Tablets vs. Laptops

[accadacca]

This is a good explanation...

--

latimes.com - So your laptop is getting old: Should you buy a new one or change horses and try out one of these tablet computers?

That all depends on what you want to do with it.

It's still the case that laptops and smaller netbook computers are tuned for production

[theking648]

But no such group yet exists for tablets running on Google's Android operating system, which will constitute most of the new offerings in coming months.

they get the market so that's at least 100,000 right there..... the only thing the developer has to do is make a new layout file, and done.

[Iceaxe]

Let me quickly summarize that articule....

If you want a fun toy to play with get an iPad.

If you want to get some real work done get a laptop.

[DiscGo]

I describe the difference between Laptops, Tablets, & Smartphones like SLR, Digital Cameras, & Camera phones.

Tablets are better than smart phones for work and they are far more portable and convenient than laptops but each has its purpose.

[jman]

Here is a tablet article that I thought was interesting...

Do you agree, don't agree? I think tablets are more a fad..that will eventually die.

http://arstechnica.com/staff/carthag...ut-tablets.ars

[DiscGo]

I believe the tablet is here to stay. There will be Quad core tablets (running Android) released by the end of the year. The thing about tablets is that they power on so quickly, they are so light, and quiet, and as their hardware increases so too will their performance and abilities increase. The Motorola xoom comes out this week. I have been waiting to buy it but found out today that the xoom will not have flash for another month or so, so I plan on waiting another month or so to get it.

I'll tell you what though I was at a client data center on Friday night who recently purchased a slew of tablets. Usually each row of servers will have a slide out keyboard and monitor for accessing the servers to which that device is complicated. Those slide out keyboards and monitor combos usually cost $3000 per unit. At 25+ rows that is costs $75,000 in hardware and takes up a the space of a small server on each row. The client has just purchased iPads at $500 a row and that is a grand total of less than $13,000. The tablets take up less space, costs a lot less, and allow the engineers to have a very simple and convinient solution.

What is really funny about this is that Apple approached my client over 6 months ago and sent them several iPads to try and hook them on how helpful they could be for their business but my client viewed them as being worthless for their proposed purpose. But then when a simple monitor solution was needed the iPad (or a tablet) was a great solution. The moral of the story there being we likely do not even fully understand all the ways that tablets can and will benefit us at this time.

[denaliguide]

apple announces today that they have decided to change the name of their new pad for children. the "itouch kids" was deemed inappropriate.

[accadacca]

Here to stay. I believe it's a generational thing. You might be on the edge dood. I believe our kids will be carrying them to school before too long. The guy in the article is overanalyzing it.

The beauty of this conversation is that we can check back on this post in 2 years...

[stefan]

I've realized recently that I'm just not very excited about tablets

[jman]

Yea, I love that video stefan. We, including myself, definitely do take things for granted...way too often.

Anywho, my point is with the article is it is my opinion that it will slowly slither away. Now...don't get me wrong...they do have plenty of uses - but only for its convience and it's instant gratification factor. Other than that, it's just a huge time waster.

For example, if you are in your office - which device are you going to use if you want to type a report? A laptop/desktop or a tablet? If you want to watch a 1080p on a 56" LCD TV, with 7.1 surround sound streaming from netflix, what are you going to use? A laptop/desktop or tablet? (I already do this btw...and it is awesome on my HTPC). If you are a IT guy and need to fix some network issues or escalates, which device are you going to use? A laptop/desktop or tablet? If you are wanting to hold 8 TBs of pics and movies - which device are you going to use? I can think of plenty more of examples. Now, don't misunderstand me - I'm not against tablets. I just think they are a fad.

If you are a cars salesman and want to show potential customers, factsheets and other eye candy, which device are you going to use? most likely a tablet. And which device are you going to use for network monitoring in DiscGo's scenario above? the tablet. Sure they have their uses - but only when it comes to convience. Sure it's fun to mess around with a iPad and waste time - but for productivity. There really is none. They are great presentation devices, no doubt. And they are great for loading up PDFs and digital print materials. For example, my brother has a iPad for his civil engineering contract currently with LA X, and one of their newest runaways. With it, he is able to pull up all of his engineering PDFs and quickly scan through them, zoom in/out, and even search the current laws and regulations - very simply. Now a laptop can do it as well - but the convience is what appeals to that type of situation. But, that's all his iPad is used for. You can't modify or change anything too easily on it. On a laptop, it's 10x easier, at least.

So my point again, is sure it's a great tool for presentation, but productivity - not so much. It's just a large phone, without the phone ability, really. Besides, any smartphone these days can pretty much do what a tablet can do. Essentially, only the larger screen on the tablets is what makes it stand out. And with that single reason is which makes me believe it will be a dying fad. Just like the singing fish fad.

[stefan]

imagine

[accadacca]

There are a whole lotta big companies jumping on this fad: http://www.techradar.com/news/mobile...natives-690596

The iPad 2 is in production. I bet it creates a huge spike in this chart: http://trends.google.com/trends?q=iP...ate=all&sort=0

[accadacca]

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Desktops-an...rester-864855/

While many expect the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show to be a big coming-out party for the Android tablet, Forrester Research has revised its previous conservative estimates and now expects the 2011 tablet market to be 2.5 times what it was in 2010.

Forrester analyst Sara Rotman Epps said Jan. 4 that she expects tablet sales to top 24.1 million, more than double the 10.3 million she estimates were sold through 2010.

[Dr. Nebz]

Let me quickly summarize that articule....

If you want a fun toy to play with get an iPad.

If you want to get some real work done get a laptop.

Until they can run CS5 I am not interested.

Just seems like a Ipod Touch with a very large screen.

[p40whk]

I've always been a fan of Apple products, love them or hate them, they've been behind many of the advances in today's computing and electronics technology. Tablet PC's have been around a lot longer than the iPad (the first dates back to the 70's). One of the original PDA's was the Apple Newton which was ahead of it's time but went nowhere because the rest of the computing/media infrastructure wasn't there. The computing power of these devices have grown exponentially in recent years along with access to extreme amounts of digital content. Even though the iPad is not for me or for a lot of people (yet), I think that it will advance to the point where it will be able to do most of what Jman faults the current iterations of tablet devices for.

I don't think the question should be Tablet vs Laptop but when will the Tablet be able to do what you can do on a laptop.

[Scott Card]

I just did the research and made my choice. I went with a lap top due to many factors. Can't hook up a projector to an ipad (at least not easily), can't run dvd's (evidence videos) on an ipad, hard to crank out work on the thing. I will probably get an ipad within a year for casual stuff but not for work. Love my new macbook.

[accadacca]

I just did the research and made my choice. I went with a lap top due to many factors. Can't hook up a projector to an ipad (at least not easily), can't run dvd's (evidence videos) on an ipad, hard to crank out work on the thing. I will probably get an ipad within a year for casual stuff but not for work. Love my new macbook.

Congrats on the MacBook!

iPad's do plug into projectors. Who still uses DVDs!

[jman]

Who still uses DVDs!

Only the COOL folks do!

pssh...proprietary systems.... Tsk tsk

[accadacca]

[ErnestMontgomery]

I just did the research and made my choice. I went with a lap top due to many factors. Can't hook up a projector to an ipad (at least not easily), can't run dvd's (evidence videos) on an ipad, hard to crank out work on the thing. I will probably get an ipad within a year for casual stuff but not for work. Love my new macbook.

Pretty hard to compare tehm. As I am fortunate to enjoy both tablet and laptop so I think they both have their own importance and weak points