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Can NetBooks & Tablets Co-Exist?
bsk_cw writes "According to Computerworld's Serdar Yegulalp, there has been a lot of talk about whether the iPad will take the place of the netbook — or, in fact, whether it will eat into the market share for more mainstream desktop and laptop computers. But, he continues, the iPad has a long way to go before it becomes a netbook killer — if only because it has created a space all its own."
Can Cars and Motorcycles co-exist? How about motorbikes and bicycles?
How about Laptop and Desktop computers?
This is just silly.
Have you heard about SoylentNews?
They occupy different niches (even though there's some overlap) and can coexist. Next question!
Gah. These summaries are getting worse and worse. Tablets have been around for awhile. Apple didn't invent the market with the iPad. They didn't invent the portable MP3 player with the ipod, nor did they invent the smart phone with the iphone. Those markets were established, and Apple developed a highly polished version that did well in that market. Tablets have been around, and they serve a slightly different niche from the netbook. They existed side by side before the iPad, and will continue to do so.
No.
I mistakenly left my Acer netbook on my bedside table and my old Fujitsu stylistic on my bed when I left for work yesterday. When I got home, all I found on my bed was some half-melted plastic and blown capacitors.
There can be only one...
I'll stick with my netbook because I prefer having a real keyboard (even a smaller one). I don't know if it's just me being a late adapter, but I like the feel of real keys over a touchscreen. I'd never buy an iPad because I'm not a huge fan of any Apple OS I've tried through the years. I'm still not really sure if I'd buy a tablet from any other manufacturer either.
Last summer I bought an EeePC because I was sick of lugging my full-size laptop to and from work to give myself additional screen space to watch Nagios in addition to other work I had going on. That was possibly one of the worst purchases I ever made. The keyboard was too small to type on, and the screen was barely big enough for passive activities, let alone if I required anything "real" to happen on it. I ended up just giving it away to a female friend who's only around 5ft tall (where as I'm 6'4") and thus better proportioned to using such a device.
They only thing they really have going for them is that they're cheap, and it shows in the construction of the things. I haven't yet handled an iPad, but don't expect it to suffer from a feeling of flimsiness, like the scene in Jurassic Park where the lawyer tells the kid if the goggles are heavy, then that means they're expensive and so to put them down. But I think I could find more situations where I would benefit from having a pair of night vision goggles than an iPad. But maybe I'm not really in the target market for either of these things.
Netbooks and the iPad are in two wholly separate worlds. Netbooks have so many qualities that set them apart from the iPad that this shouldn't be a hard question. The answer is yes.
iPads (& similar) can be THE computer for the rest of society who didn't want a laptop or other computer.
Why?
Because it doesn't have to be treated and coddled like a "computer", at least if it is an iPad.
I've seen both the very young and very old become adept in doing things they like in minutes.
It all depends on the consumer, the netbook and the tablet you're talking about. The iPad can definitely take the place of a netbook for ME. Other people might want a full featured office client and a mouse in which case NO Tablet would be a suitable replacement. We've also not yet seen a real foray into the market of a competitive Android tablet.
Use what works for you, and whoever "wins" will be left standing at the end. And maybe they'll all win.
I play around making random C, Perl, and even BASIC programs on my Netbook
I'm pretty sure Apple is NEVER going to allow a Turing-complete programming language on the iPad.
Karma: Excellent. 15 moderator points expire sometime.
Gah. These summaries are getting worse and worse. Tablets have been around for awhile. Apple didn't invent the market with the iPad.
No, they didn't invent the market.
They just figured out how to make a product that would sell into the market.
Tablets simply never sold before the way the iPad is selling.
Apple developed a highly polished version that did well in that market.
Normally I would agree, as that is what Apple does with most things.
But there was nothing in the market to polish. There was nothing in the tablet space like the iPad. It was all PC/Stylus based, kind of the opposite to what the iPad is and why it works.
Was there even a single touch-capible system in there? I don't remember any.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Next time, please provide some [credible] numbers when talking about issues like this because from my vantage point, all folks I know that bought these iPads use them for about 30 minutes a day. Compare that to about 6 hours a day for their netbooks.
Seems all the hype around the iPad has waned! I personally will not use the gadget until it becomes more functional and even then, I will likely use a competing platform than Apple's.
Obviously not. If you leave them in the same room they'll throw all the fucking furniture at each other.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
The only people who want to ask this question are the people writing articles about it.
Apple did not 'figure out how to make one that sells', they just are the only company able to sell luxury PC products to average consumers and they realized that the reason tablets have not been sellign is that they are luxury PC products. So they moved in on a section of their own market that they had been ignoring.
As for netbooks, people buy them for one reason - they don't cost a lot of money. Thnis is the exact OPPOSITE market from apple. Both products will continue to thrive. Apple will continue to add on new 'almost cheap enough for mass market' features while the tablets will continue to get cheaper and cheaper.
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
If someone took my netbook and gave me an iPad to replace it, I would use the iPad to beat them until they agreed to give my netbook back.
I bought my netbook before the iPad's release, but I bought it because I needed a *Computer*, not an appliance. I use it for work, and I'm essentially on-call tech support 24-7. I needed a laptop that was small enough I can take it anywhere, and cheap enough that I don't mind taking it everywhere. I need to be able to run the software I need to run. I need to be able to connect to a Windows Terminal Server. I also need something with an actual USB port, so I'm not limited in the hardware I can connect it to.
Many of the things I use my netbook for, I could use an iPad instead. But not everything. I could probably replace my Acer netbook with a hypothetical Apple netbook - call it a MacBook Mini - but Apple has made it pretty clear that they don't want to get into that market.
Actually, Apple has made it clear that they aren't interested in me as a customer. I want an inexpensive desktop machine that I can play a few games on, and can upgrade the video card every few years so I can keep playing games on. I also want the laptop I described above - small enough I can take it everywhere, and cheap enough that I'm willing to do so. I know people who use Apple's stuff generally love it, but they just aren't selling to me.
Redundancy is good And also good.
They even invented a word to tell when both coexist not just in the same market, but in the same device.
I could have sworn I left my Calico Tablet and my Gingham Netbook on the desk last night.
Or if you have a Dell laptop(Jewish) with an HP netbook made in Malaysia (Muslim) ....
Or A Dell (TX - red state) and an HP (CA- blue state)...
No, there will be problems!
RIP America
July 4, 1776 - September 11, 2001
Maybe it's just me - but the Slashdot crowd seems like entirely the wrong demographic for this question. Or, at least, for you to get an answer that'd translate to the world at large. Anyway...
Given the size and weight (my daughter has an iPad, and I have borrowed it several times) - I'd take neither. The netbook makes too many compromises, and the iPad is too heavy for what it is. I know it's a pound and a half lighter than my MacBook Air, but (due to the ways they're held and used) I couldn't possibly use an iPad for a long period of time while the weight of the Air is generally unnoticeable. I think for the iPad to truly own the "small and light" market, it needs to shed more weight - get down reasonably close to the Kindle.
Of course my daughter is probably much closer to the target demographic than I am, and she loves the iPad to death. So my opinion should be taken with an appropriately-sized grain of salt.
#DeleteChrome
The thing about a tablet is you have to hold the thing. You can't just set it on your lap, or on a table unless you prop it up somehow. A netbook has a built in kickstand that doubles as a keyboard and screen protector. Add a touch screen and you've pretty much eliminated any advantage a tablet has.
I went on vacation earlier this year, and brought my netbook (a Lenovo S10e) just after the iPad came out.
I kind of went through the list of things I was doing with it. Can I connect my camera memory card to an iPad? No. Can I charge my flip camera with an iPad? no. It was half the cost of an iPad. If I want to add memory or hard drive space I can do it relatively easily. The Lenovo also managed to survive a knife edge drop from 3 feet (roughly a meter) onto a tile floor while it was on with no damage other than a trim piece broke.
Don't get me wrong, the iPad is a cool product. It has a much longer battery life and it is more portable for airplanes and car rides.
With some of the other tablets coming out with either the Windows or Droid OS I'll have to see. Having USB ports would be a big thing to me for usability.
Autobots, and which are Decepticons?
It is just the nature of Tablets to kill NetBooks. Typically it is done through choking but there have been a few cases of stabbings and drownings as well.
-- Many men would appreciate a woman's mind more if they could fondle it
Can tablets and netbooks coexist? Can science and religion coexist? Can dogs and cats coexist?
Tablets and netbooks are different products for different purposes. How are they even competing? And no, the iPad won't kill netbooks. It costs thee times as much as a netbook.
sudo eat my shorts
The iPad is a turkey?
There can be only one! No, wait...that's something else...
Sure. Can Apples and Oranges co-exist?
Everyone knows that netbooks and tablets, like matter and anti-matter, will annihilate each other if they come in contact.
Neither tablets nor netbooks have a significant niche. They are both too large to carry without being a hassle, at least to some degree. Neither offers the same usability and flexibility as a laptop. Ultimately, people are either going to get a smartphone, which is small enough for a pocket or purse; or they're going to bring a laptop so they have a full computer's functionality. Tablets are a gimmick, while netbooks are only really suitable for things you could do well enough with a smartphone.
"Can NetBooks & Tablets Co-Exist?" /.
Really? Really? We're going to have a heading like that on
What has this become, the tablet hype needs to stop ASAP, as some of us have NO interest.
Of course they can bloody well co-exist.
The iPad won't replace anything while you need to attach it to a real computer running iTunes before you can even use the bloody thing, and to do updates.
Sigs are so 1990s. No way would I be seen dead with one.
The reasons I bought a netbook: 1) phyical size; 2) low cost.
An iPad costs more than three times as much as I spent on my netbook. For that alone, I wouldn't have bought it.
The fact that I use my netbook for typing would also have stopped me replacing it with a tablet.
Maybe someone will make a tablet with a keyboard that costs a third of the current iPad prices? At that point, maybe I'll buy one. But... eh... wouldn't that just be a notebook?
I recently toyed with an iPad to see if I could use it for quickly publishing articles with photos during an upcoming event. Using a DSLR and the camera connection kit (what we call in netbook/PC parlance an "SD slot"), I was able to get the photos onto the iPad.
But when I was in my CMS editing the articles, I tried to upload my photos. Couldn't. All the "browse" buttons in my CMS interface for selecting files for upload were disabled. Turns out that iPad's Safari implementation just turns that off with no way around it.
So... to use the iPad in the manner I wanted, I would have to:
1. Transfer all photos from SD card to iPad photo albums
2. Launch an app to store photos somewhere other than my web server
3. Launch a browser to create the article
4. Launch a second browser window to get cross-site image references from 3rd party photo hosting service
Or I could go buy a netbook and do everything in one app (a browser), without an extra kit, no interim transfer stage, and reduce it to:
1. Launch a browser to create article and upload images from SD card directly into it.
Why they couldn't enable HTTP uploads from photo albums is beyond me.
netbooks are just cheap laptops.
And in my opinion, there is a substantial niche for laptops that someone working an entry-level job can afford or that a parent can afford to buy for a child. Consider that the first well-known netbook, even before Eee PC, was the XO-1 intended for school systems to issue to children.
BASIC?
Perhaps you should get an iPad...
Nope. The iOS developer agreement explicitly bans interpreters into which the user can load a program. Anything with a REPL is right out. In fact, Apple pulled a C64 game from the App Store precisely because the player could touch some keys and reset the emulated C64 into the REPL of its ROM BASIC.
Javascript is Turning-complete.
To my knowledge, JavaScript works only in Safari, not in native apps. And Turing completeness isn't enough; a useful computer also has input and output, and Safari doesn't expose the full I/O capability of the device to JavaScript programs. For example, can Safari on iPad run WebGL?
The difference is, people from all over have iPods. That's an Apple device. So Apple's plan is working, make devices people really like and they will buy more. Who'd have thought?
Many iPod users are also PC users BTW....
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Tablet PCs running Windows have existed for almost a decade. If people really cared about them running windows software, then why is the iPad such a success while the Windows based PCs haven't been?
..except you can't save anything
All applications save. And all offer some means to transfer content off the iPad.
print anything
You can print from some apps now and it's a system supported feature in November.
access any random website
Now you really lost me since I can reach any website from the iPad, there are zero browsing restrictions.
or access any random bit of data.
99.9999999% is enough, it turns out.
It's all dependent on this idea that a computer, even an Apple computer is "too much for the masses to deal with".
Critical refinement of your statement - normal computers are too much for most people to MAINTAIN. Come on, having helped friends and family with computers, you honestly have any doubt that is the case?
The Mac used to be the proposed solution to all of normal consumer's PC difficulties.
The Mac was the hardest computer to use - except for all the others. I guess it makes sense they figured out something even less hard, since they were always at the forefront of computers that were easier to maintain and use.
There's no market inertia or vendor lock associated with it that Apple can exploit.
100% correct which is what makes the dominance they enjoy purely a result of building a good product people enjoy and not market control.
The iPad doesn't need to be castrated despite the protestations of fanboys.
The iPad is not that constrained despite the assertions of the Haters.
You got your first four facts totally wrong, I guess it follows you wouldn't understand platform constraints either.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
1) It's not created a space all on its own. It's just another of many.
2) Tablets are a fad. People can't type nearly as fast as with a keyboard. I still can't take them seriously.
3) Netbooks ftw. Laptops ft(even better)w
Just thought I'd point out that Apple supports bluetooth keyboard connectivity on the iPad.
I say this as a netbook user.
Spoon not. Fork, or fork not. There is no spoon.
Amazing how you can find so many article son the same subject, that differ drastically in their conclusions.
For example, this article shows that the iPad is cannibalizing the PC market .... go figure.
http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20100908/forget-netbooks-ipad-cannibalizing-entire-pc-industry/
the iPad has a long way to go before it becomes a netbook killer
But what do you mean by "netbook"?
I see two types of device going under the name "netbook":
(A) First, we have the "original" netbook concept - small, lightweight, cheap devices with small screens and modest SD-based storage - intended mainly for web browsing, email, media playing, "casual gaming" and maybe some light WP (sometimes running Linux rather than windows) and note-taking. E.g. the original EEE PC.
(B) Then we have what the "netbooks" seemed to turn into: cheap, ultracompact but basically full-featured laptops running (usually) Windows.
In my experience, the iPad absolutely blows away "type A" in terms of usability as a web/email terminal: its great for web browsing while sitting in a comfy chair, perfect for quick email checks and short replies and actually rather good for note-taking in meetings etc. (I've even used it to give a PowerPoint). The iPad's killer feature there is its running an OS and Apps designed for small touch-input devices, rather than standard desktop apps. Where it doesn't match up is on price (unless you look at price relative to other "designer label" hardware such as MacBooks and Sony Vaios - and the iPad certainly feels like a quality product).
However, If what you really want is a small-but-perfectly-formed laptop then the iPad isn't really a viable alternative. Its designed for consumption, not creation.
My prediction: once there are some viable, cheap, Android tablets on the shelves to compete with the cheapest netbooks, the "type A" netbook will go the way of the dodo (its already an endangered species) and "netbook" will just become a synonym for "subnotebook".
So far, though, the Android options look a bit uninspiring usually with some flaw such as a resistive touchscreen, prehistoric version of Android and no (proper) Flash player (which would be a selling point over iPhone). Plus, Android will remain useless for many people until it properly supports proxies over WiFi.
In a survey of 100 programmers, 111111 thought that duck-typing was a good idea.
A car and a motorcycle cannot occupy the same space at the same time. Just like a netbook and an iPad cannot have the same MAC address at the same time.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
Cheap compared to what? They cost more than convertible laptops.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
That was Apple's innovation. Everyone else was going for miniaturizing the desktop experience, which has not worked yet.
Only 2% of those who don't own an Apple product
Which includes iPods, which is what I was saying.
So that statement means nothing with well north of 300 million iPods sold in the U.S.
iPod sales have been slowing since 2008
Only if you don't count the iPod Touch as an iPod.
In addition, plenty of people are turned off from Apple's remarkably shitty products
Sales figures disagree with your Apple Hater version of reality.
Apple is rapidly going the way of Sony
A giant company successful in multiple areas of electronics? Oh, the horror!
Apple responds to ubiquitous wireless by tying everything to iTunes (idiots)
ATRAC players required transcoding to ATRAC. the iPod and IOS devices can play any MP# file in addition to AAC...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I have an Asus T101MT.
It is a netbook (10.1" Atom 510).
It is a tablet (Swivelling, Multi-touch screen).
While the negative aspects of being an early adopter still apply, I am generally really pleased with my T101MT. The 10.1 inch form factor I was after with the touch screen that the geek inside me has wanted for so long.
Can't we all just get along?
First you have to save it to iCrud, then email it to a service, that service converts it into Sanskrit
Ha Ha. Except that in reality I either email a file to myself directly from an application, or I simply pull the file from the application directory when I next sync the device with a computer.
This is hyperbole, but it demonstrates what the GP means, it is difficult and backwards getting data to and from the Ipad
First, I have been emailing files to myself for a long time and using that means is not onerous.
Second, pulling stuff after a sync is only one step removed from the USB approach - and a number of applications provide WebDAV access via Bonjor, so getting files off is as simply as browsing your device. That's also pretty easy.
Wow, in November. I mean my Linux PC has been able to connect to any PnP printer for 3 years now.
That's pretty unimpressive considering how long such things have been around. But it begs the question, why do you and others continue to cling to the past? Building up a new platform right takes time, and time has shown to be healing the problems you raise today. You can't see the forest for the trees, indeed you insist to stop and examine every tree and proclaim there is no way around it for the tree is far too solid to be moved. Apple steps around it and proceeds...
Except if you have Flash, or too much Javascript or a
Hi, you're on Slashdot - as a result I can be as pedantic as I like. And so at this juncture I note that the phrase was "reach any website". I can in fact "reach any website" regardless of content - now some proprietary content may not play, but more often than not it works in iOS because people realize now that many people may be browsing the site using only open technologies. Funny, Linux supporters used to be keen about supporting open technologies - I guess those days have passed, kind of a shame really.
Furthermore, you are behind the times yet again, because yet another of your impassible trees has been stepped around via Skyfire.
As for "Too much Javascript" - Really? Come on, I've never seen a case where that was an issue. Give us a real example of that.
Calling people "haters" does not make your points valid, in fact it makes you look childish and moronic.
I'd say calling people "Childish and moronic" is pointing the brush straight at yourself. Labeling someone an "Apple Hater" is an accurate assessment of a particular form of dementia found online and on Slashdot in particular, where an otherwise rational and technical astute person loses all ability to research facts and posts anything as long as they think it harms Apple's image.
Myself, I prefer to find what is good and bad about a thing and provide an accurate assessment. I am about accurate information, not support for or detraction of any platform just because of who makes it.
Now when can an Ipad connect to my Canon Camera
Um, today? You should really watch out when using the term moron, when you can't get basic facts right yourself. In your response, be very careful not to embarrass yourself further on this point - I gave you fair warning as I already know what your natural response will be. I ask that you look and think before you place that foot again.
load music onto my Creative MP3 player,
From a device that already has a music player and is portable... I see.
Nice laundry list of things 5% of the population want to do. Over time, you'll be able to (or actually you could do about any of it if you jailbreak).
Oh, there's that whole jailbreak thing you Apple Haters utterly forget about, because it destroys any point you have - so you pretend it's not a real option despite the fact millions of people opt to use it that way.
So the 5% of the
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I know the human being and the fish can coexist peacefully.