Not sure how I feel about it yet. I was joking with my brother that the iPad nano is already out: its the iTouch.
Having office seems kinda cool, but I mean, you’d want a laptop for that.
Dan, I hate those charts! 
Did not pay attention to the scale.
I think it looks great! and would very much like one!
Or is that me just being a sucker for apples inevitably slick product design.
I think it looks pretty terrible. Only a 1GHz CPU, no USB, no Flash, no multi tasking, no HDMI, no removable storage, non-removable battery, incredibly expensive.
Hell, even my XPS laptop was cheaper, and comes with all of the above, and a keyboard, dvd writer, remote control, can multi task, and 320gb of storage.
Combine that with one of the most underwhelming product launches I have ever seen, basically demonstrating that it can scroll and click and view the web.
I really don’t think these will sell that well at all.
So? Why would it need anything faster? All it does is browser the web, play videos, run galleries etc.
Yah, that’s silly.
Don’t you need a connector for it work with VGA anyway? So you could use an HDMI connector anyway couldn’t you? … I’m not sure if that would work or not, I don’t know much about such things, just wondering.
Yeah, and SD card reader and removable battery would be good, but that’s regular Apple crap. They suck at providing stuff that everybody else has been providing since day nought. Heck, most iPod’s still don’t have FM radios built in!
Huh? It’s US$499! That seems damn cheap to me.
Yes, and it sucks at everything the iPad is good at.
Depends on how you define ‘well’ I guess. I can’t imagine it’ll sell as well as iPhone or iPod, but I’d have guessed better than iTouch.
I think you are totally missing the point of the device. It’s not a replacement for a laptop. It’s a superior alternative for when you don’t need some of the features of your regular laptop.
If I had money to burn I’d definitely buy one before getting the chance to upgrade to a Chrome Tablet. I’m not wealthy enough to blow US$500 on something I’ll likely be replacing about six months or so after I bought it.
They should have called it iSlate. Why iPad when they already have iPod, beats me, as for who will dominate the eBook world, it’s tough to say Kindle or iPad, but Amazon needs to release a color Kindle, quick.
For the base version with no 3G and limited storage, yes. Add the standard Apple ‘UK tax’ on to that, and it’s over twice as much as a netbook, and still less useful.
Does it? I can read books, browse the web and watch videos on my laptop. In fact, I can watch DVDs on my laptop as well.
If I don’t need some features on my laptop on a particular day, I just… don’t use those features. It’s just as portable, and far more flexible.
One thing to consider is also that it will be überstuffed with all kinds of DRM. So you probably will not be able to listen to any non applestore bought music, watch any non applestore bought videos, read non applestore bought books or install any non approved applications (this last point is arguably a good thing for a clueless computer user in sense that it reduces chances of getting malicious software).
Or maybe I am wrong about this…
I have the same opinion as about the iPhone. I simply don’t like it. I’d prefer a normal laptop or if we are talking about apple - I’d rather like a MacBook Air then this. The keyboard still remains an important feature for me…
The features on these gadgets are nice but they are just to sensitive. I have a touch screen phone and I am so ready to get rid of it. It freezes up all the time.
Fitnow:cool:
@Dan. This is what I meant. It is a decent sized screen, approx A4 sized.
If something like that had a keyboard so that it is like a laptop (but with the keyboard being a touch sensitive screen with full sized keys being displayed (so that so have two screens kinda like the Nintendo DS) then you would have a more versatile product which could not get a broken screen (well at least not so easily.
I’ve got an old portable dvd player where you could turn the screen around 180 and have the screen rest against it but facing towards you (I think I remember seeing a tablet PC that could do that a few years ago in a magazine).
Combine something like that with a blueray player, wi-fi (possibly bluetooth as well), a couple of USB ports, an VGA port for connecting to an external tv or monitor, possibly a RJ45 port for hooking into a wired network. With either an open source (probably linux) or a custom OS without drm or anything locking it down.
The link at near the top of my post is to what is probably considered a very high-end tablet computer but there must be cheaper ones available with reasonable ram, hard drive space, processor speed, etc.
I think that the iPad is more like a pda then a tablet computer.
a hardware company with closed source software really makes no sense.
Wow the screen is big and it kinda look awkward when used as a mobile phone…
I agree - the first release of anything usually has some bugs that can be worked out - but this could be great for those with certain disabilities or for “seniors” who want to do email and photos, listen to music and read books - without the complexity of OSX or Windows to worry about.
No Flash support would be a deal breaker for me - but I like just about everything else I’ve seen. For those complaining about the CPU…have you seen how quickly it deals with photos and how good the video playback is?
I’m surprised they’re sticking with ATT for the data, but would love to see a $30 unlimited data plan w/no contracts made available for other netbooks and laptops.
Steve
For those interested in “what’s inside”:
I was a bit sceptical at first but after looking into it I think it’s pretty decent the only thing that would bug me would be no flash support.
I remember the jokes about the microsoft surface (big ass table) now here comes the iPad (big ass phone).
It’s a beautiful thing but I can’t see it as a lifestyle accessory, it can’t replace an ipod (fancy jogging with the thing), can’t replace an iphone (now that would be a good look) your iMac does everything else (and I really think most people know which way is up on a laptop) and a 42inch LCD is a much nicer experience for watching movies plus bookshelves looks a lot nicer with books in them (I mean real bookshelves).
So do people really need another Iincarnation? Possibly not but thanks to the magic of Apple persuasion I’m sure many will want one!
Meh 
Typing this from my iMac (which I adore), also have a Macbook Pro for developing on the go. I imagined this device would be a “fun” and travel device; perhaps a device for demoing to clients which may replace/occasionally substitute the Macbook.
Sadly, no.
The drawbacks have already been mentioned:
Lack of full (or even usable) OS for my purposes.
No flash support.
TINY internal drive options.
No expandability (no SD is a shame, no USB is just a joke).
No cam (I wanna Skype!).
Cannot realistically be used as a storage device.
From what I’ve seen/read of the specs, I think it is actually too bulky and too heavy - especially given the lack of storage, external media drives and interfaces.
This could have been a product that wowed the world. As it is, once people get over the prettiness, and see the flaws and locked-down nature of the beast, I think it may actually turn out to be Apple TV Mk II - not something that fills me with joy…
It seems cool but I don’t want it. It seems like an expensive web browser. I would need a real OS on it.
Hopefully Apple and the inevitable clones will end up driving the price for a slate form factor down. At $199 or so, it’s more affordable to have as a convenience. Leave it on the coffee table to be able to check something on the web real quick. It looks like it’d be nicer to hand someone to show them a webpage than handing over a netbook on a cord.