jamedino
January 02, 2010 at 3:07pm
The new version of mac book is very superior to others and its look is fabulous.And the pirce is varous mac book is available on affordable price nad cheap too.
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sleepystu
January 02, 2010 at 12:37pm
I hardly think it will change the world, or my life in any measurable way, but here's what I think it NEEDS to have in order to be a useful device:1) A reasonable price point: $500-800 2) runs OS X 3) Wifi & 3G capable 4) bluetooth support for wireless keyboard and mouse 5) USB charging (no power brick) 6) minimum 6 hour battery life 7) two USB ports 8) video out
sarah84
January 02, 2010 at 4:19am
wow, my laptop just about $500 when i bought it, now it is very cheap, lol, the one in the pic can make me to make a wish to have one , wow
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SpaceTrucker
January 01, 2010 at 11:26pm
iSlate wouldn't be a proper name for an oversized iPhone, for that it would HAVE to run the FULL MAC OS X, not some bloated, stripped down, PhoneOS. I'd want at least a few USB ports on it, as well as at least an SD Card port, 802.11n networking, the possibility to hook it to a cellular carrier, (NOT being forced upon me,) at least 250GB of storage included inside it, a way to hook a REAL keyboard/mouse to it, (even if it's bluetooth,) a speaker/mic to communicate via Skype, a way to resize and move the on-screen keyboard and to change it's transparency as well as color, a way to run iTunes on it, (not have to be hooked up to a computer for transfer of my media to it,) the ability to run XCode and iLife/iWork on it is a must, (it's target audience will mostly be kids in school or businesses, right? Who else would need to have a device like this? What other use would be for it to have handwriting capability for, just keeping notes?!?) or otherwise it's just an oversized iPhone and not something I'd even remotely be interested in, especially if tied to a specific carrier!
klahanas
December 31, 2009 at 5:52pm
I'm enjoying out tit for tat, and I certainly don't want to get tiresome. Here's where we agree.
-OSX is an industrial strength OS. No question. It is UNIX after all.
-Many of the points you raise regarding Applescript, etc, I agree with. When I got my first Macbook, it reminded me of the fun I used to have with computers.
-I did pull the 10% from by backside, but I thought I was being generous.As far as where we disagree...
-I own a 15 inch Macbook Pro (2008), which did have the Expresscard slot. After one year, I gave it to my daughter and got a 2.8 GHz for myself. Your right I didn't research the upgraded model. Got home, no Expresscard. Went back the next day offering to pay the difference for a 17 inch. Was told I can, but there would be a $300 restocking fee!!! All over some pinhead's arbitrary decision. (More likely one less Unibody mold to stock, or to be more cynical, they couldn't have a laptop which was more upgradable than all their sub $2500 desktops).
-Even if I lose the nitpicking agrument, as a PC user, I have become accustomed to having things I can reasonably expect. I have a $500 2 GHz Asus laptop with an Expresscard! BluRay, HDMI, ESATA are reasonable expectations, or easy add-on's in the PC world. Again, please forgive me, I loathe the "Do you NEED.." questions. I should be able to get "What I WANT...".
Again I am divesting not due to technicalities, but due to unmet reasonable expectations.
-I would expect an expensive device, a durable good, no less, to stand up to reasonable exposure to the elements, which includes smoking, humidity, or a drizzle. My paint is not rendered useless if lightly tarnished by smoke, but to not work on a person's (two other people's) device due to "smoke exposure", or humidity, leaves me beyond words. What if Apple made a car (a scary thought, and too funny at that!)?
-Windows 7 is absolutely fine for me, and I run it on all my desktops. Yes, I have banished Vista. I'm not against eye candy, which Windows 7 has, but it multitasks very smoothly and has wider compatability and choices. I occasionally run Ubuntu, Red Hat, etc. They all feel half-baked. Jobs himself said he sell sizzle, not steak (or something like that). In the end, however, I guess I'm a hardware junkie.
carmelapple
December 31, 2009 at 7:00pm
I'm not minding this either, but I think I'll just end my end of the discussion with this post as I do not want to get too much further off topic.My "do you need...?" comments weren't asked because of some inane wish to annoy...but merely because I was curious if you really need those things. Perhaps it is reasonable to expect them on everything these days but what you have to understand with Apple is that they don't include hardware that they don't see as completely mainstream yet even though they are standardized technologies. USB and FireWire seem to be doing just fine even though Apple is apparently trying to move away from FireWire and may even be trying to move away from USB with the idea of Apple and Intel's Light Peak. We'll just have to see where that goes. As far as Expresscard...well I don't use it so I can't comment why Apple seems to be moving away from it only having it on its higher end laptops. The closest I come is using a CardBus wireless adaptor for my oft mentioned 2002 HP Ubuntu machine. However, your statement of being able to get what you want rather than what you need...well in technology...if you need something...you want it as well. If you need more storage, then you want another HD. Got rid of all your DVDs and have only Blu-Ray? Well then you need and want a Blu-Ray player. Do you need eSATA? If the answer is no...then you probably don't really want it either. Right now a lot these technologies, while seemingly becoming more mainstream, aren't really there yet as far as everyone using them. Everyone uses USB. You probably can't find a home computer/laptop in existence that doesn't have one USB port taken up by something. I guess I don't know though, do millions use eSATA? As Blu-Ray players come down in price (and they definitely are) and they eventually decimate the DVD market...Apple will probably have to come to terms with that and move away from DVD. Apple knows when a format dies and its time to move on.It's like Zip Disks. When I was in school, I had my trusty 100MB Zip Disk...and the G3 Towers at school had Zip drives built in...when the school finally upgraded to G5 Towers...all there was was a DVD drive...I couldn't even insert my not-so-trusty 3 1/2" floppy disk for really small files. Apple forcefully pushed me away from these horrible formats for CD burning and USB thumb drives. The horror! I was appalled for about .5 seconds and then transferred my files to these storage formats. Eventually Apple will probably drop DVD and move to the superior storage and playback of Blu-Ray. Who knows. Point is, Apple doesn't see it that way yet. You don't have to like it...and nobody is forcing a gun to your head either. At any rate, this was fun, but I'm going to let it drop on my end because we're not even talking about the topic at hand.
carmelapple
December 31, 2009 at 5:05pm
Lets go over all these wonderful points you just brought up:
Macs are generally regarded as computers for people who don't like or care about computers. Any Windows fanatic will gladly say that OS X is a toy OS compared to Windows which is a "real" power user's OS. The problem is...when we look at the market share...most people who apparently care about computers bought a Windows OEM PC. These are the people who truly could care less about computers. If I were to guess, there's probably only a marginal 5% of that massive market share who are tech savvy enthusiasts and do care about computers. However, OS X can be made to do a lot of things through many different avenues: X-Code, Applescript, Automator and Terminal. What does Windows have? Command Prompt? Granted X-Code and the Terminal aren't for the faint hearted, but anyone...even Joe Nobody can make an Applescript or an Automator app that takes control of the OS and lets it do things the way you want.
Apple is only about aesthetics and prettiness. Ok. So what is Windows 7? Windows 7 is an OS that is basically a pretty wrapper for XP with some new functionality added-on. Most of that functionality is based on the pretty wrapping paper. The new taskbar (dock)...the expose-like windows management features...the rolodex window 3D flip thing thats pretty useless...et cetera.
So you bought all these Apple devices without researching anything? Do you need eSATA? Blu-Ray? Expresscard? If you do, you obviously didn't do your research.
Applecare is bogus. Ok...I really have nothing to say about this as I've never dealt with them. However, the smoking thing...well thats not accidental damage is it? If you're smoking inside, you're screwing up your walls too...do you expect a guy who painted your walls to come back and repaint them for free cause you smoked all over the place? Do you think the guy wants to work on that? The crap left behind from smoking is nasty stuff...would you want to work on something with that stuff covering the device/internals?
Less than 10% software choices? Is that a fact or a stat pulled from your backside? I'm not sure its that low. Sure there's a lot of industry standard/enterprise stuff you can't get for Macs...but so far you're only proving you didn't do your research again. Games? Ok...but a lot of publishers/developers are making more and more Mac titles...and many aren't just ports from Windows. Otherwise there's always Wine/Crossover or dual-boot into Windows.
Snow Leopard is full 64bit...the only problem is...not every Mac was made to handle this. For example, my 2nd gen (mid 2007) MacBook has a 64bit Intel C2D but the EFI is not 64bit. The kernel extensions are mostly 64bit and nearly everything else is as well, but I can't boot into the 64bit kernel because of EFI firmware. Do I really care? Not really. SL still runs in 32bit but my Mac boots up, sleeps, shutsdown and restarts faster as well as loading many applications (not just the Apple apps) faster.
Which brings me to Windows 7. Yes it works really well. The problem is that it's still slower than XP. Why? Because DirectX has to draw your windows, apply the transparency effects, do all the little eye candy stuff that OS X has been doing since Quartz came out in 2002 or so. OS X also doesn't require absurd hardware requirements to do this stuff either. Like my HP Ubuntu machine which is from 2002 with a 64MB (shared from the 512MB RAM) ATI Mobility card. This machine practically died trying to run Windows 7 beta and RC without the amazing DirectX eye candy...yet with Ubuntu this machine runs quite fast even with the even more amazing OpenGL eye candy. Windows 7 is great, but its still bloatware through and through.
klahanas
December 31, 2009 at 4:17pm
Apple is about vanity, it innovates in design only, but the choices are limited. It's like we all wearing the same premium designer's clothes. Even worse, everyone starts to look like Justin Long.
Most of my rant was directed at the ipod and iphone, but even the macbook (semi)pro and the sub $2500 desktop systems.
-Macs are, generally, for people who don't like or care about computers.
-Apples true innovation is putting a pretty, and usable, face on Unix (BSD).
-I don't need to do the programming myself. I can't do it on the iphone even in principle.
-Where's eSATA? BluRay? Expresscard(Except 17 in.)?
-Just got a quad core on a sub-$2500 system. (Never mind the question "Why do you NEED quad core?")
-Apples warranties are bogus. Exposed water sensors on ipod/iphone, refusal to repair systems exposed to smoking...
-Less than 10% software choice compared to PC.
-Partial 64 bit on Leopard.
-Windows 7 works really well.You see my friend, my frustration stems from, cult-issues aside, not lack of innovation, but artificially placed barriers. Apple is very much like a strict IT department. That's not what I want from my PERSONAL computer. Want to buy a lightly used Macbook (Semi)Pro?
klahanas
December 31, 2009 at 1:02pm
Well, well... Another "almost computer" from an "almost computer" company. The iphone should be whatever this thing is going to try to be, except dockable, giving access to tablets, keyboards, monitors, and mice. This thing is an appliance, and about as interesting as a "fridge".
No matter how good the industrial design, real computers are programmable. They don't need jailbreaking, don't need to be tied to a proprietary service, and don't need to be controlled by a central authority.
Well, to show I'm at least open minded, my family owns four macbooks, five ipods, and three iphones. All within the past 18 months. I will be divesting myself of all things Apple over time. I've tasted the Kool-Aid, at first it's sweet, but the aftertaste is awful!
carmelapple
December 31, 2009 at 3:36pm
So...you're going to go back to Windows where everything is tied to Microsoft's proprietary and hardly programmable operating system? You can program a Mac to do nearly anything you can think of (X-Code comes with every Mac and Applescript/Automator are also built-in). You could run also Linux on your computer. Sure...very programmable...just not stable. I've been running Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic) on an old HP that runs it surprisingly well even with the hardware accelerated effects. Though its definitely getting there...its still not entirely ready for prime time. This is especially true with drivers and hardware. Also anything not in a repository practically requires compiling the code from source which is a nice little pain. So Linux itself is almost like Apple's walled garden. Anything downloaded from the distro's repository is checked and verified to be safe, but should you have a need for something not in the repository...you're on your own. It's like jailbreaking an iPod/iPhone. As for not being able to program iPods/iPhones...they are incredibly programmable...there's this thing called an iPhone OS SDK that grants a developer access to nearly every API Apple has developed for the system...which if I recall is over 1000. So, if you know what you're doing...you can program one of these devices to do a vast array of things. I doubt you will find SDKs that robust from Microsoft or Google...or even Palm. A lot of people make a big deal about how the iPod/iPhone is tied into Apple's walled garden where everything is the way Apple likes it...even if a few things slip in under the radar by digging a hole under the fence. Nearly everything you buy from Apple is touted as something that just works. Why does the iPod/iPhone work? Cause Apple controls what works and what doesn't. People act like this is some sort of big brother type thing and that Apple is evil. I'd be more afraid of what Google is doing with your browsing information than what Apple is doing to keep you and your premium "Apple experience" safe. Don't like the Apple Kool-Aid? There's always Microsoft's FUD. Also to state that Apple is an "almost computer" company is pretty arrogant considering the possibility that if Apple hadn't made the personal computer so popular...where would we be? Also if nobody put a fire under Microsoft...we'd all probably be using Windows 3.1 right now considering how long it takes them to release an operating system especially if that older operating system is getting by just fine. How long was XP on the market (lets just forget Vista for the sake of this argument)? Want change and innovation or stale technology that tries to play catch-up? Up to you. Divest away, my friend.
carmelapple
December 31, 2009 at 3:49pm
Not sure why but apparently rich-text and HTML are borked with this commenting system...well for me at any rate.
tbird
December 31, 2009 at 12:27pm
Truly, my only hope is that the price is right. I am really hoping for something in the $500-800 range, but that may be a little far fetched. Considering that the original iPhone came out at such a ridiculously high price, I am concerned that the iSlate will be the same... Overall though I am pumped for a big-touchscreen device. I have been holding out to get an iPhone because of something like this. Great article, Mac|Life. ..::tbird::..
MacMike
December 31, 2009 at 12:25pm
I've been hearing about how Apple will release this tablet, but what will make it stand apart from the PC tablets that are a bit unwieldy and mostly a talking point and not an every day useable device. A bendable screen is what Apple needs so you could fold this in half to protect the screen and reduce the size for portability while keeping a nice appearance. Lo and behold someone has come out with just such a thing: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8435533.stm
That would make this device insanely great instead of just great.
jr1882
December 31, 2009 at 9:03am
I would like it to run the full MAC OSX but I am sure it will not. It sounds like a media device primarily. I love the 2 way video cam and was hoping the next iPhone has that as well. If it does then I wouldnt buy a tablet. Sounds like it will be just a bigger faster stronger iPhone without the phone. It would be almost certain Apple doesn't add the video in the next iPhone for fear of making the product too similiar to iSlate or iSlablet. I would call it the iSlablet or iSlabula because it sounds funny.
jr1882
December 31, 2009 at 9:02am
I would like it to run the full MAC OSX but I am sure it will not. It sounds like a media device primarily. I love the 2 way video cam and was hoping the next iPhone has that as well. If it does then I wouldnt buy a tablet. Sounds like it will be just a bigger faster stronger iPhone without the phone. It would be almost certain Apple doesn't add the video in the next iPhone for fear of making the product too similiar to iSlate or iSlablet. I would call it the iSlablet or iSlabula because it sounds funny.
