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Giving up the Tablets !!!
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advid
07-08-2012
..I've been using a Toshiba AT100 (Thrive) Android tablet for about 8 months or more... At first the touch screen and the 'newness' of Android and the finger swiping and all the tapping and tap tapping and such were great... What a great new world of technolnogy - bye bye mouse or trackpad I thought... who needs it...?

Now I'm going back more and more to using my little Asus netbook - It runs word and Excel and all the stuff that I know is there and everything is where its always been...

The 'pad' is OK for a bit of browsing and a few Facebook and Twitter comments while lying on the sofa but if you really want to be 'serious' the I'm afraid Android and touch (to me) is quickly losing its appeal....

I feel if Microsoft don't bring out their tablet(s) at a reasonlable price they are going to miss the boat as I think touch is not going to be the long term way of using a professional OS for work and serious stuff ..... (just my opinion)
Kal_El
07-08-2012
It seems the whole technology world has a hard on for tablets and touch screens, but to me it's a bit like 3D in cinemas - sure it's great and all and seems impressive on the face of it, but really it's not a replacement for the old way. It fools you sometimes that it's better, but the reality is it doesn't offer anything over what you're used to, and in actuality is spoiling it in many different ways.
Brush Master
07-08-2012
Another fellow user of this board brought it to a very good point just a few weeks ago: tablets are great for consuming content, PC (laptop, netbook, ...) are great for producing content.

I find this is precisely how I use mine. I might send a short email reply on the tablet, but anything more than 10 lines needs a proper keyboard.
occasional post
07-08-2012
Surely its horses for courses? My lightweight, easy to store Xoom is great for browsing and doing small notes etc But for anything more heavyweight then the laptop now sits in the study where the old desktop used to be (but with proper keyboard, mouse, speakers and second screen).

With cloud storage and wifi I can share everything I need too - both are great
Stuart_h
07-08-2012
in the early days i saw similar arguments over the desktop/laptop situation .... laptops were great for basics but you REALLY needed a desktop for anything proper.

Its just new tech vs old. Tablets are designed for a different type of usage to PCs. Simple.
advid
07-08-2012
Originally Posted by Stuart_h:
“in the early days i saw similar arguments over the desktop/laptop situation .... laptops were great for basics but you REALLY needed a desktop for anything proper.

Its just new tech vs old. Tablets are designed for a different type of usage to PCs. Simple.”

I've also got a good/fast laptop and two desktop PC's in my 'workroom'...
I'm really talking about portability -- my little Asus netbook is easy to carry around being about the same size as my Toshiba tablet..
If I need to type up something or reply in depth/length to an email ect on the move... I know which I'd prefer...
At first I thought a tablet would be the 'bees' knees' for just about everything on the move...
Eight months on and my opinion is quickly changing...

Get your skates on Microsoft or the hives gonna' be running out of honey !
sheppy124
07-08-2012
Tablets at the moment are not PC/laptop replacements its a different market
emptybox
07-08-2012
Originally Posted by Brush Master:
“Another fellow user of this board brought it to a very good point just a few weeks ago: tablets are great for consuming content, PC (laptop, netbook, ...) are great for producing content.

I find this is precisely how I use mine. I might send a short email reply on the tablet, but anything more than 10 lines needs a proper keyboard.”

Exactly.
My tablet is brilliant. I hardly surf on anything else.
But you're not supposed to do away with other forms of computers.
Treble
08-08-2012
I don't think tablets are intended to be a desktop or even laptop replacement.

Personally, I would probably enjoy the use of a tablet, but couldn't really justify the cost. The laptop is fine for my uses.

Kaz159
08-08-2012
Originally Posted by advid:
“..I've been using a Toshiba AT100 (Thrive) Android tablet for about 8 months or more... At first the touch screen and the 'newness' of Android and the finger swiping and all the tapping and tap tapping and such were great... What a great new world of technolnogy - bye bye mouse or trackpad I thought... who needs it...?

Now I'm going back more and more to using my little Asus netbook - It runs word and Excel and all the stuff that I know is there and everything is where its always been...

The 'pad' is OK for a bit of browsing and a few Facebook and Twitter comments while lying on the sofa but if you really want to be 'serious' the I'm afraid Android and touch (to me) is quickly losing its appeal....

I feel if Microsoft don't bring out their tablet(s) at a reasonlable price they are going to miss the boat as I think touch is not going to be the long term way of using a professional OS for work and serious stuff ..... (just my opinion)”

I'm the opposite Since I got a tablet (Dec 11) I've not used my netbook, it's sat forlornly under my desk.

I still use the laptop (and a desktop at work). I don't have a smartphone. The tablet has also replaced my e-reader, my youngest has taken that.
alan1302
08-08-2012
I don’t consider a Tablet a replacement device but something that compliments what you already have.

I use my tablet for lounging on the sofa flicking through sites, watching videos and playing games – but I still spend most of my time on my desktop pc – especially if I need to be actually doing something!
Bagsbunny
08-08-2012
It's a bit like when mini-discs came out: the retailers tried to promote them as a replacement for C.Ds. People saw no reason to get them as primary playback media,as they offered nothing that a C.D didn't have.

They were,however, a fantastic alternative to cassette tapes-more robust, higher fidelity,editable track orders, song-tagging: but they never caught on because they were promoted to the wrong market. I see a parrallel with the way some people try to promote tablets as p.c replacements.
Rodney McKay
08-08-2012
For me a tablet is ideal for when I want to travel light, but I want something more usable than a phone to browse the web etc.

I've always said if I had to travel and ONLY take once device it would probably be my laptop or my netbook, but because a tablet is light then I can always carry that as a backup.
John259
08-08-2012
There obviously is a market for tablets. I'm not sure there's a big enough on-going market for more than one tablet though. I suspect that in a few years time only the iPad will be left, not necessarily because it's better than the others but because it's by far the best known.
alan1302
08-08-2012
Originally Posted by John259:
“There obviously is a market for tablets. I'm not sure there's a big enough on-going market for more than one tablet though. I suspect that in a few years time only the iPad will be left, not necessarily because it's better than the others but because it's by far the best known.”

I can guarantee that there will never just be one tablet on the market – the iPad has shown that there is a market for them and Android OS is free for a manufacturer to put on so there will always be someone to make a tablet with it on.

I don’t think I can even think of another market where there is just a single product with no alternative.
Magic Cottage
08-08-2012
Originally Posted by occasional post:
“Surely its horses for courses? My lightweight, easy to store Xoom is great for browsing and doing small notes etc But for anything more heavyweight then the laptop now sits in the study where the old desktop used to be (but with proper keyboard, mouse, speakers and second screen).

With cloud storage and wifi I can share everything I need too - both are great”

Exactly. Nail on head and and all that. I too have a Xoom and it's fantastic to use to pick up emails and loads of other stuff, especially with files being in the cloud etc. which are a doddle to work on when necessary with the right 'app'. Plus the battery life on the Xoom is actually amazing.

But despite the hype the desktop or even laptop are not about to be consigned to the great scrap heap yet. I use Photoshop for some of the work I do, not all the time but even so in my opinion, it is going to be a long time (if ever) before it's going to be possible to do that on a tablet.

I could go into a long list of such commercial uses but that would be pointless, all I'm really saying is that I agree that, with the correct software and apps, both devices have a place. The Xoom definitely has a place in my 'mobile' world but my desktop is still needed for, well, desktop tasks.
Magic Cottage
08-08-2012
Originally Posted by Kaz159:
“The tablet has also replaced my e-reader, my youngest has taken that.”

Funnily enough this is exactly what my Xoom has NOT replaced. I can use my Kindle even in bright sunlight. You can't read a book in bright light on the tablet.
Stuart_h
08-08-2012
Originally Posted by John259:
“There obviously is a market for tablets. I'm not sure there's a big enough on-going market for more than one tablet though. I suspect that in a few years time only the iPad will be left, not necessarily because it's better than the others but because it's by far the best known.”

Absolutely not. There are enough of us out here who wont buy from Apple on priciple to keep the options open

i think that it will settle between an exenish split between Nexus devices and iPads to be honest. i think with the vast majority of smartphones now being sold having an Android OS people will gradually realise that if they have an Android phone then an Android Tablet is the best route (as is the case with an iPhone/iPad). I also think that the bad press around fragmentation will mean there will be more Nexus (and by this I mean raw android) devices - its already rumoured that there may be multiple Nexus phones this year with all manufacturers being able to make them. I think Sense/Touchwizz etc will fall by the wayside (or will be installable 'options') to allow all manufacturers swifter upgrades to Android.

Id hate it if there was only one option (be it Apple or Android) as having a competing market leads to innovation and is best for all consumers.
alan1302
08-08-2012
Originally Posted by Stuart_h:
“Absolutely not. There are enough of us out here who wont buy from Apple on priciple to keep the options open

i think that it will settle between an exenish split between Nexus devices and iPads to be honest. i think with the vast majority of smartphones now being sold having an Android OS people will gradually realise that if they have an Android phone then an Android Tablet is the best route (as is the case with an iPhone/iPad). I also think that the bad press around fragmentation will mean there will be more Nexus (and by this I mean raw android) devices - its already rumoured that there may be multiple Nexus phones this year with all manufacturers being able to make them. I think Sense/Touchwizz etc will fall by the wayside (or will be installable 'options') to allow all manufacturers swifter upgrades to Android.

Id hate it if there was only one option (be it Apple or Android) as having a competing market leads to innovation and is best for all consumers.”

Think stuff like Sense and TouchWiz will keep going as it is what allows the different manufacturers to differentiate their own devices.

Hopefully with the Microsoft Surface tablet coming later this year we will have even more choice of tablet.
MojoMaster
08-08-2012
I would never ever ever let a Tablet "replace" a laptop.

I would go for the laptop every time if given the choice between the two.
Voynich
08-08-2012
I've given up my iPod touch for my Nexus. I wouldn't use a tablet to replace a laptop or a desktop though.
IvanIV
08-08-2012
A lot of people use their computers for consuming various content, multimedia, browsing etc. and only occasionally they write something in Word. For them a tablet is ideal. If you need to create something, a tablet won't do. MS Surface pro looks like a hybrid that merges both into one device. If they do things right it may be quite successful, IMO.
alanwarwic
08-08-2012
Originally Posted by alan1302:
“ the iPad has shown that there is a market for them and Android OS is free for a manufacturer to put on.......I don’t think I can even think of another market where there is just a single product with no alternative.”

Many people buy an Apple first, a tablet second.
I'm sure there will always be a substantial iPad market.

With smartphones things are very strongly user led.

Personally I think it was mainly Intels protectionist "crippled low resolution netbooks" antics which really inspired the iPad.
Why would manufacturers pay $400+ for ultrabook chipsets when they can get Tegra 3 chipsets for $20?
paulbrock
08-08-2012
I'm still new to the tablet ownership (less than a month) but I'm more sold on it than I thought I would be. My laptop hasn't moved from its shelf for home use; reading/surfing in bed or on the sofa is the tablet's domain now. If I was going to spend a day working somewhere remote, I'd take the laptop over the tablet, but then, I don't tend to slip the laptop in my back pocket and use it on the tube or bus!

Horses for courses; I did consider getting something like an Asus transformer to properly replace my laptop for work, but I don't think Android is quite there yet; no Lightroom or (proper) photoshop for starters. My 7" tablet has replaced a lot of uses for my laptop though.
Mr. Cool
08-08-2012
Originally Posted by alanwarwic:
“Why would manufacturers pay $400+ for ultrabook chipsets when they can get Tegra 3 chipsets for $20?”

Because Ivy Bridge processors are x86 and powerful, therefore are capable of running a full version of Windows and the software that's available (demanding applications such as Photoshop). Tegra 3, however is amazing for Tablets because it is based on ARMv7(Cortex-A9) and ARM is Android's native platform. Also there is very little heat given off (no need for a fan) and low power consumption. Also, there is an intergrated GPU (SoC, system on a chip)

A Tegra 3 processor on an Ultrabook with Android, Windows on ARM (now known as Windows RT) or maybe even Linux would be an awful half-baked and slow experience and defeats the object of an 'Ultrabook'.
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