News - People are increasingly replacing PCs with tablets

[j.o.s.h.1408]

like i said, good luck to your children doing their assignments on a tablet. 1000 word essays etc. should be fun on a virtual keyboard

[aidanjt]

Easily done.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Easily done.

TBH,I would consider the Eee Pad Transformer more of a netbook/tablet hybrid. However,a more developed version of such a device would probably replace a laptop quite easily as it combines the best of both worlds!

Windows 8 is being released for ARM processors for example and even Samsung is working on a 2GHZ dual core smartphone processor.

[aidanjt]

Tegra 2 has quite a bit of omph as it is. Especially for android and what you can do with it. I think a 13" screen option wouldn't hurt, though. I have excellent eye sight and I consider my 8.9" aspire one a bit of a pain to read from.

[mrochester]

like i said, good luck to your children doing their assignments on a tablet. 1000 word essays etc. should be fun on a virtual keyboard

http://store.apple.com/uk/product/MC...co=MTg1ODcyOTM

[Saracen]

IMO many people use there pc's for heavy word processing. most families need to write some sort of letter to someone. Also what about people with kids? good luck doing there assignments in a tablet.

right now i just cant see how a typical uk family can adopt fully on a tablet. whether we like it or not, most of us have to do some sort of word processing at some period in ours or our family members lives and a tablet is not up to scratch.

for strict web browsing yea thats fine but not for word processing or any professional use.

i cant see a typical solicitors office dumping pc's for tablets any time soon either. Also, what about connecting there ipod touch or iphone to there tablet? you currently cant do that in ipad 2 right? which goes to my point about attaching any usb device into it. you cant.

what about downloading your favourite holiday photo's from your point and shoot camera? nope no chance on a tablet. see where i am getting? many flaws and limitations for a typical UK family household.

a typical family household would use a pc for this:

downloading there music and transfering to there phones and usb devices
watching movies
doing word processing
browsing internet
printing files(again, can u attach a printer to a tablet yet?)
transfering and storing pictures from your camera or even camcorder
playing famville games

In a nutshell, a table can only do some of the above, not all.

Lots of people don't have kids, and/or have kids that now have kids of their own. A few letters is not, in my view anyway, anything remotely resembling heavy WP. Not everybody has any interest in watching movies on a tablet. I don't for a start. I transfer and store pictures from my camera on a Creative Labs MP3 player that's about 5 years old, so there's certainly no inherent reason why a tablet can't do it.

Like I said, a tablet will do everything many people will use a PC for, though clearly not everything every would need. Some people will find it adequate for all their needs, and for some, it'll be an adjunct to other hardware. And, also like I said, that's with tablets as they are now. Give them a couple of generations, and who knows?

They certainly aren't a universal PC replacement yet, and may well never (short of Star Trek time frames) be so. But even for heavy WP .... I do most of my WP these days using voice recognition. Now, I wouldn't want to try that on a tablet at the moment, due to hardware limitations, but in two, or five, or ten years????

IMHO, tablets are here to stay. They're currently a bit niche, but its a significant and growing niche, and for many purposes and many users, the way of the future, and it isn't that far off.

[McPhee]

IMO many people use there pc's for heavy word processing. most families need to write some sort of letter to someone. Also what about people with kids? good luck doing there assignments in a tablet.

right now i just cant see how a typical uk family can adopt fully on a tablet. whether we like it or not, most of us have to do some sort of word processing at some period in ours or our family members lives and a tablet is not up to scratch.

for strict web browsing yea thats fine but not for word processing or any professional use.

i cant see a typical solicitors office dumping pc's for tablets any time soon either. Also, what about connecting there ipod touch or iphone to there tablet? you currently cant do that in ipad 2 right? which goes to my point about attaching any usb device into it. you cant.

what about downloading your favourite holiday photo's from your point and shoot camera? nope no chance on a tablet. see where i am getting? many flaws and limitations for a typical UK family household.

a typical family household would use a pc for this:

downloading there music and transfering to there phones and usb devices
watching movies
doing word processing
browsing internet
printing files(again, can u attach a printer to a tablet yet?)
transfering and storing pictures from your camera or even camcorder
playing famville games

In a nutshell, a table can only do some of the above, not all.

The iPad has been able to read photos and videos from SD cards and cameras since launch. It can also print. In fact, the only thing it can't do on that list is transfer media to other devices.

Still, I get the overall point. Is it just me, or does this poll say "8% of iPad and Galaxy Tab owners bought their tablet instead of buying a new computer" rather than "8% of... no longer own a computer"? The iPad certainly isn't at a point where it's self-sufficient. While you can work around everything else, you still can't update the firmware without connecting to a computer.

I'm hoping Windows 8 works well on tablet PCs to be honest. I find the form factor more practical and with Windows there would be no worries about self-sufficiency. I'd grab a Windows tablet now if it wasn't for the poor battery life, poor touch UI and lack of applications designed to work with touch input. Fix that and I'll buy

[crossy]

The iPad has been able to read photos and videos from SD cards and cameras since launch.

I'm interested in this - I thought the iPad couldn't do this without some (expensive?) add-on, because there was no USB nor SD slots - just the usual Apple multiconnector?

The iPad certainly isn't at a point where it's self-sufficient. While you can work around everything else, you still can't update the firmware without connecting to a computer.

I strongly suspect that the Galaxy et al have the same restriction - that they're firmly secondary devices because you need a Windows/Mac PC to do firmware uploads (note, no Linux!).

Unlike a lot of folks though, I'm in no particular hurry to see a "tabletised" version of "proper" operating systems on these devices - e.g. Windows7/8 Tablet Edition. I remain to be convinced that these aren't just horrible kludges, and that a proper "mobile" OS (Android, iOS, WebOS) isn't a far better idea. In fact, the only device I'd have Win7TE on would be the Dell Inspiron Duo - I really like that as a design.

like i said, good luck to your children doing their assignments on a tablet. 1000 word essays etc. should be fun on a virtual keyboard

I know a couple who'd try it - heck, my daft eldest thinks that Notes on the iPod Touch is good enough to write short stories with.

[mikerr]

I'm interested in this - I thought the iPad couldn't do this without some (expensive?) add-on, because there was no USB nor SD slots - just the usual Apple multiconnector?

yep it's a £25 add-on, but it was available from launch day:
http://store.apple.com/uk/product/MC531ZM/A