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Speculation About a 'MacBook Touch' Builds

As I have said from day one I consider the iPhone to be Apple Tablet Nano (ATN), and whatever is about double or so the screen size will be ATNN. But we will have to wait to see if this device likely to run iPhone OSX and have similar processor limitations will somehow be less crippled on memory or processor since it will be less space confined.

I find the iPhone to be "small" in my hand. I would buy a device which had almost double the usable screen area and 50-100% greater volume to accept more battery and hopefully more processor capacity generally. The amount of flash already exceeds the need of a local device on a client-server model. I would like to see ATNN (Apple Tablet Not Nano) specifically support air-printing and air-CD/DVD, as well as all the existing iPhone features.

It might be kinda cool to have an OSX "mode" if that were technically possible (use of a screen and mouse/pad on docked mode), but while truly mobile it should be a phone and a Safari pad.

Rocketman
 
babyj said:
If Apple are planning something like this it will be a 'MacBook Touch' rather than a tablet or cut down laptop - the picture posted above by Sousa203 looks spot on to me.
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I hope not! I want a tablet that I can read ebooks on readily and use as a graphics tablet as well as web browsing. A conventional laptop design would be nothing new even if it included multi-touch on the screen. If I want to go "hands on" I want it to be something I won't be afraid will fall over backwards and honestly I don't want a full-time keyboard attached! Docking for keyboard/mouse and other connections, yes, but not permanently attached. This is one reason why I like the iPhone and can't stand all these so-called "iPhone killer" phones trying to compete with it.

No need for any ports other than the dock connector and audio / video jack (everything can be done over BlueTooth and Wifi), no need for an optical drive and no need for large amounts of storage.
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Again I disagree. As a photographer, such a device would be perfect for my needs and I will need sufficient storage for a number of photo shoots as well as the capability to edit them on the fly using Aperture2 and/or Photoshop. In other words, large amounts of storage will be demanded by some professionals.

Another place where this could be an almost perfect tool is in the medical fields where a laptop is both ubiquitous and obviously unwieldy. Where the doctor used to annotate a clipboard at the foot of a patient's bed, he now carries his laptop and has to find a place to set it down in order to make notes. To again be able to use something more akin to a clipboard would make his work easier and less frustrating.

Price could be the big issue though there is a very obvious way round this - include 3G and sell it on contract through the existing iPhone carriers at a subsidises price. Offering it without 3G and contract as a more expensive option.
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I would consider this the wrong way around. Why build this thing to compete with their own product, the iPhone? Sure, offering it as some sort of super-sized cell phone under subsidy might make the up front cost a little less, but not enough so to counterbalance the overall cost of the hardware. It would seem to me much better to keep this bluetooth/wifi capable than putting 3G into it when it's really not likely to be used that way on a daily basis.

Selling it won't be a problem as there are plenty of uses, business alone would go crazy for it but there are plenty of uses at home as well. They could easily sell 10,000's to the pro music market alone, for use as a controller amongst other things. Plus someone will come up with a Star Trek case for it resulting in massive sales to all the Trekkies out there.
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Now here you aren't too far off. It wouldn't be hard at all for this to become a PADD as used in the original Star Trek series updated for a Next Generation style.
 
A computer for non-computer people

This will be the first computer for non-computer people.

The thing that scares people the most about using computers is the keyboard. the next thing is that the UI of computers, and even the Mac OS is still too complex for most non users.

Apple has seen that the majority of it's customer base is now using Apple devices that do not have a physical keyboard.

Apple has always wanted the Mac to be a creative and informative tool and distinguishes it above production.

I can see a market where a very simple UI like AppleTV/Frontrow presents the user with the options they can use the machine for rather that a blank looking desktop.

As for specs I think the Air gives us a good indication. Thin, light but enough power to use rather than to produce.


Valan
 
inkswamp said:
I think if they could make a tablet that was dockable and therefore usable in a desktop sort of situation (similar to a laptop) then this would be an interesting product. I still can't really see the need for a device that is just a tablet.
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Yyyup. :cool:
 
Sousa203 said:
http://cache.gizmodo.com/assets/resources/2007/11/logan_lape.jpg



isn't it just beautiful? I'd shell out for one no doubt sorry its so big tho...
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This would be absolutely perfect for my needs in travel and photography. A device like what you picture could easily become the modern-day version of the clipboard.

Too many of the commenters here are thinking much, much too small. A tablet like this could make carrying a computer as easy as carrying your favorite novel and just as easy to use! No more looking for a place to put it down to take notes; no more needing to sit down just to access web pages... it's the perfect mobility device!
This device is perfect for the student and the professional, the housewife and the store clerk. The uses possible for this one device go beyond any other single device on the market today.

How about a super remote control, able to operate your entire entertainment system or even more than one in a given household? And instead of being so confusing as the current line of "Universal Remotes" are, this unit could easily be set up to emulate each individual remote as well as function as a one-touch-does-all remote in a manner any technology-crippled user could want. The old cliché of the 4-yr-old operating his parents' VCR hasn't gone away, it's just updated to where he's running their DVR instead. My own mother still gets confused when something gets out of synch on her universal remote and calls me from 800 miles away to fix it. Something like this could help alleviate that problem.

So no, don't think so small. Don't limit yourself so much. This thing--this MacBook Tablet--could just about be all things to all people. If given the chance.
 
As I've said before, I think we will be seeing more and more multi-touch technology being employed by Apple. I believe it will be the UI of choice in the future and will lead to all sorts of advancements and improvements to how people "compute".

Apple has done a good job in acclimatizing a significant user-base with mutli-touch technology already, with the iPod touch and even more so with the iPhone. As more and more people become familiar and comfortable with using computing devices which do not have keyboards, mice, etc., the more multi-touch devices (perhaps such as this one) you will see, and the more popular and mainstream they will become. :cool:
 
~Shard~ said:
As I've said before, I think we will be seeing more and more multi-touch technology being employed by Apple. I believe it will be the UI of choice in the future and will lead to all sorts of advancements and improvements to how people "compute".

Apple has done a good job in acclimatizing a significant user-base with mutli-touch technology already, with the iPod touch and even more so with the iPhone. As more and more people become familiar and comfortable with using computing devices which do not have keyboards, mice, etc., the more multi-touch devices (perhaps such as this one) you will see, and the more popular and mainstream they will become. :cool:
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I agree - Apple won't release a product unless they know it's going to sell. A lot has changed over the years as far as technology is concerned. The public, once they see it will somehow find a use for it.
 
~Shard~ said:
As I've said before, I think we will be seeing more and more multi-touch technology being employed by Apple. I believe it will be the UI of choice in the future and will lead to all sorts of advancements and improvements to how people "compute".

Apple has done a good job in acclimatizing a significant user-base with mutli-touch technology already, with the iPod touch and even more so with the iPhone. As more and more people become familiar and comfortable with using computing devices which do not have keyboards, mice, etc., the more multi-touch devices (perhaps such as this one) you will see, and the more popular and mainstream they will become. :cool:
Click to expand...

I agree. Completely. Any "tablet" style device will have the effect of bringing more and more "touch" technology to OS/X. I'm really excited to see if they can pull off an "all touch" OS/X. They've got something like 8-10 different gestures that they'll need (right-click, right-click+drag, etc) - and a much less clumsy way of dealing with switching between upper-lower case and special characters on the "keyboard".

The iPhone OS is a long way from being a usable OS on a tablet computer, but if any company can pull it off by the September, Apple can.
:cool:
 
What if the keyboard is the portable?

The wireless keyboard is already flat; button press that is. Replace the current keyboard of a mac with a WiFi enabled keyboard that is a touch screen.

The keyboard will be a keyboard while at the iMac then switch to a safari/iTunes remote when away from the imac.

This would be a $600-$700 option for the iMac or sold separately to current Mac users.

What about it?
 
Hopefully, if Apple makes a multitouch Mac, it'll work with Windows 7. I'm still a Windows fan and would feel funny having a multitouch device that doesn't work with Windows.

Maybe Apple will just keep devices the way they already are, but with multitouch displays. All the Macs! iMac Multitouch. Macbook Multitouch. Macbook Pro Multitouch. Multitouch Cinema Displays (with HDCP, iSight, and an acceptable price point)!

The reason I really doubt multitouch stuff AT ALL any time soon is that we'd know about it by now software-wise. I don't think the entire OS can made multitouch in a service pack and we'd know if it were a feature in Snow Leopard by now. If they're doing anything liek this, it won't be a full-featured computer. It will be a proprietary device like the Apple TV or iPhone with a limited version of Mac OS, and you'll need another Mac to develop for it.
 
Sousa203 said:
http://cache.gizmodo.com/assets/resources/2007/11/logan_lape.jpg



isn't it just beautiful? I'd shell out for one no doubt sorry its so big tho...
Click to expand...

This would be cool, with a wireless keyboard/mouse (or a doc) and also act like the iphone where the screen would rotate based on you rotating the device. Add also with what Omnidazzle bring to circling and writing on the screen, and this would be a great presentation laptop. Also add in the technology to recognize and store handwriting in CP notebook, or pages and I can see me not needing a paper notebook anymore for class (then I can go back later and add all mty webclips and other info on the subject). just write on the tablet.

Drawback would be battery life. I would need like when I had my first laptop 7 years ago.... A toshiba celeron (pentium III 900 mhz) equivelant. Good CPU at the time, but I got 5 hrs on a battery - not like today where you are lucky to get a full 2 hrs.

Give me this with the above at a reasonable price and my macbook will be going to my wife and I will transition to this.

(*Edit - oh and since it does not have a real keyboard, but a virtual one or wireless - you can leave in the superdrive and give me a nice 250 harddrive to boot).
 
although i don't think a tablet is coming out soon, i do see revised laptops coming out in the 2nd or 3rd week of aug. with ilife 09.
 
I remember in the lead up to Macworld '07 there being this sort of buzz about the iPhone. No one appeared to have that much proof but there was still this incredible buzz.

There's no smoke without fire. Apple will have a tablet out by the end of the year.
 
Could it be that waves of disappointment are coming soon to macrumors when the wonder gadget turns into an updated laptop series?... It's amazing how these rumors take flight on these forums, and then everyone jumps on board with their wishes and utopian technology hopes.
 
MacBook Touch is not a laptop

I keep hoping that Apple will create the eBook reader that will revolutionize publishing -- or do to the publishing world what the iPod did to the music industry.

About 6-8 years ago (or pre-iPod) I read an article that stated that book stores grossed more billions of dollars than music stores did. I was astounded.

If Apple creates the device that makes paper books as quaint as CDs are now, it will be huge. And it wouldn't need much flash memory if it could store all books and documents in the cloud.

That's not to mention all the ways it could be used by the medical profession, educators, the military, etc.

This would not be something to replace your home laptop. This would be something totally different.
 
Vulpinemac said:
I hope not! I want a tablet that I can read ebooks on readily and use as a graphics tablet as well as web browsing. A conventional laptop design would be nothing new even if it included multi-touch on the screen. If I want to go "hands on" I want it to be something I won't be afraid will fall over backwards and honestly I don't want a full-time keyboard attached! Docking for keyboard/mouse and other connections, yes, but not permanently attached. This is one reason why I like the iPhone and can't stand all these so-called "iPhone killer" phones trying to compete with it.
Click to expand...

I think my use of 'MacBook Touch' was poor and / or mis-interpreted. What I meant was an MacBook in an iPod Touch style device - a conventional laptop tablet style thing is not what I meant.

As regards storage, if you need more on the move then I'd prefer to see this as an option to be attached via the dock connector or BlueTooth. You don't really want a hard drive in something like this and flash ram (or equivalent) is very, very expensive once you get above 32Gb. Another option would be an iPod Classic which aren't that bad value as portable drives especially as they have a built in power supply, you'd just need an easy way to connect it up.
 
corywoolf said:
Ouch for Axiotron
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Maybe not. I mean if Axiotron is already making this, and they are buying macbooks from apple as the base and apple is ok with it..... then the touch mac or mac-tablet we are thinking about may not even compete with this. What if apple was working more on a larger PDA (or remember the pocket pc's - oh wait that is pretty much the iphone:cool:)

. I mean why would Apple put someone out of business, who is buying up macbooks....

Sounds to me like the modbook is the tablet we have been waiting for. I wonder if Steve has up his sleeve to work more closely with Axiotron and bring Axiotron under the Apple umbrella and then bring down the cost to a reasonable $1000.

Why would Apple re-invent what is already been done. that is not apple's style. I think if anything; would could see the aquisition of Axiotron and then Apple selling an updated version of the modbook under the Apple name.

think about it ;) Apple is suing Psystar for the cheap clones, but Axiotron is ok to use macbooks and sell a mac os x tablet machine on its own?

I mean, unless you go searching - no one really knows about Axiotron.
 
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