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A Mac tablet? Not just yes, but 'heck yes'

by Erica Sadun Jul 23rd 2008 at 12:30PM

Apple's Q3 Financial call may or may not have pointed to a new Mac tablet offering but that doesn't really matter. The Mac tablet isn't a rumor any more, Robert. It's right here sitting in my pocket. If the iPhone isn't a Mac tablet, I don't know what is. It runs OS X. It has a full touch interface. OS X + touch == Mac tablet, any way you look at it.

The computing world is changing. We're no longer tied to desktops. We move around, we take our computing with us. Holding a computer in the crook of our arms isn't just a nice idea, it's practical. When you're walking through hospital halls, sitting in on a University lecture, attending business meetings, or specing out a project at a construction site, the tablet computer makes sense. If anything, the iPhone which has been pushed far beyond its original design specs, has proven that people want truly mobile computing. No keyboard, no standard screen -- true portability.

And it's not just about people who spend their lives away from their desks. Drawing directly on a screen beats the heck out of drawing on a Wacom tablet. Tablet computing brings the artist directly to the canvas. And it doesn't stop at drawing. How do traditional laptops and computer screens integrate meaningfully in any way into creating music. Sure, we're used to the standard tools but isn't a piano keyboard or a guitar a more natural interface into music? Let musicians jot notes into a portable tablet rather than figuring out how to keep moving between instrument and computer keyboard.

Cell phones and tablet computers are all about freeing ourselves. Sure you can bring a laptop on a camping trip or into the grocery store -- but an iPhone or a small tablet mac work much better on the go. So, say "Yes" to tablets. In fact, say "Heck Yes". Because we don't have to wait for Apple to deliver one any more. iPhone and App Store already have.



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Apple's Q3 Financial call may or may not have pointed to a new Mac tablet offering but that doesn't really matter. The Mac tablet isn't a...
 

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Justin

"Drawing directly on a screen beats the heck out of drawing on a Wacom tablet."

You can't be serious? The iPhone touch screen is great as a GUI, but can't even compare to good Wacom tablet (one with an LCD screen) for doing graphics. Not even close. My Wacom LCD tablet, for starters, is 12", much bigger than the tiny iPhone screen. It also has 512 level of pressure sensitivity, tilt sensitivity, and a much more precise when it comes to actual drawing. The iPhone can't run Photoshop. The iPhone is the best phone/PDA out there, IMHO, but it's not a Mac tablet computer by any means, and I wouldn't want it to be.

I know TUAW is a commercial venture, but I sure hope they aren't paying the people who post on it, because lately, they've been posting some real crap, sorry to say. This post belongs on someone's personal blog.

July 25 2008 at 11:27 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Ryan

Funny article, but misguided (on Robert's heck no). Sure, a tablet is not the replacement for the computer as we know it, but it is a device that, if properly designed with the right UI and handwriting recognition, will represent the future of computing. Think about it.

Robert fails to actually discuss what a tablet is good for... what it is better than a laptop at...

MOBILE/RELAXING COMPUTING. Here I am, for example, sitting on my chaise lounger, and my MacBook Pro is burning a whole in my gut because I have to rest this dumb thing on my body laying down. Sure, I have a stand but it is still super hot hovering over my legs and stomach. With a tablet, I could sit and comfortably compute in a more ergonomically friendly position.

Here is where a tablet bests a laptop:

-In vehicles for navigation and internet searches on trips or for business = MORE MOBILITY
-In research settings where observations and computing happened simulteniously = MORE MOBILITY
-In medical settings giving Doctors/Nurses much more power to diagnose their patients (i.e. looking up detailed info on medication side effects, MRI Scans, etc.) = MORE MOBILITY
-In libraries where users must traverse large aisles and find books = MORE MOBILITY, not to mention that you mitigate the risk of someone stealing your laptop in the library since you have your tablet with you when you run to get your books...
-In business settings like meetings to take notes = MORE MOBILITY
-Sitting on your desk to take notes, jot down reminders and ideas... = DECREASED USE OF PAPER AND MORE MOBILITY
-EBooks... on and on

The point is, a laptop is only a "partial" step to mobile computing, where true tablets are the true mobile computers. And I am not talking about a laptop hybrid, although I could see Apple giving us a super thin one with a pivot screen. Tablets are the future.

July 25 2008 at 7:01 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
I,Robot

Um.... Bullsh_t! I've heard THIS ONE, just to many times. I don't believe it for one second.

Yeah, this is how it is... either DO IT or DON'T DO IT, but STOP TALKING ABOUT IT. Because it's pissing me, and about a million people off to continue to hear about something that NEVER going to f__king happen!

July 25 2008 at 12:50 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
ecsk2


While the iPhone does what it does very nicely and most likely fills the void for most people (even if they won't agree to getting an Apple device out of some kind of principle), there is a group and significant % of us visiting sites like this one that want more of a UMPC with us at all times for various reasons, some professional reasons others less so.

Although I am very new at being an Apple owner (both computer and iPhone btw) I really like the products now, however I still need Windows (XP is what I prefer) for many reasons, now the only Windows natively running devices I still have is the EEEpc and a Dell x51v, why? Because Apple is not offering anything in the size of either of those that could do what I need them for.

More than a year before the iPhone was available I was all hyped by this (what I like to call the "Adam's Apple" :)) winner of Engadget's WWJD 3
http://www.engadget.com/2006/02/27/wwjd-3-results/

Ok it might seem a bit "old" now when are already used to the iPhone and even have a 2nd generation sort of but still I would pay (too much) for a device that would be anything from the original iPod size (as in the link) to say around the OQO UMPC (www.oqo.com) if it had full OS touch screen as the iPhone and one of the most important features for myself, at least a full day's battery life, or something like the (non 3G) iPhone's battery time (works for me all day as I use a 2nd phone w/full real qwerty keyboard as the main phone).

Am I alone in wanting such a UMPC or call it MID if you want? If it had full OS X I could also install Windows application in at least 4-5 different ways, thereby opening the door to just about any application I might ever need/want!

July 24 2008 at 1:09 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
PV

iPhone - yes
iTablet - no

Goldilocks may have found the porridge in the middle to be the one for her, but the markets seem to show that when it comes to computing, we want the extremes: people either want something they can type on or something they can put in their pockets. Tablets have niche markets, but they'll never be "just right" for the masses.

July 24 2008 at 12:51 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to PV's comment
uhuznaa

If you want to know if a tablet makes sense you'd first have to analyze what most people actually *do* with their computers and phones. And with "most people" I don't mean "most people working in IT or most people reading and commenting on blogs". Just most of those millions and millions of people out there. Let's say those people who can't touch-type, would never bother to learn and actually don't like to write much at all. I'd be very surprised if you wouldn't find that a sizable portion of these do almost nothing but consuming stuff on their devices.

People look at pictures and video, listen to music, they read news, they google for things, they buy things. Typing is either very limited (search terms, passwords, credit card numbers) or is done *despite* very poor keyboards (the crappy keyboards on cellphones don't seem to hinder most people to write lots of short SMS). And everyone who types with two fingers while staring at the keyboard, now and then looking up at the screen and correcting typos would be perfectly happy with a well-done virtual keyboard on a not too small touchscreen, believe me.

The market for a tablet is not only there, it is *huge*. Of course not for a clumsy notebook without keyboard, running an OS that has grown up with keyboards and mice for decades, but for an elegant, sleek tablet with a well-designed OS.

Think of a scaled up iPod touch with a 7" screen. Include a stand for propping it up at a desk with a BT keyboard paired to it for writing the occasional letter or longer email and most "normal" people will throw out their clumsy notebooks exactly the same way they threw out their clumsy desktop PCs shortly after they bought their notebooks.

Nobody seems to see that, but that's OK. That's why we need innovation and why we're ever so often totally surprised by new things that seem so obvious with hindsight.

July 24 2008 at 9:10 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jono Hayes

i think apple will drop the price of the mac book to start under $999, up date the mac book pro to look more like the mac book air but bigger and not as thin, and have a Mac tablet, this would mean they have a laptop/notebook for all the market.

Mac book
Mac book Air
Mac book Touch
Mac book Pro

July 24 2008 at 12:29 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
mike

When the Air came out I was hugely disappointed - I thought we were going to get a 8x10 iPhone looking device. I wrote about this on my blog a while back (http://mccamon.org/2008/04/product-diversion-an-innovative-notebook/). So HECK yes, we need this product. Think of it as the LCD display you can take with you. It would be (another) game changer!

July 24 2008 at 12:08 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
KiL

Tell me what you want, but unless I can type as fast on a "tablet" of any kind as I can via 10-finger blind-touch on a keyboard, the "tablet" will only be a meager replacement for any laptop.

For the occasional mail-check and short message, yes iPhones are great, but anything that goes beyond very short text typing is a pain in the a**e (Bri. Eng.) and not really a solution.

And for proper work the screen is still too small.

July 23 2008 at 9:42 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Catt

Nice post... There are however a few things that prevent the iPhone from being a true tablet for me... (1) Screen real-estate, (2) a few full-blown apps, (3) That whole inability to copy/paste/delete large chunks of text...

July 23 2008 at 8:43 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
slackpacker

If you played around with BeatMaker App on the iPhone you will just begin to see why Multi-Touch Tablets will be the next big thing. Its mind blowing

July 23 2008 at 8:18 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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