Here's hoping against the "Macbook Mini"

"As Macworld approaches, reports of an ultraportable MacBook are following patterns of previously expected products that eventually materialized," analyst Gene Munster wrote in a note to clients. "We believe these reports are legitimate and continue to expect Apple to introduce a MacBook with a significantly smaller form factor."

- Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster

One might assume that Piper Jaffray has an "inside source" at Apple. And maybe they do. But another thing that these analysts do is watch the supply chains. The individual components of a new computer product have to be ordered months in advance, so by watching who is buying what in what quantities, predictions can be made.

If you consider the individual components that might go into a "Macbook Mini" or might go into an "iTablet", there's actually a fair amount of overlap. So here's to hoping they've read the tea leaves wrong, and we get something less "Macbook Mini" and more "iTablet".

Why?

For starters, the UMPC market already has several offerings, and even though they are neat little devices, I don't see a lot of people ditching their traditional laptops for one. So if you were jonesing for such a device, they're here now, but it's a niche market. It's not stealing global marketshare from traditional laptops. Since OS X is already considered a niche market itself, a UMPC running OS X would be targeting a niche of a niche. If you're a one-man startup, "niche of a niche" smells like opportunity, but if you're already a multi-billion-dollar company, it smells like a poor return.

What's more, I think Bill Manning is on target when he says that UMPCs have "a cool factor of 10" but ultimately they aren't practical. He's touting the Macbook as his laptop of choice, but his criticisms of UMPCs apply in general.

An Apple UMPC just wouldn't be much to shout about.

A true tablet computer, on the other hand... that's my wish. At the end of my work day I want to get away from my office and away from my keyboard, but darn it, I'm a nerd and I still have leisure activities that involve a computer. I'd like to kick back in my recliner and read some mail or read some Apple ][ History or play a web game, and do it reclined and do it without pounding keyboard.

An iTablet would address all of Bill Manning's gripes about UMPCs. It would have a larger screen, but still be small and light, because you omit the keyboard half of the computer. It won't mess with your muscle memory of your work keyboard, because there is no keyboard. It could have the virtual keyboard, or handwriting recognition via Inkwell, or hey why not both? At this point both types of software are completed products.

My perfect iTablet would have flash-based storage only, and would treat CPU power as secondary to cooling and battery life. The perfect iTablet must run quiet and cool, because who can really keep their laptop in their lap anymore, much less hold it in their hands.

Now imagine this: if you own an iTablet, and you also own a Mac, it gets better. The iTablet itself has a cool, low power CPU. But the computational power of your iTablet actually goes UP when it can contact your Mac, without running any hotter. How is such magic possible? Oh dear, everyone has forgotten XGrid.