Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[InflatableMouse]

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20130809-703280.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

[6233638]

It's not really surprising. I see very little reason to buy a tablet that's not an iPad, other than cost.
Windows RT devices cost about what an iPad does, and offer far less. Android devices sell reasonably well because they are cheap.
The ridiculous backlash online about Windows 8 can't have helped - but a large part of the general tech press seem to be Apple fanboys these days.


Hopefully in a year or two, x86 chips will be in a position to replace ARM, and we can have x86 devices with an iPad-like form factor, rather than the bulky x86 tablets we see today.

Thanks to Google killing off its RSS service (which most good RSS apps were built around) and Apple's push servers being incredibly unreliable these days, I find myself barely using my iPad now though, and I'm really not that sure I'll still want a tablet a few years from now.
I do wonder if tablets in general are going to be a long-term thing, or if we'll see a move back towards small form-factor laptops.

I also wonder how many people are buying tablets thinking they are computers. I've spoken with a few people recently that have older laptops that were planning on replacing them with tablets, only to find out that they basically couldn't do any of the tasks they wanted them for, other than browsing the web on the couch.
Are tablets really the new netbooks, and we'll see the market completely die off in a year or two?

[InflatableMouse]

I also wonder how many people are buying tablets thinking they are computers.

We found that out the hard way. Not that I think a tablet can replace a desktop computer, but for the limited stuff my wife does I thought a tablet was ideal.

Then she lost her job and for some government website she had to regularly fill in some form and send it. That website didn't work on the ipad (or any mobile device for that matter). Another website she needed required her to regularly upload a document. This doesn't work as you can't browse for files to upload on a mobile device.

We sold the ipad and she's back on a regular laptop.

[rjm]

Thanks to Google killing off its RSS service (which most good RSS apps were built around) and Apple's push servers being incredibly unreliable these days, I find myself barely using my iPad now though, and I'm really not that sure I'll still want a tablet a few years from now.

I switched to Feedly on my iPad and Win 8 system and am very pleased.

[pcstockton]

Nothing will ever replace anything.

Desktops, laptops, tablets and phones.  All have their place.

-patrick

[MrC]

I still use my hourglass and sundial to tell time.

[6233638]

We found that out the hard way. Not that I think a tablet can replace a desktop computer, but for the limited stuff my wife does I thought a tablet was ideal.

Then she lost her job and for some government website she had to regularly fill in some form and send it. That website didn't work on the ipad (or any mobile device for that matter). Another website she needed required her to regularly upload a document. This doesn't work as you can't browse for files to upload on a mobile device.

We sold the ipad and she's back on a regular laptop.

That's exactly the sort of problems that people I know have run into, and part of the reason I don't recommend an iPad for anyone if they don't have a computer. It seemed like they could potentially be a good alternative these days, and there are ways to work around some of the limitations, but it's still a very restricted device overall.

The thing that annoys me the most, is that Apple have essentially replaced their "low-end" notebook line with them. About five or six years ago, we bought a pair of the original 13" MacBooks and they were equivalent to about $850. (Apple gear has always been more expensive here)
The cheapest MacBook you can buy today is the 11" air, which is equivalent to ~$1350 here.
The cheapest 13" notebook - because 11" is too small - is ~$1500, approaching double the price of the machines we are looking to replace.
In the end we bought a 13" Retina MacBook Pro, because the specs of the 13" Air just didn't seem to justify the cost, and the price gap wasn't that large, relative to the difference in performance and features.
We still haven't done anything about replacing the second MacBook - they want to get an iPad mini, but I know it - or a full size iPad - won't be a suitable replacement.

Nothing will ever replace anything.
Desktops, laptops, tablets and phones.  All have their place.

Notice that you didn't mention netbooks there at all.
I'm not saying you're wrong, and for some people, maybe a tablet really is all they need - for me, I just find that my iPad is getting less and less use now, and its limitations are becoming far more apparent the longer I have the device.

But with Haswell notebooks being available in similar form-factors (if you consider an 11" MBA to be similar) with almost the same level of battery life, I can see them taking back some of the marketshare that the iPad took away. One of the main motivations for me buying an iPad originally was the 10 hour battery life, and portable form-factor, compared to the 13" MacBook Air which was quite a bit larger and only had ~3 hours of real battery life at the time.

I switched to Feedly on my iPad and Win 8 system and am very pleased.

The problem is that I don't like the "magazine style" RSS presentation that is popular today (it's too slow once you have more than a handful of feeds) and Reeder was by far the best RSS app around for the way that I like to read & manage feeds, as I was able to filter things out quickly, and it did a nice job presenting the content. I haven't found another reader on any platform that I like nearly as much.
v2 is in development and will support syncing to other services, but they should have had an app out in time for Reader shutting down. They only updated the mobile version, and not the tablet or desktop versions.

I'll check out Feedly, but what I have found over the last month or so is that I tend to still come across anything which is actually "important" news that I would have been reading via RSS anyway, and a lot of the blog style feeds I followed have stopped updating recently, so I'm thinking that maybe I just don't need RSS in my life any more - which means I probably don't nee the iPad any more, as that's what I was mostly using it for.

[pcstockton]

i didn't mention netbooks because I seem them as either a small laptop or a tablet with a keyboard.

I use my iPhone for everything
I use my iPad for work, as a vehicle for carrying around a ton of information in a small portable package with a nice screen.  Good for showing pictures etc.  Better than lugging a laptop around.  It is basically a BIG iPhone in my world.
I use my laptop (MacBook Pro Retina 13" running Win7 in Boot Camp) for all work related computing needs when not in the office (at home, traveling).
I use my desktop (at home and at office) for everything, including this post.

I also didn't mention HTPC, or Workstation/Server.  And I find I "need"/use them all.

My tech lineup:
iPhone - Calls, text, light email, quick google browsing, maps/directions, control point for MC
iPad - Bigger iPhone.  Great for e-books and anything that requires a bigger screen than iPhone.
Laptop - only used when not near a desktop
Work Desktop - 90% of work computing
Home Desktop/Server - serves all my media and it powered 24-7
HTPC - used for all audio and video at the Hifi and HDTV at home

[rjm]

I'll check out Feedly.

You might be pleasantly surprised. They added a no fluff mode for ex-Google Reader users.

[kineticarl]

It's far more likely that the dying breed is Windows RT and not the tablet form factor.  iOS and Android tablets have plenty of legs left and I get plenty of use out of my Android tablet.  For many tasks it's more intuitive to use touch.  For others, keyboard and mouse are a necessity.  It's a shame about Flash being unsupported on both platforms now, but it's only occasionally annoying.  I don't know anyone who's mistakenly thought that a tablet was a sufficient replacement for a laptop or desktop with an appropriate fully operational OS. However I do keep hoping for convergence devices to keep coming, a la ASUS's Transformer Book Trio.

[InflatableMouse]

It's far more likely that the dying breed is Windows RT.

That's what I meant and what the article I linked is about.