Is the laptop and personal freedom dead?

[jhempel24]

While I might at some point get a tablet...it won't replace my laptop, I think Murdoch is full of himself.

A tablet can minimaly do work, and not very efficient at that. Only in short bursts...could you imagine working on a document all day on that thing? And I'm not talking with added peripherals.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The first generation of "portables" normally had gas plasma screens - mono screens where the text glowed orange on a black background. I had one, made by Olivetti. It was about the size of a large briefcase.

That's smaller than that first "laptop" we had... A Compaq, black/green monochrome and about the size of a midi tower...

Originally Posted by HarryT

I do my "real work" on a laptop (a Dell "XPS Studio 15", with a 15.6" screen). The iPad for me is a portable entertainment device.

And that's how I see a tablet as well, an entertainment device, with maybe the possibility to do some light work on it, if the situation demands it. Which is why the Apple devices will never do for me, as I only work on Windows.

[Anke Wehner]

Given that I'm one of three people in my immediate social circle who opted to get a laptop or notebook as their main computer they had to replace a broken or outdated desktop, I'm not inclined to agree that laptops are dead.

And, yeah, the whole "walled garden" thing is something that I find offputting, too.

[speedlever]

The Walled Garden is why I never bought into the Apple philosophy. Or products. Or iTunes.

I received an iPad as a gift. I enjoy it. But it is a near computer and is crippled by lack of flash, USB, and being tied to iTunes for updates, etc. Yes, it is a cool PED.

I find using the iPad to be slower to read and reply to forum traffic than using my laptop (XP) or desktop (Win7) computers. When writing a reply to a post, auto-correction (can I turn it off?) continually makes choices that I don't want. And it appears to me that pages load slower than my ancient laptop and almost as ancient 4 year old desktop.

From mail I can touch the hotlink to go to a forum post to read it.. but the iPad has to load Safari (the unchangeable default browser unless you JB the iPad)... Safari loads pretty quickly on an SSD... but when I'm done with that msg, I have to click the home button to get out of Safari and click mail to get back to that app and repeat the process to read and reply. I just find it cumbersome. (I'm used to tabbed browsing on FireFox and Chrome). Yes, I have iCab as an alternative browser, but I can't make it the default without JB'ing the iPad. I don't know of an untethered Windows JB for 4.2.1 yet.

Ok, I'm still pretty new to the iPad so there are likely a bunch of tips and tricks I haven't learned yet that can make the process more fluid. Anyone have any tips to share?

Coming up, it sounds like the Motorola Xoom may hold a lot of promise as an actual computer in tablet form.

Or maybe my years of PC experience totally overshadow and blind me to the Apple way. I dunno.

The iPad can't be beat for playing Angry Birds and such! It easily has the best touchscreen of any device I've ever owned. But that can be a negative if I accidentally touch the screen with another part of my hand.

Bottom line... I like it and enjoy using it... but it won't replace my laptop or desktop... not in it's present form.

[HappyMartin]

I would like a tablet and it will replace my laptop.

A laptop wont replace my desktop as my needs are too specific running photoshop with a high end calibrated monitor. Some photographs are over a gig in size and laptops still choke on these files a bit.

Consume content on a tablet. create content on a desktop.

[jerrywojo]

<<Blank>> are dead. Funny catch phrase often misused. Expect when referring to mullets...maybe.

Don't want a Ipad. But I do want a tablet. Going to wait for the newer models to float out of Asia. Ipad's are way to proprietary.

[petermillard]

I haven't used a desktop PC in 10 years; my laptop is my main machine, and I guess I now use an iPad in conjunction with it the same way many people seem use a laptop or netbook with their desktop PC <shrug> whatever works for you, right?

I'm pretty sure the iPad was never marketed as a computer or computer replacement - it's a tablet, not a tablet PC; it was meant to sit between your smart phone and your computer, to handle lightweight web/email/video/podcast/photo browsing & reading duties - though many people, myself included, find it an incredibly useful work tool for taking and reading notes, displaying photographs and plans, maps, a large screen SatNav etc.. etc..

Obviously if your work involves heavy-duty integration with Microsoft Office, lots of text-entry, reliance on Flash-based content or built-in connectivity for external storage/USB/SD cards/HDMI etc.. etc.. then it's safe to say that the iPad in its current form definitely isn't for you, and perhaps never will be. But then it was never meant to be - the above list of requirements weren't met by any of the previous tablets I had either, including a string of poisonous Fujitsu machines running WinCE; the closest that came to being usable was an HP/Compaq TC1000, and that was an everyday battle on account of having a desktop OS forced into a tablet-esque form factor.

Luckily most of us live in a largely free society where competition dictates that even if our needs aren't met by a current device, there's every chance that something will be along shortly that will do the job we want. Of course, whether that device can be brought to market at a price we're prepared to pay (and I'm not just talking money here) is another matter, and another debate.

Cheers, Pete

[hal2814]

I also do what pleases me. And that involves buying walled garden products if they suit my needs. And I have for decades. My first walled garden was an NES. I had to buy apps that were blessed with the Nintendo Seal of Approval. I couldn't compile and run my own software. I couldn't even hook up a keyboard. I just had two 8-input devices, a light gun, and a pseudo-robot to use for input. Yet it still managed to fit my needs just fine and did all the way up until I bought my next walled garden: a SNES.

I haven't been compelled to buy an iPad, but if my situation suddenly changed and the iPad fit my needs, I would have no qualms about buying one. I know full well its limitations and if I can still do what I need to do despite those limitations, then I'm all for it. Walled gardens are a two-way street. Apple can restrict all it wants but if we look and there's not an app for that, we're not buying.

It's funny that some of you mention wanting a tablet that can do what your laptop can do. Those have existed for a long time. The Thinkpad line of tablets has existed for almost a decade now. Dell has a Lattitude tablet. Sony and HP had similar offerings at one time but I'm not sure if they still do. If that's what you want, it's still out there.

I've seen plenty of people define the difference between laptop and notebook yet have never seen the same definition twice. IMHO, they're interchangeable terms these days and any differentiation the two once held were marketspeak to begin with.

[EowynCarter]

Well, is iPad is a nice toy, for sure. But that's all it (or any tablet), would be to me.

I wanted something to run sigil, and the NXT LEGO software. That meant windows, and a keyboard. Netbook was the way for me.

Then, I can understand some people finding use a portable video playing / Internet browsing device.

I've seen plenty of people define the difference between laptop and notebook yet have never seen the same definition twice.

The keyboard is the difference

[CyGuy]

I believe that the netbook is one of the best inventions in many years. I have owned an ASUS and a Samsung, both are absolutely awesome.
I do not think that the laptop is dead by a long shot, but more and more people will likely look for devices without keyboards, and use wireless external keyboards as needed. I am currently using an ExoPC and I love it. The ipad is off the table for me due to the intentional restrictions and missing features. I believe that the future will be Windows tablets/slates. Only now is the hardware technology advanced enough to allow thin/light Windows/Intel slates with decent battery life...

[saoir]

Originally Posted by arkietech

I heard Rupert Murdoch say this morning during the Daily News announcement, a new iPad app, that the laptop is dead..replaced by the iPad.

I like to do what pleases me .. not Apple..

Since when did Murdoch = Apple ? Or is this just another Apple hating excuse ?

[Duiker]

Originally Posted by wodin

And "laptops" are increasingly replacing "desktops"!

So I would think a more relevant question would be “Is the desktop dead?”

Unless you're doing some heavy duty processing, then yes, I would say it is. I recently replaced my desktop with a laptop. I have no plans to buy new desktop for the future unless its business related.

[queentess]

Originally Posted by hal2814

I've seen plenty of people define the difference between laptop and notebook yet have never seen the same definition twice. IMHO, they're interchangeable terms these days and any differentiation the two once held were marketspeak to begin with.

As ardeegee notes upthread, it's about size. Laptop: lap-sized. Notebook: notebook-sized (in the U.S., that's about 8.5" x 11"). All the other definitions stem from this size delineation. For instance, notebooks usually don't have a cd drive, but it's because the size prohibits it. The keyboards are not usually full-sized on notebooks, again because the size prohibits it.

[hal2814]

Originally Posted by queentess

As ardeegee notes upthread, it's about size. Laptop: lap-sized. Notebook: notebook-sized (in the U.S., that's about 8.5" x 11"). All the other definitions stem from this size delineation. For instance, notebooks usually don't have a cd drive, but it's because the size prohibits it. The keyboards are not usually full-sized on notebooks, again because the size prohibits it.

Even when only considering size, I've seen definitions where notebook is a subset of laptop and definitions where the two are mutually exclusive. Unfortunately, notebook was born as a marketing term so there will never be a true definition other than:

Notebook - Something you call a portable device in order to increase its sales.

[queentess]

Originally Posted by hal2814

Notebook - Something you call a portable device in order to increase its sales.

Notebook: the size and shape of a... (wait for it) ...notebook!