Latest BS: Ipad air competes with laptops

[Johnny5point6]

I think that products in the coming months like new little Dell, which runs full Windows 8.1, are going to change people's minds. I still don't understand how people don't understand how drastically more versatile Windows tablets are. I showed off Windows 8.1 on my Surface Pro (with the three snapped apps) to a friend who worms at Apple and she literally said "why would you need to have two apps sides by side?" I was dumbfounded. I know of a billion reasons why, but I was so exhausted thinking about how she couldn't understand, I just kinda stared. All this, while I was running Photoshop quietly on my desktop's background. Surface Pros are literally laptop replacements, because they're laptops!

 

[Johnny5point6]

The Surface and Surface Pro are just glorified Tablet PCs with another name. Microsoft didn't do anything special there either, except make it smaller.

Well, the iPad is nothing but a glorified iPhone. And making a tablet PC more user friendly, and more capable is more impressive than making a big iPhone, IMO.

 

[ohgood]

Fine young cannibal: Apple's iPad Air competes with laptops for mass market computing - Computerworld

What is happening to all these tech blogs filled with iSheep reviewers.

there is some truth to it. people are much more interested in tablets than another laptop, or desktop, computer. the old laptop/desktop still does what it did 3 years ago, so instead of spending $700 on a new (and not much better) laptop/desktop...

they buy a tablet instead.

the tablet is extremely portable, has a very good picture/video capability, gps, wifi, and does a lot of things their normal laptop/desktop used to do.

it's not that this is an ipad thing, it's a -mobile- thing. see through the bias of my OS of choice vs your OS of choice vs their OS of choice, and enjoy the incredibly cheap, portable hardware available, right now.

 

[christenmartin]

In the Summary: "As far as specs go, the Surface 2 is a very realistic competitor to the iPad, and even beats it in a few areas such as the camera and connectivity"

The camera section however is a "Draw".


Biased for sure but I'd actually say reviews are getting more positive towards the Surface. No longer are they "We don't understand it so it's crap", now they're more "We like our iPad so that's better but this has some neat features".

People are coming around to all the extra power the Surface brings over the iPad. It will be about the apps now... that is where Microsoft have to push hard. Sound familiar?

I like that. the glass is half full. :wink:

 

[spaulagain]

The Surface and Surface Pro are just glorified Tablet PCs with another name. Microsoft didn't do anything special there either, except make it smaller.

huh? Didn't do anything special? I think the Surface and Surface Pro did more to innovate and improve the tablet than any other device.

The touch and type keyboards alone make it pretty amazing compared to the competition.

I think these two devices embody exactly what the market will be over the next 5 years.

 

[Jas00555]

No they don't.

An iPad is suitable for typing up an essay. That is the only TYPE of writing you ever do in grade school. And Pages is suitable for doing so. You can't do any scripting in it, but it is very similar to Word when it comes to the basis. And all an essay needs is a cover page, the text with proper headers, subheadings, footnotes, and the cited work. That is ALL doable in Pages.

I can print to my printer with my iPad. I do it all the time. I actually have my home network setup so I can print to any application of my choosing too.

I also have Sketchbook Ink, Final Draft, OneNote, Steinberg's touch based version of Cubase (Cubasis) which lets me pull stuff between the two versions, Texas Instruments' TI-Nspire CAS, among some other stuff.

And they're made for touch. And that's why I like the iPad. Because it's easy to mix in a Moleskine notebook, a reference book, or whatever, and not have to fiddle with trying to navigate the screen with a non-Metro app. You do more and think less.

I agree that those people shouldn't be saying it's a computer replacement though, still doesn't mean it's not a device you can be productive on.

I don't know about you, but I am not typing up a 3-page paper on an iPad. That would be horrendous. Also, congratulations on having one of the few printers with airprint. Most people don't have that.

 

[chezm]

That said, neither the Surface Pro nor an iPad is a laptop replacement for me. The screens are too small, and I just hate the idea of trying to render a 3D modeled scene on a machine that small.

Right, but at least the Surface Pro could run your x86 3D rendering software and could extend or be duplicated to an external monitor. Point being a Pro can run application for real world professionals because its running a full OS...while iOS is a cute toy to check emails, browse the internet, watch a movie and play Angry Birds. As you and others have stated, this is what a big part of the market uses their computing to do...and thats fine. But lets stop pretending to blur the line between PC and iPad...very different computing devices.

And on the point of Cubasis...while its a fun little tool, much like FL Groove...its not even close in terms of power and functionality the the true application parent brings.

 

[rebornempowered]

I don't know about you, but I am not typing up a 3-page paper on an iPad. That would be horrendous.

For my graduate program I have to travel 2 times a year to the campus which is several hundred miles away. We have a lot to take with us and most people travel a lot further than I do so I wasn't surprised the first time I saw people in class with iPad's + a keyboard for it. Disliking Apple as much as I do I observed closely how this experiment went.

First they fumbled to get it to stand up and the keyboard the people had was not very good at holding it up or even transporting with the device. They fumbled through taking notes between touching the screen and needing to type. Two of the three that had them also had to have it plugged in (which surprised me, I will assume they didn't charge before they came though).

A few months later when we returned 2 of the 3 had their old laptops and didn't even bring their iPad with them to the school. By this time I had my Surface. I took it out, used the kickstand and type keyboard, used my Bluetooth mouse when necessary, and did not once need to attach external power.

I had several people ask me what my device was. I travel again in January and will be interested to see how many tablets make an appearance this time.

 

[WillysJeepMan]

For my graduate program I have to travel 2 times a year to the campus which is several hundred miles away. We have a lot to take with us and most people travel a lot further than I do so I wasn't surprised the first time I saw people in class with iPad's + a keyboard for it. Disliking Apple as much as I do I observed closely how this experiment went.

First they fumbled to get it to stand up and the keyboard the people had was not very good at holding it up or even transporting with the device. They fumbled through taking notes between touching the screen and needing to type. Two of the three that had them also had to have it plugged in (which surprised me, I will assume they didn't charge before they came though).

A few months later when we returned 2 of the 3 had their old laptops and didn't even bring their iPad with them to the school. By this time I had my Surface. I took it out, used the kickstand and type keyboard, used my Bluetooth mouse when necessary, and did not once need to attach external power.

I had several people ask me what my device was. I travel again in January and will be interested to see how many tablets make an appearance this time.

I can offer a different first hand account. I have a 64GB iPad 4 with a Logitech Ultrathin keyboard cover. I attended an intensive week-long training program 5 months ago and used this combination (at the time I used the Apple BT keyboard w/origami cover). 5 days, 9 hours of instruction per day. I started each day with a full charge. With wifi and Bluetooth continuously active and typing nearly the entire time, I ended the day with about 55% battery life.

I didn't fumble getting things set up. And the desks were actually those all-in-one chair with tiny writing surface. My classmates with laptops had to plug in at least twice during the 9 hours.
Since then, switching from the Apple keyboard w/origami to the Logitech ultrathin keyboard cover made a HUGE difference in portability with virtually no impact on the typing experience.

The iPad can absolutely be used for extended typing and document creation. My only gripe with the experience is the lack of hardware connectivity... no SD card, USB drives, etc. Printing is severely limited to those AirPrint-capable printers.

 

[Jas00555]

I can offer a different first hand account. I have a 64GB iPad 4 with a Logitech Ultrathin keyboard cover. I attended an intensive week-long training program 5 months ago and used this combination (at the time I used the Apple BT keyboard w/origami cover). 5 days, 9 hours of instruction per day. I started each day with a full charge. With wifi and Bluetooth continuously active and typing nearly the entire time, I ended the day with about 55% battery life.

I didn't fumble getting things set up. And the desks were actually those all-in-one chair with tiny writing surface. My classmates with laptops had to plug in at least twice during the 9 hours.
Since then, switching from the Apple keyboard w/origami to the Logitech ultrathin keyboard cover made a HUGE difference in portability with virtually no impact on the typing experience.

The iPad can absolutely be used for extended typing and document creation. My only gripe with the experience is the lack of hardware connectivity... no SD card, USB drives, etc. Printing is severely limited to those AirPrint-capable printers.

while I don't disagree with your experience, I would like to point out that you still have IOS 6, whereas numerous people I know who have IOS 7 have said that it kills their battery

 

[techiez]

there is some truth to it. people are much more interested in tablets than another laptop, or desktop, computer. the old laptop/desktop still does what it did 3 years ago, so instead of spending $700 on a new (and not much better) laptop/desktop...

they buy a tablet instead.

the tablet is extremely portable, has a very good picture/video capability, gps, wifi, and does a lot of things their normal laptop/desktop used to do.

it's not that this is an ipad thing, it's a -mobile- thing. see through the bias of my OS of choice vs your OS of choice vs their OS of choice, and enjoy the incredibly cheap, portable hardware available, right now.

I agree when you say that for some, tablets are indeed replacement if their needs are basic, but that said tech reviewers and analysts are expected to give a fair unbiased writeups and not like fan boys, delibrately hiding stuff to favor a particular product.

 

[thomas wojcik]

while I don't disagree with your experience, I would like to point out that you still have IOS 6, whereas numerous people I know who have IOS 7 have said that it kills their battery

Let me help you with that...How to Stop Your Battery from Draining After Updating to iOS 7 (iPad, iPhone, & iPod touch) ? iOS softModder

 

[WillysJeepMan]

while I don't disagree with your experience, I would like to point out that you still have IOS 6, whereas numerous people I know who have IOS 7 have said that it kills their battery

Good point. There have been too many horror stories about 7 that will keep me at 6 for as long as I own the device.

 

[theefman]

I thought drugs were illegal but its clear these analysts are high. Tell them to put down the pipe!

 

[ohgood]

I agree when you say that for some, tablets are indeed replacement if their needs are basic, but that said tech reviewers and analysts are expected to give a fair unbiased writeups and not like fan boys, delibrately hiding stuff to favor a particular product.

reviewers are getting closer to paid shills by the day. i'd much rather see what the first 10,000 people say that buy a product on amazon, that -one- persons 20 second video impression of a device.

that being said, the fanboys are just a minor annoyance. it's easy to see through it normally.

 

[unstoppablekem]

Surface 2>iPad air
Lumia 2520>iPad Air
Surface Pro 2>all iProducts combined

 

[S Rodrigo]

I have an Ipad 2, it works great as a decoration on my coffee table to show everyone how hipster I am, but when just browsing the internet or doing anything else I will use my laptop - Faster, easier, bigger screen, rests on the lap rather than havign to hold it, easily type, blah blah blah - tablets are not going to beat out laptops. Ipad is good for about the same as my e-ink kindle, for reading, not a whole lot else.

 

[xandros9]

Surface 2>iPad air
Lumia 2520>iPad Air
Surface Pro 2>all iProducts combined

while we're at it

Toyota > Nokia
Cisco > KRAFT foods

 

[fatclue_98]

I don't know about you, but I am not typing up a 3-page paper on an iPad. That would be horrendous. Also, congratulations on having one of the few printers with airprint. Most people don't have that.

To be fair, you don't need an AirPrint-compatible printer. I have PrinterShare on my work iPhone and iPad. It will print to any network printer but it's limited to Gmail only for email printing. PDFs, documents and photos print with no problems. I prefer KumoPrint on WP because I can print when I'm away from my office to a Google connected printer.

Not trying to stoke any fires, but fair is fair.

 

[fatclue_98]

while we're at it

Toyota > Nokia
Cisco > KRAFT foods

Tastes great > Less filling