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Tablet Mac Coming in Fall 2008?

Tiny iMac, think of the iMac only smaller, thinner and portable. Add a keyboard and a stand and you have your Macmini replacement. You won't want to edit video on it but everyone buying a $300-$1000 just to surf the web and read email will want one. I would think it would use the iPhone SDK.

I would definitely buy a Mac tablet, heck I bought 5 newtons, but I am in the minority. It has to fit into Apples product line which stresses, portability, all in one design, and consumer markets. This product could be sold as the mini is now in a way that does not eat into the Macbooks or iMacs market. And it also does not come with the stigmatism of having to sign up for cellular service.

It truly could expand Mac market share and not fail miserably like UMPC's have. Who wants a $2K partial computer, but an $750 ultraportable makes perfect sense for home use and second computer business use.

Once people get a taste of OSX they will be moving up to MacBooks and iMacs.

Apparently Apple already dominates the premium computer market of over $1k, this would be Apples style in aggressively attacking the sub $1K market . It also fits into the larger plan of getting developers to code for the Mac Platform, look at the progress in the last three years. Heck look at the excitement for the iPhone SDK. Having the apps is as important as the cool hardware and system software the Apple produces.
 
xnu said:
Apparently Apple already dominates the premium computer market of over $1k, this would be Apples style in aggressively attacking the sub $1K market .
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A cheap sub $1K tablet would have to fit into the iPod/iPhone family to profit on the extra iTunes revenue and allow for mass production. $400 - $500 would be a good price for the non GSM model.
 
hhaeschen said:
Nobody needs a laptop and a tablet and a desktop. It's more like either or.
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Perhaps a desktop and a tablet would be a good mix. I am reading this on my old iBook G4 which is now relegated to just reading web sites and mail when away from my desk and Mac Pro and I think a pad would be nice for similar uses. Light, small and not required to do much inputing. If cheap enough a tablet would replace my iBook as a general purpose reading device that can also input some stuff when required. I am assuming it would have an onscreen keyboard. With gestures it may even be very good at some kinds of input and maybe typing on an image of a full sized keyboard might be quite easy. It kind of hope this is true, it might be a fun gizmo. After all, Scotty used one as previously noted ;)
 
I would like to see a tablet with a screen of about 6 or 7 inch diag screen, removable battery, and GPS, wifi, and that super 42MBPS 3G technology...

being on calls, via bluetooth, surfing the net, and taking notes from the call, all on one device.... oh maybe DUAL battery, so you can keep three batteries, and always be able to charge one while the other two are ready to go..

I would buy it, do all my work on it.. then email everything to work... not very secure, but very mobile and productive
 
Okay, I'm a little late to the game here, but I just want to throw in my 2¢ worth on the subject.

I would buy a tablet in a heartbeat if it had a stylus. I'm fine with this stylus-free input thing, but I want a tablet for writing and I'm sure as hell not writing my notes with my finger. I take notes on my iBook in a few classes, but it's easier to take notes from oral lectures on paper because of the more fluid nature of the discussion. I would love to be able to do away with my notebooks as well, since I have a habit of losing my paper notes but I always know exactly where my typed material is. I have actually been considering getting a PC tablet, so this is definitely something that would interest me.

If the tablet has a stylus, I hope it has a matte surface like the Wacom Intuos graphics tablet rather than the hard plastic surface of the Graphire/Bamboo. I find it difficult to write without any paper-like resistance.

Yes, tablets cater to a niche market, but no more so than ultralight notebooks like the MacBook Air. In fact, I think there would be a broader market for a tablet.

Wireless support is unlikely to the extreme, since none of the other laptops have it and are intended to be just as mobile. However, I can see it having an ExpressCard slot for the purpose.
 
BlueRevolution said:
If the tablet has a stylus, I hope it has a matte surface like the Wacom Intuos graphics tablet rather than the hard plastic surface of the Graphire/Bamboo. I find it difficult to write without any paper-like resistance.
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There already are stylus pen's that work with the iPhone but 'paper-like resistance' for a finger driven multitouch screen is not very likely. :cool:
 
BlueRevolution said:
...


Wireless support is unlikely to the extreme, since none of the other laptops have it and are intended to be just as mobile...
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I do not understand the sentence above. Can a mobile device exist without wireless support?

In any case, why do folks insist in comparing Apple products with what others in the industry have or have not done?

Apple has proven time and again that they do not abide by 'standards' or 'molds' since they are the ones that create the molds that others follow.

Can you imagine if Apple had not created the mold for the imacs, the ipods, the iphone? What a boring place this would be...
 
i.mac said:
I do not understand the sentence above. Can a mobile device exist without wireless support?
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they said "to the extreme" probably meaning only wireless b/g like the rest of apple's products, and not direct internet access through phone/data connection. Ultra-portable, but not an independent device most likely.
 
Not sure if this has been mentioned, but didnt MacRumors report on another apple patent that could tell when you were pretending to hold a pen over a touchscreen. Maybe there is some truth in the rumor.

I don't have a need for a tablet myself, but I assume there will be a large enough market for apple to even consider making one.
 
My 2 cents worth:

- 12" isn't too large IMO. I have an 8.9" tablet PC, and it's a little small for writing ("inking," even though I think that's a ridiculous word) more than a dozen lines of script. 12" diagonal is smaller than a sheet of 8.5" by 11" paper. It's about the size of a medium sized book. If you are familiar with paper and books, then you know what I'm talking about. If you read things on paper and write on paper but think to yourself, crap, if only this paper and everything on it were smaller, then yes, 12" diagonal is probably too large for you.

- I just saw a post this morning on some other blog (sorry I forget which one) about Intel announcing the new specs for a dual-core Atom processor to be released 2008 Q3, the same time the Apple tablet is rumored to come out in the post under discussion.

- Regarding input, the capacitative touch screen technology that allows for multi-touch will put some interesting design parameters around methods of input. I would imagine for example an onscreen keyboard would be much superior on a multitouch screen than on a resistive touch screen. But if there's no built in stylus with full software support for stylus input, I'd feel pretty skeptical about the overall usability of such a device. In other words, if you can look at it and multi-touch it but not write on it, that would be strangely limited.

- I don't understand why people say "there's no market for a tablet." There is, in fact, an existing market of tablets, called the "tablet PC market." It's the market that consists of the tablet PCs that you could have been buying for the past several years if you weren't all Mac heads. Those who think the market isn't big enough for Apple, I can understand that opinion. But consider that Dell had said that the tablet PC market was too small to enter into, but they have recently made a multi-touch tablet PC (without multi-touch functions).

Also, think about the iPod. When the 1G iPod came out, there was "no market" for mp3 players. Furthermore, the 1G and 2G iPods were absurdly expensive and had a single full sized firewire port for access and charging. But by the time the 3G iPod came out, there was a substantial market for mp3 players and the iTunes store was up and running, which allowed Apple to expand the size of the market. Almost everyone I know bought the 3G iPod, and then the sense of coolness and smug superiority set in. To which I say, if you didn't get a 1G or a 2G iPod or recognize their technical and functional merits, you're a hanger-on and have no business making statements about what there is and is not a market for.

- IMO, the ergonomics of the notebook PC design in general are somewhat crappy anyway. You'll remember this comment when you're 72 and have terrible osteoporosis and neck arthritis.

- I can understand not wanting to carry around a piece of technology with an open, unprotected screen. What I don't understand is that this has come up for every single Apple product with an open, unprotected screen, and it doesn't turn out to be a problem. I suppose it could be possible that just maybe a 3rd party might make some kind of protective shell for an Apple tablet, like a case, or a cover of some kind maybe....

- My prediction is that there will be an Apple tablet soon, some people will be upset that it's not a notebook or an iPhone, some people will say "it won't replace any of my current Apple products so I think it's crap," but then it will establish itself in the marketplace, and then some people will say things like "it took Apple to make a tablet PC that MS couldn't make in 12 years" and "there was no tablet before the iTablet." And then they'll buy the 3G iTablet and act like they knew all along.

:)
 
i_am_a_cow said:
Just because you don't need one... I imagine that this would be just like a macbook. I don't think you realize how useful this would be for creative applications like graphic design, audio recording, modeling, etc.

The tablet form factor has recently seen it's killer app come close to fruition: multitouch.
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Look at it from a business sense. The demand for tablet computers just isnt there or big enough to justify a major release for a company thats famous keeping its product line small, and useful.
 
Jason O'Grady's missed the mark more often than not. He was going on about the death of firewire, the plasma thing, something else that was retarded that I can't think of now. He also cited "reliable sources" in those articles. I believe his "reliable sources" are the voices in his head. He's just trying to generate traffic for Advertising dollars.
 
Dasmo said:
Jason O'Grady's missed the mark more often than not. He was going on about the death of firewire, the plasma thing, something else that was retarded that I can't think of now. He also cited "reliable sources" in those articles. I believe his "reliable sources" are the voices in his head. He's just trying to generate traffic for Advertising dollars.
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on that note, i remember reading how the new generation of firewire will blow away usb 3.0 when they come out
 
cobalts said:
My 2 cents worth:

- 12" isn't too large

- I don't understand why people say "there's no market for a tablet." There is, in fact, an existing market of tablets, called the "tablet PC market." It's the market that consists of the tablet PCs that you could have been buying for the past several years if you weren't all Mac heads. Those who think the market isn't big enough for Apple, I can understand that opinion. But consider that Dell had said that the tablet PC market was too small to enter into, but they have recently made a multi-touch tablet PC (without multi-touch functions).
:)
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Okay, first of all to get it out of the way, That's what she said!

Secondly, yes there is a market for tablet pc's. Now take that number and divide out the 8-9% market share that Apple currently holds. That will give you a fair idea of the market volume we're talking about. Heck, i'll give you 12%. It would be interesting to see the % of pcs that are in fact tablets. Anybody have that info?
 
This is the Lemur tablet, just a 12" iPhone like.

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drewsof07 said:
Okay, first of all to get it out of the way, That's what she said!

Secondly, yes there is a market for tablet pc's. Now take that number and divide out the 8-9% market share that Apple currently holds. That will give you a fair idea of the market volume we're talking about. Heck, i'll give you 12%. It would be interesting to see the % of pcs that are in fact tablets. Anybody have that info?
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According to a post on ZDNet, dated March 2007, tablet PCs were 1.4% of the global PC market in 2006. I presume the number is higher now, although it's hard to say by how much.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/ITFacts/?p=12733

It's kind of hard to compare the existing tablet PCs or the Modbook with a multitouch tablet, though. Only recently with smaller form factors do we see tablet PCs with resistive touch screens. Wacom holds the IP for the pen-based screen technology in most tablets and in the Modbook, but they are not touch sensitive.

IMO, Apple is just developing capacitative touch screen technology and trying to find ways to integrate it into devices. The iPhone is just the first product, for logical reasons. (Or, you could include the multitouch pad, which is the same technology minus the screen.)

Both resistive and capacitative input devices (i.e., touchpads) have been available for a while but capacitative technology has been held back by extra cost and size. Touch on a 12" resistive touch screen is not be very responsive, because the software has to filter out unintended contact by your wrist or hand. You can more easily get away with a touch screen on a smaller device, either resistive or capacitative. The reason the iPhone is the first multitouch Apple product is that it has the smallest screen that would reasonably allow for someone to touch it in more than one place and perform some kind of gesture, without the problem of determining when someone is touching it unintentionally or non-purposively.

How these kinds of problems will be solved on a device with a larger capacitative touch screen will be interesting and will be the key to Apple's success in transforming the market. But it's also a more expensive technology with different limitations. (In a way, the high price of the iPhone and iPod Touch is due to the cost of the R&D of a multitouch Mac tablet using capacitative technology and the development of Apple's IP applied to the consumer.) Multi-touch is great, but integrating it with stylus functionality seems pretty complex, given that you want a fast UI. How are you going to be able to rest your hand on a capacitative screen to write something with a stylus? Can the screen detect differential capacitances? If so, could it distinguish, let's say, a magic stylus from a finger on the basis of their electrical properties? And if you wanted to add pressure sensitivity and angular information, how would that work without overlaying a Wacom screen? It would be great to get all of these features in one device, but I don't think it's going to be possible, at least for a few generations of products.

One question I have is, is there an inherent reason why capacitative technology would limit stylus functioning? According to the CEO of HTC, the reason they did not use a capacitative screen in the HTC Diamond is that the resistive screen is necessary for handwriting recognition, which is very popular in their Asian market. Is this true?

Without reasonable stylus functioning, an Apple tablet would seem more like an entertainment and internet communications device with potentially unfriendly computer functions.
 
A point

drewsof07

Secondly, yes there is a market for tablet pc's. Now take that number and divide out the 8-9% market share that Apple currently holds. That will give you a fair idea of the market volume we're talking about. Heck, i'll give you 12%. It would be interesting to see the % of pcs that are in fact tablets. Anybody have that info?
__________________
"If your attack is going as planned, you're walking into an ambush"

I just wanted to point out that you never get into buisness or in this case a market to meet the current demand of the market. You always do something different to create a market. That is good buisness, and that is what Apple is great at doing.
 
CG81 said:
drewsof07

Secondly, yes there is a market for tablet pc's. Now take that number and divide out the 8-9% market share that Apple currently holds. That will give you a fair idea of the market volume we're talking about. Heck, i'll give you 12%. It would be interesting to see the % of pcs that are in fact tablets. Anybody have that info?
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True.

Gut feeling says that Apple will not approach this like the PC market. i will grant you that the PC tablets are alluring. However, once you try one out they seem clunky in implementation. Most have the swivel screen arrangement which is flimsy, small keyboard and display, and they are not as light as you would think.

I would tend to believe that Apple is looking at a larger Touch type device. No optical or traditional HD, completely solid state in design. Of course this would mean no built in traditional tactical keyboard. Of course all bets are off if Apple pursues a larger form factor. Either way, I do not see the tablet running FCP as some have stated. Office type applications sure, but not graphics intensive at this time. The power required for FCP and similar apps in a small form factor is not there yet.

For me, the Touch has been a rather eye opening and effective device for me when on the go. With the third party apps that will be coming out, it could really become a powerhouse device. A little bigger version would be nice, but not too big.
 
Having a hard time trying to picture what void this will fill with Apple's lineup.

I think this is very likely one more component of several rumors going around about a single product under development.

*Andy Ihnatko repeatedly drops hints of a possible ultraportable under development at Apple.

*Recent rumors of a touchscreen keyboard for the AppleTV have come to light recently.

*The tablet-style Mac rumor that has been around for the last few years; an idea that Steve Jobs has thrown cold water on in his public criticism of table PCs and their failure to gain traction in all but a very small niche (*cough*MacBook Air*cough*).

While I would be excited about a Mac in the subnotebook range (sometimes lugging my MBP around all day kills my back and is often overkill when I just want to do some typing), I fail to see Apple embracing the tablet-Mac for anything more serious than controlling the AppleTV (think Sonos) and toilet surfing/ichatting (think Nokia 770 Internet Tablet). An Apple subnotebook would no doubt be underpowered, which we already have with the MacBook Air, and in many ways such a device already exists in the way of the iPod Touch and iPhone. If Apple does release a touchscreen keyboard/miniMac for controlling the AppleTV and mild Internet surfing, I hope they are wise enough to make the applications developed by the iPhone SDK compatible (which would drive sales of the applications and the device). How cool would it be to be able to buy a movie and immediately enter the transaction in your iBank account and add it to your Delicious Library collection?!

A micro-tablet-Mac computer would partially or completely cannibalize sales of the iPod Touch, Macmini, MacBook and MacBook Air. I just do not see any upside for Apple besides using it as a means of controlling your digital lifestyle.

BTW, two of my friends who swore by their table-PCs have recently traded them in for MacBooks. :p Their biggest complaint was that they could get more than twice as much done with a keyboard than their tables in the same amount of time.
 
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Mac Tablet

Hey,

Am new to the forums. Have been reading for awhile, gaining tips and product insight, et cetera. Decided to voice a need. Have used an HP TC1100 for three years, a tablet w/ detachable keyboard. Should Apple use this as a go-by for size and format would buy. What do other people think of the uses?
 
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