5x7 tablet idea ...
First of all, I too wonder why the "source" didn't notice any video display opening if he noticed the port-concealing door.
However, I just wanted to add my praise for a 5x7" tablet computer. When I go to meetings, I always carry 5x7 notebooks (the old paper kind 🙂) The size is perfect for carrying around, and the surface is perfect for organizing notes without tempting me to write down absolutely everything. A 5x7 tablet would fit in my world much better than the larger PC tablets would.
Also, regarding the guy who thinks having a keyboard on a tablet is a horrid idea ... well, if I was to use a tablet as my secondary computer, there are many times when keyboarding is far easier and better than handwritingm, no matter how well it recognizes my chicken scratchings. In the world where the tablet PC is a secondary PC, replacing a notebook, then an option for a keyboard to be attached (bluetooth doesn't match up; imagine trying to set up a detached keyboard and display as you would a laptop ... what would hold the screen in place?) is very important. For me, if you're going to have a full-size notebook display to begin with, you aren't overly concerned with bulk and/or weight, so keeping the keyboard hidden but permanently attached isn't that big of a deal.
On a 5x7 tablet, on the other hand, a permanently-attached keyboard might be a problem. Something more akin to the various Palm keyboards would be more appropriate, or perhaps even a "slide-out" keyboard "drawer" of sorts, although that relegates you to pencil-eraser key-pecking.
There was a discussion here a while back about a "peripheral" type of tablet - one which isn't necessarily a general-purpose computer in and of itself, but rather a detachable extension of your primary computer that would synch up with your main computer either after the fact (like current Palms/PocketPCs) or in real time via airport. Given a 5x7 form factor, this paradigm is even more appropriate, both because it is difficult to fit a full-featured notebook in a 5x7 form factor, and because at least in an office environment the ultra-portability and yet big-enough-to-write-on size, paired with the connectivity required to use and drive a full-fledged computer back at your desk, makes it a perfect note-taking machine. Note, of course, that the TabletPC is targetted at just this market: note-taking.
On the other hand, whipping out your 5x7 tablet on the subway would also be nice, and the peripheral concept isn't as good for such a device. There, you're unlikely to be able to directly connect to your desktop in realtime, and really need enough power "under the hood" to do useful work. However, the design constraints for a 5x7, cool-to-the-touch form factor might be too much to allow for OS X power, and screen-size constraints would make the OS X interface as awkward on the screen as the XP-ish interface is on PocketPCs.
Overall, far too little information to say anything for sure. But I'd love to see something along either of these lines coming later this year ...
