"Slate" PC's

Amp34

Amp34

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Seems the Tablet PC is being replace/moved aside for the "Slate" PC recently, with CES 2010 having loads of them.

(eg http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/06/the-hp-slate/ )

I've always been interested in a touch screen laptop but when looking two years ago they all seemed to be bulky, slow and expensive for what they are, so I ended up with a normal laptop. These new designs seem a much better prospect (for me at least) to go alongside your desktop, laptop and touch screen phone.

If they make a few slightly bigger ones, with around 12" screens and the size of a pad of paper, with the power of a proper laptop and Windows 7 then I think I'd definately buy one. They would be excellent for on the go photo editing with CS3/4, both tethered to your camera and after, you could watch films and even play the odd RTS if you were bored. I'd be definately interested if they could be turned into a graphic tablet for your desktop as well.

Smaller ones (around 7-8") would be brilliant for ultraportable photo devices, stick a decent battery and large (256GB) SSD and you could take them on multi day treks, using them as an ad hoc photoediting machine as well as photo storage device.

Anyone else excited by these?
 
I'm waiting to see what Apple unveil the end of the month, they've already registered islate.com :)
 
Amazing, I have been reading about these and was about to post the very same thing today!

Yes I am quite excited to see how the new iSlate is going to look \ perform. Last year I travelled South East Asia for 9 months with my Macbook and camera equipment and it was murder carrying everything around. A “Slate PC” would be a much better option for viewing\editing photos and transferring them to a portable HDD if they perform well.

I would definitely rather take a slate with me than a laptop on my next trip.
 
James Pardon said:
I'm waiting to see what Apple unveil the end of the month, they've already registered islate.com :)
Click to expand...

It'll be interesting to see, but most peoples predictions seem to be ering towards the thing I really don't want to see. An 8"ish screen with a proprietory software and an apps store, essentially a large iPod Touch. If they release something bigger with a proper OS (so you could actually run proper computer software, such as proper games and CS3/4) then I would be very interested. Problem is they wouldn't "just work" with 90% of other computers or my phone...

Having said that something like that could be useful if it has a large storage drive and you can literally just plug the camera in and have it as a mass storage device (with proper Canon/Nikon software available for tethering).
 
As a long time Convertible Tablet PC user (I'm on my 2nd, and this one has a multi touch 12" widescreen and Windows 7) I know the real benefits to having the ability to use handwriting and direct screen manipulation. However, despite having the ability to use handwriting for the majority of cases I still resort to the Keyboard and mouse for most of my interactions as it's easier. The handwriting recognition has definitely improved and is now very good but it still isn't quite good enough for use as a main text entry. I'm guessing that as the handwriting recognition in 7 (and Vista) now learns when you make corrections it would probably improve quite quickly, but it's still a pain at the moment.

The main use of the tablet features for me is an easy photo editing method and a mobile note taking device using Microsoft One Note (but I leave the handwriting in handwriting form) for my Photography business.

I'd love to use a tablet in my main job as a note taker but the company I work for isn't that forward thinking or small enough for them for me to even put the case forward. If a normal tablet wouldn't raise eyebrows I would consider taking my own for note taking. So if the battery life on one of these slates was good enough to last a whole day and small enough to hide / disguise then I might consider one, other than that they don't offer anything I don't have.
 
dougiem said:
I would love to buy the rumored 'islate' If it comes out but the price is meant to be over 1000 pounds and i just dont have that kind of money to spend :bang:
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Do you even know what it is romoured to be? :p

As for input methods, I could never see them being a proper replacement for a laptop with keyboard (although the Archos 9 can be had with a wireless keyboard if needed), fine using the onscreen board for small posts on the internet but writing an essay... (I find writing on my Touch HD fine but would never want to write something massive). As a random browser though it would be brilliant.
 
Amp34 said:
Do you even know what it is romoured to be? :p

As for input methods, I could never see them being a proper replacement for a laptop with keyboard (although the Archos 9 can be had with a wireless keyboard if needed), fine using the onscreen board for small posts on the internet but writing an essay... (I find writing on my Touch HD fine but would never want to write something massive). As a random browser though it would be brilliant.
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and touch screen keyboards the same size as real keyboards would rock :D

failing that bluetooth ones are good, I had a mate that took all his notes on a phone with a fold out full size bluetooth keyboard that went down to calculator size
 
Apple have a tendency to always over price and under deliver; on the flip side of that, they always deliver a few cutting end features that work very well and a very stable environment.

There was an interview with France Telecome / Orange (check here) about this and it makes it seem eminent! I hope this is a resurrection of the Newton; as if it is anything like that then it will be worth every £ they ask for!
 
I want one like Jean Luc Picard had, linked to a massive database of everything instantly available.
 
It's a bit odd that a telephone company knows so much about a PC, which makes me think a lot of people are going to get a shock thinking the iSlate will be an actual PC and gives more weight to just a large media player (like the archoses of old), an uprated iPod Touch. In which case it will also be interesting to see if Apple stick with a capacitive screen or move to a resistive screen (resistive screens are far more accurate than capacitive), a resistive screen will be far better for handwriting for example.

Here's the latest one from Archos, Looking very nice so far, but not quite powerful enough to replace a proper PC, netbook maybe.

9" screen
Atom Processor
1GB RAM

http://www.archos.com/products/nb/archos_9/
 
Amp34 said:
It's a bit odd that a telephone company knows so much about a PC, which makes me think a lot of people are going to get a shock thinking the iSlate will be an actual PC and gives more weight to just a large media player (like the archoses of old), an uprated iPod Touch. In which case it will also be interesting to see if Apple stick with a capacitive screen or move to a resistive screen (resistive screens are far more accurate than capacitive), a resistive screen will be far better for handwriting for example.

Here's the latest one from Archos, Looking very nice so far, but not quite powerful enough to replace a proper PC, netbook maybe.

9" screen
Atom Processor
1GB RAM

http://www.archos.com/products/nb/archos_9/
Click to expand...

What telephone company is making a Tablet?
 
dougiem said:
What telephone company is making a Tablet?
Click to expand...

Apple are (possibly) making a tablet, amongst a lot of other companies (HP and Archos linked), however...

Wail said:
Apple have a tendency to always over price and under deliver; on the flip side of that, they always deliver a few cutting end features that work very well and a very stable environment.

There was an interview with France Telecome / Orange (check here) about this and it makes it seem eminent! I hope this is a resurrection of the Newton; as if it is anything like that then it will be worth every £ they ask for!
Click to expand...

:)

Why would France Telecom know so much about a tablet/slate PC if it was a proper PC and not a larger snassier version of the iPod Touch.

What really excites me as well is if you could use your Slate as a control and graphics tablet for your desktop or HTPC, just by connecting wirelessly to your W7 PC allowing you to see a clone of the main screen on your device and draw on it/use it to control your Projector (for example).
 
The whole idea of a tablet / slate machine isn't new. It's been done and tried a number of times; failed miserably every time, with the last major go at this being back in 2007 when most manufacturers brought out 10" touch machines (can't remember what they called them this time around); even Apple's attempt failed (Newton)!

What new this time? Communication & Media advancement; and both being dirt cheap along with the average age of consumers being a lot lower than what it used to be, hence a far bigger market!

Will we see something new this time? I doubt that we will. It is my guess, what we will see is a smoother and a more friendly interface that makes it easier for the average person to farm her / his Facebook FarmVille.
 
dougiem said:
Oh that is rather strange :thinking:
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Why would it be strange? I think that this is possibly the next thing for the Telecom vendors - a slate/tablet with 3g sim built in. They subsidise the hardware as they sell a mobile contract - which I guess means that there will be no video capability or Skype.

Chris
 
I think I must be the only person who doesn't see how a tablet/slate would fit in for me. For on the go I have my iPhone, so phone/email/web/music etc when I want to do anything more complicated or go into Lightroom etc I have my laptop. Although I could see it fitting under a desktop, or for someone who just want to surf the web etc and not have a normal computer.

I'm waiting to be wowed with what the iSlate can do over my iPhone, but not holding my breath.
 
Wail said:
The whole idea of a tablet / slate machine isn't new. It's been done and tried a number of times; failed miserably every time, with the last major go at this being back in 2007 when most manufacturers brought out 10" touch machines (can't remember what they called them this time around); even Apple's attempt failed (Newton)!

What new this time? Communication & Media advancement; and both being dirt cheap along with the average age of consumers being a lot lower than what it used to be, hence a far bigger market!

Will we see something new this time? I doubt that we will. It is my guess, what we will see is a smoother and a more friendly interface that makes it easier for the average person to farm her / his Facebook FarmVille.
Click to expand...

Yeah they have been around for years but I think the tech has now caught up with the fantasy. We have low voltage processors (in netbooks) that are actually powerful enough to be used for proper everyday usage and even mobile processors that are poweful enough to run netbooks. This means instead of having underpowered bulky things (such as those that were around in 2007 when I last looked) we have something that can be slim and actually useful with a battery life of more than an hour.

Tulipone said:
Why would it be strange? I think that this is possibly the next thing for the Telecom vendors - a slate/tablet with 3g sim built in. They subsidise the hardware as they sell a mobile contract - which I guess means that there will be no video capability or Skype.

Chris
Click to expand...

It's strange if Apple are going to release a proper PC style slate rather than a larger version of their iPod Touch. A lot of mac users I think want a slate PC (or mac), what I think we will get instead is a slate (iPod) Touch, which to me at least would be useless.

Craikeybaby said:
I think I must be the only person who doesn't see how a tablet/slate would fit in for me. For on the go I have my iPhone, so phone/email/web/music etc when I want to do anything more complicated or go into Lightroom etc I have my laptop. Although I could see it fitting under a desktop, or for someone who just want to surf the web etc and not have a normal computer.

I'm waiting to be wowed with what the iSlate can do over my iPhone, but not holding my breath.
Click to expand...

I have a Touch HD (similar to the iPhone but more powerful and bigger screen) and find it fine for all the things you mentioned but I'd love something in between a proper laptop and the phone that I could use with my camera and as a travel companion, not taking over from my phone but my laptop.

When do you actually need the keyboard on your laptop when you are travelling? Other than the occasional time for writing something up for work/uni (in which case take your laptop, or wireless keyboard) most of the time you only use it for small things like web addresses and posts on here where a software keyboard would be just as good. In this sense a "Slate" design would make more sense as you have the power of a laptop but not quite as much bulk whilst still having the ability to use lightroom and Photoshop as well as most of the games you play on your PC now (you also get the graphics tablet ability of the slate to help you, instead of mouse and keyboard).:)

This is why i'm thinking, if the "iSlate" is what people are predicting then it is pointless as it will essentially just be your phone, with a bigger screen. The windows based slates on the other hand do appear to be moving to proper slate PC's which IMO is where it's at.

EDIT: The perfect machine IMO would be something like this:

12" screen and a size equal to or slightly smaller than a pad of A4 paper
Core2/i5/i7 laptop processor
4GB RAM
250ish GB HDD
Proper OS (preferably Windows 7 but OSX fine)

Perhaps a slightly lesser spec (more mobile processor) one with a 6-7" screen running a proper OS again for when you want to go travelling with your camera. Use it as a mobilestorage unit as well as a way of checking your photos on a bigger screen as well as some basic PP wit Photoshop or lightroom before you get home or so you can upload it to your website without having to find another computer (Very useful for week+ trips abroad/in the wilderness).
 
Apparently full details on the Apple Slate device will be revealed today - not sure the exact time, it may already be happening / have happened....

I'm going to get one to try and bring more interactivity to client viewings...

Gary.
 
It's due any minute now :thumbs: .. my bet is, as I've said before, Apple will over price and under-deliver but will include a number of features that will take us by surprise :thumbs:

My bet, it's another media killer that will move Apple more and more away from IT and into media contents providers with the IT becoming a subsidiary of their main-core business :shrug:
 
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