I don't think it is technologically impossible a few years down the line, but making a tablet will raise more issues

If you are selling it as a tablet console, then I think many will expect non-gaming tablet functionality, which will add costs. I also think that even a few years down the line, the costs will be too high

An iPad Air can maybe match PS3/360 graphics, but that's £400 vs consoles sold for just over £100. It will need another few iterations before it can match the Wii U's graphics and then it will still be nearly triple the price of a Wii U!

I think it is a clever idea, especially if you essentially reversed the concept and released the Wii U tablet with a streaming box peripheral to get the images on the TV (maybe a disc drive attached to that for backwards compatibility). But just too expensive

Why?

They have a 3DS for playing great Nintendo games on the go. I think a Gamepad-less Wii U would be a much better idea.

Low end monitors like the ones commonly found in an office don't have an HDMI port. But I wouldn't like to be seen messing with the monitor I use to do my job for non-work purposes anyway. Plus not all portable gaming is made at places with available PC monitors or TVs.

That makes multiplayer viable at home, but the home version of the console is still $100 cheaper.

Nintendo's already working on that.

http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/16/nikkei-nintendo-to-launch-unified-console-handheld/

The gamepad upscales the graphics, much like the Playstation Vita 1000 does.   The slim model does not, so you are stuck with 960x544 on the Vita with PS4 Remote Play.

I think the tablet idea could work, but there are a few glaring issues.

1)   The tablet would probably NOT include a Optical Drive.   If they didn't it would be a good way to reduce costs.

2)  The tablet would be useless if the storage was less than 128GB, or they didn't allow you to hook up a USB Hard Drive, thereby NOT allowing the device to be portable.   A workaround would be supporting SDXC cards, up to 512GB.    Expensive, but would solve all storage issues.

3)  Anything downloaded on the Console Wii U would NOT be transferrable to the gamepad Wii U, so if you bought physical copies, now you would have to purchase digital copies.    Unless they had a program for that.

4)   In order for them to put the entire Wii U on the console, the gamepad would have to be much heavier.

My advice:   Buy the Wii U bag, and you can make it portable that way.   It's not the perfect storage bag, but it works if you don't mind wires on top of your main accessories/hardware.

Releasing a clunky, expensive handheld console with two merged aging controller concepts playing home console games exclusively on a small screen with poor relative sound output? That would be the new N-Gage.

The Gamepad is best forgotten, by Nintendo and everyone else.

Yeah but will the battery be only 1 hour long if they put the Wiiu inside the gamepad?

Its too big. Biggest they'd want to go is around the 3DS XL size. Anything larger and it becomes a hinderence. However, for home console use the game pad is just about perfect and maybe could grow a tad.