All right, as a technophile and a Millennial, I must chime in on this discussion.
Newton survived in some sense I think, with the Tablet PC that Bill Gates trumpeted in 2002, which is something that I now use as a productivity machine.
I use the Lenovo X220 (the newest that Lenovo's got) Convertible tablet. It is not terrifically light at all, being close to 3lb. The worst part about using Windows 7 Convertible as a casual use tablet would be the unintuitive user interface, with a significant learning curve for the uninitiated about how to multi-touch and use a pressure-sensitive stylus in tandem.
I paid a premium to get something that could survive somewhat better outdoors... those solid-state hard drives and having a PCMCIA port along with GPS/3G modem meant that I've a thing that was double the cost of an ordinary tablet.
Having said that, using a full-powered tablet convertible that has a proper notebook processor such as the core i5 unit lies in the fact that the convertible is meant for content creation on the go. That machine renders notebook/sketchbook obsolete, allows for rapid transition to a proper keyboard for real productivity work, and offers all the amenities that a laptop provides.
A new class of tablet, being that of Windows 7 touting laptop stripped of a keyboard so that it has an iPad-esque form factor, would also be too heavy for casual use, and too power-hungry at that. A typical Windows 7 Tablet laptop would last 4 hours on power saving mode.
The omission of the 'base' meant that wireless Bluetooth keyboard must be used, and my experience is that slinging such a keyboard adds to the logistical overhead, and that resorting to Bluetooth drains the non-field-swappable battery all the faster. What you gain however is the advantage of the iPad tablet foam factor, being that of a device that's significantly thinner, and thus more friendly on your lap, when you browse about and use the thing for media consumption purposes.
This now brings us to the iPad and of course, the competitor in the form of Android tablets.
I think that the newest Android tablets do give iPad a serious run for the money. Ice Cream Sandwich (newest variant of the Android operating system), coupled with a pressure-sensitive stylus, touchscreen, decent screen, and a base that allows the unit to be become a laptop of sorts, pose some serious threat to the iPad offering.
Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 as well as the Asus Transformer Prime would be the premium tablets that I found to be more 'interesting' as competitors to the iPad.
Android-based tablets tend to be more satisfying for the users that are more accustomed to working under the hood from a hardware and Operating System perspective. They typically lack the poise and elegance of Apple however, so it has been difficult for me to find peers in the fit and finish department. I can only name these two tablets for the time being, out of a swamp of Android tablets that exist today... which would be serious contenders against the iPad.
What lies beyond the horizon however is what makes my blood boil in anticipation.
We are seeing the low-powered ARM based architecture (which is what iPad and other typical tablets use) being finally answered in earnest by Intel, with their 'big boy x86-64' architecture. As Windows 8 come along, Intel will have the Medfield chips, which will be able to run the x86 'standard windows' application suites, as well as the 'apps' that will be tailor made to support the ARM version Windows 8. This will mean that actual backward compatibility will happen with run of the mill tablet machines for those of us in the Window ecosystem, bringing with it the might of the Windows world.
However, web based applications, along with Android/iOS apps are getting matured. Android operating on ARM platform, albeit in competition with Windows 8, would still have a lead from being the incumbent. x86 Android will see growth, and we shall see a proliferation of these mobile devices (tablet and mobile phone both operate on the same set of hardware after all) that will be able to do content creation when needed, while falling back to media consumption role for casual usage.
This may finally break the iPad hegemony, which is the ideal outcome for the consumers. Apple of course has placed its future in the cloud, and in web applications. Whether or not if iPhone 5 and the 4th iPad would answer to all of this remain to be seen. I can already see a near-future where one would only use a notebook for power and storage intensive applications, such as video games that render on the fly and so forth, as most of the consumer world turn to mobile devices for bona-fide productivity purposes. Graphic artists should be able to pickup a tablet and use one as if it's one of those Cintiq Wacom monitor-digitizers, and submit that work live, and do post-processing live. That tablet should also be equally usable for the occasional bout of casual games such as Angry Bird, cat videos on youtube, or for reading comic in a bathroom...
Newton survived in some sense I think, with the Tablet PC that Bill Gates trumpeted in 2002, which is something that I now use as a productivity machine.
I use the Lenovo X220 (the newest that Lenovo's got) Convertible tablet. It is not terrifically light at all, being close to 3lb. The worst part about using Windows 7 Convertible as a casual use tablet would be the unintuitive user interface, with a significant learning curve for the uninitiated about how to multi-touch and use a pressure-sensitive stylus in tandem.
I paid a premium to get something that could survive somewhat better outdoors... those solid-state hard drives and having a PCMCIA port along with GPS/3G modem meant that I've a thing that was double the cost of an ordinary tablet.
Having said that, using a full-powered tablet convertible that has a proper notebook processor such as the core i5 unit lies in the fact that the convertible is meant for content creation on the go. That machine renders notebook/sketchbook obsolete, allows for rapid transition to a proper keyboard for real productivity work, and offers all the amenities that a laptop provides.
A new class of tablet, being that of Windows 7 touting laptop stripped of a keyboard so that it has an iPad-esque form factor, would also be too heavy for casual use, and too power-hungry at that. A typical Windows 7 Tablet laptop would last 4 hours on power saving mode.
The omission of the 'base' meant that wireless Bluetooth keyboard must be used, and my experience is that slinging such a keyboard adds to the logistical overhead, and that resorting to Bluetooth drains the non-field-swappable battery all the faster. What you gain however is the advantage of the iPad tablet foam factor, being that of a device that's significantly thinner, and thus more friendly on your lap, when you browse about and use the thing for media consumption purposes.
This now brings us to the iPad and of course, the competitor in the form of Android tablets.
I think that the newest Android tablets do give iPad a serious run for the money. Ice Cream Sandwich (newest variant of the Android operating system), coupled with a pressure-sensitive stylus, touchscreen, decent screen, and a base that allows the unit to be become a laptop of sorts, pose some serious threat to the iPad offering.
Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 as well as the Asus Transformer Prime would be the premium tablets that I found to be more 'interesting' as competitors to the iPad.
Android-based tablets tend to be more satisfying for the users that are more accustomed to working under the hood from a hardware and Operating System perspective. They typically lack the poise and elegance of Apple however, so it has been difficult for me to find peers in the fit and finish department. I can only name these two tablets for the time being, out of a swamp of Android tablets that exist today... which would be serious contenders against the iPad.
What lies beyond the horizon however is what makes my blood boil in anticipation.
We are seeing the low-powered ARM based architecture (which is what iPad and other typical tablets use) being finally answered in earnest by Intel, with their 'big boy x86-64' architecture. As Windows 8 come along, Intel will have the Medfield chips, which will be able to run the x86 'standard windows' application suites, as well as the 'apps' that will be tailor made to support the ARM version Windows 8. This will mean that actual backward compatibility will happen with run of the mill tablet machines for those of us in the Window ecosystem, bringing with it the might of the Windows world.
However, web based applications, along with Android/iOS apps are getting matured. Android operating on ARM platform, albeit in competition with Windows 8, would still have a lead from being the incumbent. x86 Android will see growth, and we shall see a proliferation of these mobile devices (tablet and mobile phone both operate on the same set of hardware after all) that will be able to do content creation when needed, while falling back to media consumption role for casual usage.
This may finally break the iPad hegemony, which is the ideal outcome for the consumers. Apple of course has placed its future in the cloud, and in web applications. Whether or not if iPhone 5 and the 4th iPad would answer to all of this remain to be seen. I can already see a near-future where one would only use a notebook for power and storage intensive applications, such as video games that render on the fly and so forth, as most of the consumer world turn to mobile devices for bona-fide productivity purposes. Graphic artists should be able to pickup a tablet and use one as if it's one of those Cintiq Wacom monitor-digitizers, and submit that work live, and do post-processing live. That tablet should also be equally usable for the occasional bout of casual games such as Angry Bird, cat videos on youtube, or for reading comic in a bathroom...
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