iPad, Surface, Ultrabook: Are we there yet?

http://www.hanselman.com/blog/iPadSurfaceUltrabookAreWeThereYet.aspx

by jongalloway2 • 14 years ago

55 70 14 years ago

afsina• 14 years ago

Curious, no mention of the elephant in the room (Android).

pavanky2• 14 years ago

> I've been blogging here for a decade and I stand on my reputation for being fair and impartial to the best of my abilities.

ctrl + f "android"; none found. shrug. give up

AdamTReineke• 14 years ago

He does mention the Touchpad very briefly.

sbuk4• 14 years ago

What if he's got no experience using Android and sensibly decided to make no comment on it?

This insistence on balance is getting tedious. Humans like something better than others, often with prejudice. When I see someone claiming about bias or a lack of balance I just read it as the have a different opinion and want to whine about it.

officemonkey• 14 years ago

He doesn't really mention "the Ultrabook of Ultrabooks," the Mac Air, either. I think that's just because he doesn't have much experience of it.

If/when Apple decides to add a touch screen to their laptops, they will be extremely close to the perfect machine, IMHO.

skrebbel• 14 years ago

Maybe he doesn't own an android device?

It's a very personal article, about his and his family's personal experiences with a set of devices.

Personally, I like these kinds of articles best. Statistics are nice, but real usage reports like these are something that I can relate to a lot better.

cema• 14 years ago

I absolutely agree about the usage reports. Among other things, being professionally involved in computing (and having been professionally involved for all my adult life) skews my perspective, and it is important to see what the regular people do with computing devices and how they feel about it.

randomfool• 14 years ago

Also no mention of Chromebooks, which contrast the $1200 ultrabooks he mentions.

shanselman6• 14 years ago

I have a CR-48 that my mother in law uses for Email. It's a browser, and a slow one. I will mention it but my premise is that touch is essential.

bobbles• 14 years ago

IMO the perfect tablet would be a full size ipad in the ipad mini form factor with a retina display

codygman• 14 years ago

I'm not sure that is a reasonable resolution, I prefer 2560x1080.

seunosewa• 14 years ago

A full size iPad in the iPad mini form factor? I don't get what you mean; could you elaborate?

SquareWheel• 14 years ago

I'm guessing he means the screen resolution or DPI, but that's not really what "form factor" means so I'm not sure.

smegel• 14 years ago

> An Ultrabook (I have a generic) is a 11" or 13" laptop with a touch screen.

I don't think touch screens were a mandatory feature of ultrabooks. shrug

RexRollman2• 14 years ago

Personally speaking, I am not a fan of putting my fingers all over the display; I prefer having a clean screen.

ranqet4• 14 years ago

Hypothetically, if Apple were to allow the ability to run iOS/iPad apps within OS X, and put a touch screen on their laptops and desktops, would people use this?

This is basically what Windows has done with laptops and desktops with touch screens. I don't think I'm alone in feeling that it's weird and awkward.

tjoff2• 14 years ago

You are not supposed to use it on your desktop, not for the stuff you do on your desktop today anyway.

Hypothetically, if Apple were to allow the ability to run OS X apps within iOS and bundled a keyboard with their iPad, would people use it?

I would.

ranqet4• 14 years ago

Then what is the point of a touch screen on machines like the Dell XPS 27?

I think if given the choice between OSX versions of an app and iOS versions of an app, most would choose the OSX versions. For example, Tweetbot for iOS would be a pretty awkward experience compared to the OSX version.

InclinedPlane2• 14 years ago

Some degree of cross-pollination is desirable, at least in terms of usability for the average computer user. It would be a mistake to imagine that the particular limitations and constraints of either iOS or OS X as they exist today are global optimums.

ranqet4• 14 years ago

I agree, and we do see plenty iOS feature appear in OSX and vice-versa (notification center for instance).

But it should be kept in mind that we are dealing with separate paradigms. The way one uses a tablet is very different from the way a laptop used, and software should be designed along these lines.

InclinedPlane2• 14 years ago

Are we there yet?

I know Hanselman is very sophisticated and tech savvy, but this is utterly naive. We won't be "there" for years and years, this is still just the beginning. I suspect that the computers that people use in 2030 will be more different from the computers of today than those of today are from those of 1996. There will be many familiar elements of course, from desktop, laptop, and mobile hardware and software, but there will be just as much that is unfamiliar to us today.

The system-on-a-chip based computer is as much a revolution as the cpu-on-a-chip "micro-computer" was, and this will result in people using computers in new ways, people owning and using computers who never have before, and an explosion of innovation in computer software and technology.

DigitalJack• 14 years ago

We're already there and we'll never be there. The goal posts never stop moving. The trick is to remember where you thought the goal posts were a few years ago and realize how awesome things are now.

Joeri• 14 years ago

> Now that we can get 1080p resolution (or larger!) on a 13" or 11" screen there's less reason to go large.

I've tried the 11" macbook air and simply couldn't get over the fact that the screen is too dense/ small. The ipad, or even the mini, are fine, but that's because apps are designed for low information density / large font sizes. Desktop OS's simply don't fit well on screens below 13" unless you have excellent vision, which I don't. Windows 8's solution of lowering information densities to cope with small screens is a non-solution, because the reason to use a proper laptop is to be productive, and productivity requires information density. I expect the tide to turn and screens to become larger again. 13" is the bare minimum for me.

> The touch keyboard on the iPad is excellent, really

Again, not for me. I can't type properly on it. I'm using it right now and not liking the experience. I agree that it is as good as touch keyboards are going to get, but that simply is not good enough. I'm glad the tide is shifting and people are realizing that a proper keyboard attached to a tablet makes sense.

xxpor• 14 years ago

Psh. We can get a 1080p screen on a 4" phone. Where's the retina air?

rayiner2• 14 years ago

My prediction is that Haswell will free up enough power budget on the next MBA to fit in a Retina screen.

harshreality• 14 years ago

I agree about information density, and lousy options for keyboards also makes me avoid tablets for serious work.

However, less tech-savvy people -- you know, the type who get confused when there's more than one application window on screen at a time, or who gets confused when there's a tabbed web UI inside a tabbed browser -- are probably more productive with less information density, because it also means simpler and less-layered interfaces.

kijin• 14 years ago

> One day, someone will make the perfect computing device. Or will they? I'm starting to think it's just not possible.

I agree with you that it's not possible, but not for any of the reasons that you listed in your sizable blog post. Most of the things that you listed could technically be combined into a single, extremely expensive device. But the reason it is not possible to make "the perfect computing device" is not technical, it's philosophical.

General-purpose computing devices have such a wide range of uses and every day humans are coming up with so many new ways to use such devices, that it does not make any sense to cram them all into a single "perfect" device. "Perfect" is relative. Perfect for whom? A Ruby programmer who likes to hang out at Starbucks? A graphic designer who juggles $10K worth of Adobe software? A photographer who backpacks around the world, often in rugged terrain? A scientist who needs a way to visualize the latest data from his particle accelerator?

Give me the most perfect Ultrabook that you can find, and I'll still complain that it doesn't come with multiple screens. Give me the most perfect tablet/keyboard combo that you can find, and I'll still complain that it only comes with 1 terabyte of storage. Or that the keyboard doesn't have a numpad. Or that I only get 30fps on my favorite game. Or that the pixels are too large. Or too small. Or whatever. Because anything you think is good enough to count as perfect will be seen as terribly deficient by a lot of other people who have different needs, and vice versa.

For a while, I hoped that the success of data sync tools such as Dropbox would make ideas like "the perfect computing device" irrelevant. Because people in wealthy countries would just buy several devices, from 27" desktops to 7" tablets to 11" ultrabooks to 3.5" iPhones, sync them all, and use whichever device suited their needs at the moment. It would be the combination of all of them and the way a person makes use of them that would be perfect, not any individual device. But it seems that some people are still looking for the One Device to Replace Them All.

ImprovedSilence• 14 years ago

agreed. but please apple, for the love of god, let me have a file system on ios devices! that would be. so. close... and i could just dock that to any workstation ( monitor,keyboard,speaker,etc) i wanted to. maybe ipads runing osx in "launchpad" mode? but with access to the desktop when docked?

primitur4• 14 years ago

I'm using a Motorola Lapdock with an MK808 PC-on-a-stick right now to post this message. I'll never buy an Apple machine again; instead I'll just upgrade the PC-on-a-stick to something new, in a few months.

Everything my mega-Linux DAW workstation at home can do, this thing can now do. I don't need Apple; the ultra-light solution I can stash in my pocket, plug into my friends HDMI screen, or hook up to a lapdock, is all I need ..

msh2• 14 years ago

Could you expand on this? Googling the mk808 it sounds like its a tv device.

primitur4• 14 years ago

Yes, I built a user-upgradable ultra-notebook out of an MK808 and the (strangely) discontinued Lapdock, for ~$150. Had to make a cable, though..

The MK808 is a TV device! But its also an Ubuntu workstation. It runs Android and Ubuntu.

I plug it into the Lapdock: oila, user-upgradable laptop. I plug it into the TV: oila, I can play games and movies and so on. Time to do a backup - plug it into a USB hub and the home server images the disk. Time to get a new one? Put the old one in a drawer as a backup, buy something else that fits in the Lapdock for ~$80.

I write software, and right now I'm working exclusively in MOAI, so building the MOAI host in Ubuntu on the MK808 was a matter of an hour of work, and beyond that - I have a full-blown Ubuntu workstation to work with. When I want to play, switch to Android and off we go ..

It is truly fabulous!

gbrindisi• 14 years ago

I like the concept! What kind of work are you doing on it?

primitur4• 14 years ago

Purely software development work - Lua, C, some Python, a little Ruby, node.js at times.. but most Lua (in MOAI).

This rig functions at least as well as my Linux workstation for my work needs, and is upgradable to boot .. I really love it, I hope it catches on as a trend ..

MatthewPhillips3• 14 years ago

One of the coolest things about Windows RT is that you have access to the filesystem like on any normal computer, and the integration with cloud filesystems like SkyDrive and Box.net. These are treated as just another drive and are available from the file picker. Dropbox isn't there yet but I imagine it is coming.

josteink4• 14 years ago

I fail to see how this is different from any Android tablet, except artificially crippled.

The Windows RT tablets will have the "desktop" mode, but refuse to run any desktop apps not shipped with the device. You can't compile a standard Windows-application for ARM, copy it over and have it run. That's a no go.

On Android-tablets, you can whip up a terminal and execute any binary you like, no matter where it came from.

You can compile Linux user-land tools for ARM and use them as you please. In fact somebody already did that job for you so you can just deploy them on your tablet.

I fail to see how Windows RT offers anything which haven't already been here for years.

MatthewPhillips3• 14 years ago

Android doesn't have a file picker. I can't open Random App and open a file from the internal storage or cloud providers.

I'm not saying Windows RT is perfect or even that good, I'm just saying that this one particular thing, they got right.

rayiner2• 14 years ago

I recently tried an experiment in downsizing everything to an iPad. On one hand, an iPad + good keyboard cover (e.g. Zagg Keys Pro) makes for a very capable machine. You have to adopt a less schizophrenic workflow, but the basics are all there: e-mail correspondence, reading documents, light composition/editing of documents, etc.

On the other hand, it's not a super enjoyable platform for programming just yet. Emacs-ing into an AWS account works great, but the 10" isn't big enough for two buffers side-by-side. A 13" screen is just perfect for two 80x25 buffers.

I ended up getting an Air to supplement. It doesn't replace my iPad--reading and marking up PDF's (which I do a lot while researching cases) is just a joy on an iPad between the Retina display and touch manipulation.

This arrangement doesn't achieve the dream of consolidation, but: 1) together they're no heavier than my 13" MBP; 2) it's super handy to have the second screen.

I'm not thrilled about the combo devices. They all involve substantial compromises, which is why I assume Apple has stayed away so far. And as a practical matter, I think a 3 pound MBA + 1.5 pound iPad, with a combined 16+ hours of WiFi-enabled battery life, is more manageable in practice than a 3.5 pound convertible with 4-5 hours of battery life.

Out of the combo devices, I think the dockables actually have the most promise, though there isn't a good one yet. I'd love to see something like the Asus TF810C (dockable Clovertrail Windows 8 machine), except without the garish spun metal backing and with a Retina-class display: http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/en_US/pd/ThemeID....

mtgx• 14 years ago

Sorry, but there won't be a "perfect computer", if by perfect computer you understand the convergence of smartphones, tablets and laptops.

Smartphones are too small for a lot of tasks now, tablets are mostly used for consumption and when you're mostly static, not mobile, hybrids have a lot of compromises between weight, mobility, price, size, etc, and laptops will be mainly used for work. Plus, look at this trend - we've been using more devices, not fewer.

If anything the ultimate computer will end up being the smartphone, because you have it all the time with you, if certain technologies make it a lot more flexible in what you can do with it in the future, like say holographic stuff. But by the time the smartphone can do that, we may see those technologies in totally new devices, like smart glasses or watches, or who knows.

If you look at the whole computing industry since mainframes until smartphones, we can see at least 3 trends that seem to always be true, with each new generation of "computing device". They are cheaper, smaller, and easier to use. So the next generation of computing devices, whatever that is, should also have those three attributes. And with each generation, we'll probably continue to use the past 2-3 generations for stuff the new one isn't very capable of, although less and less.

rdl• 14 years ago

My favorite portable device right now is an MBA13 with an iPad (4) in the same bag. Use the iPad for reading long documents or very minor editing, and the MBA13 for everything else.

jarcoal2• 14 years ago

This is my setup as well, except I use an ipad mini. It's the best computing arrangement I've ever had.

rjzzleep• 14 years ago

nope, going to take a while before the batteries catch up. 2014 was intels prediction. hopefully it'll be earlier than that.

perlpimp• 14 years ago

"You eraserhead people are weird."

TrackPoint has been the most efficient way to get cursor around the screen. Touch interfaces are somewhat there but as per professional software development they are not. And so for other areas. Touch interfaces are inefficient, moving hands around is more difficult then fiddling with track point - as what we weirdos do.

Anyway. Its stupid. What you want doesn't matter, what is amazing will come and bite you and you will be surprised. Thats how it works. Period. "Or Revolution will not be televized" etc etc..

shanselman6• 14 years ago

I hear you but if that were the case, wouldn't the iPad have a Trackpoint? Seems the TrackPoint will always be a niche, like the SpaceOrb - a superior controller, unquestionably, but still the one that lost.

JosephHatfield• 14 years ago

If a screen could be developed that could be adjusted to different sizes as needed, that would make a single unified computing device much more feasible.

iPad, Surface, Ultrabook: Are we there yet?

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