Several weeks ago I speculated about an Ultra Portable Mac with a docking station coming soon from Apple. So you can imagine how pleased I was when I saw this post on Mac Rumors this morning.
From the post:
Smarthouse.com.au claims that Apple has a full working prototype of a Mac tablet PC within their labs with plans for a 2007 launch.
According to sources in Taiwan, the targets for this unreleased Mac tablet are expected to be home and education markets rather than the enterprise market.
The Mac tablet has been designed to handle third party applications such as home automation software that will allow users to control lighting, audio, entertainment devices and security feeds. It also acts as a full blown PC has wireless linking for a new generation of Wireless Hi Fi speakers that are currently being tested by Apple.
The Intel-based Tablet Mac would also offer a docking station to provide HDMI output to the appropriate screen. Beyond using the technology documented in Apple’s recent patent applications for touch-screen/tablet Macs, Apple is reportedly licensing at least three patents from 3rd party companies.
If this does come out, and is truly a full blown computer (complete with OSX) then I see no reason why you couldn’t add a wireless keyboard and mouse, and use the device in the way I described in the previous post.
I’m sure the Mac Rumors article will makes its way throughout the web (especially with it being a particularly slow news week), and I can’t wait to see what further speculation comes from it.
