Tablet + keyboard will work?

[knucles]

So the other day i was complaining about apple not having a netbook and the that tablet will kill the few chances of that heppening but if you put together with the wireless light and thin apple's keyboard you have it all don´t you think?

a 13'' tablet + keyboard + mouse + changer it's quite a bit of stuff but would be the ultimate portable device

 

[JonHimself]

So the other day i was complaining about apple not having a netbook and the that tablet will kill the few chances of that heppening but if you put together with the wireless light and thin apple's keyboard you have it all don´t you think?

a 13'' tablet + keyboard + mouse + changer it's quite a bit of stuff but will the ultimate portable device

Depends on what you mean by "portable". As much as I also think using a BT keyboard/mouse seems awesome... I don't want to have to bring all that with me to be able to optimally use my device (if that were the case, I'd use a laptop).
I read an article somewhere that mentioned if Apple wants this device to be a touchscreen device and wants you to use gestures to interact with it, they won't give people a "copout" option of using other devices for input (even a stylus)... which made sense to me as well.
It's tough to say. You see patents were a device slides into some kind of ACD and looks like it becomes an iMac-type computer... if that were the case, a keyboard would seem very logical.
Regardless, I don't think it will be a dealbreaker for me but I think there's still so little know about 1) how the device will be used (watching movies/consuming media, running iPhone apps, little word processing-type stuff) and 2) how to actually use the device (what input methods, what surfaces are touchscreen, etc) that it's way to early to say yes or no about buying it if a BT keyboard is an option.
The one sticking point for me is that if you want to be able to really type on it and there's no keyboard - even if we can actually adapt to using a soft keyboard to type with two hands, laying the device flat on the ground AND having to stare down at it while you type isn't the most ergonomic position (meaning a BT keyboard and stand would make it more comfortable).. but then you get back into a situation that isn't exactly Apple-like (having to carry around accessories to get the best use of your device)

 

[t0mat0]

No hardware keyboard.

Well, duh: it’ll be a touchscreen device. But though I want the RAT to support a touch-typable mechanical keyboard, I don’t believe it’ll be available even as a third-party option.

Two reasons: “An external third-party keyboard would be ugly.” Apple takes aesthetics and function very seriously. They would either include a keyboard themselves, or they wouldn’t include keyboard support of any kind. “Buy a $50 Bluetooth keyboard and prop up the Rat like a notebook screen somehow”? No.

But primarily because (and here I need to put on my Sean Connery voice, a la Captain Ramius in “The Hunt For Red October”) “When Cortez reached the new world, he set fire to his ships. This left his men very well-motivated.”

Apple wants this to be a touch-based computer. If you give people a physical keyboard, they’ll think of the touch system as merely an alternative to the mechanical interface they’re already familiar with.

Worse — and this is what convinces me there won’t be any keyboard support — it’ll subconsciously urge consumers to think of the RAT as a netbook. It can’t possibly compete with a $350 device that runs weaker, but reassuringly familiar, software.

No, you’ll get a big “soft” keyboard with excellent predictive text and autocorrection and that’s it.

Ergonomics and viewing angles are an issue. Unless the slate is part of a MacBook Air, then you'll have non-directly viewing angles (not orthogonal to the slate) problems typing - neck strain whilst typing from having to look down at the keyboard your typing rather than looking up like using a laptop.

Fundamentally, the tablet will be likely more pushed as about consuming media, than being an email/essay writing machine, same way the iPhone is.

 

[greygray]

a 13'' tablet + keyboard + mouse + changer it's quite a bit of stuff but will the ultimate portable device

You might as well get a Macbook or a 13" MBP.