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LOL. I think “Ubuntu-based netbook” immediately separates you from 90%+ of those contemplating Tablet vs PC vs BOTH (and by PC I’ll include my new Mac Air). There’s a lot of “consuming” out there, but for many, an iPad is enough for their “creating” needs. Me? Ubuntu-lovers? Probably not enough, but in my case, I maintain an arsenal of both PC and tablet.
However, let’s identify a new facet to tablet vs PC’s –> where PC’s never worked. Tablets are being deployed to workforces, fleets, line workers and customer-facing roles in ways that weren’t physically convenient with a PC. Even PC-era pen-based tablets were too cumbersome. Form-factor, multi-touch and Apps = cool ways to enable a workforce (including productivity gains).
There may be power users out there, but let’s admit that there’s an awful lot of PC desktops out there that are just expensive Solitaire-machines with email and some word/excel. TCO for tablets vs PC’s? A driver for displacement.
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What about just going back to what Sun was trying to do with their take on dumb terminals. Remember when they said “The network is the computer”? That would certainly address the expensive solitaire machines.
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Don’t underestimate Ubuntu. It’s free, fast, easy to use, reliable, and I’ve yet to find a serious bug – and I’ve been using Ubuntu since release 7. It’s a great way to extend the life of older PCs, vastly superior to anything Microsoft has ever produced, and very, very functional even for non-computer types.
That being said, I’m now using a MacBook Air on the road as well, replacing the Ubuntu netbooks, Windows-XP PCs, and the iPad, which really didn’t work out well at all.
Thx. Craig.
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I’m with Nicholas’s point made above. Whilst a tablet may not win out over a PC in many usage scenarios, there are many mobile scenarios where the PC was never appropriate during the last 30 years and where the tablet will be. In these potentially transactional and highly mobile field roles the tablet could usher in some enormous productivty gains across multiple sectors.
In health this could unlock massive productivity gains by giving staff access to two way electronic communication and the ability to view and update records where no records have been visible before, e.g. the point of care and most importantly at any point of care.
I too couldn’t give up my laptop entirely for a tablet at least not for 20% of the time.
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Agreed John. Some of the most exciting potential uses of tablets are in healthcare (and retail) IMO.
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Using an iPad 2 for a few weeks now and I am one with an opposite opinion. While I won’t throw away my netbook compeletly I had cut about 90% off here.
There’s now only ver few times I open my netbook and while travelling I leave the netbook at home.
The iPad changed my work life a lot. Interestingly my use of the iPhen went down too. The iPad is definately NOT a big iPhone as it has different use scenarios but I tried to use my iPhone as a “netbook replacement” very often. It’s a wrong use and of course doomed to fail – especially for the average user – but it shows how much I was willing to cut back my netbook use
So yes, I am definately not an “average user” in any kind.
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Why the intense desire to force people to choose one over the other?
It seems to me that prices are in the range where you can have multiple devices and use the one that is most appropriate for the activity and environment. People will have multiple devices as a rule, not as the exception. Therefore the discussion should focus on the data distribution and management aspects (shared data plans across devices, data security and data synchronization) rather than the form factor. Just my humble opinion…
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Agreed. I have about 25 PCs and related devices, about half of which are mobile. But how many can you carry simultaneously? I’m not going to carry a notebook and a tablet; my bag is already overstuffed. How about we virtualize the tablet (you pick which one, and hire the requisite attorneys) to run on a notebook? Apart from the legal issues, I see a big future for this idea.
Thx. Craig.
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I’m with Alan – buy two! buy three! If Craig’s post were trying to say that tablets were somehow a fad and droves would return to PC’s? Not going to happen. Mobile devices will be applied in more uses cases than we can imagine. Some PC fleet displacement will occur (arguably evidenced by European PC numbers last quarter). Some (like me) will operate many devices. To Alan’s point – figure out how to secure and manage ‘em.
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I too agree that choice is good…and yes, we will in all likelihood carry two or three devices. @ansyder is correct to say that data distribution and management is going to be key moving forward, but I do have to wonder what (if any) impact the proliferation of device form factors will have on mobile application development and management. In the old days, it was develop an app for Wintel or MacOS….then it became iOS vs. Android vs. BlackBerry vs. Windows Phone….and now we’re going to have to deal with tablet vs. smartphone specific apps. Mobile application development is going to get increasingly complex….as is mobile application management.
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Chaos, complete chaos. The form factors are going to continue to change and evolve so that smartphones and tablets are only the tip of the iceberg. Why doesn’t my car navigation system have access to my calendar and next meeting location? Why can’t I access my corporate systems via my TV at home? Maybe these devices will synch directly with my personal or corporate cloud or maybe they will get data directly from one of my many devices. All of these things and much more will be possible in the future.
The Enterprise and the management vendors that serve them will have to figure out how to make it secure and usable, because the mobile technology adoption wave cannot be stopped.
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Last year I bought an iPad 1 to complement my iMac at work and my Macbook Pro 15″ (weighing in at 6lbs) which I carried everywhere. What I found was that I stopped carrying my MacBook Pro 90% of the time, sometimes not at all for 1-2 day business trips (with short flights). So, it was the perfect trifecta. However, this all changed when I switched to a MacBook Air (weighing in at 3 lbs). That changed everything and because it was so light – not much more than my iPad – I found myself carrying both it and the iPad again. The new Airs are all solid state, quick on, and more architecturally like an iPad. It screwed up my trifecta and I find I carry my Air everywhere, and my iPad 2 is relegated to a lot of home use (reading, watching video, basically consuming content). If I had to ditch anything, it will probably be my iMac at the office next.
My point is that all these devices are getting closer and closer in weight, App capabilities and “always on.” That’s what’s going to make the difference over time. But I can’t lose a real PC because I still write a lot and need to do things that typing on a laptop is just so much easier and enjoyable
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Ditto. I keep the iPad 1 on my desk for calendar and CNBC feeds. I’m getting an iPad 2 to put under the couch for quick searches while watching TV.
Most iPads are used for gaming and media consumption. No surprise there. I stand by my initial comment (posted in my blog at Network World) that the iPad is a big iPod. It’s not a substitute for a notebook, at least not for the vast majority of users out there. I mean, would Apple slit their own throats? They clearly see this observation as reality.
Thx. Craig.
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The Optimal Device Mix: Back to the Notebook?
OK, so I undertook a personal experiment around the beginning of the year to see if I could in fact ditch the notebook and go 100% tablet – in my case, no surprise, an iPad 1. I am as susceptible, after all, to clever marketing as any other consumer, but, to be fair, the iPad is the most mature of any of the contemporary consumer-grade tablets, so why not start there? The experiment consisted of shelving my usual Ubuntu-based netbook (I gave up on Windows notebooks long ago for other than lab-based testing and product evaluations) for the iPad. My mobile work life is pretty much Web-centric (including e-mail; Web-based e-mail is the only way to go, IMHO), with a few personal productivity apps thrown in. I still use Microsoft Office on the Mac (Farpoint Group is a 100% Mac shop for personal computing), and spend the bulk of my working time either researching (consuming content, mostly from the Web) or creating content – documents, presentations, spreadsheets – sound familiar? Much more time is spent creating than consuming.
In general, I like the iPad’s size, weight, performance (even the 1 is pretty snappy), ease-of-use, and convenience. I don’t like the purely touch-screen interface; I occasionally get the wrong result when gesturing or tapping, and finger-based resolution can’t match the mouse or similar pointing device. The on-screen keyboard is fine for entering a URL, but generally a pain for typing even a short column like this one. Add-on Bluetooth keyboards? Sure, an improvement, but more to buy and carry. Hey, I wonder if a Bluetooth mouse works with the iPad… The biggest issue has been the lack of both a file browser (a major oversight unless one assumes that the iPad is really just a big iPod) and native MS Office support. The Office-alikes available are by and large pretty good, but none, in my experience, is 100% compatible. Sorry, that’s a requirement for me and I think most business users don’t want to carry more than a handset and one other larger-screened device. Just one. That’s key here.
But you get my point, I’m sure. Me, I’ve concluded that I’m not going to be able to move away from a notebook to a tablet at this time. I think tablets as a replacement for the notebook in business settings make sense when one is simply consuming content, as opposed to creating it, and for vertical and command-and-control (think, for example, TV remote control) apps. But, sadly, MS Office is what I need to accomplish most of what I do, and a shiny new MacBook Air is now on order. Apple gets my money no matter what; like I said, the best marketing firm in the galaxy.
I know many who are taking the opposite approach – ditching the notebook, ditching the complex OS, and going 100% tablet. Again, if one’s job involves primarily consuming content, transaction processing, or if one is seeking a device for other than business use (the big iPod), then by all means consider a tablet. And, by the way, that means Android, PlayBook, WebOS, or maybe something else (Windows 8, anyone?). The choice of platform probably won’t matter much in the long run, unless one is comforted by the availability of way more apps than one could ever read about, let alone use. The future for consumers and business users alike is in the cloud, and this implies that the increasingly-inaccurately-named browser is the most important component of all. And, well, the iPad is certainly nothing to write home about in this department.