Apple Tablet Speculation

A tablet would be fabulous for my purposes sometimes. As long as it has some form of keyboard, or at least the USB ports ( I'm sure on the last one) the aplications for video techs are enormous, providing extra screen realestate for on site monitoring whe a seperate NTSC monitor or Powermac setup is inconvienent.

If we have a tibook with writting (inkwell) features would be great.
I think we should have this as an alternative portable. If apple was to do this then we would see an apple pda as well. Apple needs to come up with something to take the lead in this market. A la IPoD.

It would also be amazing also to use the pen in photoshop and illustrator. Can you do this with the new pc tablets?

with the inkwell technology staring at us... i would be crazy not to have a hardware which uses this cool technology.

especially when apple points out all the advantages.

it will of course be a niche product. it should be directed to specialized markets like, hospitals, factories, etc.

but they would have to watch out how they market this thing.

market it the wrong way, people might misunderstand the point for such a hardware.

I dont know.....

The tablet PC seems akward. Maybe Im wrong, but all I can imagine is a messy, fingerprinted screen whose software wont recognize your handwriting especially since typing is so much faster anyway.

However, Alias has new tablet software....

Also, with HyperTransport being pushed by AMD and Apple, and the speculation surrounding their partnership.....anything is possible.

A HyperTransport Apple Tablet?

Hrmm.

Niche for sure.

For more speculation, check out http://fury.com/topics/iPad.php.

Hint, read from the bottom up, or start here: http://fury.com/article/745.php

Right now I'd guess that they're still wating for inkwell to catch on more, and an iPad will probably be in the coming around May or July...

Kevin Fox
http://fury.com

Yeah, keyboards are still a must. My guess is if Apple does a Tablet PC at all, it'll be a convertible laptop configuration, rather than a "slate" with a docking station. Apple's designers probably figured out an elegant, easy, robust way to convert a laptop to a tablet, unlike the awkward designs I've seen from Gateway, etc. that look clumsy and fragile...

Originally posted by kfury
For more speculation, check out http://fury.com/topics/iPad.php.

Hint, read from the bottom up, or start here: http://fury.com/article/745.php

Right now I'd guess that they're still wating for inkwell to catch on more, and an iPad will probably be in the coming around May or July...

Kevin Fox
http://fury.com

Saw your page. Very cool. Except I think an iMac with a detachable screen would fulfill a very different need than a laptop. Without a keyboard, it's not the kind of thing one would take to school or work. It'd be more for surfing the web at home while you're sitting on your couch.

Maybe Apple will use a two-pronged approach: iMac with a detachable screen for home use, plus a rugged, convertible iBook for the mobile user.

Originally posted by lmalave
Yeah, keyboards are still a must. My guess is if Apple does a Tablet PC at all, it'll be a convertible laptop configuration, rather than a "slate" with a docking station. Apple's designers probably figured out an elegant, easy, robust way to convert a laptop to a tablet, unlike the awkward designs I've seen from Gateway, etc. that look clumsy and fragile...

Nope. They're strategy would be to add an item to their product line. It follows with their hub strategy and helps build revenues.

OK, I've asked this before and few people responded. At the current form factor, Tablet PC's provide very little functionality over a laptop; in most scenarios, they provide less. If a tablet is only as portable as current laptops, and I wouldn't use it in a substantially different way than my laptop, why would I choose a tablet? Given that keyboards are quicker and more efficient that pen input, if I am in a place where it makes just as much sense for me to use a laptop, then a Tablet makes no sense at all...

With regards to surfing the web with a tablet while sitting on the couch...that is exactly what I am doing right now. And, given that I am typing this lengthy message on a keyboard, it makes little sense to me to use a pen-based tablet where a laptop works almost perfectly for the application. Tablets don't make surfing the web any easier; in fact, given how much I type while I surf, they'd make it considerably slower.

Now, let's get back to discussing the perfect form factor for ultra-portable computing. The Newton 2100 size was just about perfect. It allowed me to take it everywhere, and the screen size was large enough to actually do productive work on. Current PDA's are too small for real-world use, and current Tablets are too big for ultra-portability. The Newton size/form factor was just right.

I wouldn't mind seeing a unit the approximate dimensions of a paperback book. But a full 8.5 x 11 inches? That's too large, and I'd rarely take it with me.

Ugh, this Rothenburg dude is on a complete fishing expedition. He needed to meet a deadline so he puts forth some random speculation as 'reporting.' I can't believe this guy gets paid to write this rubbish. Nothing remotely factual nor vaguely insightful in the article. He doesn't even do the standard "A friend of a friend who used to clean the toilet at blah blah told me ..."