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My Asus Transformer has shown me that I do not need a tablet (but I like having one for the oft-mentioned couch-surfing), and the ideal tablet for me is one tha

My Asus Transformer has shown me that I do not need a tablet (but I like having one for the oft-mentioned couch-surfing), and the ideal tablet for me is one that can easily convert into a laptop form factor. I'm actually very much looking forward to Windows 8 because the one failing of my Android-based Transformer is not being able to run "big boy" apps like IDEs, Photoshop, etc, when it is in laptop mode. I really do like the simplified UI/OS for doing all the basics -- email, web surfing, reading news feeds, etc, but having one device to act as my tablet/notebook/productivity machine would be absolutely ideal and while it is somewhat possible to mix Linux in with Android (I've done it on both of my Honeycomb tablets) the results are pretty hacky and it looks like Microsoft is the only player who is really going to push a meshing of the desktop and tablet ecosystems into one OS. We may be moving into a Post-PC world, but I for one am not nearly ready to step into that yet.

cdcarter 15y ago
I would say that with teh direction Apple is taking Lion (and whatever will come past that) and iCloud, they are also pretty committed to "push[ing] a meshing of the desktop and tablet ecosystems into one OS".
- georgemcbay 15y ago
  Apple is certainly pushing towards making the ecosystems inter-operable, which is great, but I don't think they are aiming for a true melding the way Microsoft is. In basic terms, I think I will be able to buy a Windows 8 tablet/notebook (in the style of the Asus Transformer) in 2012 on which I can run Photoshop and Visual Studio. I don't think I'll be able to buy an iPad in 2012 which runs Photoshop (the real one, not Photoshop Express) and Xcode.
nextparadigms 15y ago
I think the Transformer is the evolution of both tablets and notebooks, but you're right Android does need more "pro" apps. But I wouldn't be so quick to switch to Windows 8, either. I believe all computer machines will gradually switch to ARM this decade, as they become more and more powerful, while maintaining an order of magnitude smaller TDP and several times smaller price than similar performance Intel chip. As such, Windows 8 for ARM will be even more behind Android by the end of 2012, because they can only support legacy apps on x86 chips. The ARM ones will have zero old Windows apps. With Transformer you can get about 15 hours of battery life. With an Atom based Windows netbook you get about 5, and netbooks generally have the best battery life from all Windows notebooks.

cdcarter 15y ago

I would say that with teh direction Apple is taking Lion (and whatever will come past that) and iCloud, they are also pretty committed to "push[ing] a meshing of the desktop and tablet ecosystems into one OS".

georgemcbay 15y ago
Apple is certainly pushing towards making the ecosystems inter-operable, which is great, but I don't think they are aiming for a true melding the way Microsoft is. In basic terms, I think I will be able to buy a Windows 8 tablet/notebook (in the style of the Asus Transformer) in 2012 on which I can run Photoshop and Visual Studio. I don't think I'll be able to buy an iPad in 2012 which runs Photoshop (the real one, not Photoshop Express) and Xcode.

nextparadigms 15y ago

I think the Transformer is the evolution of both tablets and notebooks, but you're right Android does need more "pro" apps. But I wouldn't be so quick to switch to Windows 8, either. I believe all computer machines will gradually switch to ARM this decade, as they become more and more powerful, while maintaining an order of magnitude smaller TDP and several times smaller price than similar performance Intel chip. As such, Windows 8 for ARM will be even more behind Android by the end of 2012, because they can only support legacy apps on x86 chips. The ARM ones will have zero old Windows apps. With Transformer you can get about 15 hours of battery life. With an Atom based Windows netbook you get about 5, and netbooks generally have the best battery life from all Windows notebooks.