Kno ereader starts shipping today – Huge thumps as monster ereader hits doorsteps

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by SolRaven

Exactly, which is why the Kno is marketing to a specific group, students. 7" is too small for a student, and a 10" tablet would require that the pages are reduced to fit everything onto the screen. Kno are requesting app inventors, but their main purpose and target are students. One of the things that makes the Kno so appealing to me is the fact that they are staying focused on perfecting it's main purpose, before they start adding a whole bunch of other apps into the mix.

One of my sons is a college student right now and his preferences are a netbook and an iPod touch. In fact, he frequently reads textbooks on his iPod.

He's now considering a Nook Color. It'll be just the ticket for his textbooks when he's away from his computer.

[MovieBird]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

We used $500 slide rules. The $400 models weren't up to the task.

No student needs a computer, as there are computer labs all around any campus. Getting time on one of those labs during the hours they're open, especially when a project is due in a couple of days... is a bit difficult to say the least.

However, if the student is in the (hard) sciences or math, a netbook simply won't cut it. I was an engineering major, and had to learn 4 different CAD programs during school. You can't do CAD on a netbook, there's simply not enough processing power to run the display, let alone compute the Finite Element Analysis.

My friends in Chemistry/Physics/etc. also wrote quite a bit of code; most of it in MATLAB. This is not a lightweight IDE. Sure, you could write it on a netbook, but it would take a loooooong time to execute a script. They also used CAD a little bit.

As far as textbooks... Yeah, they cost as much as a mid range laptop every term. My costs averaged $600 a quarter. The structural engineers had ONE class where they were required to spend $450 for two texts. Add in your other three and you're closing in on a grand for the term.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by MovieBird

No student needs a computer, as there are computer labs all around any campus. Getting time on one of those labs during the hours they're open, especially when a project is due in a couple of days... is a bit difficult to say the least.

However, if the student is in the (hard) sciences or math, a netbook simply won't cut it. I was an engineering major, and had to learn 4 different CAD programs during school. You can't do CAD on a netbook, there's simply not enough processing power to run the display, let alone compute the Finite Element Analysis.

My friends in Chemistry/Physics/etc. also wrote quite a bit of code; most of it in MATLAB. This is not a lightweight IDE. Sure, you could write it on a netbook, but it would take a loooooong time to execute a script. They also used CAD a little bit.

As far as textbooks... Yeah, they cost as much as a mid range laptop every term. My costs averaged $600 a quarter. The structural engineers had ONE class where they were required to spend $450 for two texts. Add in your other three and you're closing in on a grand for the term.

That's fine for those students, but the average student isn't an engineering or hard science major.

[gtriever]

One problem with a netbook is its screen resolution. There are quite a few apps that now require a minimum of 1024x768 to even install. Also, maximum RAM on the netbook is only 2 GB, which can present a problem for some apps.

(This opinion was written by a person in a 3 netbook household.)

[JSWolf]

So why do we have this thread if kno reader is shipping today?

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by gtriever

One problem with a netbook is its screen resolution. There are quite a few apps that now require a minimum of 1024x768 to even install. Also, maximum RAM on the netbook is only 2 GB, which can present a problem for some apps.

(This opinion was written by a person in a 3 netbook household.)

The netbooks my sons use support higher resolutions. They just hook them up to an external monitor when at home. Still, they haven't encountered any hardware limitations because of the software they've needed.

[Fastolfe]

Originally Posted by jessicalynn

Be that as it may, these days it is literally impossible to be a college student without access to a computer.

Indeed. In several of the countries I've lived in, equal rights to education are guaranteed to everybody, rich or poor, by the constitution. Trouble is, it's bollocks

In theory, poor students without a computer are allowed to turn in hand-written term papers and theses. Yet, in reality, most schools require a printed paper generated by some kind of text processor (be it Word, OpenOffice or LaTex), and more often than not, a CD that contains the source document, so it can be fed into a software that detects plagiarism.

Practically, that means poor students have to find access to a computer somehow. Sometimes they use prehistoric, virus-laden computers the school allows them to use 2 hours a day, sometimes they use a friend's computer, sometimes they buy their own barely usable antiquated piece of equipment and have to make do with pasta and potatoes for weeks to pay it off. I've witnessed this, both as a student and as a teacher.

As a result, the well-off obviously have an easier time doing studies than the poor because of school requirements that essentially mandate a computer. It's one more roadblock to getting an education entirely (and artificially) due to one's financial situation, and not one's potential, as it should be.

I'm all for computers, but I find this disgusting. I can't wait for some student to flunk only because he couldn't find a computer to use, and to challenge the school's decision in court on constitutional grounds.

[Gunnerp245]

In an actual review by someone who owns the device. Not a student or educator, but see the value, to me, in this device.

[elcreative]

Tut tut... you want facts and information to get in the way of opinion, social theories and guesswork... not a bad idea... anyone got a Kno and can share some details, I'd be interested as well because I thought that the original OP intended the thread to announce its release...

Originally Posted by Gunnerp245

In an actual review by someone who owns the device. Not a student or educator, but see the value, to me, in this device.

[magicmonster]

I can do lots of stuff with my Asus 1005PEB netbook. I even stream Hulu and Netflix as well. If they were in graphic arts/cad or computer programing it might be a different story.

[SolRaven]

[QUOTE=elcreative;1296182.. anyone got a Kno and can share some details,[/QUOTE]

I don't think that they shipped out any units on Dec 20th. In their press release they said that they "plan" to ship units over the next month. I haven't found a single person on the internet that said that they had received their Kno. I ordered mine on the 8th of December and was informed on the Dec. 18th that they wouldn't ship them until the 12 of January.

[screwballl]

This competition is only open to residents of Australia and New Zealand I am afraid.

This is pretty much a mute point anyways for many of us...

[HansTWN]

Actually, a 14 inch tablet with minimal bezel would be a good laptop substitute (if it had the necessary computing power), as well as a great newspaper and magazine reader. Just don't think the technology is there yet to give us a very light device, long battery life, AND a full OS.

14" is definitely not for reading novels, though.

[SolRaven]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

14" is definitely not for reading novels, though.

That's why I'll keep my other library of readers.

[Gunnerp245]

Originally Posted by elcreative

Tut tut... you want facts and information

Yup!