Turns out that the new 27″ iMac that Apple released yesterday will be able to accept input via its miniDisplay port. That means that you will be able to plug in a cable from another system, such as a MacBook Pro, and use the iMac as a giant secondary monitor instead of a CPU.
While that sounds cool, I’m thinking “Why would anyone want to do that?” The iMac is going to be faster than just about any portable computer you’re going to plug into it. Just transfer the files over to the iMac, or network the two wirelessly.
Others have speculated that you will be able to plug in a blu ray player and use the iMac as a way-overpriced 27″ TV. Again, why? A 42″ TV would run you far less than the iMac.
So why did Apple do this? My guess? Tablet.
From the moment the iMac was announced yesterday, I considered buying an iMac for the first time. As I mentioned before, I’m delaying the upgrade of my MacBook Pro for the first time in several years this year because I’m in the middle of Apple’s upgrade cycle. There’s also some small part of me that wants to wait and see exactly what this whole tablet thing is going to be about.
On the surface, I have no interest whatsoever in a tablet computer. Netbooks are useless, if you ask me. If the tablet is just a netbook without a keyboard, it’s even more useless. But because I know Apple, I know that the tablet HAS to be more than a netbook with no keyboard. It has to meet some function of mobile computing that isn’t currently being met by my combination of laptop and iPhone.
So what if the Tablet somehow ends up being powerful enough to fulfill my mobile needs? I’m not talking about email and web surfing. My iPhone does that already quite well. I’m talking about being able to do at least middle-of-the-road photo editing, web design, maybe some meager music or video editing. Wouldn’t it be cool to give up the laptop and get a tablet/iMac combination? Assuming the Tablet has minidisplay port, perhaps I could plug it into the iMac to extend its display?
Well, no, I still can’t see why I’d want to do that.
What about the other way around? What if I can plug the tablet into the iMac, and the tablet becomes the extended display? Or some sort of advanced trackpad control system? A wacom tablet of sorts, but one that can display its controls, and change its interface by context.
Crazy speculation, I admit. But plugging in a Blu-Ray player into an iMac to watch movies is not something Apple would bother to do, if that were the only reason to do it.
There has to be something else going on here.
