Stay tuned for more.

There has always been the rumor of a Mac Tablet. One of my mac devs of that time kept telling me that a mac tablet has been in the works since when he was at Apple and all it needs was the right moment. Given one’s enthusiasm for pretty looking things – many of the macheads have been hoping and hoping for a mac tablet. Macworlds came and went, PC tablets came, UMPCs came.. yet, no mac tablet…

… till today. Jobs announced a Mac Tablet at the conference today. They call it the iPhone. If you took Microsoft’s vision of Haiku (UMPC successor), stick some glassy prettiness on it, put in a phone stack and release it a few months (or a year) in advance – you get iPhone.

My kidding aside, this device which is being positioned as a phone (or rather a convergence between an ipod, a phone and a communicator) at first look is a small mac tablet with a phone app on it. The trademark glassy UI replete with familiar icons. While there are no details on whether it supports inkwell it very well could – as it is touted to be running OSX. Mixed reports on the battery life – although most say it is likely to be pretty measly for a non smartphone. (As an aside, are we seeing an OSX embedded in the works? iTV seems to be another product that might be running it) So then, what differentiates the iPhone from a mac tablet with the aforementioned properties? Perhaps the famed lifestyle experience design expertise that Apple brings to many of their successful products? Perhaps the focus on building a single device, with a single operator, targeting very specific personas?

There has for ages been this debate on convergence. There’s been also the big debate on formfactors. What are the key features for a device that goes with you? How many of the activities you perform on the go are convergable and compatible? How big can this device be? Voice (Cell+Voip), IM and Email, Media (Music+Video), Productivity and Information Management (Calendars, Notes, Tasks), Location based services (Maps, GPS, Security) are the key scenarios for me in my lifestyle.

The iPhone is just one of the devices trying to answer these questions. I expect the debates to continue as next generation WindowsMobile based devices roll out into the market. The success or failure of any and all of these devices will depend on whether the designers GET it that in the end it is about making the user feel good about using the device (not dumb, not cranky, not miserable…).

To be Updated/Continued…

Now that it’s out of the way, I do hope they put out a Macbook Pro that’s updated to Merom and with a two button mouse (which looks like a one button mouse to keep up the appearances). That would be sweet – because then I know what my next Vista notebook should be

The Mac Tablet would be even sweeter – it could be my next Vista tablet! Heaven!

This Asus R1 model is the upcoming release featuring the tablet PC concept, as you can easily see. It too has a 13.3″ screen and adds a hot swappable battery / hard drive bay for extended usage on the go. It uses the Intel Core Duo processor and the Intel 945GM chipset with integrated graphics.

While I am bummed about there being no discrete graphics option on the Tablet, I am very excited about the biometric and GPS integration into the R2.

One of the more unique features for the R2 is integrated GPS, seen as the flat antennae at the bottom of this picture. There are also two standard USB ports on the R2 as well; one of them you see along the top of the unit.

The technical specs on the R2 include a Celeron M ULV (ultra low voltage) CPU running at 900 MHz, 128 MB of DDR2-533 memory and anywhere from a 20GB to an 80GB hard drive.

Acer also apparently showed off their Ferrari notebooks especially the Ferrari 1000 that is inching up on my list. No mention of any battery life details though – that’s what holding it down

Even more exciting is the Ferrari 1000 model that takes the Ferrari branding to a smaller, 12.1″ screen configuration. It still uses the new AMD Turion 64 X2 processor and weighs only 3.5 lbs loaded. The little devies to the right is a Bluetooh VoIP phone that hides away in the PCMCIA slot; even better is that the battery on the phone is recharged when docked as well.

There is mention of a MSI S271 model which seems to fall into the category of notebooks I am interested in:

The third notebook from MSI to use the Turion X2, the MSI S271 goes one more step down to a 12.1″ screen and a very light form factor. It uses the Radeon Xpress 1150 chipset with integrated graphics and weighs in under 4.2 lbs.

Some more info here.
There is a core duo version of this called MSI S262, but that seems to lack the discrete graphics.

Very cool!

I am excited to see some really nice laptops getting announced as Vista approaches… but it’s strange not to see convertible counterparts to many of these notebooks. The price differential has now come down, the utility of the tablet has been established especially for mobile professionals (and many other specialized pros), there are a ton more pen enabled applications and yet I am still waiting to see any kick-ass tablets/convertibles appear.

I am going to cherish the day when there will be on-demand self-designed notebook creation service I am going to design and get built the most ‘rad’ and usable tablet pc for my needs. I bet there are a thousand others who would do the same.

I updated my bigger post on my quest for the perfect notebook with the details about the new notebooks.

I am now on the lookout for my next mobile computer. My search for the ideal phone did reach a nice waypoint recently. Being in WindowsMobile allowed me the privilege to test and use some of the best mobile phone devices in the market – at the moment my device of choice is the slim, swanky and yet functional HTC StarTrk. What is left to be decided is what my next laptop should be.

Here is what my ideal machine would look like – features:

• 1.6+ ghz core duo (solo okay for smaller machines)
• 1 GB Dual Channel 667Mhz+ DDR2 RAM, Expandable to 4gb
• 12+ inch High Resolution screen (SXGA+ for 4:3 or WSXGA+ for wide), 13.3” widescreen preferred
• Weight below 4.5 lbs (can stretch to below 5 lbs for screen and inbuilt CD drive)
• Dedicated Graphics (Geforce or ATI – 128MB inbuilt memory)
• Comfortable (close to full size) keyboard (18mm keypitch)
• 4 hours of real world battery life (expandable to 6 or 8 with extended battery)
• Swappable optical drive (swap with extended battery or weightsaver)

The first 5 of these are must haves for me.

So, why is it that I started off talking about my love for Tablet PCs? It’s because I am now forced to seriously consider not getting a Tablet as my next laptop. There are no tablets that are out in the market that meet these requirements – and none in the very near horizon. The M400 is pretty much the only true vista ready choice that even comes close. I am not happy with getting a heavier machine than my present M200 – and with the integrated graphics it’s all set to fall out of my list. I will keep updating the following list as I get more time and info. You can also see what my current leanings are.

Currently leaning towards:
Dell XPS-M1210 for meeting many of the reqs (or an Asus W7J if only I could find it somewhere).

If it was a tablet I would have bought it yesterday. I would have seriously considered the Asus R1F if it were available (or even if a concrete release date was set and I had a chance to preview the specs). It would be very sad if I had to go for a non tablet notebook due to the non-availability of good Core Duo tablets. So my current short list (considering only available machines) is: Sony SZ280/Asus W7J followed by M400. If I could consider rumored machines – I might look to the Asus tablet and potentially the upgraded Lenovo tablet. Nonetheless, what would win my heart is the smallest (light weight) core duo tablet that has dedicated graphics (and can run Vista glass comfortably).

Rumored: Stuff I am very excited about (but vaporware or not is unclear)…

Asus R1(F?) : Asus’s much anticipated widescreen 13” convertible (Core Duo, due out in Q3 2006?) – I would buy this if I had a way to demo it and pre-order. Saw this post over at PC Perspective about the R1 making an appearance at Computex. They have pictures and claim that it will have integrated graphics. They also have a picture of the Asus R2 UMPC. Other news on this tablet is that it has passed FCC certification.

• Intel Core Duo chip
• 13.3″ Widescreen display
• Up to 4GB of RAM
• 80-120 GB SATA HDD
• TPM security chip
• Modular bay (optical drive or extended battery)
• Memory card reader(4in1)
• Toshiba BT Software stack (not too happy about this)
• Supports S-Video out (Doesn’t guarantee a dedicated graphics card though)

Acer Ferrari 1000: Announced – no date yet

• AMD Turion 64 X2
• RAM 2 to 4GB
• 12.1” widescreen CrystalBrite
• ATI Radeon 1150 graphics
• 1.7 kg (3.75 lb)

Dell XPS-M1210: Update: This is now out and available starting around $1300.

• Core Duo 1.66+ Ghz
• RAM 2 to 4GB
• 12.1” widescreen (1280×800) WXGA
• Nvidia T7400 graphics
• Internal Super multi Drive
• 100 GB SATA HD
• 1.98 kg (4.37lb)

Fujitsu Lifebook T4200 Convertible

• Intel Core Duo Processor T2500 (up to 2 GHz, 2 MB L2 cache, 667 MHz FSB)
• 12.1″ XGA active digitizer indoor/outdoor display (1024×768)
• Intel GMA 950 Integrated Graphics
• Upto 2 GB DDR2 667 MHz SDRAM memory
• 80 GB S-ATA 150, 5400 rpm hard drive
• Modular Dual-Layer Multi-Format DVD Writer
• Bluetooth + Wifi
• Integrated Fingerprint Sensor, embedded TPM, dedicated Smart Card slot, Memory Reader
• Main battery: Lithium ion (6-cell, 10.8V, 5200 mAh) (Upto 11 hours using modular bay battery)
• 11.5″ x 9.3″ x 1.1/1.4″; approx. 4.3 lbs (with weight saver)

Lenovo/IBM X61t : Lenovo’s supposed X40 tablet successor (Core Duo) . No news or details on whether it even exists.

Here is the longlist of contenders:

M200 Convertible (Current notebook)

• Intel Centrino 1.8Ghz, 1 GB RAM, 50GB, Nvidia Geforce graphics, 12.1” SXGA+, 4.4 to 4.6 lb
• Runs Vista (does run glass – barely)

M400 Convertible (Tried and wasn’t impressed, Runs Vista Glass)

• Intel Core Duo 1.66+
• Integrated Intel Graphics (Vista Glass ready)
• 12.1” SXGA+
• Upto 4GB RAM
• Built-in Optical drive
• Wi-Fi and bluetooth
• Upto 5 hour battery
• Weight: 4.5 to 5.0 lbs

X41 Convertible (Runs Vista, Great portability at the cost of performance, Needs 1GB+ RAM to be usable)

• Pentium M 1.5Ghz
• Integrated Intel Graphics
• 12.1” XGA Screen (1024×768)
• Upto 1.5GB RAM
• Upto 60GB Hard Drive (4200 RPM!)
• 6.3+ hours of battery
• Wi-Fi
• Weight: 3.5 lbs

Asus W7J (Excited about but would like to find a unit to try)

• Intel Core Duo 1.66GHz T2300 – 2.16 GHz T2600 chip
• 512MB -1.5GB DDR2 533 MHz
• 60-120 GB SATA HDD
• 13.3″ WXGA display
• NVidia GeForce Go7400 graphics with 128MB vRAM
• DVD Super Multi Drive
• 1.3 Megapixel Camera
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
• 6-cell 53Whr or 9 cell 80 Whr Li-ion battery
• Weight: 1.95kg (4.3 lb) (Should try a W3J too – bigger)

Sony SZ2 series (Excited about but have heard negatives about quality and performance)

• Core Duo 2.16Ghz
• Memory 1GB+
• Dual Video – Geforce AND Intel Integrated Graphics
• 13.3” Wide Screen WXGA
• Around 6 hours battery
• Weight: 1.6 kg (3.53 lb)

The Rest:

Acer 3200:

• Core Duo 1.66+
• 12.1” widescreen WXGA (1280×800)
• Intel Integrated Graphics GMA 950
• Memory upto 4GB
• No Optical drive
• 1.5 to 1.65 kg (3.63 lb)

Asus W5F:

• Core Duo
• Memory upto 1.5 GB
• 12.1” widescreen WXGA
• DVD Super Multi Drive
• Intel Integrated Graphics
• 1.6 kg (3.5 lb)

LG T1 Express Dual

• Core Duo 1.5Ghz
• Upto 4GB Dual Channel memory
• 14.1” WXGA+ (1440×900)
• Intel Integrated Graphics
• Fingerprint
• Inbuilt DVD Super Multi Layer
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
• 6 or 9 cell battery
• Weight: 1.9 kg (4.19 lb)

Panasonic ToughBook W4 (expected to be upgraded to Core Duo)

• Pentium M 1.2 Ghz
• Upto 1GB memory
• Intel Integrated Graphics
• 12.1” XGA
• Built-in Optical Drive
• Weight: 2.8 lbs

Lenovo x60

• Core Duo, Integrated Graphics, 12.1” XGA, FingerPrint, 3.6 lb

Reference:

SZ Series Comparison

Review of SZ Series

Review of Asus v6x

XPS M1210 appears on the horizon

Most of this information has been gleaned from various laptop and tablet enthusiast sites: Coreduonews, TabletPCBuzz, TabletPC Review Spot, What is New, GottabeMobile,Small Laptops. They are responsible for all the exciting news AND the vaporware

ASUS R1F (Dual Core)
# 13.3″ Widescreen Display
# Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005
# Intel Yonah 2MB L2 Cache – up to 2.33GHz
# Up to 2GB DDR2 RAM 667MHz
# 80GB/100GB/120GB 5400RPM Hard Drive
# TPM (Trusted Platform Module) Security Chip
# Biometric Fingerprint Reader
http://www.tabletpcreviewspot.com/default.asp?newsID=366

More pics at the buzz and keep an eye on Channel 9 this week.

If I were to caveat this – it would be with the graphics chipset. I do hope it supports (not just barely like the M400) the Vista Glass interface. I have a feeling that this is a counterpart of the rumored 13.3 inch intel based iBook that Asus is making for Apple.

• Tablet Land – The new Toshiba M400 (which is replacing the M200) was being shown with a very nice set of specs, highlights being 12″ screen with XGA/SXGA+, dual core processor, biometric sensor, built-in CDRW/DVD drive and about 4 hour battery life (and several more with an optional slice). A number of reactions in the tablet community are of disappointment at the integrated Intel graphics (instead of dedicated). What I learnt was that this was done for battery life reasons. There were some more folks reporting on the tabletpc forums that another reason might be a cramped keyboard due to the inclusion of the cd drive. If the CD drive was the only issue – I would have preferred a model with no cd drive and dedicated graphics. One other thing I did hear is that to support the Vista Glass interface you would need to use identical dual channel high performance RAM modules in the laptop. So it might be best to order the laptop preconfigured in that fashion (2×512 or 2×1GB sticks). In the end – I think I would be reasonably happy with decent Glass support (I don’t game on my laptops).
• Screeeens, big Screeens – The place was filled, once again, with an insane number of big screens. Not too exciting from my POV – the biggest one that would work well in my living room is a 60″. Having said that – my current 42″ plasma is quite wonderful and enjoys hanging out with my 360.
• MediaCenters and more – It was cool to see so many living room devices (other than those humongous TVs). There were a TON of mediacenter PC setups as well. On top of these – pretty much ever CE company seemed to be offering a media hub/reciever gizmo that allows you to get your media stored on your PCs to your TV. I will set about doing a comparitive review one of these days since I am still looking for a way to get my media collection to the front room.
• Ipodding? – I didn’t see any official Apple presence (they might have been in the other 90% of the show floor) but every other booth seemed to have another fairly useless vaguely ipod related accessory.

I will post some pics later on.

IBM’s inability to get Apple high-performance, low heat, and low power chips played a part here. Now that Apple’s going with Intel, will we see some innovative portable devices from Apple?

It would be fun to keep an eye on what sort of x86 tablet laptop the other Steve conjures up this time around.

I did comment to Lora a few months ago that it makes sense to have a Mac Tablet be a front end to the mac mini. A tablet+mini combo (with a dock) should be a good alternative to the imac.

For that matter, I wonder why Microsoft isn’t doing that.

Rob Bushway – Tablet PC MVP: Apple Tablet PC sightings

..And it exists, honest, seen a prototype. Instant On,
ASUS-Tatung whiteish looking, running a reduced
version of OSX, with some funky start-up PDA like
Apple icon menu. Touch only (white touch pen), least
the version I saw. Dunno if it will make it to market,
but I think what I saw, is what these NDA-signing
reporters have saw.