Cupertino's tablet netbook: just a concept?

Illustrated by MacFormat's Adam Benton, this mockup strikes me as convincingly conservative -- but only if you accept the proposition that Apple would make it at all. I've been imagining something similar, but even smaller.

The Apple Netbook [Mac Format]
Rumor - Media Pad Could be Apple's Newest Device Hit [Cult of Mac]

[#1 posted by KevinC, April 30, 2009 11:13 AM]

Possibly the only Apple product I would ever buy. That, of course, assumes they wouldn't rape me on price and lock it down for the 8 uses they deem worthy.
But that would never happen.
KevinC

[#2 posted by Dillenger69, April 30, 2009 11:24 AM]

I'll take one of those with an 8 1/2 x 11 or 1280 x 720 screen any day. It's exactly the form factor I'm looking for.
Of course, that' why we'll never see one. They aren't allowed to make what people want, they are only allowed to make people want what they make.

[#3 posted by Halloween Jack, April 30, 2009 12:28 PM]

As much as I'd want one of these, I doubt that Apple will make it; they tried going the "netbook" route (well, more tablet/subnotebook) with the Newton, and got their lunch eaten by Palm. Not that things haven't changed considerably in the meantime.

[#4 posted by Bucket, April 30, 2009 1:06 PM]

If you find yourself at BJ's brew pub in Cupertino around three AM, and you look out across the Apple parking lot, you can see the faint green glow of a solemn procession of dead product lines as they march from the site of the former Peppermill to their burial ground beneath the north end of the parking lot.

Leading this procession is the ghost of the Newton. Bringing up the rear is the eMate.

This is actually why Steve Jobs isn't working - the whole cancer thing was a cover story. He's actually busy overseeing random construction on his house, because a fortune teller convinced him that if he keeps building the spirits of all the products he killed won't be able to find him.

This is why this will never be a real product.

I love that keyboard concept, though.

[#5 posted by bardfinn, April 30, 2009 1:09 PM]

Yes, please.

[#6 posted by Latente, April 30, 2009 2:11 PM]

my iphoooone is sooooo bigg
my iphoooone is sooooo bigg
i'am an apple

[#7 posted by Nelson.C, April 30, 2009 4:36 PM]

You young punks may want something smaller, but that looks just fine to my aged eyes.

[#8 posted by Anonymous, April 30, 2009 5:17 PM]

That touchpad is completely useless for a lefty

[#9 posted by Kenneth Extension, May 1, 2009 5:35 AM]

Wow! I would *love* a smaller version of this (say with 4" screen) so I could carry it in my pocket for internet stuff. Apple, take note!

[#10 posted by mellon, May 1, 2009 9:26 AM]

Oh hell yeah. IMBM!

Divorcing the shape of the keyboard from the shape of the screen is an idea whose implementation is long overdue. It always astonishes me that companies ship these "tablet" computers with a twist-conversion joint to make them convertible into laptops. Make up your mind already - are you building a tablet, or not? An external keyboard is the perfect answer. I've been wanting one of these for years.

@3, the Newton was not a netbook. It was a tablet computer with a stylus and handwriting recognition. Making a product development decision based on a 20-year-old marketing failure would be absurd. I'm not saying it couldn't happen, but it wouldn't make sense.

I've got no idea whether or not Apple is actually thinking about building something like this, but god, I wish they would.

[#11 posted by UniversalCitizen, May 1, 2009 11:05 AM]

And if Apple will not build it themselves, they could at least be willing to cooperate with someone who will so that Apple doesn't have to take the risk if they do not want to, yet we drooling consumers can get what we want.

Since the largest excuse I hear for them not selling OS X for non-Apple hardware is that it could become unstable due to drivers, etc, might not working WITH Apple to insure compatibility address that issue?

[#12 posted by mellon, May 1, 2009 6:02 PM]

@11, The main reason for not running their O.S. on other hardware is that it would remove a profit center and replace it with a much less reliable profit center with much higher costs. It's just bad business. That's not to say that you can't make a netblat and run OS X on it, but by refusing to support it they're saving themselves a big hassle.

[#13 posted by Anonymous, May 1, 2009 10:46 PM]

make it two screens and have it open like a book, and I'd be interested, because IMHO a Kindle isn't worthwhile until I can read in color. Really, Apple has developed all the technologies now necessary to do this -- Mac machine on tiny motherboard, sturdy milled aluminum body, Touch OS, etc. It would be the ultimate book reader, usable as a laptop-type device with the virtual keyboard, a great media player, and highly customizable through the SDK to lots of purposes. Sell it for $800, and I'd buy it. Hell, people paid $600 for the first iPhones, and the Kindle still hasn't gone below $350 in price.

And yeah, those of us with older eyes could really use a bigger screen.