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Should I buy a tablet pc, ipad, netbook, or other?
grapeshot:
Heh. Several years ago I got suckered by all the Mac hype, and bought one - a Mac mini. I quickly came to regret it, and now, despite all the raves and hoopla over iPhones and iPads, I just cannot bring myself to even consider getting any Apple product ever again. (Oh, and I positively LOATHE iTunes.)
I can't make any recommendations for what you, or anyone in your shoes, should do. It seems to me that your choice is extremely personal, and depends on what your daily activities are, and what you expect from these devices. I love my Asus eeePC, and you'll have to pry it from my cold, dead hands before I'll give it up -- even though, yes, the screen is small and the processor is underpowered. It boots up faster than my other PCs, and it does whatever I need for it to do. But then, I don't game, and I don't do graphics intensive work. Whenever I'm on the road, the netbook is with me, and I have used it at friends/ and relatives' houses to kill time. I use a pay-as-you-go mobile broadband plan, which limits my monthly data expenses, and which I believe is not an option with the iPad. I like it for blogging, for writing projects, for surfing, and as a convenient way to dump my pictures from my camera. I also use it a lot for doing work related stuff while on the road, which involves MS Office (fortunately, we're still stuck back on Office 2002, so it doesn't especially overtax my netbook.) Since I touch-type, A regular QWERTY keyboard is also a must. Even if I wanted to buy an iPad, it just couldn't do these particular things well, and that's a deal breaker for me.
I am also in the process of moving from a Palm T|X to a Blackberry. This isn't by choice, but is being dictated by work. I must say that although the old Palm was long in the tooth, I am shocked to discover the paucity of apps for the Blackberry. It's been around for a long time, yet there doesn't seem to be much variety among available applications. Although the Blackberry is better at the "internet-y" stuff (twittering, surfing, instant messaging), it's much worse at the things that I loved about my old Palm: note taking, memo's, database, and profession-specific applications. (Where's the resistor color code app? The steam tables app? and how come I can only find one scientific calculator?) I was also surprised that the old Palm provided me a better user experience with its native email, contacts, and calendar apps. Really, the "crackberry" has been somewhat of a letdown. (Google Mobile Apps, however, are awesome.)
Since my day job dictates that I have a netbook and a Blackberry, and between them I get most of my portable electronic needs met, something like the iPad would only add more weight to my bag without any noticeable benefit. Although I've been intrigued by the thought of a portable tablet, I'm not convinced that one can take the place of both a laptop and a phone. If I were in your shoes, and had an extra $700 to spend on something, I think I'd get myself a Wii and, with that stupid ol' Mac of mine finally biting the dust, a small form-factor desktop (Win7, thank you) to act as a media server.
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pyrohacker:
I was very intrigued by the iPad when it first came out. An instant-on portable computer seemed like a gift from heaven to me. Slap on a Bluetooth keyboard and you're set. Then I started thinking. And the more I thought about it, the less I loved the iPad. I'm a coder, and not one on a high budget, so I can't afford to buy more than one computer. The iPad wouldn't let me do any type of code development at all, and that cleared the hype-vision.
One thing that really caught my eye afterwards (and that I haven't seen mentioned here) are 'netvertibles'. Remember way back when companies (predominantly Fujitsu, I think) were offering laptops whose touchscreens could swivel around and basically become tablets? Well, the concept fell from the face of the earth (or at least the public eye), but with the rise of the netbook, we've seen the same type of idea floating around, but using a netbook form factor (10" screen, smaller body) instead of a traditional laptop one.
This idea seems great for me, and it's 1/2 Google's fault. My plan is to use a netvertible with two OS's - A 'full-featured' OS such as Win 7 or Ubuntu, and Chrome OS. Because Chrome OS can boot within about 7 seconds and is planning to offer a tablet interface, it would fullfill the part of instant-on computer. Any task that can't (or shouldn't) be accomplished using web apps would be handled by the traditional OS. This enables me to have a quick touchscreen computer for reading and browsing, and a regular (albeit underpowered) computer for coding. And most netvertibles hit right around the $500 price point. Though the Viliv S10 Blade is an exception, since it appears to be a much higher-end device.
This fits for me, but it's not the universal solution. Everyone has different needs, and should fulfill them in the best way possible.
wraith808:
Oh... my.
http://laptops.toshiba.com/laptops/libretto/W100/W105-L251
http://www.gottabemobile.com/2010/08/16/toshiba-libretto-dual-screen-tablet-hitting-the-u-s/
And my bonus will be hitting soon... decisions, decisions...
superboyac:
Oh... my.
http://laptops.toshiba.com/laptops/libretto/W100/W105-L251
http://www.gottabemobile.com/2010/08/16/toshiba-libretto-dual-screen-tablet-hitting-the-u-s/
And my bonus will be hitting soon... decisions, decisions...
-wraith808 (August 17, 2010, 03:58 PM)
--- End quote ---
oooo.....drool.
parkint:
I bought a MacBook Pro. It just arrived today.
And I must say the entire 'presentation' (the way it is packaged and presented when you unpack it) has impressed me. There is also a lot of evidence of attention-to-detail.
As a first-time Mac owner, I am impressed.
Since I was using a laptop as my primary machine (with a docking station) and had it dual boot with Ubuntu I thought, "With a MacBook I get the best of both. It is native Linux and a kick-ass Intel processor". So my next PC is this MacBook.
I am in a bit of a 'learning curve' with the UI. But I think I am going to like it.
My major objection (inability to run a few 'essential' apps that are available only for Windows) has been overcome with VMWare Fusion!
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