[JeremyS]

I know MOSR posted a rumor stating that the new widget's introduced in 10.2.3 with brushed metal were a hint of what's to come in hardware and many people laughed.

But think of this, what if Apple released a tablet MAC and in the corner they had the Red, Yellow & Green buttons inset like they are on the brushed metal theme.

Would that not be the perfect way to handle windows in OS X using a tablet version?

I mean how handy would that be to beable to control windows (minimizing, zooming, closing) all via color coded buttons that conform to the OS??

I hope so because I have been longing for a wireless tablet MAC that I could use when sitting in my living room which is far from my MAC.

Heck it could open a whole new realm of computer use allowing you to bring it everywhere in your house.

PLEASE OH PLEASE APPLE RELEASE A TABLET MAC WITH THOSE COOL LITTLE COLORED WIDGETS!!! I WILL BE FIRST IN LINE TO PURCHASE ONE!!!

[AKcrab]

You're nuts. And I mean that in the nicest way.

[ShotgunEd]

Originally posted by AKcrab:
You're nuts. And I mean that in the nicest way.

I'm going to have to concur on this one. I don't see apple releasing a tablet mac anytime soon.

[JeremyS]

But why not??

I mean laptops are full service machines, what about those that have mac's already but no laptop.

Using airport you could have a tablet mac that you could use for general things like email, surfing, etc anywhere in your house, with you main mac as the hub.

Reguarless of your hate for tablet type computers I think Apple will release one done right.

[besson3c]

and Mac is not an acronym (i.e. Mac not MAC)

[Silky Voice of The Gorn]

1) A tablet computer would still use the normal on screen widgets and controls; physical ones would be redundant and clumily integrated with the screen objects.

2) Real widgets, if recessed the way the look in OS X, would be a pain in the ass to push.

3) On screen UI does not translate well into the real world (and vice-versa, to be honest). Forcing it, in the name of some sort of "consistency," is a flawed premise.

[Socially Awkward Solo]

JeremyS, you are like 16 right?

For us people who actually have to pay for these computers and do WORK on them this is one sorry sounding device.

[besson3c]

I don't know about you guys, but in my office I keep my trash can on my desktop...

(re: translating real life metaphors to computers and vice versa)

[Millennium]

I doubt it.

Apple's Aqua HI guidelines say that the Metal theme is only to be used for apps which mimic or interface with real-world devices (iChat and QuickTime break this, but that's Apple for you). Most likely they recessed the widgets simply to make them look more like a real-world device, in keeping with that guideline.

Having used tablet-type computers extensively in the past, I don't see what all the fuss is about, anyway. I can see their utility in cultures which use ideographic scripts, particularly Asian languages. But anywhere else? Why?

[JeremyS]

Why???

Well I don't know how many times I have been watching tv and wanted to quickly check my email during a commercial or want to check my email. Now I have to go to the computer, when if I had a tablet I could just have it sitting on the coffee table.

You could bring it anywhere!!

So when apple releases this, I can come back here and slander all of you like you are to me right

I don't know for sure about the widget/hardware integration but I surely want a OS X tablet!!

[CheesePuff]

Originally posted by JeremyS:
Why???

Well I don't know how many times I have been watching tv and wanted to quickly check my email during a commercial or want to check my email. Now I have to go to the computer, when if I had a tablet I could just have it sitting on the coffee table.

You could bring it anywhere!!

So when apple releases this, I can come back here and slander all of you like you are to me right

I don't know for sure about the widget/hardware integration but I surely want a OS X tablet!!

I believe this is called an iBook or PowerBook.

[tooki]

The logic in the original post is about as sound as, say, being in the late 80s and seeing how car makers were beginning to make car door handles recessed to reduce drag, and concluding that because they're streamlining the car, it's a sign that amphibian land-submarine vehicles were around the corner.

tooki

[JeremyS]

by the way I am 25.

Recessed buttons would not be hard to press as they would be tall enough to stick out, when pressed they would be almost level with the surface of the unit.

I could do my accounting/business stuff all while sitting on the couch watching tv.

Heck my wife said she would love to have it in the kitchen, as she could pull of some of her favorite recipes from websites and cook.

You could bring it in the garage when fixing something, instructions listed on your tablet.

Ok, so a windows tablet works by using a pen (inkwell), Apple thinks different and says hmmmm, no one wants to use a pen to navigate a interface.

why not put the window widgets on the hardware unit to allow the user to control the windows using the hardware buttons and the pen to write text. Much better then clicking a window widget with a pen.

[JeremyS]

Also, an ibook is like 1499, a tablet could be released for 799 or even cheaper most likely, making it a huge commercial seller.

[Developer]

Originally posted by JeremyS:
Also, an ibook is like 1499, a tablet could be released for 799 or even cheaper most likely, making it a huge commercial seller.

Why? Because the keyboard costs $700?

[Mediaman_12]

Originally posted by JeremyS:
Also, an ibook is like 1499, a tablet could be released for 799 or even cheaper most likely, making it a huge commercial seller.

Err no. Most of the stuff in a laptop that makes it expensive (battery, flat screen, various other compact electronics e.g. the Graphics circuitry) would still need to be in the tablet, along with some sort of wireless networking and touch sensitive screen. it would end up at about the same cost. It's the ease of use while standing/walking that the tablet's are currently being pushed with, not lower cost.

[Mac Zealot]

I always thought the thing about using a pen to touch EVERYTHING was stupid as FSCK.

This is one reason I always hated palm pilots. It looks assinate to see someone poking at a little screen with a pen.

If they're going to make it good they better make it so that you can do almost anything without a damn pen.

I mean, for writting it would be nice, but think about this.

[chabig]

Also, an ibook is like 1499, a tablet could be released for 799 or even cheaper most likely, making it a huge commercial seller.

Well a table computer is just a computer without a keyboard or hinge. I hardly think that leaving those two things out can result in a $700 savings.

On the PC side, aren't the tablet PCs selling for more than conventional laptops?

Chris

[godzookie2k]

Originally posted by JeremyS:
Also, an ibook is like 1499, a tablet could be released for 799 or even cheaper most likely, making it a huge commercial seller.

heh, if the PC side can't get a decent tablet in under a grand, I doubt apples overpriced ass could.

[JeremyS]

good point, I mean if apple could manage a way to make it $799 or less it would sell like hotcakes but can they do that is the question.

I guess I am just hoping for something big as it seems things have sloowed down since the good old days of the imac, g3 blue, cube, titanium, etc.

I guess it all has to do with the econmomy but seesh wouldn't a killer, affordable device help to change that and generate large sales during a down time?

[chris v]

Can ANYONE think of what red, yellow and green buttons (Otherwise known as Close, Minimize and Maximize) on a device would actually DO?

This is sillyness of the highest order. Window widgets have no analogous purpose in the hardware realm.


As far as tablets go, the first reason keyboards were developed and employed for writing (Think WAY back in history to the manual typewriter, created in the mid 1800's--qwerty largely won out over a plethora of keyboard layouts by the early 1900's) is because they are faster and more efficient than writing by hand. Inkwell, or tap-tap-tapping with a stylus strikes me (and apparently a large segment of the potential tablet-buying public) as a major PITA compared to typing on a keyboard.

CV (readies hat for eating after MW, but thinks hat will remain undigested)

[cowerd]

good point, I mean if apple could manage a way to make it $799 or less it would sell like hotcakes but can they do that is the question.

You haven't priced windows tablets. The LCD would be a touch screen--much more expensive than a regular laaptop LCD.

Palm/Pocket PC etc use a button interface now. It limits adding things in the future unless you redesign the hardware casing.

As far as tablets go, the first reason keyboards were developed and employed for writing (Think WAY back in history to the manual typewriter, created in the mid 1800's--qwerty largely won out over a plethora of keyboard layouts by the early 1900's) is because they are faster and more efficient than writing by hand. Inkwell, or tap-tap-tapping with a stylus strikes me (and apparently a large segment of the potential tablet-buying public) as a major PITA compared to typing on a keyboard.

Writing in't the only form of communication--drawing would be better on a tablet. There are also places where the sound of a keyboard is not welcome, like meetings. Tablet could work, an Apple is well suited because of CPU assets (when was the last time you heard that) and UI design expertise. But don't expect one for a year or so.

[Silky Voice of The Gorn]

Originally posted by JeremyS:
Recessed buttons would not be hard to press as they would be tall enough to stick out, when pressed they would be almost level with the surface of the unit.

...and by extension, easy to hit by mistake

I could do my accounting/business stuff all while sitting on the couch watching tv.

I do that now with my iBook

Heck my wife said she would love to have it in the kitchen, as she could pull of some of her favorite recipes from websites and cook.

I have to laugh- this is one of the *oldest* claimed utilities of computers since the early 80s; "Store recipes!". A kitchen is a greasy, wet, messy place. Completely wrong environment for a loose, sensitive computing device. This is why cookbooks are still the best way to read recipes.

You could bring it in the garage when fixing something, instructions listed on your tablet.

Yeah, real handy when you have to lean over a table to look at it. You know where this is headed: iBook, dude. The screen is already tilted up!

Ok, so a windows tablet works by using a pen (inkwell), Apple thinks different and says hmmmm, no one wants to use a pen to navigate a interface.

Says who? I use a Wacom tablet all the time, it works just fine. UI control is just as fast as with a mouse (in fact often faster, as you can navigate to screen coords instantenously, rather than having to drag the pointer).

why not put the window widgets on the hardware unit to allow the user to control the windows using the hardware buttons and the pen to write text. Much better then clicking a window widget with a pen.

...and what determines *which* window the hardware widgets are controlling? In fact, how do you move around the windows and navigate the UI to begin with? That's right- the pen. A tablet computer navigates just *fine* with a stylus. There is no need for hardware UI buttons. Trying to extend the UI window button metaphor to the hardware space is a solution seeking a problem. Sure, Apple could even be cute and make power/activity lights/buttons that mimic the OS X widgets, but that would be going against their own claimed desire for UI consistency (admitedly broken time and again by their own ranks).

[raviruddarraju]

Originally posted by JeremyS:
I know MOSR posted a rumor stating that the new widget's introduced in 10.2.3 with brushed metal were a hint of what's to come in hardware and many people laughed.

But think of this, what if Apple released a tablet MAC and in the corner they had the Red, Yellow & Green buttons inset like they are on the brushed metal theme.

I do not think this is a stupid idea. There is nothing radically wrong with having such buttons for a handheld/tablet thing-y. I think I will actually propose it in a class project and see what the response would be.

[CheesePuff]

Originally posted by JeremyS:
Also, an ibook is like 1499, a tablet could be released for 799 or even cheaper most likely, making it a huge commercial seller.

Is that why all Tablet PCs are more than $2,000? (well, I have seen two for around $1,800).

Oh, and an iBook is $999.

[3R1C]

As far as tablets go, the first reason keyboards were developed and employed for writing (Think WAY back in history to the manual typewriter, created in the mid 1800's--qwerty largely won out over a plethora of keyboard layouts by the early 1900's) is because they are faster and more efficient than writing by hand.

although the above may be true, the reason that the 'qwerty' keyboard layout was first concieved was because typewriters had a tendency to have their 'hammers' jam. the innovator of the qwerty layout needed a way to slow down the typer. so he arranged the keys in the most inefficient manner he could, thus slowing the typer and minimising hammer jamming.

[chris v]

Originally posted by 3R1C:


although the above may be true, the reason that the 'qwerty' keyboard layout was first concieved was because typewriters had a tendency to have their 'hammers' jam. the innovator of the qwerty layout needed a way to slow down the typer. so he arranged the keys in the most inefficient manner he could, thus slowing the typer and minimising hammer jamming.

I didn't say querty won out for any GOOD reason-- it's probably similar to the VHS/Beta & Win/Mac situations. Although,I'm not sure that slowing down the typist was the real goal as much as spacing out the most frequently-struck keys from one another. It probably had the side-effect of slowing people down.

CV, who loves his 1910 Oliver, and his 1935 Royal.

[Cipher13]

Originally posted by tooki:
The logic in the original post is about as sound as, say, being in the late 80s and seeing how car makers were beginning to make car door handles recessed to reduce drag, and concluding that because they're streamlining the car, it's a sign that amphibian land-submarine vehicles were around the corner.

tooki

ROFL. Well said. Signature worthy, that is.

[Socially Awkward Solo]

Sorry but this is the most pointless threads I have ever seen here

[brainchild2b]

Even more pointless is someone who takes the time to post about a 'pointless thread'

Mark my words, you will see your tablet Mac by July at the latest. Plans are for it in January.

[Leia's Right Bun]

Originally posted by brainchild2b:

Mark my words, you will see your tablet Mac by July at the latest. Plans are for it in January.

Ok thanks for the inside info.

[milhous]

I think it's safe to say that a company such as Apple is keeping an eye on the sales of these Tablet PC's. And if people start buying these things by the masses, you just KNOW that another company is going to follow suit. And if they don't do well, then there's no R&D and PR money lost.

[undotwa]

Brushed metal can be used for any app where it looks good

Nuff said.

[TC]

The idea of the buttons on a real device sucks.
The idea of an Apple tablet rocks.

Rendezvous, Airport, InkWell + Apple indutrial design would allow it to p�ss all over tablet PCs.

[sideus]

So if my finger hovers over the button on the TabMac, do they show the ?

[RealityCheck]

Too bad I've yet to see a brushed aluminum app, that I thought looked good. I haven't seen a useful draw either in a Mac app, but that's a different story.

[snerdini]

Originally posted by RealityCheck:
... I haven't seen a useful draw either in a Mac app, but that's a different story.

Have you used Transmit 2 yet?