ZDNet report Apple Tablet might have a 12 or 13″ screen

ZDNet reports: A little birdy tells me that Apple will announce a 12 or 13-inch tablet in the fall of this year. Most likely in the September or October time frame. It will run the full Mac OS X and have a slot loading SuperDrive, an “iPhone-type” GPS chip and an Intel Core Duo processor, presumably Intel’s Atom.

Whether it’ll be a based on the iPhone or MacBook form-factor remains to be seen. You’ll recall that Intel Germany CEO Hannes Schwaderer spilled the beans that an “iPhone” that will be using Intel’s new Atom processor after which he was quickly corrected by Apple. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire indeed.

This particular birdy has been reliable in the past so I’m optimistic about the rumor, but as always, nothing’s for sure. Apple’s had tablet Macs in the labs for years but hasn’t decided to make one a real product, until now.

I’m excited as hell about an Apple tablet and think that it would be a great accessory/vertical market Mac, i.e. a perfect second Mac that you can commute with or take to meetings, classes etc. A tablet would be ideal for consuming Web-based content like RSS feed, Web pages, email, etc. The larger screen area will improve data input, providing more on-screen real estate for an iPhone-like virtual keyboard, as will haptic feedback. The new Apple tablet would also mark the return of handwriting recognition to the Mac for the first time since the Newton was killed on February 27, 1998 after Jobs returned to Apple.