Waiting For Apple's Expected Announcement Of Computer
Just about everyone in our industry is waiting for Apple's expected announcement of a slate computer next Wednesday. And I'll be there. But rather than speculating on what Apple will announce of MacBook Pro 15 inch Battery , I think it's instructive to look at what the rest of the tech world has in mind as well.
The concept of a slate or tablet computer--a machine maybe a bit smaller than a notebook, one you can operate without using keyboard--is hardly new for ThinkPad T60 Battery . To some extent, Apple's Newton, way back in 1992,? was an early progenitor of this kind of device, though it's actually closer to what eventually became personal data assistants (PDAs), such as the Palm Pilot. PDA functions eventually faded into smart phones.?
Also, for the last few years, Intel has been pushing the idea of a "mobile internet device" or MID, which are bigger than a phone but smaller than a notebook. While there have been some interesting devices of Fujitsu lifebook t4220 battery , what really emerged from that category (at least to date) have been netbooks, essentially just smaller laptops with less power but better battery life.
And of course, the big push for this concept came from Microsoft, which introduced the concept of the "tablet PC" back in2001, with the first units showing up in 2002 to MacBook Pro 15 inch Battery . Back then, there were two primary kinds of tablet PCs: "convertibles," in which the keyboard pivots and folds behind the screen and "slates," which did away with the keyboard altogether.
I was a big fan of tablet PCs for many years, starting back in 2002, as I found them a convenient way to read lots of data.? But in general, convertible tablets haven't made a lot of inroads for Fujitsu lifebook t4220 battery , though there are still some excellent machines such as the Fujitsu Lifebook series, the HP Touchsmart tm2t, the Lenovo Thinkpad X200, and the Toshiba M750.?
Similarly, slate PCs running Windows have mostly become the province of niche markets, such as health care of MacBook Pro 15 inch Battery , with companies such as Motion Computing and Fujitsu focusing much of their expertise there.And the screen allows for a battery life that is measured in days or even a couple of weeks, with the wireless turned off.
More recently, I've switched from a tablet PC to e-readers, notably the Kindle DX. I guess I just find them lighter, and in some respects, easier to read on than a convertible PC for Fujitsu lifebook t4210 battery . (The Kindle 2 weighs 10.3 ounces, and even the Kindle DX, one of the largest e-readers, is just 18.9 ounces. I haven't seen a slate PC at anywhere near that weight.)
Still, at this year's CES, lots of vendors showed examples of slate PCs. Microsoft opened the show with a keynote showing off new slate PC designs from HP, Archos, and Pegatron for Fujitsu lifebook t4220 battery . These seem to be traditional tablet PCs in many respects, running Windows and x86 processors.
But most of the new slate PCs I saw at CES seem to be heading in a new direction, playing with ARM-based processors (such as those from Freescale, Marvel, Nvidia, and Qualcomm) and many running Android or other Linux-based operating systems.Dell gave us a quick look at a 5-in Android-based slate for Fujitsu lifebook t4215 battery . Freescale showed a prototype of a tablet or smartbook, and even Motorola got into the act.
Nvidia showed five different tablets using its Tegra processor, which has an ARM core and beefed-up graphics. There was a huge range of designs, with units running from 5- to 10-inch displays, and design points aimed at everything from e-readers to video players to general purpose notebooks of Fujitsu lifebook t4215 battery .
I thought one of the most impressive concepts was from Lenovo, which showed its U1 Hybrid. In part, this is a slate tablet. It's based on a Qualcomm snapdragon CPU and running a customized version of Linux designed for connectivity to Fujitsu lifebook t4210 battery , similar to the interface the company showed for its "Skylight" smartbook (which looks like a netbook, but runs the Qualcomm CPU and the Linux-based OS).
This is a cool idea, because you get both the strengths of a tablet (at a weight of 1.6 pounds) and the features of a notebook (at 3.8 pounds for the combined unit).In some respects to FRU 92P1141 , it reminds me of the first Compaq tablet, the TC1000, in which the screen separated from the keyboard to become a slate PC.
Of course, the big question is whether consumers will warm to the idea of a slate computer at all. I don't think they would be a replacement for either a notebook (because there are times when you want a full-size keyboard) or a smart phone (because you want a device that fits in your pocket). So for many of us for FRU 92P1141 , it would be a third device to carry. And that's a tall order, even taller if it requires a data plan.
Compared with today's e-readers, these devices are likely to be both a bit heavier and offer notably less battery life. But they would be considerably more flexible in their applications, offering video and games of ThinkPad T60 Battery , for example. But it slips nicely into a keyboard and suddenly becomes a more traditional notebook, running an Intel Core 2 Duo-and Windows 7.
In the end, it will come down to whether the developers, Apple or anyone else, can really put together the software and the hardware to create some compelling use cases for ThinkPad T60 Battery . So far, the experience of tablet PCs in the consumer market indicates that's a high bar.We'll get a better idea next Wednesday when Apple announces its next product. But it will also be interesting to see what everyone else does as well.