More Apple Tablet Rumblings

[winjer2k]

Mac Mini + Tablet

Hey, Just think!

A special stand for the tablet that plugs in via firewire and DVI to the Mac Mini. When you place it on the stand, the Mini syncs with any changes you made to your tablet and uses the tablet as its display.

That would be sweet!

 

[shyataroo]

Intel is dead. if apple maintains not using intel processors for its computer the final nail in the coffin will be put in.

 

[rockthecasbah]

Intel is dead. if apple maintains not using intel processors for its computer the final nail in the coffin will be put in.

Intel is far from dead buddy. As I recall didn't they ship the first dual cores a month or so ago? I haven't seen an IBM dual core and don't expect to for a very long time 😉 Intel knows how to get good battery life, IBM doesn't. It's smart to learn about battery life from people that can get like 6 hours battery life on a portable. Powerbooks have horrible battery life, especially in comparison to windows machines.

To me the Tablet idea still seems a bit iffy. I wouldn't put my money on saying it is or isn't that, I just am leaning more towards a Newton revision that is a hybrid of a PDA and a low power iBook.

 

[Toe]

My idea on an Apple tablet is that it will _only_ run a version of Apple Remote Access. Over AirPort and the Internet, it will be able to connect to another computer and mirror, take over the screen, or work as a second monitor.

You need to look at Tiger Server a little more. It can support a much more robust platform than this. ARA is nice, but very simplistic compared to what is currently available in OS X. One of the critical components of Unix is that multiple users can use the same system at the same time without interfering with (or even knowing about) each other.

Tiger supports Network Home Directories, meaning all user information can be stored on a server, and any network client can log into that user account and access that user's complete identity.

Apple is completely set up to have cheap tablets be robust interfaces to home or work servers.

The main sticking point as I can see it is the wireless component. This scenario works great on a gigabit or even 100 Base-T network, but on a spotty wifi network... what happens when you lose the connection? If they can work through that, I think wireless terminal tablets would be easy and cheap for them to produce.

 

[fabsgwu]

I'll take two.

I bet there's already an accessory market forming (Places the order for laser keyboard and bluetooth headphones).

But seriously, I think this would be a great add-on to a desktop Mac; perfect for the couch, and with some limited computing functionality maybe perfect for the hot-spot at Starbucks. Also, do I hear iTMS movie downloads?? 😛

 

[Noiseboy]

Every time I use the excellent Lake Contour sound reinforcement software I have to do so on a clonky tablet PC. The nice people at Lake said they would certainly port it to OS X if Apple built a tablet computer. I want one now. I wanted one months ago. 🙂

 

[Toe]

In the System Preferences, try "option-click" of "Displays". (in Tiger)
Then you will see "Rotate" menu in there. You can rotate your screen orientation with it.
I believe this is an implication of coming Tablet Mac. Other than that, it is just an useless feature.

I don't see this on my iMac G5... what computers or setups does it work on?

I would think this would be perfect for the iMac G5, since it can be arm-mounted...

Could someone post a screenshot of this functionality?

 

[fabsgwu]

The main sticking point as I can see it is the wireless component. This scenario works great on a gigabit or even 100 Base-T network, but on a spotty wifi network... what happens when you lose the connection? If they can work through that, I think wireless terminal tablets would be easy and cheap for them to produce.

Simple, all the work is saved on the server (Mac running tiger). Sort of like Citrix applications which use remote applications; if you get booted, your work is all there when you log back on.

 

[mcadam]

I still think it's a remote, for either Airtunes or maybe a "media center" thing.

Yeah, that makes sense imho... wasn't the mac mini partly thought of as a mediacenter kind of thing, where you, in some bright future, would have several networked minis around the house?

A tablet would fit nicely into that concept.

A

 

[sigamy]

If this is true, there is no way this Tablet will be a Mac. Trust me, so few people need a tablet computer.

It will be a remote control for the new Airport Express HD, which will stream audio and video to your living room. The tablet will run the scaled down version of iTunes (itunes mobile) and allow you to select songs/playlists/movies/iphoto slideshows which are stored on your Mac. It will be nothing more than a fancy remote with 802.11g. You'll be able to purchase new songs and movies from the new Movie Store.

The writting is on the wall...QuickTime 7, H.264, music videos in iTunes. The iPod photo was the beta test for this.

 

[Toe]

Simple, all the work is saved on the server (Mac running tiger). Sort of like Citrix applications which use remote applications; if you get booted, your work is all there when you log back on.

Hm, well... they certainly don't have this down in Tiger Server 10.4.1. If you lose your network connection, you get a lot of complaints from your Mac. Generally, the best you can do is re-login. There is no "save state" command, where you can return to the exact place you left off (like there is in Virtual PC, and I believe in Windows XP).

 

[1macker1]

What's the advantage of a tablet pc over a laptop?

 

[SiliconAddict]

PC Tablets have never really taken off, so Apple better pull something out of the hat for an Apple tablet to work.

PC tablets have never taken off for several reasons:

1. Price points are ridiculously high for a tablet device and marginally high for a convertible device that transforms into a tablet.

2. MS forced a dumb*** method of handwriting recog. More specifically NONE. Yes folks. When a note is written in ink it stays in a handwritten form instead of converted over to typed text. You have that option but MS implementation is sloppy to say the least. So how impressed am I supposed to be when I get an e-mail from my insurance broker quoting me a figure and I can’t figure out if that it a $6,000 or a sloppy $5,000. There is a reason why typed text as taken over the world. I not longer have to translate someone’s crappy handwriting. This is where MS fails and where Apple excelled back in 1997! Yah I still own a Newton 2100 and I also own a iPaq 4705 and let me tell you the handwriting recog on the Newton still blows the iPaq away even though the recog software is supposedly based on the software that was on the Newton.

3. Not really MS's fault because they don't make hardware but the integration of the OS into the hardware is sloppy to say the least. Seriously. All MS did was create a package that gets installed on top of an XP install. Hardly tailored to a tablet. They did the same thing they did with their PDA when it first came out (Palm Sized PDA.) They dumped the Windows GUI on a platform that it wasn't designed for. That is partly why Pocket PC 2001 and so forth is more popular. MS did some tweaking to the GUI for the platform. Similarly MS just dumped XP onto the tablet without any forethought about the interface. No thought on how a user works when he or she has their arm draped over half the screen. No thought on how you access your applications or how to interact with them. Nope. Dump and run.

4.MS dipped a toe into the market. Their position? These devices are for the vertical market. That is all well and fine but its hardly going to grow a market if all you are doing is saying that hey! You average consumers don’t want this. This is for the business industry.

'
In typical MS fashion they did everything they could to sabotage the Tablet PC before it even shipped. All of the above Apple could fix, enhance, and well frankly do it right out of the gate. The tablet PC can work. I’ve used one for about a week. The experience feels much more personal then typing on a desktop. The problem with a tablet and something that most people don’t get is that the pure slate will NEVER succeed. Ever. Only the convertible. The laptop that has the display swing back and lay flat against the keyboard. Why? Because as I like to put it handwriting is bandwidth limited when it comes to entering data. In terms of speed it generally follows OCR, speech, typing, handwriting. (I have seen a person type faster then they could talk but those people are super freaks and are not the norm. If Apple could make a convertible tablet that gets 5+ hours of battery life, has a tweaked GUI for the pen, is marketed as a personal computing experience, is less then 1” thick with the screen, and keeps the keyboard they could blow the market wide open.

 

[shyataroo]

Intel is far from dead buddy. As I recall didn't they ship the first dual cores a month or so ago? I haven't seen an IBM dual core and don't expect to for a very long time 😉 Intel knows how to get good battery life, IBM doesn't. It's smart to learn about battery life from people that can get like 6 hours battery life on a portable. Powerbooks have horrible battery life, especially in comparison to windows machines.

To me the Tablet idea still seems a bit iffy. I wouldn't put my money on saying it is or isn't that, I just am leaning more towards a Newton revision that is a hybrid of a PDA and a low power iBook.

IBM hasn't made a dual core CPU you right... but they have made a 3 and a 9 core CPU. (Xbox 360 and PS3 Respectivly) additionally Pentium Chips are Cycle per Cycle The slowest on the market they still have yet to make True 64Bit CPU's and All the Video game consoles (next gen) are running IBM CPU's and that will certianly help kill intel. Hyper-threading technology sucks.
IBM needs to hurry up and invent Multi-Threading.

 

[douggottlieb]

iSlate

Let's hope that the Apple iSlate (my name, not theirs, yet) is:

* Priced like a PDA, not like a laptop
* Stays cool like a PDA, not like a laptop
* Is super portable like a PDA, not like a laptop

But . . .

* Can run OSX like a laptop, not like a PDA.

And as long as I'm dreaming, how about:

* A sticker price of $500 or less.

And of course it should be able to communicate wirelessly with that new Apple living room device -- the Apple iBox / iHome / iHub / iMediaCenter / iThing that plays content thru my TV and downloads shows and Movies from the iVideoStore . . .

 

[SiliconAddict]

If this is true, there is no way this Tablet will be a Mac. Trust me, so few people need a tablet computer.

Once upon a time the same was said of the laptop.....How many of those were sold last year?
Of course people don't need what they have never had before. Apple simply needs to provide an easy natural interface to use a tablet. Hmmm what company is know for ease of use...dude the tablet is screaming, crying, and generally begging for Apple to come along and reinvent it.

 

[griz]

Why do people continue to insist that apple will cram every feature of the ibook into a tablet. I would like a tablet that has no HD. Is as thin as the top of an iBook and needs no fan. If it needed an HD, it could possibly have a 6gig from a mac mini, but no CD or ethernet or Firewire. Just one USB2 connection for syncing.
Heck, require that people have bluetooth to use it and dispense with the wires entirely. Or maybe it would use 802.11. You could control a desktop or use the standalone browser to go to the web directly from the tablet.
Could have 128MB of flash ram for storing simple configs and user prefs like calender info or addresses or bookmarks if it had no HD. It could send and receive e-mail. Oh and it should most certainly boot instantly.
Apple will make this device fully integrated with itunes and airtunes and even give it the ability to link with a future set top box. This of course is all speculation, but knowing the history of apple, when they enter a new arena, they rarely steal from their previous technology, they go in with a new idea that kills everyone else. Look at the iPod and past powerbook designs. The early powerbook was a brick, but at the time, a beautiful design.
Track pads were on all the powerbooks and Apple was one of the first to use the keyboard pushed to the back to allow for hand rests. And must I mention the original Mac design. Like nothing else. And the Newton, It was ahead of its time, but beat Palm to the punch by many years.
They continue to lead with impressive style. If apple puts out a tablet, it will not simply be a copy of anything else anyone had done and it will likely not have every feature that people expect. They are masters at finding the usability key in a device and making the most of it. I'm sure they will do the same with a tablet some day.
Lastly, I think a key feature of a table will be making it so that I can hold it with 2 fingers like a piece of paper or a clipboard. Watch an episode of startrek lately? Their tablets are sweet and no reason apple can't do something like that.

 

[Toe]

Once upon a time the same was said of the laptop.....How many of those were sold last year?
Of course people don't need what they have never had before. Apple simply needs to provide an easy natural interface to use a tablet. Hmmm what company is know for ease of use...dude the tablet is screaming, crying, and generally begging for Apple to come along and reinvent it.

To this day I cannot believe that people actually pay hundreds and hundreds of dollars for a portable music player. Who actually needs an iPod, eh?

 

[Lacero]

I'm about as excited of an Apple Tablet as I am of filing my taxes. I just don't see the need for one, when I laptop does the job admirably. I'm waiting to be impressed by what Apple can come up with that'll make it a must-have.

 

[akw]

Click wheel

Hmm, wasn't there a patent for a mouse-like device with a scroll wheel that never saw the light of day?

Yeah. It was a patent that described the click wheel that showed up on the iPod Mini. The real intention of the patented mechnism were being disguised by describing it in a device other than the one on which it finally appeared.

 

[Daveway]

* A sticker price of $500 or less.

Such wishful thinking. It be more like 3x that much.

 

[wdlove]

It's just making the run up to WWDC even more exciting. My wife has been looking for a tablet to use with Photoshop. It would be better if it was made by Apple.

 

[Darrin Bell]

I still think it's a remote, for either Airtunes or maybe a "media center" thing. The tablet market isn't big enough for a reason - they're rubbish. Admittedly Apple could do it better but I don't see why they would. The PDA market is dying, replaced by ever smarter phones so I don't think it's that either. Maybe a portable display for an iFlicks store? But the remote seems the most likely, like one of those Lutron things that populate high end home cinema systems.

But isn't the market for high end home cinema system Lutron things pretty small, too? I'm not sure a Mac remote would make much more sense than a Mac tablet.

 

[Toe]

But isn't the market for high end home cinema system Lutron things pretty small, too? I'm not sure a Mac remote would make much more sense than a Mac tablet.

Isn't any bluetooth phone a Mac remote?

I would think the tablet would be based more on the concept of a terminal than a remote.

 

[Engagebot]

In the System Preferences, try "option-click" of "Displays". (in Tiger)
Then you will see "Rotate" menu in there. You can rotate your screen orientation with it.
I believe this is an implication of coming Tablet Mac. Other than that, it is just an useless feature.

Its not useless, and it doesnt necessarily mean tablets. There are tons of regular (non-apple) LCD's out there that rotate to go portrait. Its a really useful feature, especially when you're working just with Word or Acrobat. *some lcd's have the rotating function in the hardware, but alot of them use a software thing in windows. Apple's just giving that portrait functionality to those LCDs out there.

You can get a Dell (samsung) 19" LCD that rotates to portrait for around $300.