On Fri, 02 Sep 2011 12:43:44 -0400, Warp wrote:

> Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:
>> But it boils down to this - do you want an appliance, or do you want a
>> general purpose computing device.
> 
>   If you want a general-purpose computer, why don't you buy a laptop?
> You'll be able to do a lot more with it than with a tablet. Many modern
> laptops aren't even significantly heavier or larger either, so it's not
> even a question of portability.

I have a laptop.

But I've also tried to use a laptop in coach class on an airplane.  It's 
not a pretty sight.

>   The iPad is not a laptop. It's a portable multimedia device which also
> doubles as a pretty decent game console (it is, in fact, surprisingly
> powerful at running games, even heavy 3D ones). It also has an
> incredible battery life (which most portable devices can only dream of).

Yes, that's exactly right.  I remember going to a conference where a 
presenter asked if anyone had an iPad, and a guy in the back of the room 
did.  He had it set up on a stand, so it looked like (from the presenter's 
point of view) he was using it to take notes.  The presenter couldn't see 
that the attendee was writing notes on a pad of paper until the attendee 
held up the paper for him to see.

>   I suppose the Android tablets try to be a bit of both, and in many
>   cases
> probably not being very good at either.

No, I think most Android tablets try to be a media consumption device 
(let's face it, text input without a keyboard is painful for most 
people), but the users try to push the limits of what they can do.  
That's not necessarily a bad thing.

Jim

Post a reply to this message