News tagged ‘MacBook’

Another rumors about Apple tablets started with TechCrunch article. Refering to them, Apple works on another larger tablet, that seems to be more like Mac than iPhone. It may be have a screen up to 15,4’’ size like one in MacBook Pro versions and run Mac OS X.

It seems strange, as previous ideas of Desktop-OS-on-Tablet weren’t so successful and didn’t gain any traction. TechCrunch claims this tablet can be launched in the next year. So now we can expect Apple to introduce some more multi-touch friendly changes to Mac OS X soon.

Repairing company Mission Repair uncovered evidence of a forward-facing camera existence in the iPad after receiving a shipment of iPad replacement details yesterday.

The company confirmed that the camera from the Macbook does fit into place on the frame, with the LED, ambient light sensor and lens. As it also was reported before, the iPhone OS 3.2 SDK provided evidence that the shipping iPad could support a camera, and the native Contacts application on the iPad has an option of taking photos in addition to choosing an existing one.

A few days before iPad presentation the Wall Street Journal published an article about possibility of equipping iPad with a camera that could recognize the face of its user. At that moment it was unclear whether it is true or not, but now it seems to be more plausible than before.

There is only one day left until Apple's event on Jan 27, where Apple Tablet is expected to be presented. The number of rumors thow grow rapidly. There are discussions about the name, the price, specifications and much more.

Here are two images published on TechCrunch:

The photos are really well done. In previous rumors we have heard that the tablet should have a shape similar to that of the iPhone and a Home button. How Apple Tablet will actually look like? Nobody knows yet.

In addition to the photos here are couple videos, which look like fake, but a very good one.

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According to a (now deleted) tweet by major German electronics retailer Media Markt, the Apple iPad will go on sale March 1st at a price of 499 Euros (~$700) with T-Mobile contract or 899 Euros (~$1200) without. In the US prices would likely be around $500-$600 with contract and $999 without. These numbers were calculated comparing Apple items sold in Euros and USD (Mac Mini: 549 Euros / $599 USD, MacBook 899 Euros / $999 USD).

The company, however, quickly deleted the tweet but not before it was retweeted a number of times.

In this test one man writes a long paragraph on several different devices (including pen and paper) to test the speed. The results may surprise you.

The contestants are:

• Apple iPhone 3G’s software QWERTY keyboard (2009)
• Apple Newton MessagePad 2100’s handwriting recognition (1997)
• Palm Treo 650’s hardware QWERTY keyboard (2004)
• Palm VX Graffiti handwriting recognition software (1999)
• MacBook full-size QWERTY keyboard
• pen and paper

The test is not completely fair, since with handheld keyboards the speed greatly depends on how often you use them. The tester has been using an iPhone as his main handheld for 18 months.

The tester used an article with 221 words. Here are the results:

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Apple Tablet is expected to be announced on January 27. Site Macobserver has already published several photos of the tablet's glass.

On the photo the tablet looks a lot like a large iPod. One of the pictures shows the glass sitting on top of a MacBook Pro's keyboard:

More photos:

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Apple has issued invitations for a media event scheduled for 10:00 AM Pacific Time on January 27th. The event will be held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, and the invitation's tag line reads "Come see our latest creation.".

Apple certainly will present a new product. This might be iTablet, iPhone 4.0, iPhone HD… or something completely different. Stay tuned!

Here is how invitations to such events looked like in the past:

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Taiwan's Economic Daily paper claims that Cheng Uei Precision Industry has received an order for "connectors" for Apple's new Tablet PCs. Meanwhile Digitimes reports that Innolux, a panel-making subsidiary of Foxconn, will be the will be the initial supplier of touch panels for Apple's tablet PC. The screen size is said to be 10-inches.

Apple has been seeking solutions to strengthen the glass of the 10-inch panel for the device and was forced to delay the launch until first-quarter 2010, the sources noted. Apple is expected to announce the tablet PC in January of 2010 with mass shipments to start in March or April, based on analysis of the shipping schedules of Apple's upstream component partners.

Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry) will be the manufacturer of the tablet, the sources added.

These reports add to the increasing number of rumors about Apple's upcoming Tablet. Just last week, Apple was said to be planning a late January media event to launch the device which would ship later in 2010. Even more recently have been discoveries that Apple has trademarked the "iSlate" name presumably as a possible name for the device.

A couple of years ago, a company called Axiotron announced an aftermarket modification for the MacBook that converted the Apple laptop into a tablet. The modification remains for sale at $699 and takes a stock MacBook, removes the keyboard and screen, and adds a Wacom pen-based screen to give the device a tablet form factor.

Axiotron originally began marketing the devices as a "TabletMac" and filed a trademark for the term. Sometime in the past year, however, the trademark was transferred from Axiotron to Apple, and Apple is now listed as the owner of the trademark:

Now Apple could potentially release a product called the TabletMac. So what name? iTablet, MacTablet, TabletMac or maybe MacBook Tablet?

Want to know some more about Apple’s upcoming iTablet device? There are many rumor names (iTablet, iPad, MacBook Touch, etc), but not much details. Site ilounge claim to receive some new rumors from a reliable source:

1. Apple has created at least three separate prototypes of its tablet computer.
2. Version 1 was designed with a 7” screen, which was judged to be too small. The latest version has a 10.7” screen.
3. It runs iPhone OS.
4. There have been reports that it looks like an iPhone. They’re sort of true. It looks like an iPhone 3G, complete with a curved back.
5. It will come in two different variations: one with 3G networking capabilities, and one without 3G networking capabilities. Think of the 3G version as a bigscreen iPhone 3GS, and the non-3G version as a bigscreen iPod touch.
6. Screen resolutions will obviously jump considerably from the iPhone and iPod touch 480x320-pixel displays, enabling easy reading of full-sized book and magazine pages, plus cropped newspaper pages. Expect something like 5-6 times the resolution of an iPod touch or iPhone screen (720p or thereabouts) and 7 times the touchable surface area.
7. It is designed to expand the iPhone and iPod touch media concept to its next potential level: as a slate-like replacement for books and magazines, plus all of the media, gaming, app, and web functionality of the iPhone and iPod touch.
8. It is not meant to compete with netbooks. It’s an iPhone OS media player and light communication device.
9. Apple is currently planning to announce it on or before January 19, 2010, and to use an iPhone-like hype buildup period to start selling it in May or June.
10. It is apparently awaiting a final green light from Steve Jobs; chances of it appearing in the market are believed to be 80% at this point.

Not bad. But still this is unofficial..

Taiwan Economic News reports new rumors about Apple iTablet (MacBook Touch).

The tablet PC features a 9.6-inch screen, finger-touch function and built-in HSPDA (high speed download packet access) module, built-in 3G wireless connectivity, adopts a P.A. SEMI processor chip and long lasting battery pack. The expected price is between US$799 and US$999.

The report claims that DynaPack International Technology Corp. will make up to 300,000 'long lasting' battery for the Tablet per month. Wanshih Electronic Co., Ltd. will be supplying the mini coaxial cables. Layers Scientific-Technics Co., Ltd. and Wintek Corp. will be supplying the Power Chokes and the lovely 9.7 incher Touch Panel.

iTablet will probably appear some time in February 2010.

It happend in New Jersey. The video shows the men quickly enter and grab 23 MacBook Pros, 14 iPhones and 9 iPod touches in 31 seconds:

The site 9 to 5 Mac found a new virtual keyboard in the new recently released Mac OS - Snow Leopard. The new keyboard is much bigger (finger sized) and is located in an input method (keyboard) system pref. You can resize it as well to stretch all the way across the screen. This might be the first steps towards touchscreen hardware such as Apple's much-rumored tablet computer (also known as iTablet and MacBook Touch).

For comparison, here’s the old soft keyboard in Leopard. This is not a touchscreen keyboard.

While most recent rumors have been swirling around Apple developing a 10" iTablet that would basically look like an oversized iPod touch, Gizmodo has a source, said to have been 100% reliable in the past, who’s telling them Apple is also planning 13" and 15" tablets, one of which… will run Mac OS X:

This source claims that the two touchscreen prototypes—made of aluminum, but on the shape of big iPhones—were in a factory in Shenzuen, China. One of them “was running Mac OS X 10.5.” When I asked, the source didn’t know if these were built for demonstration purposes, or if they were preproduction units. The company has a tight relation with Apple but “it’s not FoxConn.”

So maybe Apple is making small iPhone-like tablets and larger MacBook-like tablets.

via gizmodo theiphoneblog