5 ms·

Why? Seriously. What has he seen in the market for devices over the past 15-20 years that makes him think that? Yes, there has been a trend toward consolidatin

by glesica 14y ago

Why? Seriously. What has he seen in the market for devices over the past 15-20 years that makes him think that? Yes, there has been a trend toward consolidating devices (PDA and camera functions being subsumed by the cell phone, for instance). But there's a huge difference between that and converging a tablet with a laptop: the differences between tablets and laptops are largely form, not function. You couldn't take a photo on a Palm Pilot or early cell phone. You just couldn't do it. You needed a standalone camera. Enter the camera phone. Suddenly you could take a photo on a cell phone. In addition, you could send the pictures you took to other people as you took them, something you couldn't do before at all! So once the quality of the phone cameras hit a certain point, people started relying on them and convergence had happened. How would the laptop and tablet naturally converge for "normal" users? What can one device do that the other can't, and what could a converged device do that neither of the individual devices can? Maybe I'm wrong, but I just don't see it. Disclaimer: I think the Surface looks pretty bad-ass and I'm thrilled to see MS calling out the OEMs for releasing an endless parade of vision-killing crap.

tikhonj 14y ago
I don't know. I imagine it's like this: you want a tablet for lounging on your couch and watching movies or browsing the internet; you want a light laptop for doing actual work at Starbucks or your local library. You could get an iPad and an MBA, or you could just get a Surface and have both in one. So it's not really some new capability--rather, it's a single device that can do the job of two. Not only is this more cheaper but it is also more convenient: you don't have to sync your files between devices or keep track of two different computers (with different operating systems, at that!); you can just use your single Windows computer for both tasks. I think the slightly odd design of Windows 8 is actually very conducive to this: for lounging around, you have Metro and for actual work you have the classic desktop. I could certainly see people currently on Windows liking that. Now, I don't know if the Surface actually fulfills that role in practice, but that's what I imagine the idea to be. I also suspect that this isn't aimed at Apple customers at all--the person getting the iPad and MBA would still get them out of brand loyalty. Rather, this is aimed at your stalwart Windows user who is considering getting an iPad but isn't crazy about Apple and wouldn't want to switch to OS X. On a completely unrelated note, I would love to get one and run Linux. Unfortunately, it seems there is going to be a lot of useless nonsense around secure boot that would make this difficult (at least for the ARM version). But I think this is the perfect device to play around with the new KDE touch interface.
- DeepDuh 14y ago
  One aspect that's absolutely critical for tablets is weight. As an example, the weight difference of the iPad2 vs iPad1 makes a huge difference for me - only the latter allows me to hold it for longer periods without getting tired. The advantages you describe are IMO only applicable for Win x86 tablets - and those will be either underpowered, undercharged or too heavy to compete with the iPad-experience when it comes to just consuming media on your couch. Sure, the two device categories are closing up and will likely merge at some point in the future - but the hardware is not there yet for doing everything without serious concessions.
wcchandler 14y ago
I think the only way this is possible is if we invent a new HID... something that will turn the mouse, keyboard and touchpad into something obsolete. In this realm we have a couple contenders which can mostly be seen in Google Glass. Eye tracking, voice commands, motion capturing... All of which is easily many years away from any real world use or adoption. As such, the only way for these devices to converge would be to totally change the game. (s/HID/output device/ and most of the arguments still hold true)
- krsunny 14y ago
  The pinnacle of HID would be something like Google Glass or maybe a pair of contact lenses in conjunction with direct thought control.

by glesica 14y ago

tikhonj 14y ago

I don't know. I imagine it's like this: you want a tablet for lounging on your couch and watching movies or browsing the internet; you want a light laptop for doing actual work at Starbucks or your local library. You could get an iPad and an MBA, or you could just get a Surface and have both in one. So it's not really some new capability--rather, it's a single device that can do the job of two. Not only is this more cheaper but it is also more convenient: you don't have to sync your files between devices or keep track of two different computers (with different operating systems, at that!); you can just use your single Windows computer for both tasks. I think the slightly odd design of Windows 8 is actually very conducive to this: for lounging around, you have Metro and for actual work you have the classic desktop. I could certainly see people currently on Windows liking that. Now, I don't know if the Surface actually fulfills that role in practice, but that's what I imagine the idea to be. I also suspect that this isn't aimed at Apple customers at all--the person getting the iPad and MBA would still get them out of brand loyalty. Rather, this is aimed at your stalwart Windows user who is considering getting an iPad but isn't crazy about Apple and wouldn't want to switch to OS X. On a completely unrelated note, I would love to get one and run Linux. Unfortunately, it seems there is going to be a lot of useless nonsense around secure boot that would make this difficult (at least for the ARM version). But I think this is the perfect device to play around with the new KDE touch interface.

DeepDuh 14y ago
One aspect that's absolutely critical for tablets is weight. As an example, the weight difference of the iPad2 vs iPad1 makes a huge difference for me - only the latter allows me to hold it for longer periods without getting tired. The advantages you describe are IMO only applicable for Win x86 tablets - and those will be either underpowered, undercharged or too heavy to compete with the iPad-experience when it comes to just consuming media on your couch. Sure, the two device categories are closing up and will likely merge at some point in the future - but the hardware is not there yet for doing everything without serious concessions.

wcchandler 14y ago

I think the only way this is possible is if we invent a new HID... something that will turn the mouse, keyboard and touchpad into something obsolete. In this realm we have a couple contenders which can mostly be seen in Google Glass. Eye tracking, voice commands, motion capturing... All of which is easily many years away from any real world use or adoption. As such, the only way for these devices to converge would be to totally change the game. (s/HID/output device/ and most of the arguments still hold true)

krsunny 14y ago
The pinnacle of HID would be something like Google Glass or maybe a pair of contact lenses in conjunction with direct thought control.