

Dreaming of an Apple Tablet - JeffJenkins
http://maxvoltar.com/archive/dreaming-of-an-apple-tablet

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Kilimanjaro
Nop, too complicated for an Apple product.

It will be just a 10" iPad specially designed for reading magazines,
newspapers and books (99cts on iTunes), playing movies and videos (1.99cts on
iTunes), but above all, believe it or not...

...games!

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Kilimanjaro
On the spot!

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stcredzero
I just bought an HP/Compaq TC1100 "slate" form factor tablet computer. It has
a removable keyboard and a docking station that are similar to the scheme
described in the article. (But without a larger screen, though you can use a
larger external monitor on the docking station.) These things have somewhat of
a cult following now.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_Compaq_TC1100>

I can see why. This thing is _awesome_! I can do _everything_ in terms of
browsing the web with the pen alone. The handwriting recognition is
phenomenal. Also, with the pressure sensitive pen, it's like I have a portable
mini Wacom Cintiq, which I plan on using to delve into art and drawing.

The Windows Journal program even seems to be an attempt to implement the
"Digital Moleskine" functionality:
<http://www.rohdesign.com/weblog/archives/001600.html>

I just love this thing! The design is of the same rounded corners philosophy
of the white iBook, but in grey. It feels wonderful. I wonder why more of
these things weren't sold?

Implement something like this, but with a few updates and better integration,
and it would be _killer_. For one thing, incorporate GPS and location
services. Integrate that into the media player, so you can do searches like:
"What was I listening to the last time I was sketching at my favorite
coffeehouse?" Or, in a more serious vein, how about, "Give me the notes I made
the 1st night of WWDC?"

I also plan on downloading the Kindle PC program for this thing.

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jsz0
My biggest wishlist item for the tablet is strong desktop Mac integration.
I'll probably buy one either way but being able to use it in conjunction with
my Mac would add a lot of value. It could be used as a auxiliary display,
input device, and have strong software integration. For example, when it's
docked it constantly keeps track of which tabs I have open in Safari so I can
just undock it and have the same tabs open in Mobile Safari.

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jcnnghm
I'd love to see a hardware keyboard. It's a chore typing on the iPhone screen.
In particular, I think you could mount a keyboard on the back of the device,
so that half the keyboard was on each side with T, G & B being the top keys on
the left side, and Y, H, & N being the top keys on the right side. If the keys
were touch sensitive, a transparent soft-keyboard could be displayed on the
front of the device showing your finger positions. That should make it easy to
adjust and allow you to touch type while giving you visual confirmation of
your keypresses.

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CalmQuiet
What about just having blue tooth - and the capability of working with an
wireless kb?

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jcnnghm
The use case I want something like this for is so that I can browse the
internet and write emails from bed or from the sofa. A wireless keyboard would
make it much less useful in these contexts.

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aresant
I love this concept.

Back in the day I had a Macintosh Duo laptop that you just slid into a dock
that included full ports, a better video card, etc and to this day I miss that
set-up.

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pwmanagerdied
I like the idea, but thiss caught my eye:

> Next, imagine an iMac sans the internal computer, just a screen with some
> extra storage, extra RAM, a stronger video card, maybe even an extra
> processor, and a docking bay for the tablet.

What part of the internal computer is missing from that list?

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wmf
Exactly. That "docking station" wouldn't be any cheaper than an iMac; if
anything it would be more expensive.

