Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Speculation About a 'MacBook Touch' Builds

tappinguy said:
Apple should come out with something very much like the tablets by toshiba where the screen can flip around, fold down and be a tablet, or exist as a regular laptop computer with touch capabilities.
Click to expand...

Good in principle, however being someone who has used one personally, I wasn't that impressed. That being said, I'd have confidence in Apple taking that sort of a concept and making it better. However, in this case, "better" may involve incorporating one of Apple's favorite design philosophies - "simpler". In other words, Apple wouldn't make something as complex as that - they may improve on it, make it simpler, more minimal and so forth. Components rotating, flipping around etc. is somewhat un-Apple-like. ;) (And yes, I realize the iPhone/Touch has rotational features built in, however this is with respect to the device itself, not pieces and parts of it.)
 
ipodtouchy333 said:
Me too! My birthday is in October as well....better start saving up for my first mac.

I'm going to go with something like this:

http://www.macnn.com/blogs/2008/07/14/apple-reveals-secret-notebook-tablet.html
Click to expand...

Now that would be really cool.

14-patentc-1.gif


Looking at that picture, I would hope that in figure 33A that the screen folds down to face the keyboard, like a normal laptop.

One could only imagine. A docking, multi-touch screen that acts as a laptop with a normal keyboard, or folds down for the 'tablet' experience. :cool:
 
adamw said:
I think Apple should name it an iTab. They can likely buy the domain name itab.com cheaply from the individual that owns it...
Click to expand...

I bet on iBook. Apple wants "Mac" in every name of their Macintosh computers, so that iBook might be running something different than Mac OSX. Something like the iPhone.

I'd love a Macbook without the keyboard part and a pig touch screen. A vitrual trackpad and keyboard would work for current OSX apps.
 
~Shard~ said:
I hear what you're saying, however I just don't know if that would fit Apple's current philosophy. Sure, they had a stylus with the Newton but that was a while ago and I think that the technology direction Apple has chosen with the iPhone and multi-touch have shown us that they essentially "look down" on the stylus and physical keys as input methods. Then again, that's with respect to handheld devices and phones such as the Touch and the iPhone - obviously a tablet PC would be a different animal. At the end of the day though, I believe multi-touch is the direction that Apple is taking and we will be seeing more and more of the technology being integrated into all aspects of their product lines. It's just a matter of time. :cool:
Click to expand...

Maybe multi-touch with 2 stylus?:cool:
 
rroback said:
I'd love a tablet. I wish it could function as a wireless monitor for a desktop, obviously touch sensitive. Like a Cintiq.

Rhett
Click to expand...

That would be kewl! What makes me uneasy is the mention of 3G! Sounds like another subscription model which to me is a turn off! I'd be interested in seeing this and hope it would be wireless with 802.11g/n not 3G. Otherwise, I can only yet imagine, another way they are trying to dip into our wallets at a monthly rate! Time will tell and after all this is just a rumor.--)))) ;)
 
Well bye-bye Newton 2.0. :(

Anyway, I have a hard time believing that Mac OS X, in its current state, would be useful in a tablet. The user interface is not designed for multi-touch, and its hardware requirements mean that a device would be expensive, underpowered (MacBook Air), or both.

I don't want a half-baked touchscreen tablet. If Apple can pull off a good, integrated multi-touch-on-Mac OS X tablet, I'm all for it.

The optical drive adds extra weight to the device which would mean that I wouldn't carry it in "clipboard" mode a lot, but instead use it like a regular laptop.

The iPhone OS, however, is designed for mobile devices and requires comparatively minimal system requirements, lowering price and weight.

monke said:
Now that would be really cool.

14-patentc-1.gif


Looking at that picture, I would hope that in figure 33A that the screen folds down to face the keyboard, like a normal laptop.

One could only imagine. A docking, multi-touch screen that acts as a laptop with a normal keyboard, or folds down for the 'tablet' experience. :cool:
Click to expand...
Laptop mode: Mac OS X, Tablet mode: iPhone OS?

That I would get.
 
DaBrain said:
That would be kewl! What makes me uneasy is the mention of 3G! Sounds like another subscription model which to me is a turn off! I'd be interested in seeing this and hope it would be wireless with 802.11g/n not 3G. Otherwise, I can only yet imagine, another way they are trying to dip into our wallets at a monthly rate! Time will tell and after all this is just a rumor.--)))) ;)
Click to expand...

Ya, you may be right about the 3g thing....never thought about that either. If there is a monthly rate involved, no way I'm getting one. My iPhone 3g already has that privilege.
 
Okay already

All this hype is killing me. Just release it already. I hope it comes out before i leave for school on the 20th of August. That would suck if i have to buy a pro and something new comes out the following week.

UGH...
 
paquetja said:
Hmm..

This makes me think that maybe this is the replacement for the macmini?
it would have all the normal features and specs as a mini, but has a touch screen and obviously different form factor. But like a mini, you can plug into a TV/Monitor and attach a keyboard/mouse, and voila!
Click to expand...

Ah...good point. I never thought of this as a mini replacement. But that makes sense. I could use something like this given the price is right. I am a full time student and if this does perform as well as I hope, and it's light enough, I'm sold
 
monke said:
Looking at that picture, I would hope that in figure 33A that the screen folds down to face the keyboard, like a normal laptop.
Click to expand...

If it would fold like a normal laptop, how would one get the "tablet" experience?

Frankly, I love the idea of a MacBook Touch. As an engineering masters student, I do more drawing than typing in class. It would be amazing to be able to have digital notes instead of notes in pencil.

My only question would be: how would this work with Boot Camp and Windows? Unfortunately, most engineering software is only made for Windows. Blech :mad:
 
wadejc85 said:
If it would fold like a normal laptop, how would one get the "tablet" experience?
Click to expand...
The bottom part of the screen moves forward over the keyboard and the top part of the screen ends up where the bottom part was in "laptop mode." So the display isn't facing the keyboard, but is facing the other way.
 
this indeed sounds gimmicky. even the macbook air i could understand when it came out, but a tablet? what can a tablet do that a laptop couldn't? i would rather apple come out with a laptop that has a swivel screen even though those look ugly. a tablet wouldn't be any more portable. if it is 7", it would be too small to do real work and if it were any bigger, it would be pointless to buy it over a laptop. however, apple is probably trying to make something really extreme and move the market forward. and as always, after the iTablet gets released, we can expect to see a lot more from other companies.

as for the screen fingerprint problem, what if apple came out with something where don't really have to touch the screen? similar to how wacom tablets sense the stylus even if it's a few mm away from the screen.
 
a regular stylus wouldn't work on a touch screen based off apple's current technology.
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/ipod-touch2.htm
the screen detects the electrical difference between itself and your finger. you would therefore need a stylus that has an electrically charged tip with a charge roughly equal to that of a human finger. now, this would require a separate power source in the stylus, which would most likely have to be custom shaped to fit in a narrow cylinder, along with a controlled (what i believe would be) very small charge. i don't know how easily this would be accomplished by apple, but that's what we're looking at in order to have a stylus for a mac tablet.
 
~Shard~ said:
I hear what you're saying, however I just don't know if that would fit Apple's current philosophy. Sure, they had a stylus with the Newton but that was a while ago and I think that the technology direction Apple has chosen with the iPhone and multi-touch have shown us that they essentially "look down" on the stylus and physical keys as input methods. Then again, that's with respect to handheld devices and phones such as the Touch and the iPhone - obviously a tablet PC would be a different animal. At the end of the day though, I believe multi-touch is the direction that Apple is taking and we will be seeing more and more of the technology being integrated into all aspects of their product lines. It's just a matter of time. :cool:
Click to expand...

True, but as long as it was possible through a third party developer at least to use a stylus. Any app that makes use of a Wacom tablet would work fine this way.

Even better though. If someone also made a handwriting program that gives you a lined paper look further combined with a swivel webcam you could be taking notes, then hit record if the presenter starts making diagrams or is demonstrating something, yet allow you to continue note taking. Then in line with your writing you could start recording video or taking pictures. Afterwards you could review you notes and have the presentation sitting in line with them.
 
Imagine a super thin all-screen device that's exactly the same size as a regular yellow note pad, 8.5" x 11" x 0.25". It is a touch screen device with 32 GB solid state memory that slips into a stand at home that turns it into a regular looking monitor for use as a desktop at home. The stand charges the iPad while connected and it includes an optical drive, a large hard drive, and other stationary desktop class components.

When you're at home the iPad just acts like a monitor for your desktop machine with a regular wired or wireless keyboard and mouse. But when you're on the way out the door you just grab the screen and take it with you. You just throw the iPad into your bag like you would a regular yellow note pad. When you're on the road you have your entire computer life with you except for the optical drive, large hard drive, and keyboard. On the road everything is done using a touch screen interface that's elegant and easy to use.

Sounds pretty cool to me.
 
hopefully you could dock it with another computer kinda like what other people have been saying. something like this:
Duodock.jpg
 
Radically different!!

I bet its going to be none of this. Something more radically different than what is already out there. Everything people are talking about on here is just a mish mash of stuff already out there. What I believe they may release is something between an imac and a mac mini and iPod touch. Touch screen mac with more powefull mac mini brains than what is out right now and it could detach from its base and be able to work on on the go but serve as your main computer? what do you think?
 
wacom has a tablet

Wacom has had a tablet you could work on directly with a stylus for some time now (but it cost more than i wanted to spend) i work in photoshop all day long and believe me working directly on the image with anything would be great! making paths would be so much easier !
 
iMacmatician said:
The bottom part of the screen moves forward over the keyboard and the top part of the screen ends up where the bottom part was in "laptop mode." So the display isn't facing the keyboard, but is facing the other way.
Click to expand...

I think you missed the point I was trying to make.. ;)
 
monke said:
Reading these post made me remember one of Apple's patents that came up a while ago:
View attachment 126344

Personally, that would be really cool.

My guess is that Apple is delaying announcing new Apple Cinema Displays because they will announce them with the new iTablet. Not that all Cinema Displays would have the 'docking' feature, but the lower end models would, and Apple would want all the designs to stay uniform across the product line.
Click to expand...

Yes! I had completely forgotten about that. That would be exactly what I meant only far better design. I was imagining something like a desktop dock where you would drop the tablet in and it would function as a small monitor where you could use a keyboard and mouse. But that patent image is a far better idea. That would be amazing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back