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.

Comments

No.

[NoImNotNineVolt]

No.

Re:No.

[Anonymous Coward]

Let's qualify this "no" answer. If you're a power user, a tablet isn't (today) going to get the job done. But if all you want to do is check email, browse websites, maybe play a few games, and so on, a tablet is just fine. I know many people that have quit using their desktops and notebooks because a tablet is all they need.

Desktops and notebooks have a place in the corporate world and other small businesses, and I don't see many geeks replacing their workstations with tablets. Certainly you can't effectively program on them yet and there is still a lot of software that requires a full Windows, OS X or Linux install. There may be a day when the tablet is the workstation and acts like a desktop when you're at your desk, and a tablet when you're not. But that is not quite here today for most people.

The desktop is not dead, and tablets have not replaced notebooks. But I think we can all envision a day when that is a distinct possibility.

Re:No.

[hairyfeet]

Correct but there is A REASON why sales are down, something that none of the pundits seem able to grasp and the reason is thus: The PC went from being "good enough" to insanely overpowered while the user's jobs? They didn't change.

I mean look at the kits I sell on the low end, we're talking triples and quads with 4Gb of RAM, GPUs that do 1080P, and 500Gb HDDs....now how many of your average folks is gonna be able to slam that chip hard enough to require an upgrade, much less a new PC?

The PC industry (and MSFT) got spoiled by what was a bubble, the MHz war created a bubble because increased single core performance? Trivial for a programmer to take advantage of while taking advantage of an 8 thread CPU? Insanely HARD and many jobs simply don't scale across cores well. The same will happen to tablets, we are already seeing quad tablets in the sub $150 range so it won't be long until everyone has an insanely overpowered tablet that wants one, which will be followed by smartphones.

What will happen to the industry then? Who knows but the days of just throwing a new PC on the market and having it sell itself are over, the industry is just gonna have to adapt and try to come up with new markets.

Wrong

[The Cat]

Two different tools for two different tasks. Tablets are consumption tools. Computers are production tools.

The end.

Actually, Yes and No.

[Penguinisto]

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.

Re:Actually, Yes and No.

[TheRaven64]

I have an ASUS TransformerPad which has the advantage of a dockable keyboard with an extra battery in it, which is great for when I'm going to be spending a long time on trains / at airports / on planes, because the keyboard also works well as a stand and fits on the tray table in most places. It can play back films for 7 hours and can show PDFs and run vim. There's actually a nice LaTeX app for Android that will load the packages you use on demand (a feature I'd love to have on the desktop, to avoid the 2GB TeXLive download for the few MBs of LaTeX that I actually use, without having to manually work out what they and their dependencies are).

It doesn't replace a laptop, but it does augment it nicely.

Re:News for Nerds?

[ColdWetDog]

Who cares? It's not like we read TFA (or for that matter, TFS) anyway.

They could just post "Boo" and we'd go on about ... something.