5 ms·

Yes I wonder what's going to 'win', tablet or 'laptop which can act like tablet', or will they both stay? At this rate we'll have to start comparing tablets li

by stinos 7y ago

Yes I wonder what's going to 'win', tablet or 'laptop which can act like tablet', or will they both stay? At this rate we'll have to start comparing tablets like this to laptops like Surface Pro and it's clones (or vice-versa, maybe the Surface is the clone, don't remember exact sequence of events) because the only difference is the OS. And if more 'tablet modes' start emerging from main OS the gap will become very narrow.

skohan 7y ago
I can't imagine a tablet is ever going to win for extremely typing-heavy tasks like writing and coding. This new keyboard also seems like it requires you to be sitting at a table to work well, which doesn't cover a lot of the cases where I type on a laptop. To be honest, it's hard for me to think of cases where the tablet is better suited outside of things like digital drawing/painting, and some niche cases like at an expo.
- falcolas 7y ago
  From my colleague's and my experience: the iPad pro is a manager's dream. It's lightweight, you can take notes (either by writing or by typing), you can attend remote meetings with it, it works with all* websites... basically it's everything your average manager or C-level exec could ever want in one package. You are right, however, in that long-form typing (say, over 1k words) and serious multitasking (>2 apps, or 2 apps that refuse to side-by-side) will be a real pain on a tablet. However, you can hook an iPad pro up to a standard USB-C dock and use it with a large monitor as well as a standard keyboard. It will never be a full laptop replacement (though if Apple made it possible to run base MacOS I might change my mind), but it's good enough. * The only websites I've ever had issues with are those that explicitly break the experience.
Slippery_John 7y ago
Once I got my ipad pro I basically stopped using my laptop for anything but programming and video games. The former is basically just waiting on tooling and the latter is only a problem because the specific games I want to play aren't available. I think the iPad will be the long term winner here. Legacy OS's are just way too reliant on keyboard / mouse. Having owned a Surface Book, I can easily say that the tablet mode is not workable with the software ecosystem that exists. You can mostly make it function in limited cases, but outside of a small handful of programs built specifically for it the experience is poor. On the other hand, the addition of a keyboard just makes the iPad even easier to use. Using a mouse is slightly more awkward since you can't use gestures, but you can always fall back to the screen that's right in front of you. The extra precision is overkill, but it isn't painful. Another layer to add in the tablets' favor: kids these days are growing up using phones and tablets. That's the way they interact with computing technology. It will be increasingly easier to convince these new generations to buy something that's familiar, but with some extra power and utility, as apposed to something that is foreign.
- zozbot234 7y ago
  > Having owned a Surface Book, I can easily say that the tablet mode is not workable with the software ecosystem that exists. Many Surface devices can run Linux+GNOME natively, and that software UX is at least as workable on a tablet as iPadOS, probably more so. Proprietary apps are lacking, of course (not always a bad thing) but some are available via Flatpak or (in a pinch) Snap.
  - askafriend 7y ago
    I'm sorry but "workable" isn't good enough and "lacking apps" is a total showstopper. The bar is extremely high and people aren't going to settle - the notion that they might is just a techie pipe dream.

by stinos 7y ago

skohan 7y ago

I can't imagine a tablet is ever going to win for extremely typing-heavy tasks like writing and coding. This new keyboard also seems like it requires you to be sitting at a table to work well, which doesn't cover a lot of the cases where I type on a laptop. To be honest, it's hard for me to think of cases where the tablet is better suited outside of things like digital drawing/painting, and some niche cases like at an expo.

falcolas 7y ago
From my colleague's and my experience: the iPad pro is a manager's dream. It's lightweight, you can take notes (either by writing or by typing), you can attend remote meetings with it, it works with all* websites... basically it's everything your average manager or C-level exec could ever want in one package. You are right, however, in that long-form typing (say, over 1k words) and serious multitasking (>2 apps, or 2 apps that refuse to side-by-side) will be a real pain on a tablet. However, you can hook an iPad pro up to a standard USB-C dock and use it with a large monitor as well as a standard keyboard. It will never be a full laptop replacement (though if Apple made it possible to run base MacOS I might change my mind), but it's good enough. * The only websites I've ever had issues with are those that explicitly break the experience.

Slippery_John 7y ago

Once I got my ipad pro I basically stopped using my laptop for anything but programming and video games. The former is basically just waiting on tooling and the latter is only a problem because the specific games I want to play aren't available. I think the iPad will be the long term winner here. Legacy OS's are just way too reliant on keyboard / mouse. Having owned a Surface Book, I can easily say that the tablet mode is not workable with the software ecosystem that exists. You can mostly make it function in limited cases, but outside of a small handful of programs built specifically for it the experience is poor. On the other hand, the addition of a keyboard just makes the iPad even easier to use. Using a mouse is slightly more awkward since you can't use gestures, but you can always fall back to the screen that's right in front of you. The extra precision is overkill, but it isn't painful. Another layer to add in the tablets' favor: kids these days are growing up using phones and tablets. That's the way they interact with computing technology. It will be increasingly easier to convince these new generations to buy something that's familiar, but with some extra power and utility, as apposed to something that is foreign.

zozbot234 7y ago
> Having owned a Surface Book, I can easily say that the tablet mode is not workable with the software ecosystem that exists. Many Surface devices can run Linux+GNOME natively, and that software UX is at least as workable on a tablet as iPadOS, probably more so. Proprietary apps are lacking, of course (not always a bad thing) but some are available via Flatpak or (in a pinch) Snap.
- askafriend 7y ago
  I'm sorry but "workable" isn't good enough and "lacking apps" is a total showstopper. The bar is extremely high and people aren't going to settle - the notion that they might is just a techie pipe dream.