mark peterson said on 10/05/09 — It needs to come with a sturdy coffee table stand, needs to work well when flat on the table, needs to work well when using it while you're sitting in a chair, and most of all, work well if reading on it while laying down.

Eric Silva said on 10/13/09 — I'm not really sure I understand what a tablet would be good for.



I.e., why would I want a tablet instead of a laptop? There are a few narrow situations where a tablet is preferable, but is that enough?

mark peterson said on 10/13/09 — I think that it's more for the convenience of viewing. The ideal tablet would be one that could dock into a keyboard. But, the ideal of ideals would be a computer that was on your keychain, and the table, laptop, desktop, phone, etc... would be mere peripherals.

Eric Silva said on 10/13/09 — I guess what I meant is that a tablet isn't really anymore convenient to view than a laptop, except for rare situations like lying down. (It's actually less convenient to view than a laptop in many situations, requiring a stand, and so on.)



A computer that fits in your pocket is more convenient than a laptop in many situations: those in which you don't want to carry anything that can't fit in your pocket. That's the appeal of products like the iPhone, etc.



Existing tablet designs are pretty much the size of a laptop. So what's the real advantage over a laptop?



I can understand why very few people would buy a tablet, but I don't understand why lots of people would want one (which is the only way Apple would make one).

mark peterson said on 10/13/09 — Perhaps Apple believes that their devoted fan base will buy one.

mark peterson said on 10/13/09 — ... and lying down is not a rare situation :)



it's probably, as has been mentioned before, to compete with the Kindle.