWork.
Final Thoughts:
It makes sense for Apple to increase their product lines slightly because of the dawn of ubiquitous computing. People are starting to mix and match technology
based upon their requirements. You don't always need to lug a Laptop around hence the multitude of attempts at creating smaller devices (MB Air, UMPC, Smart Phone, Tablet, Netbook).
As for price. I'm happy up to $999
PS: This could (unfortunately for some) kill the Mac Mini too and the idea of an iPhone Nano! The iPhone/iPod Touch in essence would become the Nano variation of this product line
A device 1.5x the size (2.25x the screen area) of the iPhone (I'll call it the "iWrite") would have approximately a 720·480 resolution, not enough to run Snow Leopard well. (Set your monitor to 640·480 and see how well that goes.) One reason why traditional subnotebooks have not succeeded may be due to the fact that they are trying to cram a full size OS (and all of its hardware requirements) in a small package.
The iPhone OS, on the other hand, was designed for small devices and their limited hardware requirements, and so, with some changes, is perfect for a mini-tablet.
- The home screen would fit in more icons
- The increased screen size would allow for more advanced features like editing modes and a two-column view like iTunes
- The on-screen keyboard may become slightly bigger
- You wouldn't need to zoom and pan around as much
I'm thinking $100~$200 more than an equivalent capacity iPod touch. That would give $499~$599 for a 16 GB model, $599~$699 for a 32 GB model, and $699~$799 for a 64 GB model (4 flash chips). There may also be multiple screen sizes. 5.5" and 8", maybe.
The iWrite would fill in the gap between the MacBook and the iPhone / iPod touch, and that may be the reason why Apple has not released a cheap (~$799) MacBook or an Eee competitor yet. Apple won't use either a regular desktop OS or a traditional notebook/tablet form factor for the iWrite. Apple will use the iPhone OS and form factor.
Digital Skunk
macrumors G3
Great but make it innovative. Stop stealing the design from the iMac since Apple won't do it.
I.N.N.O.V.A.T.I.O.N is the key.
And remember, the price will start out at $1500, stop playing around with this concept of a cheap tablet.
Hahahaha! I don't work for the Apple design team 😉 - Its a quick cut and paste jobby to show form factor.
I want a cheap tablet and the recent rumors from Appleinsider match my desires so i'm digging my heels in! 😀
Lesser Evets
macrumors 68040
There is no reason for Apple to make a device between the floor model and the iPhone...
There is no reason for Apple to make a device between the iMac and the iPod touch...
There is no reason for Apple to make a device between the Mac Mini and the floor model...
🙄
The tablet is the future of the laptop. Laptops are moronic in design.
If they made a Mac Tablet that I could use an electronic pen to write notes with on the touch screen in school, I would definitely buy this and save much paper.
If it supported math notation, I would buy it in an instant. I don't like erasing out and rewriting stuff anyway.
Apple reveals secret notebook-tablet
Did anyone have read this?
http://www.macnn.com/blogs/2008/07/14/apple-reveals-secret-notebook-tablet.html
Did anyone have read this?
http://www.macnn.com/blogs/2008/07/14/apple-reveals-secret-notebook-tablet.html
jnc
macrumors 68020
Haha, that's the exact form factor I had in mind for a new Nintendo DS, as it happens. Shame I didn't patent it eh?
The small tablets look cool, but I kinda see this having a 13.3. They've bought up a lot of those lately. Pen functionality, like the Modbook, and Wacom tablets are key! I use an Intuos all the time and 😀 it. Combined with iPhone style finger controls, I'm all over this. I doubt it will include an optical drive.
I would love to see this in the $899 range, but can't see how with usable specs....but I can see a need at that price. But what would you get for that money really? 😕
I would need it to run PS Elements at least, some version of Painter and Autodesk Sketchbook. Better than carrying a laptop and an Intuos tablet all the time. Do basic work on the Tablet, then do the major stuff on the Mac at home! Now if only they'd give me a decent mini-tower.........😀
I would love to see this in the $899 range, but can't see how with usable specs....but I can see a need at that price. But what would you get for that money really? 😕
I would need it to run PS Elements at least, some version of Painter and Autodesk Sketchbook. Better than carrying a laptop and an Intuos tablet all the time. Do basic work on the Tablet, then do the major stuff on the Mac at home! Now if only they'd give me a decent mini-tower.........😀
cheekybobcat
macrumors 6502a
anyone seen this thing floating around yet?
I wish I could sex her.
But I'm sitting in the corner like I am Poindexta 🙁
A tablet that works with Apps store makes a lot of sense. Developers are cranking out some really top notch apps that are at a way higher quality that those crap $4 downloads on verizon. What this means is that users will appreciate using them on a bigger platform than the iphone plus with music apps and games and certainly with turn-by-turn users won't want their experience interrupted by calls or having to make a call.
I think the iPhone would not be a good dedicated turn-by-turn device because, well.. you want something that's just gonna be a GPS while in the car and nothing else without having to sacrifice the phone service. So a device 1.5x the size of an iPhone with GPS makes a lot of sense too.
I think the iPhone would not be a good dedicated turn-by-turn device because, well.. you want something that's just gonna be a GPS while in the car and nothing else without having to sacrifice the phone service. So a device 1.5x the size of an iPhone with GPS makes a lot of sense too.
TwinCities Dan
macrumors 603
I've got to agree with Digital Skunk. Some of these mockups are far from being "
-worthy".
Aside the fact, that I see no (financial) reason for apple to market "a bigger iPhone, adding more computing power, sans the phone", if they do end up making a pure Tablet (in comparison to slideable (or similar) one on like in the patent) I personally don't think it would sell anywhere close to as well as the iPhone is (and will). It'll probably end up in the same corner as the Mac Mini sooner or later.
And if MWSF07 has been of any lesson, hardly any mockup on the forums will anywhere close to "spot on".
-worthy".Aside the fact, that I see no (financial) reason for apple to market "a bigger iPhone, adding more computing power, sans the phone", if they do end up making a pure Tablet (in comparison to slideable (or similar) one on like in the patent) I personally don't think it would sell anywhere close to as well as the iPhone is (and will). It'll probably end up in the same corner as the Mac Mini sooner or later.
And if MWSF07 has been of any lesson, hardly any mockup on the forums will anywhere close to "spot on".
lifeinhd
macrumors 65816
Why, in this one, does it seem like the frame is cut off a bit at the top, but it doesn't seem this way in the other one?
chrono1081
macrumors G3
I myself wouldnt mind a netbook mac. Some earlier misinformed poster said that UMPC's are failing but that couldn't be farther from the truth. Many companies are talking how the UMPC's are cutting into profits. I have an eeePC and when my coworkers saw it 6 of them had one a week later. You never see that with a regular computer. Not to mention umpc's are amazing when you have to travel with a ton of camera gear and need a laptop only for email.
Lesser Evets
macrumors 68040
The laptop has always been misdesigned. It makes sense, but it doesn't work well for truly mobile people; unfolding, sitting, balancing if without a table, etc. Ergonomically a disaster.
A tablet of the right size would be perfect for MOST people. While it might not be a high end gaming device, it would do most of what people do on a desk model - internet, email, word processing, simple graphics work, music/video playback, organization of data and schedule.
If Mac made a 7x10 hand held similar to a large iPhone I believe it would be an instant success. Personally I have always loathed notebooks, and have owned several so I know first hand. Getting rid of the keyboard for on screen keys would be awesome, and getting rid of the fold up aspect of design would be supreme. If Mac can figure a way to get the device starting quickly from off, or a sleep mode that doesn't drain the battery over several days, it would be perfect for anyone on the go that doesn't do heavy gaming or serious graphics computing.