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If you have a tablet, and almost always carry a keyboard to go with it, then really aren't you saying that a laptop would be the right solution? Tablets are de

by EwanToo 14y ago

If you have a tablet, and almost always carry a keyboard to go with it, then really aren't you saying that a laptop would be the right solution? Tablets are definitely moving towards being general purpose computers, but they're not there yet, and if you're willing to buy into a locked down iPad as your main computer, then I feel slightly sorry for you. On the other side of things, I really don't see the point in $1500 laptops right now. Yes, the laptop should be extremely thin and light, but the cheapest intel processor married to an 120GB SSD and 4GB of RAM will work great for huge numbers of users, for both consumption and creation. Frustratingly, it seems only the Chromebooks seem to be taking this approach to laptops, and I really don't want to replace an open device with one which Google works hard to lock down.

tsahyt 14y ago
There was an article on HN a while ago, describing how a developer traded his laptop for a tablet and a Linode box. He'd ssh into the box and work there. I thought it was really elegant and thought about trying something similar. However, I figured that a tablet + a keyboard is effectively a laptop with a good-looking UI and less features. The only real advantage I can think of now is better battery life and the fact that a tablet is usually cheaper to buy.
- rahoulb 14y ago
  I was inspired by the same guy and use an iPad with the Logitech ultra-thin keyboard (with a Linux desktop at home). The advantages, for me, are: * battery life * in-built 3G * the fact that iOS is almost single-tasking means I get distracted significantly less often * when I do stop typing, I pick the tablet up and move around; on a "computer" I tend to stay in the same position, even when not working The major disadvantages: * not much good when doing web-UI work (task switching, no web-inspector) * iOS really needs the "open in" button available everywhere, or something like Android intents/OSX Services/Windows 8 contracts. [edited for formatting]
vidarh 14y ago
> and almost always carry a keyboard to go with it, then really aren't you saying that a laptop would be the right solution? Not unless the keyboard is detachable, like e.g. the ASUS Transformer series. I carry a 7" tablet with me. I use it as a tablet to read stuff. The form factor means it's easy to hold with one hand. I also carry a keyboard with me, mostly because that makes it convenient to use for emergencies when a server goes down etc. and I want to be able to type faster and not have to prop the screen up. But 90% of the time for me the keyboard is dead weight. That's fine in my bag. It's not fine if I'm holding the device up to read on a crowded train, for example. Increasingly I'm also finding that my typing speed on my phone and tablet is getting better rapidly. Especially with special-purpose keyboards like SwiftKey that has very good prediction, and so I resort to a hardware keyboard less and less.
- EwanToo 14y ago
  The detachable keyboard models are nice, but to me, the only thing that makes the Transformer a tablet rather than a laptop with a detachable screen is the OS used. Assuming Windows 8 does ok, I think we'll see a lot more devices in this form factor.

by EwanToo 14y ago

tsahyt 14y ago

There was an article on HN a while ago, describing how a developer traded his laptop for a tablet and a Linode box. He'd ssh into the box and work there. I thought it was really elegant and thought about trying something similar. However, I figured that a tablet + a keyboard is effectively a laptop with a good-looking UI and less features. The only real advantage I can think of now is better battery life and the fact that a tablet is usually cheaper to buy.

rahoulb 14y ago
I was inspired by the same guy and use an iPad with the Logitech ultra-thin keyboard (with a Linux desktop at home). The advantages, for me, are: * battery life * in-built 3G * the fact that iOS is almost single-tasking means I get distracted significantly less often * when I do stop typing, I pick the tablet up and move around; on a "computer" I tend to stay in the same position, even when not working The major disadvantages: * not much good when doing web-UI work (task switching, no web-inspector) * iOS really needs the "open in" button available everywhere, or something like Android intents/OSX Services/Windows 8 contracts. [edited for formatting]

vidarh 14y ago

> and almost always carry a keyboard to go with it, then really aren't you saying that a laptop would be the right solution? Not unless the keyboard is detachable, like e.g. the ASUS Transformer series. I carry a 7" tablet with me. I use it as a tablet to read stuff. The form factor means it's easy to hold with one hand. I also carry a keyboard with me, mostly because that makes it convenient to use for emergencies when a server goes down etc. and I want to be able to type faster and not have to prop the screen up. But 90% of the time for me the keyboard is dead weight. That's fine in my bag. It's not fine if I'm holding the device up to read on a crowded train, for example. Increasingly I'm also finding that my typing speed on my phone and tablet is getting better rapidly. Especially with special-purpose keyboards like SwiftKey that has very good prediction, and so I resort to a hardware keyboard less and less.

EwanToo 14y ago
The detachable keyboard models are nice, but to me, the only thing that makes the Transformer a tablet rather than a laptop with a detachable screen is the OS used. Assuming Windows 8 does ok, I think we'll see a lot more devices in this form factor.