Well, that and the whole instant on OS thing. The whole light-weight thing. These aren't tablets, they're slate systems. They're the netbook equivalent of a keyboardless tablet, whereas most existing full sized tablets still have a keyboard hidden underneath. There is the Joojoo, and a handful of just-over-the-horizon tegra slates and android slates... Other than the Joojoo though, iPad beat all of them to market. The Joojoo isn't really quite ready for prime time either... I bet the Android slates when all combined should sell pretty well in the long run, maybe even almost matching the iPad...

Not just advertising, but lots and lots of good press from a media establishment that drools over apple products.

The Archos 9 is pretty cool, but has some problematic limitations. Namely, the OS that it runs isn't very good for quickly picking it up and getting things accomplished, its hard drive is the spinning platter kind, which means the whole thing is fairly fragile... I wouldn't mind having one, but I'd definitely replace windows 7 with something else, and even then it probably wouldn't be as fast as an iPad or even an android tablet.

If it had an SD card slot and a SSD, I might buy one and set it up for Ubuntu dual-booting.

True, but so is texting on a tiny qwerty pad, so is typing on iphone keyboard. People still do it. Sometimes it isn't the convenience of using the interface, but the convenience of carrying the product around that has the interface even if it happens to be less powerful than some other method. When I was a palmOS user, I entered many short notes using the Palm Graffiti pen system. It was slow and inconvenient, but it was often more convenient than pulling out my GoType keyboard for those quick replies and quick notes.

When I needed to take notes in class though, the GoType was perfect for me.

Ah, the lovely joys of apps:

People text because there's not any other good alternative in general when they have to text. If I get a text message, I can go to a computer or an iPad an try to answer with MSN/ICQ,..., but the situation calls to text to answer (that's what the other person is expecting, maybe I don't have a PC or iPad around,...).

But we are talking here about an iPad threatening Windows, which means situations where you can use a PC or an iPad. One of those situations is your house for example, and unless you just want to type a short tweet or things like that (where the fast iPad start is pretty useful), as soon as you need to type more or are going to be a little longer than that, what's the reason of not using the PC with a physical keyboard?

First, you're forgetting an entire subset of the population that will text no matter where they are... Teenagers. And you're forgetting where people will be using this device. In bed, on the couch, on the porch. None of these are places a desktop computer would sit, and a laptop is more cumbersome and generates a lot more heat than these things do. Sure, if you're sitting at your desk, then a PC is greatly preferred. If you're on the couch though, a PC is going to be a lot less convenient. That's the idea of the other link I provided. This device manages to carve another slice off all of the tasks that a PC would be preferred for. I mean, if you're relaxing and checking on blogs and such, would you rather be chained to a desk, have a roasty hot laptop in your lap, or be holding onto a moderately sized and light picture frame... People like me will still use the PC for most things, but for many people this will cut their home desk pc time in half, or down to a quarter of normal.

All that aside, the idea behind the ipad clamshell case with the bluetooth keyboard in it is attractive. The heat-generating part is away from the lap, and the keyboard can be removed and stowed when it isn't needed...

I just hope that it works with whatever slate device I end up buying.

True, I have similar feelings, but the fact that I can't hack it means I don't actually own it. I know the same is true with my PSP, but I have different standards for what I consider single purpose devices vs. general purpose computing. I also think that Apple is throwing the baby out with the bathwater with regards to Flash. Flash is a lousy language, a lousy program, but instead of just banning flash and apps made with flash, they decide to be overly restrictive and ban Lua, C#, Python, Java, Ruby, Lisp, Snobol, Go, Perl, Boo, Algol, Ada, Scheme and every other language that isn't Javascript/C++/Objective C... That's heavy handed in my view. I've recently told my wife that we're no longer buying apple products, and I'm looking for an alternative to the Ipod Nanos that she loves so much...

It's better to do it the same way that the iPad and most other portable consumer electronics does it though. Through an improved sleep mode. Booting up from scratch still takes time, even on the iPad. That's why it almost never boots up from scratch. You turn it off, and it actually just goes to sleep. You're right about reworking the hardware though. Most PC hardware doesn't really go to sleep. It shuts completely off, then when the PC wakes from sleep it has to reinitialize things. Still, it's faster than booting up, but still could take several seconds to complete. With things like IVTV cards this could mean reloading the card's firmware from the OS.

So, how about all of the other criteria?  Price for one thing. Macbook Air costs almost 3x what the entry level model of the iPad does. I suspect it probably isn't as quick to start using as well. Also, the applications aren't designed for the same paradigm. They're designed for a sitting-at-your-desk paradigm and laptops have always been poor imitations of this. Not to mention the spinning hard disk, making it a fragile thing. You can't just move it around when using it, a slightly too sharp bump can damage the platters. Enough of those and the system starts crawling and eventually fails.

I disagree. If that was the case many notebooks would be failing a month after purchase.

I don't know. OSX is pretty snappy.

Only if you haven't used Windows 7 on the same hardware.  I've done the Apples to Apples comparisons and there's no contest.

I think a lot of people are missing the point,

Frogboy doesnt appear to be arguing that the iPad will kibosh windows, just that these features and the experience show that iPad-likes are a critical threat to windows PCs, in terms of how people use their computers at home and on the go.  So the particular failings of the iPad don't matter all that much.

As has already been pointed out tho, Microsoft figured out long before Apple that tablets were the future, they just couldn't deliver.  Probably because its a question of hardware as much as software and MS doesnt build stuff really.  I bet the only reason MS hasnt already acquired a hardware manufacturer is the anti-trust regulators...

I also think that instant-on cannot be underestimated... I don't think people slagging instant on have really used an instant on product for any length of time.  I got an iPod touch for christmas and ive used it extensively; i never would have bought it myself. instant on renders all of its functions drastically more convenient. if i can pull it out of my pocket and open up the weather report/eBook/map in like 2 seconds, I can actually use those damn things as I'm walking around.  I'd tried using smartphones similarly before but even their short delays rendered the process of using them an order of magnitude more tiresome.

it does raise the question, what big feature comes after instant on? My thought: wireless computing.  I hate lugging around all these god damn wires, especially the power cord.  I know companies have flirted with such technologies (even for power) but not on a large scale.

Well not for me. I'll continue using a Windows based PC. No ipad or ipad like device will ever fufill all the things I need to do or want to do with my PC.

My post is less than 10 seconds with my current setup. Booting Windows is less than 50 seconds. Fast enough for me.

I have 4 kids and it is interesting to watch how they use computers. They mainly use a web interface to do the things they like. I suspect that most of us here learned how to use a computer WELL because we liked games. Wanting to play a game made me learn more about the OS that i use than any other thing that I can think of.

My kids play their games on an Xbox 360. They did not have to learn to use a computer the way I did to get a game to work with everything else that is running (antivirus, etc). Any device that will let them use the internet easily. is going to be something they will naturally gravitate toward. They do not know as much about a computer and they really do not want to learn about it to do the things they like to do.

Watching the strategies of google, microsoft etc - they are all seem to be williing to move to web based applications since they see the market shifting by people who spends ooddles of time on facebook and the like. I think the ipad is aimed at that same generation. That is why so many companies are all trying to come up with some type of tablet that is easy to use.

More than INSTANT ON - I think EASY Configuration (it just works) is even more a sale feature for the majority. Most people hate having to call the geek in their family to help them as much as we hate having to go over to their house just to get their computer back in shape (just os they can get their email and get on facebook).

Windows Mobile already works on ARM. A full fledged Windows 7 would be dog slow on Arm though. The problem with taking Windows 7 to any platform other than x64/x86 would be that any software that isn't .NET would not work...

 

 

And let's face it:  despite being established in the cell phone space, nobody really wants a winmo phone.  I can't see anybody getting excited about a winmo tablet. 

But while on the topic of what everybody else is doing:  Why are there both Android and Chrome tablets coming soon (TM)?  Does that make even a whisp of sense to anyone? 

I disagree. What will happen (and is happening at the moment) is simply market segmentation coupled with growth. It's not like we're going to see a demise in home PCs and laptops, since people still want something with a large screen, keyboard and some form of Office on their computer. Gamers are not going to give up their machines. Power users will want something that has a keyboard and all those programs they need (compilers, LaTeX, VMs, IDEs).

The new tablets are a great way to ensure you switch your PC on less frequently by using them to check for e-mail and browse the web. They're also great to use on the go, e.g. in cafes. But apart from that, I wouldn't want to use the device for anything else, and I still need a full-blown computer at home to do everything else, entertainment included. And I would say this is the case for others as well.