• Cost less than $2,000
• Have sufficient power to handle daily applications
• Incorporate truly exceptional WiFi
• Use a 10″ – 12″ screen (so as to not get in the way in crowded classrooms)
• Ideally be light and thin
• Go for hours and hours on a battery charge
• Provide tablet capabilities (this was not a must-have)

In July, 2008 an Apple patent filing got me wondering if Apple was utilizing some sort of brain-scanning technology in their design process:

In fact, I’ve been wishing Apple would create some sort of lightweight hybrid cross between a Newton and a MacBook for years now. Perhaps Apple has been reading my mind?

Then in April of last year all the excitement around netbooks compelled me to opine that Apple would likely opt for a tablet device rather than a netbook. I figured Apple might build such a tablet around the tremendously successful iPhoneOS:

The real key to the success of a Mac tablet would lie in applications. Rather than scaling the Macintosh experience down to a small device, I wonder if Apple might instead scale up the iPhone/iPod touch experience to a tablet. Zillions of application developers have jumped into the iPhone/iPod touch market, hoping to strike gold. If Apple could give these developers the opportunity to easily adjust their iPhone/iPod touch apps for use with a new tablet, the chicken-and-egg problem of getting developers on board would be solved.

Tempted yet again, I wrote in July that an Apple tablet could be a wonderful device for law students:

A thin touchscreen tablet built around ubiquitous connectivity could be the perfect computing device for law students, particularly if Apple were to sell it for less than the price of a MacBook.

You can probably already guess that I think the iPad will be a game-changer. Of course I’m not alone in my Apple tablet obsession. Pretty much everyone in the computing world has an opinion about the iPad, whether positive or negative.

I’m curious about your opinions. Do you think an iPad would be a viable replacement for a MacBook in law school use? Would you buy an iPad for on-campus use and keep a laptop for home and the library? Are you excited by the concept but waiting for the next version of the iPad? Do you feel a touchscreen will just never work on your primary computing device? Is the “closed” nature of the App Store a problem for you? Do you see legal textbooks ever coming to the iPad?

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If you’re an Apple watcher, the standard rejoinder is that Apple has instead been busy working on a touchscreen tablet device. This rumor has been rolling for years now, and many Apple followers have gotten rather lathered up as the Mac tablet has repeatedly failed to materialize. In keeping with its penchant for secrecy, Apple has never responded to the tablet rumors. But tales of its impending arrival continue to appear.

The latest account from AppleInsider proclaims that Apple is “racing toward an early 2010 launch” of a device “akin to a jumbo iPod touch” with a 10″ screen, WiFi, and 3G capability. Color me a sucker, but I think this iSnipe may actually show up. It makes sense for Apple to leverage the immense developer base for the iPhone/iPod touch. Apple has been highly focused on mobile computing in recent years, and the spot between handhelds and laptops needs to be filled. I imagine there are plenty of iPhone developers who would love to move into larger screen territory (and establish themselves in what has been traditionally considered the laptop market). Macintosh software developers whose apps need more screen real estate than the iPhone and iPod touch provide could also benefit.

A thin touchscreen tablet built around ubiquitous connectivity could be the perfect computing device for law students, particularly if Apple were to sell it for less than the price of a MacBook. Would you run FinalCut Pro on an iSnipe? No. But for taking notes, writing reports, researching, and even playing the occasional game to blow off steam, it could be just right.

I say could because it may never see the light of day. It may just be a research project at Apple, or a side project that gets killed off. Who knows. But I’m hoping the iSnipe is real. I’m also hoping Apple gives it a better moniker than iSnipe, for all our sakes.

Image Credit:

Thanks for making your photo available under a Creative Commons license, úlfhams.

It’s new, it’s shiny. Will it really help you prepare for the bar exam? I have no idea.