It seems like everyone is moving to tablets...

[automobus]

Do you really find laptop keyboards much worse than desktop keyboards? I am a huge fan of desktop computers, which you can tell just by looking at my signature.

The overwhelming majority of keyboards, whether desktop or laptop, have a stupid design. There are ergonomic keyboards, but there are no laptops with them.

Except for a one-of-a-kind SGI prototype.
http://web.archive.org/web/200906292308 ... aptop.html
I learned of it from this forum, thread "If you had to use another brand of computer what would it be"

I like desktops, too. And I also like electronic typewriters. But laptops, typewriters, and most desktop all have stupid keyboards. The thing that bothers me most is the stagger: the left and right halves should be symetrical. I only have a basic ergonomic keyboard: a TypeMatrix. With it, I can finally touch-type the numbers and functions! Nothing fancy like a Maltron or DataHand.

My complaint is not about travel distance or the feel of keypress action, but about the physical positioning of keys. Acer (and eMachines, surprising to me) tried a curved laptop keyboard for a while, but in my opinion, eliminating the stagger is more important than adding a curve.

For a while, I was so fed-up with staggered keyboards that I tried a couple tablet slates, to make the statement "I don't want a staggered keyboard anywhere near my computer". But a tablet is much less usable without MS Windows, and I missed the hardware volume and brightness control. So now I am back to laptops, with an external non-staggered keyboard.

The day I find a laptop with an ergonomic keyboard will be the first day I consider getting one new (instead of used).

[ajkula66]

ausmike wrote:

but over 40+ yrs of having laptops I seem them come and go ,

You've owned laptops for the past four decades? Care to elaborate on that statement?

[dsvochak]

...solve the problem of tablets not having a physical keyboard?

Voice control. Software like Dragon Dictation has improved significantly over time and I expect continuted improvement. Eventually, keyboards may be superfluous.

[pianowizard]

Voice control.

Might work at home, but I wouldn't want to type by speaking aloud when there are people around me.

[tmx]

Tablet is going to be very useful for portable uses. It's not meant to replace laptop, its meant as a compliment. If you think you should buy it as your main productivity computer, you're making a mistake. You're in a hospital, a delivery person, riding bus/train, in a work place that require moving around, Jake Humphrey walking down the F1 grid. You're not gonna lug around a big heavy folding device that required to be on a flat surface to use.

Before ordering the X220 I was going to buy a tablet. But after research I realized the market isn't mature enough (argue if you will, I still hold it isn't, there are many models of Intel and AMD Fusion APUs getting ready to enter the market, do a wiki search for "list of Intel Atom or AMD Fusion", they'll be plenty tablets coming out end of this year and next with these new APUs). I got the X220 to replace my desktop, it will mostly be a home computer. But I will get a tablet to use on the go and at work. Ideally I want a pocketable 7" dualcore Intel/AMD tablet. At that size might be small for touch, but I'm quite the marksman. The MSI Windpad 120W come close with dualcore CedarTrail and hyperthreading running 4 threads.

With that said, my Mokia N900 has full Firefox browser and does stuff the locked down iPad can't, too bad its underpowered now. I'll have to wait, it's probably better just to get a large screen Meego phone and skip the tablet, main thing is getting a full blown browser with flash support.

[pianowizard]

This CNET article is somewhat relevant to this thread:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-20078 ... eStories.0

24.2% of those surveyed said they had replaced desktop/laptop computers by a smartphone or tablet.

I don't have a tablet but have a smartphone, and for me it completely replaces:
•Alarm clock
•GPS
•Personal planner
•Landline phone
•MP3 player (I never need one really)
•Newspaper
•Internet service at home

[RealBlackStuff]

... main thing is getting a full blown browser with flash support.

which makes you a prime candidate for the Google Chromebook!
http://www.google.com/chromebook/

[Temetka]

I have a tablet.

It is a Nook Color.

I did my research and for the amount of money spent, it was the best tablet available spec wise and for aesthetic reasons as well. The Nook is super thin, looks great and runs Android. (Well a Barnes and Noble locked down version of it, which works great for what it is).

I have purchased a 16GB MicroSD card and installed Android 3.0 Honeycomb on it and it runs wonderfully. It allows me to quick internet look ups, listen to music (streamed or saved on my tablet), read books in multiple formats, watch videos and finally, do some light document editing. This basically means that for 90% of my portable uses the T43 has been replaced. Sure there are times when I need that ethernet port or USB port but other than that if it's a big job that what the tower is for.

I have said it before and I will say it again. Tablets / portable devices + cloud = the future. However I've been saying this for about the last 15 years. Technology is just now catching up with me. Eventually I will carry my widget with me and go to my buddies house. I dock my widget and there's all my stuff and all my settings. Same if he comes over to my house. Then we find a video and stream across to the backyard projector and watch it on the clouds at night. Think it wont happen? Think again.

I welcome the return of our Mainframe overlords.

[paul*robertson]

What about the ergonomics of using a tablet, how do you use it. On a desk, on your lap ?

A laptop sits on your lap, you angle the screen to your advantage, and the keyboard follows the natural position of your hands.

[automobus]

I use a tablet PC in almost the same positions as I use a paper notebook. Flat on a desk, in the crook of my arm when I am upright, or in my lap.

A laptop sits on your lap, you angle the screen to your advantage, and the keyboard follows the natural position of your hands.

If you call that natural. But I do not. My arms start at my shoulders, so having the hands on the lap, they naturally rest at an angle, between forty-five and ninety degrees (depends on front-to-back position). Since laptops do not have spit V-angle keyboards, that means I must turn the hands until the fingers point forward, which makes the wrists bend an aweful amount.
Since I write with one hand, a tablet does not need to rest in my lap at tidy square angles. Using a tablet is much more comfortable for my hands, although it does make text entry terribly slow. Then, that's where Microsoft targets speech-to-text.

[JaneL]

What about the ergonomics of using a tablet, how do you use it. On a desk, on your lap ?

I use it both places as well as others depending on whether I'm browsing the web, wandering around my kitchen putting together a grocery list, reading through Twitter, working through my RSS feeds, watching a video, etc Right now, I have the cover sort of unfolded so that it's sitting up rather like a tent in my lap in my recliner. Other times it may be flat or the cover folded to only slightly prop it up at an angle on my desk, or i may have it cupped by my hand and resting on my left forearm while I tap it with my right hand. Since moving around on it only requires a very light touch, it's very comfortable to use and gives my right wrist a rest from a pointing device (even the beloved TrackPoint).

[sportfreak]

well the move happens definitely in segments .. the mobile phone segment is a great example, to predict the trend in rise/fall of tablets .. for example, when the first windows mobile phone came in, business/power users were the majority of users who switched from basic phones .. when the BB came in, even more users who were more inclined towards security/keyboards, they moved in .. but when the iphone/android came in, there was this huuge movement becoz of the catering audience it was focused on i.e., apps ..

similarly on the tablet region, the ipad was the first one to set the trend and will not be the last one for sure .. considering a insanely huge userbase .. but as more n more day-to-day activities are possible on the tablet, i dont see any reason why the customers will not switch to a tablet ..

For example, last week i was in the market to buy a tablet that had a good keyboard dock .. reason was, i should be able to ssh into my servers for any office errand irrespective of the location .. i ended up buying the transformer .. but returned it the next day because the terminal apps in android, do not give me the full functionality of the shell .. i could use by netbook instead .. i mean there's lot of work that needs to go into busybox, but i am definitely sure that within the next few months/an year.. there will be something that will cater to this need of mine .. similarly step-by-step, they are other areas that will improve within this one year and and as that happens, more and more ppl will make the switch ..

a simple comparison would be .. the netbook gives me 6-7 hours of battery life whereas the tablet with the keyboard dock gave me 16 hrs .. so when i have the option to have complete ssh access with 16 hrs of battery life, why not !!!! and not to mention lighter/slimmer than netbook ..

my two cents !!

[dsvochak]

http://www.tipb.com/2011/07/31/florida- ... -students/

[Colonel O'Neill]

Needs way more pen-enabled tablets.

[Danoc]

Conventional computers will never replace tablets.

When they go home after working from 8 AM to whatever, usually, normal people do not want to type a 10,000-character document.

[bill bolton]

normal people do not want to type a 10,000-character document.

In fact there are a lot of normal people who do type a lot of characters "after work" for a whole host of reasons

Cheers,

Bill B.

[ozzymud]

My son and I just finished an epic session of "Empire Earth AOC"...

Hotkeys pressed (me): 9865
Hotkeys pressed (him): 8801

Also I "mud" (text based rpg), I can easily press keys 10,000 times in a session

And I know there are consoles for gaming, but there are MANY reason I prefer a real computer for games. Even Angry Birds blows on a tablet or phone in comparison to playing with a mouse on a PC.

[pianowizard]

I received my 32GB HP TouchPad this morning and have been playing with it for several hours. It has confirmed that for me, tablets will never replace laptops. Typing on the virtual keyboard is too slow. If I use my left hand to hold up the tablet while typing with my right hand, my left hand gets tired quickly. Granted, the 1.6-lb TouchPad is one of the heavier tablets, but the 1.3-lb iPad2 would still feel heavy after just several minutes. Typing becomes easier if I put the tablet flat on a desk; however, I have to view the tablet from above and my neck starts to hurt after a short while.

I think I will keep this TouchPad because I paid so little for it -- $149 plus tax. I may use it on trips where I need to travel very light and don't expect to have to type much, or when I just want to spend a couple hours at a restaurant or coffee shop to read PDF files or browse the internet. But I suspect I will mainly use it simply as a 32GB USB storage device!

[RealBlackStuff]

Sad/bad buy!
HP is ditching all its PC related branches, incl. the Touchpad.
For only a handful of $$$ you can buy a 32GB USB-stick, much smaller and LIGHTER.

[pianowizard]

Sad/bad buy!
HP is ditching all its PC related branches, incl. the Touchpad.

It is true that HP has stopped making more Touchpads, which was why they were selling them for $99 and $149 and why I bought one. I knew that HP would not be providing any software updates or apps in the future. However, the rest of your statement remains a rumor. See http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/78009 .

Like I said, there will be situations when I will find the Touchpad useful. For example, I will be on a four-day vacation next week and I will want some sort of a computer on me. However, my Toughbook would be overkill and too heavy, and so I plan on taking this Touchpad. And I just realized that it works well for displaying sheet music on my piano.

When I decide I don't need it any more, I can easily sell it, possibly for over $149 because many people still don't know about last weekend's fire sale.

For only a handful of $$$ you can buy a 32GB USB-stick, much smaller and LIGHTER.

I already have a 32GB USB flash drive.

[Temetka]

I still use my Nook for most things. However I have also been using my T43 for a lot of things where I need a real keyboard and the virtual one one the nook doesn't cut it.

Now I have a Samsung Captivate and I use it a lot.

Yay technology.

Speaking of tech I want this: http://www.virtual-laser-devices.com/

[pianowizard]

I recently became a lot more interested in tablets, which reminded me of this 3-year-old thread. I just looked over all posts in this thread, and realized that many of the features we hoped for are now available: keyboard docks, regular Windows, lighter weights, etc. So I wonder if people have a more favorable attitude toward these devices now. In my most recent post in this thread, I said I had just bought HP's Touchpad (1.6 lb, 9.7" 1024x768, WebOS). While I liked WebOS very much, I disliked the weight of the tablet and sold it, but I have since owned several more tablets:

Barnes & Noble Nook HD+: 1.14 lb, 9" 1920x1280, Android-based OS (sold it also)

Barnes & Noble Nook HD: 0.69 lb, 7" 1440x900, Android-based OS (still have it)

Apple iPad Air: 1.03 lb, 9.7" 2048x1536, iOS 7 (just bought it)

Lenovo Lynx K3011: 1.41 lb, 11.6" 1366x768, Windows 8.1 (just bought it)

I find them more convenient than laptops for watching videos and reading eBooks or PDF files, because they are so much easier to hold (whereas the keyboard of a laptop takes up too much space). Also, touching the screen is less taxing than using a mouse, touchpad or trackpoint. And tablets that are 8-inch or smaller are more mobile than laptops because they are pocketable, although a few laptops can fit in a pocket as well, e.g. Sony's P Series.

What do you guys think of tablets now, in July 2014? Have any of you replaced your laptops with tablets? What's the best tablet that you have used so far?

[600X]

So far the only tablet that I own/have owned is the ThinkPad Tablet 2, which I've only had for like 2 months now. It's pretty much got everything that I expect or want from a tablet. The proper Windows experience just opens up endless possibilities compared to a "classical" tablet and it is definitely something that I do not want to miss.

Furthermore the thin and light chassis and good build quality make holding and using it a joy. I also like it design-wise.

In terms of features it has everything I could ask for. The Atom CPU is sufficient for basic tasks but you do notice that it lacks raw processing power. In return though you get a great battery life (usually around 10h) which is way more important to me than performance on such a device .

The full size USB port allows me to treat it like any other device so for example I can easily copy files from my external HDD onto the tablet. I don't have the dock or keyboard, so I am basically using it as a tablet only and not as a replacement for anything.

Another cool feature is the integrated pen. It just adds so much more value to the tablet in terms of content creation abilities. While I won't be able to type up any presentations or anything, I will be able to write and draw on it. So that's a plus compared to my laptops.

Nevertheless, I still mostly use it for entertainment purposes like YouTube videos, Skype or just surfing the web. It even has pretty decent speakers as well, so it's perfect for anything multimedia related.

The only other tablet that I was able to try out for more than a day was the original iPad. While it was nice to play around on it, I just felt very limited by the OS. I guess I'm just used to Windows machines and having a full blown OS installed on my devices.

So yeah, most of the things that I do on my laptops, I can do with my tablet as well. But even if I had the dock or keyboard or perhaps even both, I still wouldn't be able to replace any of my machines with it. But then again, the ThinkPad Tablet 2 was never meant to fulfill such a role, it really is a "proper" tablet. For those who demand more, a convertible like the ThinkPad Helix seems like a more sensible option.

[QWERTY Andreas]

I am currently typing this from my thinkpad 8

Tablets have come a long way. In terms of processing power, those new baytrail tablet are quite powerfull. For most users they are more than fasr enough.

If somebody want the full PC experience, they can just connect a mouse and a keyboard and hook it up to a large monitor.

A Windows 8 tab, a dockingstation and this: http://clamcase.com/clambook-android-an ... -dock.html - and 90% of peoples needs would be covered

[Temetka]

2 years ago I got a Samsung Note 10.1 Tablet to replace my Thinkpad Tablet.

Finally Android tablets let me do what my old X41 let me do. Handwriting. I use it a lot for work during meetings to write down notes, look things up and even RDP into a server if need be. Best tablet I have ever owned. I do miss the USB port and physical buttons on my TPT, but this device is much faster, thinner, and has better battery life and a working GPS.

That being said I still use my T410 for most of my work stuff. I really, really want a Surface Pro to see if they are indeed capable of replacing my T410 (or any other laptop for that matter). I work in IT so it's not like I need a ton of CPU/GPU power. I do RDP sessions, command line voodoo and e-mail. That's my work routine with some OneNote, Excel, Outlook, Word action thrown in. I listed those in order of greatest use to least use.

I still stand by what I said earlier in the thread. Eventually all computing muscle will be elsewhere while the tablet or portable device simply acts as a front end. The days of requiring multi-gigahertz machine with behemoth specs are over for 90% of the people. Tablet + cloud = future.

Period.

[jdk]

I still stand by what I said earlier in the thread. Eventually all computing muscle will be elsewhere while the tablet or portable device simply acts as a front end. The days of requiring multi-gigahertz machine with behemoth specs are over for 90% of the people.

Agreed, but don't discredit the hardware going into the tablet/smartphone future. These products are also multicore, and have gigs and gigs of RAM. The difference is that the software stack is much more hardware optimized and energy efficient. Our Nexus 7 has no trouble playing videos that stuttered on my X200, for example. Even though we are now sourcing the data/app portion to the cloud, higher hardware specs will always win out, and there will still be no substitute for a well-built device.

[Unknown_K]

The first notebooks were mostly needed by sales people who traveled , kind of a novelty at the time but horsepower, screen resolution, battery life, storage plus wireless made them a desktop alternative instead of a toy. I view ipads as a toy for people who just need to view videos and the Internet while taking a dump. Then again I know people who use the internet just from their phone without a real computer in the house.

[pianowizard]

Lenovo Lynx K3011: 1.41 lb, 11.6" 1366x768, Windows 8.1 (just bought it)

I bought this Lenovo Lynx K3011 only a week ago and am already selling it. This is my first Windows slate tablet (as opposed to the X41 and X61 tablet-style Thinkpads that I once owned) and I think it works well for the simple things that I do on it, namely media consumption. I was hoping that I would like its form factor, but came to the realization that it's way too big. After selling it, I will look into getting an 8-inch Windows tablet. This size range is fairly new for Windows tablets and there still aren't many models to choose from -- no more than 10 models total from Acer, Asus, Dell, Lenovo and Toshiba -- but I bet this will change very soon.

Then again I know people who use the internet just from their phone without a real computer in the house.

I am one of these people. I have lots of computers at home but don't have internet service. I get on the internet on my 5-year-old smartphone, an HTC Touch Pro2.

[Puppy]

This is my first Windows slate tablet (as opposed to the X41 and X61 tablet-style Thinkpads that I once owned) and I think it works well for the simple things that I do on it, namely media consumption. I was hoping that I would like its form factor, but came to the realization that it's way too big. After selling it, I will look into getting an 8-inch Windows tablet.

I am going to give ThinkPad 8 tablet a try (Miix 2 8" is no longer available, I'd prefer it if LTE configuration existed). Finally there is LTE configuration available over here. Still not sure whether it justifies the price Unfortunately anything depended on Google (Android) is not acceptable for me at all nor the Apple fashion. I would try FirefoxOS based systems but currently available hardware is very poor.

This size range is fairly new for Windows tablets and there still aren't many models to choose from -- no more than 10 models total from Acer, Asus, Dell, Lenovo and Toshiba -- but I bet this will change very soon.

The ThinkPad 8 tablet is currently the only 8" Windows tablet having 4G/LTE mobile connection available over here. Acer, Asus, Dell, Toshiba no longer have configurations with mobile connection. A portable device without mobile internet connection is useless for me and there is almost no 3G coverage (just 2G and "specific" 4G with max speed 4 Mbps). Another option would be a 7" tablet-phone but without Windows based OS, no way.

[pianowizard]

In my most recent post in this thread, I said I had just bought HP's Touchpad (1.6 lb, 9.7" 1024x768, WebOS). While I liked WebOS very much, I disliked the weight of the tablet and sold it, but I have since owned several more tablets:

Barnes & Noble Nook HD+: 1.14 lb, 9" 1920x1280, Android-based OS (sold it also)

Barnes & Noble Nook HD: 0.69 lb, 7" 1440x900, Android-based OS (still have it)

Apple iPad Air: 1.03 lb, 9.7" 2048x1536, iOS 7 (just bought it)

Lenovo Lynx K3011: 1.41 lb, 11.6" 1366x768, Windows 8.1 (just bought it)

In the past several weeks I experimented further with tablets, and so I came back to this thread for some more musings. The Apple iPad Air listed above is now my only remaining tablet. I have never been an Apple fanboy but have to admit this 5th-gen iPad may indeed be the best tablet on the market right now. Think about it, the product category that I initially thought was Apple's most superfluous invention ever is now my favorite! Of course, iPad Air's reign won't last much longer since Apple is expected to roll out the 6th-gen iPad this fall.

However, I also wanted to have access to the Android ecosystem, so I held on to the Barnes & Noble Nook HD for a while. Then I came up with a clever idea: why not replace both this Nook and my smartphone (an old HTC Touch Pro2 with 3.6" 480x800 and Windows Mobile 6.5) with an Android phablet? After tons of research, I opted for the Samsung Galaxy Note and switched from Sprint to T-Mobile. I am very happy with both the Note and T-Mobile (no activation fee, unlimited tethering, and free 2G data and SMS while abroad). It's great to have a 5.3" tablet with me all the time, that also functions as my phone. But with a width of 83.1 mm, it is just a tad too wide to hold 100% comfortably. Thus, when I upgrade, I will probably get the Note 4 which is 78.6 mm wide. The Note 4's diagonal screen size is 5.7" but it's actually a little narrower because it's 9:16 (1440x2560) whereas the Note is 10:16 (800x1280). But I'm willing to sacrifice a bit of width, in order to have a phone that's easier to hold and less likely to be dropped.

So I now have Apple's and Google's mobile apps covered. How about Windows Phone's? I have that taken care of too, because MetroPCS has been selling the Nokia Lumia 521 for only $19 without contract, and I got one. I've been playing with it via WiFi. Windows Phone 8 is clearly superior to version 7, but I miss the versatility of Windows Mobile 6.5 especially when it comes to file management and USB mass storage.

I sold the HTC Touch Pro2 locally just this morning. It served me extraordinarily well, especially considering that my Sprint Employee Referral Offer (SERO) plan cost only $30 per month, but after 4.5 years, it became too long in the tooth.