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goobot

macrumors 604
Original poster
Jun 26, 2009
6,676
4,945
long island NY
Im sure many of you know what these computer tablets hybrids I'm speaking about are. Many are crap since they are just crapy tablets with a keyboard or a netbook with a touchscreen. But what if apple took an iPad air, made it 12-13 inches big, then actually attached it to a macbook pro body? It has all the specs and build quality as a 13inch mac pro would normally have. Battery, intel processors, all of that. Essentially it is an all in one device without drawbacks. You could also choose to have it in iOS or OSX mode (probably not osx if you undock it) It would be also really cool if it could fold down on its self if you were out and you don't want it in two pieces on the table. Idk, i feel like it would have potential if apple did everything right. I do know many are going to say no just cause apple said no (even tho they say no to a lot and then do it anyway and say it is because they are able to do it better) and many will say no just like how they said the iPad will suck, the mini will suck, and the iPhone will suck and so on. But i would like to honestly hear your thoughts. There have been rumors of a bigger iPad right?
 
If that was the case, wouldnt it just be a macbook pro with touch capability? Thats exactly what alot of windows 8 ultrabooks are doing. And it doesnt seem like they are doing too good.
 
No, it would be horrible. I'm anal enough about having marks/fingerprints on my beautiful retina screen. If I wanted a tablet, I'd buy a tablet. I wanted a macbook pro. A gimmicky tablet/laptop hybrid would not appeal to me in the slightest.
 
Apple haven't tried it thank goodness. Fortunately they had more sense than Microsoft to even attempt doing it to a desktop OS like they have botched with Windows 8/8.1.

Perhaps when technologies such as the leap motion are built into macs they may consider converging them but it's not going to happen till then IMHO.
 
Some company called ModBook Inc. makes ModBook Pros, which are 13" MBPs purchased from Apple and heavily modified into an enclosure with a touch screen.

Sure, it looks ugly, but it works, with all the power of a 13" MBP and OS X :)
 
No, Microsoft did that. Asus started it with the Transformer line, but when it comes to laptop/tablet hybrids the Surface Pro 2 is a step above. It's a superb device.
 
Perhaps if it had a Wacom digitizer so you could do proper writing on it, that would be interesting. People who have to deal with a lot of equations and numbers might be interested in this, since you could digitally do it, plus have the computing power to actually crunch/employ the equations. But I can't see Apple doing it since they won't even include a Wacom digitizer on their iPads.
 
So they should innovate by copying and slightly modifying?

I'm sure it would sell tens of millions, though, to the same people who yell about how we're entering the Post-PC era.
 
Apple has done nothing with a tablet/computer hybrid. Even a large iPad running iOS would be a total flop.

Now something like a Dell Venue 8/11 Pro, Dell XPS 12, Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga, or the Transformer line are all pretty wonderful advancements.
 
So they should innovate by copying and slightly modifying?

I'm sure it would sell tens of millions, though, to the same people who yell about how we're entering the Post-PC era.

How would that be copying and slightly modifying? There were tablets way before the iPad but apple simply made the changes needed to make it a successful market. It's almost impossible to be the first in a market, but being the first to do it right is what apple has always been about.
 
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Didn't Apple long ago have an item called the Newton? It seems Apple did dabble with the idea of a "hand computer" of this sort long ago but it was extremely limited.
 
How would that be copying a slightly modifying? There were tablets way before the iPad but apple simply made the changes need to make it a successful market. It's almost impossible to be the first in a market, but being the first to do it right is what apple has always been about.

How would it be copying and slightly modifying to have a combo of a desktop os with a mobile one? I don't know, maybe the tablet that has Android and full Windows. Stop making excuses.
 
How would it be copying and slightly modifying to have a combo of a desktop os with a mobile one? I don't know, maybe the tablet that has Android and full Windows. Stop making excuses.

I never heard of any such thing, and i didn't realize a market can only have one product. I guess apple should pull out of the phone market because samsung makes a phone too right?
 
I never heard of any such thing, and i didn't realize a market can only have one product. I guess apple should pull out of the phone market because samsung makes a phone too right?

I didn't say they shouldn't do it.

I said they wouldn't be doing anything innovative.
 
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I didn't say they shouldn't do it.

I said they wouldn't be doing anything innovative.

A lot of apples innovations comes from the benefit of the os and hardware being built for each other, something that these other devices wouldn't have.

Also this is a form for simply discussing stuff, I'm not trying to start a fight over what is or isn't innovative since a large part of deciding that is opinion.
 
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Due to the technology of the time. You could easily make the argument that the iPad is nothing more than the Newton fully realized.

There are all sorts of false starts for whatever reason. I think the Newton, though primitive by today's standards, didn't become popular because of marketing and the fact it was a bit thick if not clunky. My friend had one and I was impressed with what it could do.

Then again, I remember these amazing PDA units that could do so much and also have cell and wifi ability add ons. This never caught on and the iPhone killed them. One was a "computer with a phone" and Apple made a phone with a computer. Go figure.
 
I quite like the hybrid idea. No idea how it could be 'revolutionized' but all innovations are accepted as far as I'm concerned.
 
It;s not revolutionising anything. That's what the Surface Pro is, and it's already a great device. Apple could work on their vision of what Surface-style devices should be, but MSFT has already been in that space for 2 years.
 
No, it would be horrible. I'm anal enough about having marks/fingerprints on my beautiful retina screen. If I wanted a tablet, I'd buy a tablet. I wanted a macbook pro. A gimmicky tablet/laptop hybrid would not appeal to me in the slightest.

Agreed. I have no desire for a tablet/laptop hybrid.
 
Tablet PCs have been around forever. Apple didn't revolutionize it.

But Microsoft and the other PC makers are still trying to make a dead product work while Apple has come out with better solutions.

The iPad takes care of people who want a smartphone-like experience on a bigger screen. The MacBook Air takes care of people who want the computer experience without having to lug around a much, much bigger laptop.

Tablets like the Surface and the Dell Venue only sell when they're on price cuts for the most part. And they're going to keep doing these promotions until they can't find any consumers to fall for it anymore.

At the end, everyone loses though, because you buy these things in hopes of getting the same iOS/Android experience mostly, with the regular Windows use.

Instead, you get mostly the laptop experience, and it makes a pretty bad tablet. Instead you end up having to install something like Bluestacks for compatibility, or you end up hooking up a controller to play games because they're too big to use easily with your hands.

Where's the tablet again?

Android has revolutionized the product and services integration, that's all they have done. There's going to be a day where Android gets closed sourced, and it's going to bite all the people who like modding their stuff in the behind.

Nothing good lasts forever.
 
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