iDon'tGetIt

[gooddamon]

Someone please explain to me the appeal of tablet computers. I just don't get it. For plain old media consumption, I suppose there's some convenience with the slim form-factor. It's probably easy to take a tablet to the bedroom to watch a movie or surf the web. But that's the only use I can really see for it. And a laptop fulfills that function

Comments

[amberdine]

I thought iPhones were dumb... until I got a hand-me-down one for free (no service, just wifi). Now I use it constantly and have an iPad on order, because an iPad will do my most important tasks even better

[gooddamon]

Aha! Exactly why I asked. That is a very well stated explanation for the appeal. I must admit, I don't feel that appeal myself, but now I think I can understand it.

In my case, I use a bunch of apps like that on my phone, but my solution to the larger-screen-for-productivity problem is that all the apps I use sync online, so I can do the heavy lifting with a full computer. I would find having to carry my phone and my tablet around very annoying.

Once you have your ipad, you should let everyone know whether it lives up to the hype and fulfills your needs better than a smartphone.

[seventorches]

I have wanted a tablet ever since I first saw Diana Sherman's at a con a few years ago. I like the possibility of being able to treat it like a paper notebook ( I'm probably the only person on the planet to actively desire handwriting recognition). She was using hers to grade papers because it meant she could mark them up with comments and circles and arrows and stuff in red virtual pen. I prefer the compactness of not having to have a keyboard. Obviously I'm in the minority, but the virtual keyboard on the iPad isn't that heinous for light work. My personal vision of what an ideal slate would be like is really more like the demos I've seen of MS Courier and the HP slate. But Jobs got there first with the iPad. You want a stand. I actively don't want a stand. The keyboard dock provides the physical keyboarding if you really want that(and I'm not arguing that it's not useful or necessary for some stuff). Honestly a laptop *can't* do everything a slate can do (and remember the iPad isn't a true slate computer, not yet anyway). But the

[gooddamon]

Now that sounds like the first real reason I personally might enjoy owning a tablet computer: Public readings. I too have read from my laptop while standing, and it's a bit of a pain. I hadn't thought of that usage.

[gooddamon]

Those are very good reasons, I must say. One thing's clear: I'm definitely *not* the target market for these things. I don't like to do any real reading on anything smaller than a full-size laptop monitor, and since almost all of my data is "cloud"-based now, I don't need to sync anything.

But I definitely understand why some people would get along really well with the format now. Heck, I can actually think of a few people a tablet might make a good gift for as an introduction to computing.

[ruralwriter]

I am tempted by the iPad primarily because I want to be able to read. Really, that's it. I want to be able to pull up Fantasy magazine, or Wikipedia, or Gutenberg...and read. I don't want to replace my laptop because I can't imagine doing a lot of writing on an iPad...but...lightweight reading and constant internet? Sure.

I don't have a smartphone cause they're too weensy for me. Puny. Bah. Bah.

On a completely unrelated note, I remember when my husband was doing pen-based computing 16 years ago (the long-ago precursor to the tablet). Whew, that market got killed (through buyouts).

[nitemayr]

My tablet IS a tablet with a built in stand...