apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I like lugging my 12" Powerbook around, and will enjoy lugging my 13" Macbook Pro around come this fall. I don't personally have a use for a tablet device, but that's just me.

I can see practical use of a tablet by businessmen and maybe students. But I think a lot of the desirability of owning such a device will hinge on its memory and flash storage capacity.

I don't see Apple pursuing this market, but they've surprised me before...

I don't like taking my 13" macbook on weekend trips with me b/c I don't like having the extra stuff to deal with, although it would be nice to have internet access on something other than my slow ass blackberry. I might be interested in a tablet, depending on the price point.

On another note, can you guys do something about logging into the AT sites? Every time there's a poll or something inevitably I'm not logged in and I have to open a new window to vote. Would be nice if I could just log in and refresh the same screen. Thanks.

as cool as it might be, i don't see why i'd ever buy it. i also love my apple products and have been using them for nearly 10 years. i've contemplated selling my 2 year old MBP to pick up an ibook and an air, but i think a tablet would be too limiting for what i'd want to use it for.

I have been waiting years for the tablet. Would be so nice to surf the net this way.

I'm not keen on a netbook [too underpowered and just a touch too teeny, even for my 'pygmy hands'], but after lugging around my current laptop in Europe for a month [9 pounds, 17 by 10 by 2 or so cubic inches] [and in a tiny suitcase, to boot], never again. If the tablet was priced decently, and had good specs [ at least 2 gigs RAM, decent processor, a good harddrive - not expecting any 500gig miracles here, good long battery life], I could see myself getting one for use while on the road.

But there's plenty of laptops out there that meet my specs for under 600 or so dollars, and if you increase that budget by 200 or so, you can find a perfectly capable touchscreen laptop, including those that'll swivel this way and that as to look... just like a tablet, except better, as the screen can be closed as to not scratch, and there's a keyboard.

Students, especially college students, might dig it. Some people that prefer writing to typing their notes [self including] would probably prefer writing them down through a tablet screen rather than typing them through a keyboard.

Indeed.. I imagine browsing Unplggd would be much more heavenly on an Apple tablet than my 4-year old IBM thinkpad.

I have a MacBook that I don't cary around that much because of the weight. 4.5 lbs. may not seem that heavy when you're juts taking it to your care but as a pedestrian, it can be a bit much. I would love to see a tablet that I can use like a larger iPod Touch with more umph than my iPhone.

It very much depends on how Apple thinks people are goign to use this devise. I need to replace my personal laptop but seeign as work gives me a great laptop and an iphone I have no need for a device to work on from home.

If there was a computer which would effortlessly work as a remote control, keyboard ,surf the internet, play music and internet video....And all this could be done by 'beaming' the information to my TV and amp. that would be perfect.

Otherwise owning a tablet is rather pointless, it will not be better than a laptop if you regularly need to type or do proper work on it. And the idea that people will bring it around with them just to listen to music and play video on planes and trains etc....well the iphone is more portable and er, makes calls....

Nope. Well...in a hand held format it could be handy, but we already have those.

If it's actually just a giant Touch, as most of the rumors assume, I don't see the point. To be truly useful enough to justify the size, it would need to run multiple applications at a time and have the disk space and power to do anything you'd otherwise want to do on a laptop. I have a 15" MBP and an iPhone, and as far as accessing tech the iPhone is perfect for portability and "instant on" information access, while the laptop is wonderful for doing real work (and real typing) while still being portable. If I were traveling, a touchscreen tablet might be nice for serious web browsing, but would I be carrying both the table AND the laptop for inevitable emails and Photoshop work? I don't think so.

Right now, it's just too nichey to be useful to me and the way I work, and otherwise it would just be a fun, but unnecessary, toy around the house.

On the other hand, if the tablet includes application and product support to function as a really good reader, it would be like a super Kindle--everything the Kindle does color web browsing other apps. IF it was a very good reader with a color screen, I might actually bite. I mostly read books and magazines where the photography, illustrations, or color in general are essential, so a full color reader is definitely something I look forward to.

It would really depend on if it was only a touch screen tablet (like the iphone products) or if it was an active digitizer (i.e. wacom), and how it is priced comparable to other offerings that are already available.

I'm actually working on a project right now to implement ~300 tablets at my company.

That said, they're great for some purposes, like medicine, and some business, but I'd never want one for home. Typing is just so much fast of an interface than writing on a tablet. Actually, than just writing period.

I was looking at buying a Wacom tablet because I draw. What's holding me back is everything else I own is Mac.

imake1tgirl, Wacom is compatible with Apple. I use mine in Photoshop on my Mac all the time. Works great.

If you're worried about having one non-Apple devise that sullies your all-Apple-all-the-time setup, and not about compatibility...that's kinda silly, don't you think?

I've already got a tablet PC and love it. I'm a PC though and won't be paying extra to have a little white apple on my computer, plus, I kinda like my HP tablet. Window 7 all the way baby!

I love tablets! I got an Acer Travelmate when tablets first came out, then a larger more rugged tablet and am waiting for one through my school. For teachers, it is absolutely amazing! It has completely changed my teaching style, for the better. It is suprising that Apple is so behind the tablet train ....