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Are Tablets Replacing Notebook Computers? (Video)
Maybe, maybe not. It depends on the application and the user. We're seeing tablets advertised like crazy these days, and a trip to any busy coffee shop with free wi-fi will make it obvious that while there may not be as many tablets in use as notebooks, you see a lot more of them than you did five years ago, when it seemed like Bill Gates was the only person who had one, which he tried to show off as often as he could. In 2010, Apple debuted the iPad, and before long tablets were all over the place. So, on behalf of people we know -- and there are more than a few -- who either sneer at tablet computers or aren't sure they need one, we turned to David Needle, editor of TabTimes.com, for advice on what kind of tablet to buy -- assuming we need to buy one at all.
No.
Chuuch. Preach. Tabernacle.
Two different tools for two different tasks. Tablets are consumption tools. Computers are production tools.
The end.
They've lowered the street price of used laptops enough that I can buy a workable 15" laptop for $15 and install CrunchBang Linux on it and use it for everything I could need, save for gaming. The project that I did this with is working out beautifully, even using it for work:
http://www.tidbitsfortechs.com/2013/12/project-5050-a-low-budget-linux-laptop/
Then again, Tablets Are Not Computers. Not yet, anyway.
Nobodies Prefect
Tidbits for Techs Technology Blog
What a strange article to post on Slashdot. I wasn't aware that a fairly basic "this is what tablets do, and here's a brief buying guide" article qualifies as "News for Nerds."
My userid is prime!
I tried checking out the tabtimes website but immediately closed it. It looks like 1 giant ad.
wtf
Ever since tablets got popular, it's been almost impossible to find a decent notebook. Everybody's playing conservative and going for bottom-level pricing, ugly oversided junk models, and/or the gamer market. What happened to the 10" models with 8-12 hour batteries? Or anything with a screen resolution over 1366x768? I'm waiting for a notebook (real keyboard, usb ports, etc.) with DPI and battery life that come anywhere near what tablets have nowadays, and it looks like I'm going to keep waiting... P.S. Please refrain from replies referring to any sort of fruit...
things will really changed. You will still need computers for serious production, but the $38 tablet may take over as the home computer.
That was a headache to read.
First off, I thought the iPad was a logical extension of the iPhone not a whole cloth creation. Even at the time we were saying it was just a bigger iPhone.
Next. I don't think the table will replace the notebook/laptop for the folks who create. Sure, I can type a lot even with a keyboard on my iPad however I absolutely do not want to create websites on it. I certainly don't want to use OpenOffice on a Nook.
Third, the individual apps for each news organization, on-line marketplace, or forum isn't something I'm a fan of. In particular the individual sites have a bigger lock on your eyes. They can present advertising without a way to block it when coming through an app. Plus it's just one more thing that's potentially running on my iPad. I'd rather keep it to the websites and use the app for problematic sites like Facebook which regularly crashes Safari.
[John]
Shit better not happen!
Someday tablets might be good enough to replace laptops, but right now they're basically just for consuming content and not creating it, or fixing real problems. Luckily since the vast majority of computer users just consume content rather than create it, tablets are a great fit for the masses at large.
Only a few weeks ago I was in a meeting. There were 2 laptops and 6 iPads in the room. I think that was the first time I saw 3x more tablets in a meeting of that size (or at least that I remember noticing)
Trolling is a art,
Until the Adobe Creative Suite runs reasonably well on a tablet, then no.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
For most ordinary home users who go online to consume content and do brief chats/facebook/such, the answer can be a fairly easy "yes", so long as they're willing to ditch their old programs in exchange for apps. My wife did this in July by swapping to an iPad, and hasn't looked back. I think she used the bluetooth keyboard twice... meanwhile, it's replaced her PMP, camera, gaming console, and she watches movies with it on long road trips.
For crabby old tech types like me the answer is "hell no!" - I have way too much invested in CG/3D hobbyist bits and tools, I need the horsepower to render with, I type way too much, and in my estimation, screen real-estate is king. I'll stick with my MacBook Pro, thanks much.
In-between? Depends on whether or not you primarily consume content or primarily create it; therein lies your answer.
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
Tablets are fine as a media consumption device, and for many (most?) people, that's all they need. But once you add everything you need to be truly useful (keyboard & mouse + maybe more local storage), you have a notebook in a much less convenient form.
Tablets, outside of a stylus, are atrocious and simply not worth the money.
And even then, if the screen is shitty finger-mashing quality without the precision for a stylus, it is pointless.
I use my tablet quite often for drawing instead of using a graphics tablet.
I also USE it as a graphics tablet too via VNC and PC. (which gets like 15-ish FPS, decent enough for drawing)
Also some programming and webdev stuff too. It has increased my productivity considerably.
Equally I also take netbook and tablet with me on holiday and replicate the same system.
I also use said netbook as a router and internet connection source using a wireless dongle.
I can say for certain the only laptop I would ever be buying is this: Eurocom Model Configuration.
Only with that would I safely retire my desktop. (including my new desktop about to be build, which still gets dwarved in comparison to this laptop)
Well, maybe, maybe if someone made a good Steam laptop, maybe. But that is a stretch.
I'm not a fan of the word "consumption". It sounds more like either using something up or tuberculosis than like the meaning people tend to use it for in PC vs. tablet discussions, which is viewing works created by others. But as people shift viewing activity to tablets, the PC market could end up losing the economies of scale that it currently enjoys, and more low-end PC categories might go the way of the netbook (affordable 10" laptops discontinued a year ago in favor of higher-margin tablets). This might make it harder for hobbyist authors to get started creating.
Yes, I find that they're useful for travelling and using around the house. I was torn between buying a Note 3 (or Mega) and the Tab 3 8, but found that I could get both the Tab 3 8 and the S4 for about the same price. I'd rather have one device, but I'm patient and can wait for prices to come down.
Have to say that the Tab 3 8 is great as a gaming device (for certain games obviously - I also have a PS Vita). All in all, I'm quite satisfied insofar as it being a 'consuming' device (Netflix, Spotify, web browsing, etc.). but I certainly wouldn't use it for creating anything. I still (and will continue to) use the PC/laptop for that.
Depends on the use case and exactly what ones means by "replacing". Within six months of the iPad's release, none of the senior execs at my company carried their laptop out of the office anymore. They still have laptops, though. So Dell still gets to sell them a new laptop every few years. But the requirements of that laptop have declined. It no longer needs a DVD drive to play movies on long flights. They no longer ask for the most cutting-edge thin/light model laptop, since they rarely carry it around.
Personally, though, I find that the tablet is a personal accessory, not a device to do real work on. I use my tablet for reading, light web surfing, games, movies. I still need a keyboard and mouse/trackpad to really do work (anything more than reading email and making short replies just doesn't work on a tablet for me). Even if I really need to do some research on the web (like car shopping) where I want to be able to have lots of pages open and shift between them quickly, I do that on my laptop.
I would guess, therefore, that tablets don't crowd out laptops very much, but they might change what laptop people buy, and maybe even how often they replace them. Maybe you keep your existing laptop longer. Maybe you don't buy the thinnest/lightest new laptop, but instead buy the slightly bulkier, less expensive model. So I think it does affect laptop manufacturers, but it is unlikely to show up as a lot of users who once owned laptops but now do not.
Many medical jobs have moved to tablets.
Upper management that only needs to email and read documents have also moved to tablets - usually iPads.
Tablets are a better fit for many jobs.
Notebooks are are bulkier, use a desktop OS on an underpowered hardware in many cases and in the case of Chromebook, it's just a cheap substitute for folks who can't afford a laptop.
But not in replacement of a laptop.
I have a big powerful laptop more of a mobile workstation, a smaller yet powerful laptop for carrying about when I need laptop capabilities, such as in the field photography and editing/storage etc and a tablet, for when I cant be arsed with either laptops and just sit in cafes sipping coffee and trolling the web and maybe facebook updating.
What MAY replace my smaller laptop, is a hybrid laptop/tablet in a small formfactor with laptop power and ease of use with touch screen, that is why PC makers are pushing PC+ with running Android apps sandboxed IN windows combine that with a fold back/twist around touch screen, then youre talking but only for the carry about. Not the real workstation power laptops on the desk, and between countries / offices / houses.
However, they are expanding the market for computers generally considered. Like everyone else, I have a bunch of each and will continue to do so into the foreseeable future.
Oh and, Long Live Desktop Computers with replaceable, chooseable parts.
From the first link in the summary: Last July, during an interview with Charlie Rose, Bill Gates explained that Jobs "did some things better than I did. His timing in terms of when it came out, the engineering work, just the package that was put together. The tablets we had done before, weren't as thin, they weren't as attractive."
Well yeah, plus, anyone who has used Windows XP Tablet Edition will tell you, it really didn't have tablet support. The "tablet features" were repurposed Accessibility features and they really didn't work very well. What Apple brought to the table was that a touch-only interface, to be intuitive and easy to use, couldn't be merely a bunch of cabalistic gestures that mimicked the actions of a three button mouse. Had Microsoft started *then* on a touch-only gui, instead of trying to shoehorn in the KVM-centric GUI of XP, maybe things would have been different.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Two different tools for two different tasks. Tablets are consumption tools. Computers are production tools.
The end.
Ironically its not true, we suddenly have Devices that people are comfortable creating in creating twitter; taking pictures and editing them, discussing *everything*. I notice the latest craze is creating comics.
Why is nobody mentioning the massive mark-up that Microsoft and Intel have, walking around with their 60-70% Profit Margins. The bottom line is PC's are poor value compared to Android tablets. The success of competing on price is the massive growth of Chromebooks...which have already overtaken Mac even without it being a mature platform.
I suspect that number of people will find it moderately easy to either agree or disagree with that. Probably.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Yes, a Windows notebook that is also a tablet! So I can log on to my VPN (only from Windows, blame my IT dept.). Plus I need to be able to use Creo 2.0 (CAD software, again Windows only). I have a nice, high end notebook machine with a good graphics chipset but it's a boat anchor with about 45 mins battery life. & it takes up a ton of space. For any real work, it's gotta be the notebook. But for some fast, simple changes, I could get away with an Intel 4000 series graphics chipset.
So what I want is a combo notebook/tablet. The Surface2 Pro is appealing but pricey. The others out there, like Lenovo's Yoga series appear to be better for slightly less money. So when my gal & I are drinking coffee on Sunday morning, I got a nice, FAST tablet. But if I got some work I gotta do, no more lugging around that monster notebook, the combo machine can do both.
I'm still in the want-not-need mode so I haven't talked myself into it (yet!). These things are still around $800+...
SLOWER TRAFFIC KEEP RIGHT
Until the Adobe Creative Suite runs reasonably well on a tablet, then no.
Very few actually care about adobe products, now flash is dead(WTF happened to Gnash). In fact going forward not Adobe is moving towards Web DRM. How many people will suddenly become Gimp advocates.
In fact with failing Apple and Windows Sales they are creating tablet versions of their software. If they had any sense they should have had a Linux versions forever ago.
Wow! What are these "Tablet" things people are talking about?
A tablet is a burden to do all but the basics such as reading books, web pages, etc. You can listen to music and videos on the go.
Tablets are NOT the future of computing. They are the future of on the go short term light weight computing.
Long, boring advertisement.
Long, boring video.
I keep hearing that tablets are good for "Joe Sixpack" because he just consumes content. That's not quite true. Posting on a forum, explaining why the previous poster is an idiot is creating content, and even that can be a PITA on a tablet/phone. I don't see tablets replacing laptops anytime soon.
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
Android tablets are general-purpose computers. iPad and Windows RT tablets are computerized appliances.
We have let me count...3 tablets, 3 phones, 1 ipod, 3 laptops and one iMac in my household. We use them all. We use them for different purposes and reasons.
Books, recipes, pictures, casting to the new Chomecast -- Tablet.
Phone, pictures, taking it with you -- Phone.
Home work, work work, email, shopping. -- Laptop.
My development environment -- iMac.
I don't get why the success of one thing means the death of another. Ok I get the car means the horse and buggy are on the way out. But, TV didn't kill radio or movies. I'm thinking that in the future we will have devices of all shapes and sizes waiting for us everywhere.
No sigs in BETA. Beta SUCKS.
That is one of THE worst website designs I've seen in since the Slashdot beta.
I was going to type up a witty reply, but couldn't be bothered to try and tap it out on my Mac'sI pad.
The problem with Microsoft's tablet vision is that they saw it as an driving force for Windows sales. They tried to make sure every tablet they sold was also another sale of Windows. Consequently your low-end laptop cost $750 (back then), the average laptop around $1300, and a Tablet PC cost north of $2000.
The early success of netbooks should've been a huge clue that there was a lot of pent-up demand for a low-cost simple (i.e. no complicated or expensive Windows) consumption-only device. The early netbooks tapped into that (before Microsoft successfully converted them into full-blown Windows machines, after which they died). So did the iPad.
I'd been using Tablet PCs since around 2004. I first bought one for a client (he wanted it for data entry at his veterinary clinic without having to take notes, then re-enter them into a desktop computer). I was so impressed I bought one for myself. So I got to see the benefits and the warts first-hand long before the iPad. I correctly predicted a simple tablet would be successful if it hit the $500 mark (and incorrectly predicted Apple would price theirs around $800). Unlike a lot of naysayers, I thought the format had a lot of potential. UPS and FedEx custom-designing their own tablet-scanner type devices for their delivery personnel was a pretty strong indicator.
IMHO tablets will really take off when they hit ~$100-$150. That's about the point where the price is negligible for businesses, and tablets will begin to take over their true competition - not laptops but clipboards. Like my client in 2004, the real benefit here is eliminating double data entry. Why write stuff on a clipboard, then enter it into a database later, when you can just enter it straight into the database while you're walking around the workplace? Why print out a bunch of stuff and carry the papers around in a folder/clipboard, when you can just view the files directly on a tablet? That's the real "killer app" tablets bring to the game. Being able to browse the web like a laptop is just a fringe benefit.
https://www.npd.com/wps/portal/npd/us/news/press-releases/u-s-commercial-channel-computing-device-sales-set-to-end-2013-with-double-digit-growth-according-to-npd/
These are end of year sales figures in the American Market. What seems to be wining is Good Value. Overpriced Tablets and PC's from Apple/Microsoft are losing out to Android\Chromebooks, and still there is a shift(For many) toward tablets. I think we are seeing the overpriced Wintel/Apple computers(including iPads) being replaced with good value Chrome\Android with Tablets winning where ARM/Keyboard-less less of an issue over increased portability and price.
Of course we can ignore sales figures.
A tablet is a burden to do all but the basics such as reading books, web pages, etc. You can listen to music and videos on the go.
Tablets are NOT the future of computing. They are the future of on the go short term light weight computing.
So do you not see its because of the (fucking) internet (notice the correct use of swearword for emphasis), Books; Movies and Music..with the massive advantage of probability Tablets. In fact the reality is what they can't do that you need is kind of limited.
The only thing my tablet is replacing, is my Nintendo DS.
How so? The DS has games like New Super Mario Bros. where the player runs and jumps on platforms and shoots enemies. Last time I checked, a tablet was good for point-and-click games and single-button timing games but horrible for anything else.* Which developer has figured out a useful way to control platformers on the flat sheet of glass that is a tablet's input device?
* I'm referring to tablets that people are likely to own, not obscure gaming tablets by JXD.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tablet_computer
Here is the wikipedia entry to quote "A tablet computer, or simply tablet, is a mobile computer with display, circuitry and battery in a single unit. Tablets are equipped with sensors, including cameras, microphone, accelerometer and touchscreen, with finger or stylus gestures replacing computer mouse and keyboard."
Well yeah, plus, anyone who has used Windows XP Tablet Edition will tell you, it really didn't have tablet support.
Having used one myself the biggest drawback was battery life...ans the solution to this was ARM.
a tablet with a physical keyboard might be sufficient especially when their work environment is at the terminal. I do most of my development work on a BlackBerry PlayBook and BlackBerry Bluetooth Mini-Keyboard, plus a Logitech Bluetooth mouse as appropriate, via an terminal session secured by SSH keys. At home I can connect the tablet to the HDMI port of my 22-inch monitor although more offer I just switch over to my Acer notebook which acts as my desktop computer connected to the same 22-inch monitor via HDMI.
Sales, medical, Medicare workers, government, retail and others I see are showing up with iPads literally every day.
You don't need to use a laptop-netbook-keyboard to enter a name or date or answers to a few questions or a food order at your local burger joint. iPads are pervasive.
If current Slashdotters remember those dark years of LOUDLY BLEATING THE OBVIOUS
It might not replace jobs where a keyboard+mouse input is required for vast quantiles of text input or serious pointing nailed to a desk, but many jobs require you to walk around and consume information(or simple imput), and require you to have a similar device e.g doctor; teacher; pupil, warehouse worker etc etc.
I have a big powerful laptop more of a mobile workstation, a smaller yet powerful laptop for carrying
My Phone is more powerful(sic) than my PC it has less storage and screen real estate, and my next phone will likely be several times more powerful(sic)
Most developers work either at an office or at home
Unless the bus commute to and from work is the only quality time that you can carve out to work on your hobby projects. I've been in such a situation.
or can RDP into one of those desktops to work
RDP on a bus costs 500 to 600 USD per year for mobile broadband. Some people need to carry around a device that can do at least a subset of their work locally. I guess they're among your "some that do".
You don't want your big dev machine on your lap to check your email
Sometimes when you check your e-mail, you want to reply to one or messages that you received. It's far easier to type out a detailed reply on a physical keyboard than on a flat sheet of glass.
I have tried some plain media consumption on my current Android phone and technically there are very little problems. (No built-in samba is probably the biggest minor "glitch", but there are some solutions to that.)
But the overall experience is simply ruined by the glossy screen. It is the worst with the movies: half time you wonder if it is some detail in the movie - or it is reflection of something - or just my face. It's like frigging mirror.
Until they start producing devices with matte screens, I'm absolutely not interested in tablets.
P.S. Yes, I know about the matte screen protectors, but they are all fiddly to apply and in case of large device it is mission impossible to apply such protector without bubbles or dust specks. And the screen protectors eventually peel off - more you use the device, sooner.
All hope abandon ye who enter here.
For most other kinds of creation [than text only], a tablet is far better than a classic computer.
Here's a challenge: What 3D modeling tool for iPad is better than Blender or Maya for PC? What video game level editor for an iPad game that runs on an iPad is better than level editors for PC games that run on a PC?
I don't get why the success of one thing means the death of another.
I think the implication is that if enough people choose to buy a tablet instead of a PC, the drop in PC sales might weaken the PC market's economies of scale, which could cause certain categories of low-end PC to go the way of affordable 10" laptops. Or can tablets already do everything that low-end PCs can for a comparable price?
But, TV didn't kill radio or movies.
Radio drama is dead. In fact, pretty much all radio program formats other than popular music, political talk, and religious talk have pretty much died as far as I can tell.
Let me guess: flash video. Not that I mind missing out on this particular video. I just wanted to remark on the irony that I can't watch this video about tablets replacing notebooks on my Nexus 7 tablet. News for nerds indeed.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
Apple release a hardware control BTLE API with iOS7 allowing for third party hardware controllers, many of which are being built now.
Even before that a number of games used physical buttons that made use of the bluetooth keyboard interface...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Until they start producing devices with matte screens, I'm absolutely not interested in tablets.
http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/09/hands-on-with-panasonics-toughpad-tablet/ a quick search produces a matt screen. google is quite easy to use.
Typing a long document or email is difficult on a touch screen and voice recognition does not really work despite the hype. There is only so much productive work one can achieve using the Windows 8 Tile Screen!
"A full decade before Jobs launched the iPad in 2010, Bill Gates launched Microsoft's touch input tablet computer. link
..
I thought Apple got there first with the Newton
--
Apple spoof of Microsoft
I must have missed something.
Huh...? I know of an app to sync iTunes content to your Android, but.....
Pardon me ... CRUNCH .... while my 75-lb full tower **sits** on the smashed remains of wuss-weight tek appliances. How cute haha; the wittle putty p*ssed on them. And naturally while reading deadwood smells wonderful. Oh, was THAT page_marker a screen ?
If you want a high res screen that seems to kick you into a "serious user" class at which point they start charging serious money. There are a fair number of high res laptops out there, they just cost a lot more than the $300 starter laptops.
My Surface 2 works great for both.
I wonder how many of these site-specific apps exist primarily because Safari for iOS doesn't support WebGL, the Stream API, or even uploads of content types other than pictures or video.
I just got one of the asus android transformers and so far it's working out far better than my old laptop. I've found quick development tasks much quicker and easier than using the laptop
What software do you use for this? Is it AIDE or something else?
Having ssh, xrdp and samba shares on the desktop machine also gives me the freedom to wander around with the tablet while doing heavy wokloads.
(Skipping the Chinese frying pan) That's all well and good for wandering about a building. But what happens if you wander onto a bus or otherwise out of range of your access point's signal?
One is ARM, one is x86. One you can type 100 WPM on, the other you can type about 15 WPM on. One has an optical drive, one doesn't. They aren't even comparable computing devices.
Apple release a hardware control BTLE API with iOS7 allowing for third party hardware controllers
I'm aware of this and of the keyboard-emulating iControlPad and iCade that preceded it. But how many people actually buy a $39.99 third-party controller to play a $0.99 game?
What a silly premise. Are tablets replacing notebook computers and using a 5 year window to compare against. Well, since prior to the iPad, tablets were a very small market and since the iPad wasn't available 5 years ago, of course it has seen explosive growth compared to notebooks. But seriously, tablets, for the most part are consumer products that also get used by businesses. Laptop/notebooks, on the otherhand are business products that also get used by consumers.
Put differently, worldwide, there are more bicycles purchased than automobiles, but nobody would suggest that bicycles are replacing automobiles. Bicycles and automobiles serve different needs as do tablets and notbooks.
IMHO tablets will really take off when they hit ~$100-$150.
they have and they are
MeMO 7 HD and Sero 7 are both very respectable models in that price range.
Snowden and Manning are heroes.
Strange about the lack of 10 inch laptops as HP/Acer/Others all still make em
By "10 inch laptops" do you mean tablets with keyboards, with higher tablet prices? The problem with a Surface Pro 2 or the Windows 8-based "hybrids" on HP.com is that they cost about twice what a netbook used to cost. Acer still makes a $400 Aspire One laptop, but its screen size has been bumped up to 11.6" which is slightly less convenient for me. Perhaps the long-term solution is an ASUS Transformer Book T100, which is a quad-core Atom tablet with a detachable keyboard for $500.
What do you mean the 10 inch laptop/netbook market has dried up?
The smallest screen size available from these manufacturers you mention grew from 10.1 inches to 11.6 inches around when Windows 8 came out. The bigger the laptop, the bigger the bag I need to carry it, and the bigger the bag, the more conspicuous I'd look to thieves. Right now, I carry my Dell Inspiron mini 1012 in a satchel that doesn't scream "steal me".
I'm not a fan of the word "consumption". It sounds more like either using something up or tuberculosis...
ZOMG Tablets cause TB!
Because everything else - games, websurfing, YouTube, banking, are done on tablets.
Not necessarily.
Games Not all game genres work well on tablets. Games that use a gamepad, for instance, need heavy retooling. And not all games are ported to tablets; some are made with SWF or with native Windows coding, neither of which works with a tablet without cheating by using what amounts to Remote Desktop. Web surfing Not many tablets can handle web pages that rely on SWF (such as Newgrounds.com) or WebGL (such as this brain visualization). YouTube When I try to look at certain videos on YouTube on an iPad or Android tablet, I get "The content owner has not made this video available on mobile".So not kidding. I jerk off a lot while I do have a reasonably happy girlfriend she just can't keep up with my lust. Anyhow i've found that the best form factor for looking at porn is a tablet. Before I would either balance the notebook with my knees or have it on the night stand on the side .. but it really really gets uncomfortable after a while. This is especially so when I get high, then a jerk-off session can last up to 90 minutes but once the marijuana wears off I have found I have really overworked my neck muscles and been in a lot of pain later on as a result. Now with my tablet, that all changed.. jerking off high is a delight, I got to tell you! I can easily position it where I want it, take hits with the pipe every so often and everything is just great.
Now working on a jerk-off device like that is just not possible. How do you even type anything meaningful beyond "tits and ass" on a thing like that?
Radio Drama isn't dead, it just changed with the times Besides, while radio dramas may may be dead in the US, they are still relatively popular outside the bubble, including Satellite radio and BBC Radio.
Slow Down Cowboy! It's been 1 hour, 47 minutes since you last successfully posted a comment
ARM motherboards sold out!
Lots of people buy controllers to play hundreds of games [on tablets].
Interesting. Are there any public sales figures? I figured that at least one of these controller makers would release sales figures in order to convince game developers to support its controllers, but I couldn't find any last time I looked.
Many of the comments are of the "I need a real machine to do..." kind.
However, there are roughly 2,900,000 Slashdot IDs out there, and, even if 100% of them required the "heavy lifting" of a "real" machine (which they don't...), then the sales figures (http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2623415) show that, in computing terms, Slashdotters are part of the 1%, and hence, despite the vociferous arguments, you (we) are a tiny minority.
Nearly 90 times the /. list (which took years to build up) created in the last 3 months?
Face it, the PC is dying, not because it's not being used (in the areas that always used to use it), but because it's being overtaken by the "not a PC" uses
"She's furniture with a pulse"
and now I just use my kindle fire 2 to increase my laziness...
Now ask yourself how long till people have no need to replace a tablet because there is no performance related need to upgrade. We might already be there. I can't think of any specific thing that really requires an upgrade to do with the average 2013 model year device.
I am constantly amazed at how many sites -- even the "mobile" versions of sites like Weather Channel -- chide you for not having "the current version of Flash to view this content," when Flash is supported on essentially ZERO mobile devices.
Yeah, Jack, lookitup. No iOS device has ever officially supported Flash, and Adobe abandoned Flash for Android approximately three hundred versions ago, meaning maybe six people in the world can see any Flash content on a smartphone or a modern tablet.
Yet these assholes (yeah, I'm lookin' at you, Weather Channel, not that you ever show actual "weather" any more), still put their content and interactive apps in Flash instead of HTML5.
If you actually need that content, then no, a tablet is and will for at least two years be worthless to you.
If you need to write a lot of words, tablets will also be worthless to you both now and forever, because typing on a touchscreen both sucks shit NOW and will FOREVER suck shit, and if you think otherwise, I am more than happy to punch you in the yambag, for you are stupid and must not reproduce.
I like my tablet just fine, for very specific purposes.
Never give a kid a tablet.
I have a Microsoft Surface Pro 2... It replaces both a laptop and a tablet.
It's far cheaper than buying one of each of the other.
I was considering a tablet instead of a netbook some time ago, but hit on a major stumbling block right away... Ethernet ports.
RJ45 gives me faster and more reliable network access when I need it. RJ45 allows me to connect to the network (and the internet) in places (or particular subnets) where there is no wifi. RJ45 allows me to configure my WiFi router/AP out of the box, or when the configuration gets erased. RJ45 lets me configure my WiFi PTZ camera to join them to my WiFi network in the first place. RJ45 allows me to use my netbook as a basic server or network analyser temporarily, or as an end-of-life job. RJ45 allows my netbook to act as a wireless bridge for other devices, and provide wifi and network access for your tablet, smartphone, ultrabook, etc.
Even if I could install a real OS like Linux on a piece of tablet hardware, the universal lack of RJ45 ports would be a continual problem. Carrying around a bunch of dongles is a nightmare. And netbooks are cheaper than decent tablets anyhow.
Now, if anyone can find me a nice cheap and small laptop that also has actual RS-232 ports built-in, I'll buy one in a second, since USB only provides 5V, and some serial devices strictly need the old +12V/-12V signaling to work... Not to mention issues with timing and similar...
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
Since my wife got her tablet, she's only used her laptop for school work. Besides that, she does everything on her Galaxy Tab.
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I'm using a blackberry playbook to browse the intertubes this morning, and the video says content not available on this device. I suppose the summary is asking about real tablets though, I got this one for free and would never buy one.
Tablets are great for browsing and reading pdfs, but prefer a laptop to writing documents and productivity things,even if I was to use an eternal keyboard. It depends on the application.
I imagine the first PCs in the 70s didn't look as good as a UNIX workstation or a mainframe either. Didn't IBM say they won't waste their time with 'toys'?
We bought three tablets during Christmas. One for my son who uses it to play games and the other two we use for remote controls for our HTPC's. Tablets didn't seem that necessary for me until I started using them as remotes. It is convienent to be able to use a tablet for a remote, read your e-mail, catch up on facebook, check bank accounts etc all with only a tablet.
Must be the end of the year? Articles ask questions and end with a query? They don't have content? Or news? Just asking a question and not really saying anything worth the time spent on them?
I don't care about tablets vs PC, really. But what pisses me off hard is those websites revamped around that tablet-centric paradigm only! Huge buttons, lengthy pages, huge fonts, everything hogging all the screen space so that you must browse full-screen! Pages look like useless toys and crawling for information is a nightmare, my eyes bleed everytime I need to surf those sites... As if PC's hadn't ever existed! Those buggers have forgotten what CSS is and torture every single visitor on their site with their brain-fucked conception! Let that hype die and common sense take over at last!
Tablets are great for browsing and reading pdfs, but prefer a laptop to writing documents and productivity things,even if I was to use an eternal keyboard.
The nice thing about using eternal keyboards is how long they last...
I would have to say that explosives are the most abused technology in all of history.
Strategy, FPS, puzzle, RPG, racing, Shmup, rhythm, tower defence and adventure games are just some of the genres that have been succesfully implemented on Android and IOS.
I agree that DS games that heavily use the stylus port easily to Android and iOS, as I've explained in greater detail here. So do games that use the entire body of the device as a steering wheel. But how well would the DS have sold if stylus-heavy games were all it had? How well would it have sold if it had only the touch screen for input, no D-pad, no trigger buttons, no GBA back-compatibility? How would Super Mario 64 DS, for example, have been controlled? I'm under the impression that most SM64DS players discarded using the stylus to control Mario's movement as impractical. Even DS first-person shooters, which use the touch screen as if it were a laptop's trackpad, use the buttons for movement and firing.
People I know that buy a tablet as a complement to their PC usually enjoy them. They often use it more than the PC, but they still use the PC a fair amount.
The people I know that have bought tablets as a complete replacement for their computer (getting rid of their computer in the process) are not happy with them.
Big Lots frequently has Nexus 7's for sale @ $99.95. Sometimes @ $69.95. I wouldn't pay what they're asking for them at most stores, but $100, hech ya. Most of my web time is on Android, but it has a lot of spyware on it.