My $200 Laptop Can Beat Your $500 Tablet 789
Posted
by
CmdrTaco
from the where-have-i-heard-this-before dept.
from the where-have-i-heard-this-before dept.
Roblimo writes "Yes, we know tablets like the iPad are the wave of the future and that PCs and laptops are dead. But some of us see tablets as laptops with their keyboards missing and a few hundred bucks tacked onto the price."
It can beat my table? I hope so. (Score:4, Funny)
> My $200 Laptop Can Beat Your $500 Table
But my table is good for holding food at dinners. Can your laptop do that?
Re:It can beat my table? I hope so. (Score:5, Funny)
Actually as I look down at the keyboard, my laptop has a surprising amount of food on it. I see crumbs from my bagle yesterday morning. I see a little shmear of dried egg on the shift key. And I think that may be some hardened mozzarella cheese on the corner of the trackpad.
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
I think you just made the point of why tablets are superior than laptops.
no keys to have food get stuck between meaning you can clean it with a damp towel, instead of expensive canned air(it's even more expensive than bottled water).
Re:It can beat my table? I hope so. (Score:5, Informative)
About once a year I just take my Model M, hold it upside-down, and give it a vigorous shaking. Of course, I have to vacuum afterwards, but still... canned air is a waste.
Yeah, the keys still have more dried food stuck to them than the floor at Burger King, but that just adds more tactile response for my fingers, not to mention added security from people not wanting to touch it. It's a feature.
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no keys to have food get stuck between meaning you can clean it with a damp towel
Perhaps you haven't seen T-Pain inspired innovations [youtube.com] for laptop keyboards.
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If it's closed, of course! It'll even heat the food for you!
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One place I worked at my wife would send me a bag of cookies every day in my lunch. She'd put the cookies on the icepack in my cooler, and they would be cold and nasty by the time coffee break came around. Then I figured out that the heat from the laptop exhaust made a nice cookie warmer. First thing I'd do every morning is prop the bag open so the warm air blows in. By the time coffee break rolled around, the shop would smell like freshly baked cookies.
Mmmmm... me want cookies...
Re:It can beat my table? I hope so. (Score:5, Funny)
Sure - if I push a button on it, a cup holder even pops out!
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Table. (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, but I can't rest my feet on a laptop, like I can my table.
Anyway, the cost of the device is hardly relevant. Aside from portability, the real differences are consuming versus creating. So far, tablets are basically giant consumption devices. Listen to music, read books, watch videos, visit other people's websites. Not so much made for creating (unless the limit of creating, your case, is writing blog updates).
It's kind of like comparing a television with a video camera.
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So far, tablets are basically giant consumption devices. Listen to music, read books, watch videos, visit other people's websites. Not so much made for creating (unless the limit of creating, your case, is writing blog updates).
Well, I'm not sure whether it's literally true that Damon Albarn recorded and mixed an entire Gorillaz album on an iPad -- but let's admit that it's vaguely plausible.
It seems to me that the multitouch tablet is a brilliant form factor for many kinds of music creation app -- be it a standalone app or a control surface for another computer/instrument.
Re:Table. (Score:5, Insightful)
It's kind of like comparing a television with a video camera.
No, your analogy is flawed.
Tablets and laptop are both computers. The tablet is limited by lack of a keyboard. The iPad is limited in a variety of other ways (Flash, battery, ports, battery, application installs, multitasking, etc).
Even you admit tablets are used for creating and consuming. Creating blog updates. Emails. Pictures. But the tablet is crippled. And overpriced.
The iPad does give you a nice user experience, if all you basically want to do is consume. However if you want to do anything more than play with a toy, you may need something different.
Re:Table. (Score:5, Insightful)
Getting information isn't necessarily playing with a toy. Lots of commuters like to read and use it like a kindle or a nook, but a kindle or nook that also email. Not having a keyboard isn't necessarily a disadvantage if you are going to be using it on a train or subway, especially if you might need to be standing while using it. Etc... Look if you are fully stationary a desktop is better than a laptop. If you need to be portable a laptop is better. If you aren't going to be able to be in an office like environment a tablet is often better.
Re:Table. (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Table. (Score:5, Interesting)
The iPad does give you a nice user experience, if all you basically want to do is consume. However if you want to do anything more than play with a toy, you may need something different.
I'm afraid you don't get what Steve Jobs does: Most people today and certainly the vast majority in the iPad target audience, already have a computer. You can try selling them a new one, or you can sell them a totally new device that satisfies needs that their existing machine doesn't.
Take me, for example. I'll be buying an iPad 2 when it comes out this week in my country, even though I already have two computers in this house, and my girlfriend has another two, and two out of those four are a notebook and a netbook. But none of them allow me to lie down on the couch and ready a PDF book comfortably. Or take with me when I go on a trip in much the same way I'd take a book.
It's not a pressing issue - if I had to build my household from scratch, a computer would come first, long before a tablet, but neither is a tablet simply a notebook without keyboard. Whoever writes that disqualifies himself from the discussion as not having understood a thing about why the iPad sells as quickly as the factories can make 'em.
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It's kind of like comparing a television with a video camera.
Not really. A video camera can only be used to create a movie and a television to display it. A laptop can be used for both creating and consuming content while a tablet only for consuming it. The difference here is that a video camera is not in the least appropriate to consume while a laptop remains very appropriate to consume content. I agree with the poster. Just make the darn tablets 100$ and I'll get one. That's how much I would spend for a redundant device in the house. Otherwise, I can use a laptop
Re:Table. (Score:4, Interesting)
Actually a tablet can be used for creating and consuming. 5 minutes on the Apple site shows that very clearly. As to whether "there's nothing that you do with an iPad that you couldn't do on a laptop", while that is (mostly) true, how is that relevant? I could easily say "there's nothing that you do with a laptop that you couldn't do on a desktop" and it would have just as much relevance (none!) to the discussion.
Re:Table. (Score:4, Interesting)
The iPad was introduced as a revolutionary device that covers the space between a phone and a laptop. In reality is a device that's not appropriate for either purpose, with non or little actual space to cover in between (at least for the moment). If you really think about it, there's nothing that you do with an iPad that you couldn't do on a laptop. By extension I think this applies to any kind of tablet.
You're right, in terms of function there's really not much you can do with a tablet you can't do with a laptop, and a tabet isn't really a phone or a laptop...
But where a tablet is nice, is doing some of the same functions with a different form factor. Like someone else pointed out above somewhere, I can take my tablet on the subway and read things on it, where I'd find it extremely difficult to do the same with a laptop, especially if I'm stuck standing, holding on with one hand.
It's nice, too, that it's a well sealed package, so if I take it to a restaurant, I can use it without worrying about getting food or drink in the keyboard.
It's a better tool for some uses than a laptop.
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You must be kidding. Any quick look through google will show huge amounts of content creation. It may not beyond preferred method of content creation or not for the particular type creation that you do, but it most certainly is for creation. Unless, of course, you mean creating gold on WoW. Tablets don't yet have the punch for games like that yet.
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Ipad2 have been promoed with imovie lately, iirc.
and the price difference seems to be largely down to two tings.
1. the cost of the touch screen.
2. a premium markup on anything with a mobile radio inside it. This because the hardware companies are not selling direct to customers, but to telcos that can then sell the products at a contract related subsidy.
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How are GarageBand and iMovie about consumption?
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...except tablets aren't even terribly comprehensive "consumption" devices either.
Certain web pages are inaccesable as are a wide range of media formats and network protocols.
Although most of the annoying limitations of tablets are self inflicted.
Additional tablet feature (Score:5, Funny)
My greasy fingerprints all over the goddamn screen.
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My greasy fingerprints all over the goddamn screen.
I suffer from the same problem so a continual problem with tablets that I don't see going away.
Re:Additional tablet feature (Score:5, Funny)
I suffer from the same problem so a continual problem with tablets that I don't see going away.
I just started using a napkin.
Table (Score:3)
But really, tablets *ARE* like laptops, but in a form factor that makes them really pruned down. Laptops are chunks of plastic that fit together - sort of. Tablets are sleek and minimalist and have touch screens. Two different markets. I wouldn't want to write a paper on a tablet, and conversely, there are points where having a tablet is just easier than pulling out a laptop (and finding some place to type correctly on it). Each has their own merits, and like any tool, you have to use it properly for it to be effective.
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But really, tablets *ARE* like laptops
Hardly. Unless you use a laptop as a tablet (i.e. run only one program at a time and always maximize every app you run), in which case you're screwed to begin with, and will never catch up in the tech race.
A tablet is an oversized PDA with a focus on bells and whistles instead of useful functions. Do not want.
Re:Table (Score:5, Insightful)
Define 'useful'. And, for that matter, define 'bells and whistles' since I'm not sure my iPad has anything I'd call that.
I'm not going to use my tablet to code on, or to write a technical document or create visio diagrams, that's true.
But, for getting into a more comfortable chair, or sitting in the back-yard or the hammock at my parents place, or at the hotel bar or in the airport ... I actually find the form factor to be usable in a lot of circumstances where I wouldn't want a laptop. For me a laptop is mostly something I put on a desk and use it like a desktop.
I can sit in a comfortable chair in the hotel lobby, cross my legs or slouch in my chair and still check my email in several different accounts, check the news, and maybe play sudoku or Pocket Frogs or something. It's used more for consuming content than doing anything like my professional work. But it's become something I get quite a lot of use out of, and on business trips I use it far more often than my laptop (which I still drag around with me).
To me, they're very different devices, and used very differently.
More proof that cheaper != better (Score:2)
Given that the tablet models have the features normally seen on older laptops(Flexview/AFFS/IPS being a tablet/ultraportable only item), I'd beg to differ.
Nice headline (Score:2)
Be a shame if anything unfortunate happened to it - oh, wait, too late.
Who thinks this? (Score:2, Insightful)
Who thinks a tablet could replace a laptop? Tech journalists who don't know shit about tech, and various Starbucks-dwelling types (who also don't know shit about tech), that's who. Tablets are doomed just like PDAs without cell modems were doomed. The future is convertible laptops. Mark my words.
Re:Who thinks this? (Score:5, Insightful)
The future is convertible laptops. Mark my words.
Wow, if someone ever tried that I'm sure it would change the entire industry!
Hint: The reason why tablets are popular is not because of their features. It's because you can carry the damn things around with you without your arm falling off. Slapping a tablet screen on a notebook does not fix this problem.
Re:Who thinks this? (Score:5, Interesting)
Modern notebooks/netbooks weigh very little. If you put a fancier hinge and a touchscreen layer on a Macbook Air's screen, how much heavier would that make it? Don't forget, almost all laptops use li-ion batteries instead of the much lighter and more space-efficient li-pos.
The big question is whether it will be a PC-like laptop running a desktop OS, or an Atrix-4G like device, basically a convertible laptop body for a phone, running a less functional OS. It could go either way. Assuming this walled garden fad wears off soon (every walled garden in the history of general-purpose computing has failed so far), I'd say it'll be an Atrix-like device, otherwise it will be a PC-like device. Either way it won't weigh significantly more than a tablet and will be far more useful.
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Hint: The reason why tablets are popular is not because of their features. It's because you can carry the damn things around with you without your arm falling off.
This...
is why American society is doomed. I've seen Chinese and Thai students lugging about ancient 5+ KG laptops because they were the only ones they can get and we're talking about 40-45 KG when soaking wet Asian girls.
Hold on, I'll be in my bunk
Now where was I, oh yes, not being able to carry around a 1.2 KG laptop. Are you kidding me? 1.2 KG for an EeePC or equivalent netbook, the heaviest one Asus has produced is 1460 grams (1.46 KG).
Seriously, is that your best excuse? How do you manage to
Re:Who thinks this? (Score:5, Insightful)
If you think that a tablet is something that just gets "lugged" from place to place, you're unclear on the concept.
A tablet is to a notebook what a paperback novel is to a hardcover book. One stays in your hand as you travel around, the other is ported from one reading spot to another. Sure, you can easily carry around a large hardcover, but try reading it with one arm outstretched and I guarantee you'll be in pain before long.
And for perspective, the iPad weighs as much as some softcover bibles. The average 13" notebook weighs as much as a hardcover copy of War and Peace.
Re: (Score:3)
First, a tablet is designed to be compact and solid. I've yet to see a netbook that can toss around like you can an ipad and expect it to hold together. The screen of a netbook tends to be contained in a flimsy plastic shell while the ipad is in a metal alloy shell, securely put together (in fact, it's extremely hard to take apart if you're trying to). It takes a lot of abuse and if you have a simple case around it, it won't even get scratched up.
Second, it's more compact than netbook. The keybaord, and
Re:Who thinks this? (Score:5, Interesting)
A long time ago when getting prepared for hiking at Philmont someone told me "By the end of the day an ounce will feel like a pound."
At first, we laughed at the nuts who cut the handles down on their toothbrushes. After a week we wished we had done so as well.
A a few pounds difference may not be noticeable during your basement to kitchen table commute but for others ounces can make it more comfortable to carry.
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...there's really no reason for people to have one other than "I want it.
Sure there is. "It's convenient and I can afford it" works very well for most of us.
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Which is to say, $100 less than the closest Android competitor that has remotely equivalent features?
Re:Who thinks this? (Score:4, Interesting)
But the far more interesting question is, "Why does it matter if they just want it, rather than need it?". If there were limited supply, and owning one meant taking it away from someone who needed it, I could see your point.
And as far as your comment goes about paying anything for Apple products, so what? Apple attracts not just people who are attracted to the design, but also those who need a reliable piece of tech to fulfill a need. That's why it's news whenever there's a problem, it's unusual. It's not a news article when another commodity PC craps out, or when Windows bluescreens or reboots, but in the Apple world it's news. Until Apple products become as virus-prone, until the user experience drops to the non-Apple level, until the hardware becomes as troublesome as the rest of the market, Apple will remain on top. Some of us will pay for that.
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To paraphrase a rather famous quote:
No keyboard, less power than a notebook. Lame.
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It's unfortunate that 95% of tech journalists don't cater to 5% of the market
Why is that unfortunate?
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You're like the people in the early 2000s who told me only an uber-geek could have a use for something like a Treo 180. According to them, PDA-phones with touchscreens and keyboards would only be popular with geeks because they're so bulky and complicated, and simple dumb phones with no Internet connectivity or fancy input devices would remain the most popular.*
*If you argue that most people use dumb phones and therefore they were correct, I will argue that most people don't have cars and therefore they are
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More to the point...the current iPhone/Android phenomenon (which is growing and quite simply doesn't have "just geeks" using them) proves that whole concept as wrong to begin with.
(Besides, with the new tablets just now showing their faces (i.e. Xoom, iPad 2.0, etc...) that $500 tablet just about matches the $200 laptop, is lighter, and has a vastly better runtime story.)
Re:Who thinks this? (Score:4, Informative)
And the thing is, that "$200 laptop" was certainly not a $200 laptop when it started its life. He bought it used on Craigslist.
If you read TFA, his reasons for liking it have to do with the *expandability* of the laptop versus the tablet: ports, dvd drive, more internal storage, replaceable battery. And if somebody else hadn't purchased it first, then resold it when they bought something new, he'd be spending a LOT more on a Thinkpad than he would on an iPad or a Xoom.
Looking at the specs on a Thinkpad X30, it's a 5-6 year old computer, and in terms of performance, I'd expect an iPad 2 or a Xoom to keep up with it just fine, performance-wise.
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Sure, they're obviously what everybody wants. Which is why everyone still has a laptop. Even the rubes that bought a tablet still have a laptop.
Come on. They tried to sell us this four years ago, when they didn't have touchscreens and were called netbooks. They sold like hotcakes for about six months, and no one's bought one since. And I have a netbook. They're handy like 1% of the time, but mostly I just use my, you know, computer.
For a lot of people it could probably replace a laptop
A lot of people alread
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No, the future is mind/machine interfaces.
As for convertible laptops as a form factor, it's been done. I've actually got one of these:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vadem_Clio [wikipedia.org]
It could be used in "laptop", "tablet", and "easel" form-factors (the third being propped up like an artist's easel, which is outstanding for small presentations, video viewing, and some other uses). Lovely design, but it never took off, alas.
I've used a wide variety of devices in a wide variety of form factors, and I have to say: lapt
Re:Who thinks this? (Score:4, Informative)
IMO both devices are far, far more suitable than tablets for any kind of text input, e.g. lectures, writing emails, essays, slashdot comments. Of course the price might be prohibitive when they launch but we'll see.
That's the biggest issue with tablets at the moment - they cost too damned much money. It really is a ripoff. A tablet should be the same price as a netbook, but manufacturers are still in greed mode. They see Apple commanding stupid premiums for their device and they "compete" by pricing their devices similarly. There is absolutely no reason a decent tablet shouldn't cost $300 or less. There are already a few examples (e.g. Advent Vega is a Tegra 2 10" tablet for £250) but the brand names are still too expensive. Hopefully when the market is flooded with Android 3.0 devices the prices will become a bit more reasonable and competitive.
Re:Who thinks this? (Score:5, Insightful)
um Apple is kicking the crap out of every manufacture on price and you call them greedy? When apple first annouced the price of the ipad every other CEO shit bricks as they were expecting a $1000 price tag from apple and they would be in a good position to undercut on price.
No one can touch Apple's price points because the factories don't yet exist. In 5 years they will be lower, but it takes time to retool factories.
maybe you should learn something about economics, before mouthing off what things "should cost" you have no clue.
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Yeah, putting that cellphone processor into a case ten times as big as a phone and charging $500 for it sure is a bargain, huh?
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Re: (Score:2)
What's the difference between a convertible laptop and a tablet with a keyboard accessory?
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Show me a laptop/tablet that is as thin and light as the iPad and you may have a point.
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Tech Pundits and their friends (Score:4, Interesting)
FTA:
Everywhere I go these days, my friends slam laptops. They tell me my PC of choice is a dying breed and sing the praises of their new, "post-PC" Apple iPad.
Is it me or does it sound like the writer's friends are just trend-happy followers? I'm around a lot of tech people and I don't know of anyone who crow about how much tablets are going to completely displace PCs or laptops or desktops. I think for most people, the tablet is a nice toy with interesting specific applications, but it's not a replacement for anything. Same thing with all the people who said netbooks were going to displace laptops a few years ago, and the people who said laptops will destroy desktops a few years before that. Didn't happen then, won't happen now.
Maybe the writer should find less trend-whorey friends.
Re:Tech Pundits and their friends (Score:4, Interesting)
And this is the history of... (Score:2)
The iPad is a tablet, but not all tablets are iPad (Score:4, Insightful)
Repeat after me:
The iPad is a tablet, but not all tablets are iPads.
I own an Android tablet with USB host functionality (2 ports, weep old macbook air users!), which is sold for $99, has multitasking, can use a keyboard, does not use iTunes and supports SD cards.
Granted, I would never write an essay on it, but tablets are not meant to be user as PC replacements: They are information retrieval devices, not data entry ones.
Re: (Score:2)
Which tablet are you using? Did you root one of the Android e-readers like the Literati?
You're missing the point (Score:4, Funny)
Tablets (the separate species from TabletPCs) are meant to be take-anywhere devices. That iPod or Android phone in your pocket? That's a tablet.
It isn't meant to be the device that you rely on to do your heavy work. It is a portal device, to get you to important data immediately, wherever you are.
Spock doesn't use a tricorder tablet because it has a million features and CPU to spare. He uses it because it is handy and can connect to the Millenium Falcon when it needs to perform more CPU-intensive calculations.
If you think your laptop is better, then that's great for you. But the fact of the matter is that you have simply been left behind technologically. You are a relic.
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Yep, my $400 G-Tablet pretty much runs circles around my $400 eeePC 901 (granted, the latter is a few years old now). It can play flash videos in fullscreen without stuttering. It connects to wifi faster. I can plug in external storage.
I can even plug in a cheap USB keyboard and do "real work" on it.
Re:You're missing the point (Score:5, Funny)
Spock doesn't use a tricorder tablet because it has a million features and CPU to spare. He uses it because it is handy and can connect to the Millenium Falcon when it needs to perform more CPU-intensive calculations.
Wow. I think you managed to cause a stroke in all the Sci-Fi nerds on /. at once.
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Well, he is called the BadAnalogyGuy...
Honestly this is a good sense article (Score:2)
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You should look into the Nook Color. Very decently priced mid-range tablet that I was able to install android honeycomb quite easily. I love using it around the house or while on the couch. It plays angry birds and other games just fine. It's a lot less awkward to use than my laptop or netbook while lying around in front of the tv, in my opinion.
The only downside is that the honeycomb install can be a bit glitchy sometimes, but that's not a dealbreaker for me. It's only a preview release and should improve
pffft... laptop. (Score:2)
Then, don't use the tablets... (Score:2)
some of us see tablets as laptops with their keyboards missing and a few hundred bucks tacked onto the price."
It is really very simple, if you do not want or need the extra features that a tablet brings to the table, then don't buy one. What is so difficult about that?
.
Keep in mind that notebooks used to cost hundreds if not a thousand dollars more than a desktop, and the notebook was far less powerful than that desktop. Yet, over time, the notebook pulled ahead.
Even in boot time? (Score:2)
My $200 Laptop Can Beat Your $500 Tablet
Laptops boot faster than tablets? Laptops wake up from sleep mode faster than tablets? Laptops have longer battery life than tablets? Laptops have faster virus scanning etc than tablets? I wanna see this $200 laptop.
Silver Lining (Score:3)
One positive impact of the tablet market is the potential for better screen options for netbooks and low-end devices. Netbooks almost universally have cheap, low-quality screens, but tablet do not, largely because they require support for the high viewing angles that IPS screens can offer. With any luck the millions of IPS-or-higher quality screens on these tablets will drive down prices for IPS panels, and we'll see options for decent netbook screens filtering into the low- to midrange netbook market.
Several good points (Score:3, Informative)
Article makes several good points, but a lot of the problems it mentions are leveled at the iPad specifically and not tablets in general. Non-apple tablets could easily not have these problems.
Personally, I'd like something where you can just plug the tablet into a docking station that has a keyboard and mouse setup, maybe even a larger monitor, and just pull it out when you need to go portable. Although that doesn't take care of the problem where tablets will be forever less powerful than desktops.
Tag as flamebait (Score:5, Insightful)
Please tag this story as flamebait because that's what the TFA is.
one word: keyboard (Score:2)
i can't use a smart phone without a physical keyboard, and i sure as heck won't ever buy a tablet when i can get the same features, with a keyboard, for less money
Oh Yeah? (Score:2)
And my $10 hammer can beat your $200 laptop.
Battery, weight, ease of use, and instant on (Score:2)
Your $200 laptop doesn't compare to tablets in those areas.
Tunnel vision rants are not news (Score:2)
Why is this on the front page? Seriously.
Having fun with each of his "points" (Score:4, Insightful)
A. A Laptop's CD and DVD Player/Burner: If you're into permanently saving photos, music, or movies
Wireless connectivity allows me to store my music, photos and such, on a machine which I won't lose. The chance that I will need all my music, those movies, or that photo, are to be considered, but many of us know what we reference daily. I would rather have a home full of things I need now than a home full of clutter I think I might need and never access. Tell me this, how many have look at last used dates on many items on your notebook? It might surprise you.
B. A Laptop's Keyboard: Most iPad users readily admit it's difficult to type anything that is data intensive on the touch keyboard that appears on the screen.
OK, but given time you learn to adapt. I find just as many people complain "you will never be happy with a notebooks keyboard" as I see with tablets. Well I can get a nice clamshell case with a bluetooth keyboard built it. Tablets are not meant to replace home computers for development and large work, the Apps just are not there. However they are great for taking what you need in a small footprint.
C) The Storage Available on a Laptop:If you want to download and store tons of decent-quality movies,
Which in point A I stated, go check when you last viewed/listened to the majority of it. Then scroll back to see what you used in the last year. You will be surprised. I have over 20g in music and guess how much I listen too. I have the 32g iPad of which I haven't used half. Why? Because its like packing a car. I am taking what I know I will use and then tossing in small things here and there. I guess for some being lazy and taking it all is a great method but you never rid yourself of the clutter if you do. Fact is, we keep to much crap on our computers because its easier than cleaning it up
D) A Laptop's Ports: No USB port on an iPad? Sure there are pricey adapters, but what if you want to plug in a mouse, digital camera, and/or printer?
My printer is wireless. I have an adapter for HDMI, SD cards, and USB cables, which btw I haven't used every day. I don't need a mouse with a touch screen and wireless eliminates most ports anyway
E)Apple iPad 2Apple iPad 2The iPad Doesn't Have Multitasking: So I can't listen to sports talk radio online, check to see if little Charlie has bitten anyone else's finger, and type my blog, all at the same time? This versatility is why we love mobile computers. This fact alone will always keep me using a laptop.
False. I load a VPN connection and close the app to load something else and yet my VPN is still running. How is that? Is that not multitasking? I have loaded a work app and bounced between it and my webbrowser which by the way was showing the weather an it updated in the background. I guess by multitasking you meanm you cannot have a bunch of windows open all at once of which your are using ONE AND ONLY ONE AT THIS EXACT MOMENT. Many Apps that you invoke keep background services running, that is multitasking. Don't confuse that with having many windows open.
F) The IPad Is Confined by the Limits of iTunes: Jared Newman, a PCWorld blogger, summed it up: "
And it gets updated all the time. We don't know what new features we will get. As it stands now, after I first setup my iPad with iTunes I have never used iTunes since as I have never connected my iPad back to my Mac. I get documents, Apps, and the like, all over the wireless connection. I could care less what iTunes is not doing. As long as I have the Apps I need to do the work I want to do I could care less about your perceived limitations because they aren't mine.
G) The iPad's Battery Isn't Replacable: I know the iPad has respectable battery life, but if you need to work on a long plane ride and in a café with no available power outlets, I feel you'll need excellent battery life and a back-up cell that installs easily.
This one is even more laughable. Sorry, but spending 10 hours at the cafe ain't exactly what I call a winning strategy ever
Testing the analogy waters (Score:2)
My stove can totally pwn my toaster oven, but I use the toaster oven a lot more.
There. Let *that* analogy fester next to the car based ones, and shudder in fear at a future filled with major home appliance analogies.
Battery life (Score:2)
Let's see how that 8 year old Pentium M based laptop does playing back a bunch of 720p H.264-encoded movies on that 'long flight' the author talks about as reason why his ancient laptop and it's replaceable battery is better. No wonder he thinks the iPad will need a second battery, despite being capable of 10+ hours of typical web+music+email usage and 13 hours of continuous 720p playback. You'd be lucky to get 90 minutes out H.264 of his laptop, and it probably wouldn't decode 720p at all.
Laptop is versati
Why compare the two... (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't see why everyone keeps comparing the two. A laptop and tablets like the iPad are simply not in the same market. Yes there is some overlap in use, but there's overlap between a laptop and my cell phone these days. If you want to get pedantic about it there's overlap between my laptop and the dvd player sitting on the shelf across the room. It doesn't put them into the same market at all. Why is it that everyone is still trying to make it as if it's exclusive, you can have one, or the other?
Tablet + Desktop Laptop (Score:2)
You carry a laptop because your desktop is too big to haul around. To get portability, you compromise power & capacity to achieve size and weight.
The iPad-style tablet is a recognition that something like 80% of what you do with a computer doesn't need the capacity, power, and I/O of a desktop, so leave that stuff on your desk and take the screen, connectivity, and not much else with you instead.
A laptop computer is a compromise. A tablet is meant to complement a desktop.
At what? (Score:5, Insightful)
So what can your $200 laptop beat my $500 tablet at?
Web surfing? I don't know, the tablet interface with it's ability to just click, rescale, scroll and everything without having to use a mouse is quite an upgrade personally.
Gaming? You mean, you have a $200 laptop with a good graphics card in it? I'm pretty sure an iPad 2 or Tegra 2 powered tablet could blow the socks off your $200 intel integrated graphics card.
Size? I think the tablet's gonna win, unless you attached a brick to the back of it. 1/4"-1/2" thick tablet wins every time. Especially when I'm in a cramped coach seat flying for 6 hours and can't open the laptop up all the way because the screen hits the seat in front of me.
Battery Life? We're talking about a $200 laptop here... not a netbook. And even then try getting 10 hours of good use out of a netbook or laptop.
And who makes a New, powerful $200 laptop in the first place?
Face it, There are cases for each item. They're not meant for the same tasks. We're trying to compare apples and oranges here and I'm starting to get tired of it. Although, I will say that I got a tablet because I don't want to have to take care of another laptop. the tablet just works for what I need, I have a perfectly powerful PC in my home office I can use if I want to do anything I need it for... and if I'm just doing simple things like web browsing, facebooking, some gaming, youtubing, etc the tablet works perfectly. (and if I felt like it, I could sync my keyboard to it or use a stylus to do text input.)
5+ Year Old Laptop (Score:3)
A practical article (Score:3)
It more or less mirrors my sentiments on iPad devices from the beginning. The number of people I see carrying iPad these days is about half or less than it once was when iPad was new. I still see a lot of eBook readers though, and they are smaller and lighter.
(I am seriously considering getting one of those...anyone with a recommendations? I am thinking of getting the one from Borders books...Kobo I think... I don't intend to BUY a lot of books, so it needs to be open to many formats unrestricted... I hope to create a program to download web pages for viewing on such an ebook reader... seems like ePub format is essentially a packaged HTML/CSS zip file anyway. So, Recommendations?)
But where computing and entertainment is concerned, I like keyboards and mice! I can barely tolerate my Galaxy S phone with a touchscreen only interface. (My wife got a MyTouch slide... works better for her than any touch screen saving a lot of real estate on the screen) Laptops ARE cheaper than iPads. An android tablet would leave me wanting a keyboard as well though the Galaxy tablet is calling my name... still would rather use a laptop like my M11xR2... DVD drives available through USB as needed and runs Linux great! (I know, M11xR2 is not cheaper than an iPad... but its paid for! Also netbooks run Linux sweetly anyway... I still have my Dell Mini 9... no complaints)
All in all, I still see tablets as a limited use fad that doesn't fully answer my needs for a keyboard, capacity, compatibility and versatility. Perhaps it IS good enough for many people... just not for me. (We asked the same question when it was proposed to remove or omit the floppy drive didn't we?)
Tablets are more expensive for less hardware (Score:3)
I can't understand why tablets are so much more expensive than netbooks, while at the same time so devoid of most of their features: no keyboard, HD, fewer ports, cheaper CPU and GPU... Even if lacking these things is normal for a tablet, these are all parts that a netbook has, and a tablet lacks.
Their one more expensive feature is the screen, and it can't be that much more expensive to justify the x2-x3 in price.
How can they be more expensive than a netbook ? I'm holding out until sanity returns.
2003 X30 vs iPad doesn't make sense. (Score:3)
A 2003 ultra portable (12.1" was ultra portable when the X30 was new in 2003) does have some deficiencies that the author neglects to mention:
With a 2003 laptop you really struggle with modern video codecs such as h.264. HD, even 720p, is quite literally a non starter. The X30 has Intel integrated 830 GPU. This was fairly modest in 2003 and now it's a distinct problem unless you never watch anything except DVDs and cruddy old low resolution divx/xvid and similar. Visiting youtube or iplayer or similar will see your battery drained in short order.
Next problem: yes the Compact Flash slot was great to have integrated but outside of professional SLRs how many cameras still use CF? Most of us these days have devices which use SD, microSD and SDHC and microSDHC. And what's the speed like on that PCMCIA slot if you add a card reader? Glacial.
USB: yes the X30 has USB. But it's USB 1.1! It's so slow it will make you groan.
The display: probably the X30 had a great display in 2003 but please don't try to convince me it ever had the brightness or contrast of a modern display, because it didn't. I have a similar 12.1" Asus from 2004. After 7 years the display is distinctly tired. This is inevitable.
The touchpad: things have really moved on! Modern touch pads have fantastic multi touch features, with single, two and three finger gestures. They are actually pleasant to use, preferable even to a mouse, whereas touchpads of X30 vintage were always something you only used because you forgot to pack your USB mouse....
Imo a 7 year old laptop make for a lousy comparison to a new high end tablet. The keyboard is great, everything else looks less good. A better comparison is a 2010 or 2011 netbook. These are super cheap now. I just bought a refurbished (factory sealed, as new, guaranteed) Asus 1001P. Its screen is superb, it has a nice keyboard, a multi touch touchpad, superb sound, it can play 720p, is so efficient that stock battery lasts a full working day, it has 3xUSB 2 (no USB 1.1 here!), reads SDHC cards, runs very quietly, doesn't get hot etc etc etc. It doesn't have an optical drive, something I considered essential in 2004 when I bought my old 12.1" Asus but now it's become superfluous to the point of being redundant; I'm about as interested in carrying around DVDs and CDs as I am in keeping pockets full of cassettes or minidiscs. Best of all is that the netbook cost $20 less than that tired old X30 :-)
Re: (Score:3)
Slashdo is running low on le++ers shaped like +.
FTFY
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Ack, the lack of IPv4 addresses is depleting our alphabet!
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It's the recession. Times are tough and cuts had to be made.
less is more (Score:2)
I see laptops as desktops with the expansion slots and mouse missing. So why are similarly specced laptops more expensive than desktops?
Why, it's almost as if, sometimes, less is more!
Re:less is more (Score:5, Insightful)
Can't say if a tablet is "better", or just different.
But I can say when I travel on business, the last few times I've brought both my iPad and my laptop. My laptop largely sits in the laptop bag just in case I need it (though the last two trips I haven't so it's been dead weight). I use my iPad in airports, hotel lobbies, restaurants, my hotel room, in my recliner, laying down on the sofa ... all sorts of places I don't use my laptop. Both because my laptop is much bulkier and awkward, and for security reasons, my company has disabled wireless. I just find the iPad to be more convenient.
I couldn't replace my work laptop with an iPad, but I do use my iPad differently ... and when I'm travelling, far more often. To me, the two form factors have entirely different usage patterns. A tablet may not be for everybody, but for those of us with one, it's hard to imagine not having one.
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Do you honestly not know that th iPad with iOS 4 can play music while browsing?
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It could with IOS 3 too.
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I thought it could but couldn't be sure.
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...would pay $500 for a table?
If it were really nice, maybe. But I sure as hell wouldn't go beating on it with my laptop. Sounds like a good way to waste 700 bucks!
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I couldn't serve a dinner for 4 on my old laptop, but I could sure cook one! Can your table beat that?
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because i'm not poor and i dont have to wait over 7 years to replace a laptop? by the time I need to replace a battery in a laptop it will be in a landfill somewhere.
Why most of Slashdot loathes the Apple crowd, in a nutshell, boys and girls.