Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Rumor: MacBook touch Coming in October

So here's the rumor, MacBook touch Coming in October. It does look nice but the comments do question the utility. Anyone have a tablet PC? Do you like it? How do you use it differently from a laptop?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I used a Toshiba Tablet PC for about 1.5 years when they first came out. It was a Version 1.0 product but the pen interface showed promise. Two unique things I used, and miss using:

- Free form note taking

- Reading - it just felt more "book like" when I could flip the keyboard out of the way

The Dad said...

In my office (a SW company with 100 people in this location) one guy got his hands on a tablet to test our web-based software designed for salesmen on the road. The tablet proved to be a very handy tool for this concept, up until it got stolen at an airport.

I definitely like this concept, but I think it would only work well if it had a pen option and essentially a dock that automagically converted it into what is essentially an iMac.

Funny, though, about the pen...while I would have to think using a pen would be easier than typing on the glass, I have to say that I've reached a point where I HATE the physical act of writing. It's become so uncomfortable as compared to typing, so much so that I sometimes will actually take the time to feed an envelope through a printer versus handwriting the address.

Nevertheless, this will prove to be a neat gadget if it comes true, probably much more useful than a Macbook Air.

Howard said...

You didn't say in what way was the tablet better than a laptop?

I do feed envelopes through a printer instead of typing too, Address Book's print command makes this easy (particularly after you use Quicksilver to open AB to the right contact).

My writing is not what it was in college, not even close. My typing is good, but while I was fine with graffiti on the Palm, I never got fast enough to where I could take notes using it. Lately though I find constrained with typing in not being able to easily layout text on the page, go back and make annotations or do diagrams. At least as easily as with a pen. And I use a multi-color pen (lately a Cross Tech3) and it's not as easy to switch colors while typing. I've yet to find a Sudoko program that works as well as paper and pen.

My guess is that if Apple does make a tablet, it will work well with the bluetooth keyboard. That's probably why they kept it small vs the wired version.

I think a tablet would be nice for watching a movie on a plane, though being able to rest it on the tray might be better than having to hold it in your lap.

The Dad said...

These days watching a movie on a laptop while sitting in an airplane seat isn't physically possible without injury, either to you or the laptop.

The Dad said...

Thinking a little more about this, I can see this as being very useful in my house. We have two Macs, one in the home office (iMac) and one on a countertop in the kitchen/greatroom/tv area. That second iMac gets the most use by everyone, and is the machine we go to first to do little things like look up something on the web, check IMDB for the actor in that movie, and so forth. If this "macbook touch" is what I think it might be, essentially it's a tablet with a dock. This means you could walk over and yank it out of the doc, and sit with it in your lap and surf while watching TV...or take it with you on a trip...or play a game with the kids on the floor...or bring it down to the workshop with my latest Sketchup drawing on the screen...all in all very handy. More so than a laptop in some ways. Dare I say it, I could even use it to sit on the couch and enter comments in blogs whenever I felt like it (if the touch keyboard was useful).

Howard said...

I watch TV sitting on the couch with a laptop on my lap or on the coffee table. I bring my laptop on trips, and use it on the floor on occasions. Why do you think a tablet could be more useful? I'm not trying to be an ass, but you keep skipping that part. :)

E.g., on the floor you'd have to be directly above it since the screen would be horizontal to the floor, same on a workbench. (Unless it has some convenient swing out stand). I'm assuming a laptop would be easier to type on than either a virtual keyboard or even a pen interface (I type faster than I write).