Veddy intellesting ... but stupid!

I might be the only geek on the planet who sees nothing worthwhile about tablets. I just don't see the market being that big, or getting that big.

I want a tablet so I can
- leave it on the coffee table for a quick surf while watching tv (cat sits on lap = no room for a laptop)
- read PDFs for school without all the unnecessary hardware (keyboard, trackpad, firewire ports)
- control media being sent to Airport Express from th couch, without having to sit at the mac or buy a mini to hook up to the stereo
- watch DVDs on the airplane
- shuttle files back and forth to work or school

Yes I know there are other solutions that can do all this, but they either require multiple devices, or have screens that are "too small".

My vision is a screen about the size of a MacBook screen, slightly thicker to hold the processor, battery, drive (or flash memory), and DVD drive. Bluetooth would allow use of a keyboard & mouse, WiFi, a couple of USB ports, and a pair of headphone jacks. A built in camera would be nice. Sounds like this product. Hmmm....

Every time I take my daughter to the pediatrician and he opens his laptop and tries to balance it on his knee while he enters information into her chart and brings up whatever literature to print out for me to read I can't help but think that he would do better with a tablet.

Not every computer user sits at a desk. Tablets are an excellent form factor for a variety of uses. Whether or not Apple decides to get into that market is another issue entirely. But to honestly believe that there is no use for a tablet-style computer is just ignorant.



- Jon

I just had this conversation with a guy yesterday, so I'm passing on more news about tablets.

If you sit at a meeting (say, with a client) and your laptop is open, the screen is a "wall" between you and the client. This is regardless of whether you can see him or if it's off to the side or anything. Now compare this to the guy who has a tablet in front of him. Take the screen away and you immediately feel more personal contact across the table.

It's a ridiculously effective technique, we tried it out when we read about it.

Anyway, this looks like one sweet machine. I'm surprised they're going to be able to make a profit; do they really mod every single iBook to remarket it?

Sure there are uses for tablets...

But how did an outside company get the rights and tech to build a Mac - what kind of deal makes this possible?

A PC builder who would LOVE to build Macs but can't, cause it's not allowed.

They are not building Macs. They are modding existing Macbooks. Just a very extreme mod.