
Tablets Are Not Killing Laptops - techieinafrica
http://www.iafrikan.com/2014/05/31/tablets-laptops/
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beloch
Laptops were supposed to kill the desktop, but they're still around. The
obsolescence rate for desktops dropped off sharply so sales have slumped, but
they're still being used a _lot_. Laptops, especially small form-factor ones,
have historically been underpowered. However, they're also reaching the point
where they're going to last for years and years if they're not deliberately
hamstrung by soldered on batteries, etc.. No doubt manufacturers saw this
coming and hence, tablets became the next big thing.

Tablets, at present, are almost all underpowered. Even the performance king,
the Surface 3, reportedly doesn't have quite enough horse-power to push its
newly expanded stable of pixels. For this reason, tablet sales are going to
remain hot for a few years at least, even if tablets claim relatively few
hours of use versus laptops or computers.

A big question of concern for electronics manufacturers is: What's next? Once
tablets start lasting for years and years, what is the next big thing that
will let them keep growing sales?

~~~
privong
> A big question of concern for electronics manufacturers is: What's next?
> Once tablets start lasting for years and years, what is the next big thing
> that will let them keep growing sales?

It seems as though people are hoping wearables will become the next big thing.
If the UI, battery life, and independence (i.e., making them usable without
needing a phone) can be sorted out, I think it's a possibility. But the
margins will be much smaller.

~~~
bluthru
Wearables seem to be more about sensors versus where people spend their time
with media, doing work, or socializing.

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Scramblejams
Only semi-relatedly, that Facebook sharing overlay is horrible. It comes up
three seconds after the page loads -- I haven't even had time to read the
piece yet, how could I possibly know whether I want to share it! And reading
the piece? Can't with that monstrosity in the way. And there's no obvious
affordance to make it disappear, you have to guess that clicking somewhere
makes it go away.

Poorly conceived on every level.

~~~
bigbugbag
I had no such thing happen to me, don't know if it's because I block
everything facebook or because I disable javascript by default.

Point is nowadays most websites try really hard to get in the way between
visitor and content to push for some pointless marketing. Disabling javascript
or at least third party javascript is the modern popup blocker.

Maybe give a try to noscript or requestpolicy with firefox, no advice for
opera which used to be something but now is just a skin for google chrome,
speaking of which if you're using google chrome you deserve to suffer through
overlays.

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martin-adams
>> The Surface Pro 2 can run full Windows 8 apps and services too, but it is
with the Surface Pro 3 that the Surface has finally matured.

I've been running a Surface Pro 2 since February and I can say that this is a
very mature product. It has replaced my quad core laptop with 24GB RAM because
it handles exactly what I need.

I'm running PHP Storm, Photoshop, 2 x 1080p displays + the surface display,
Virtual Box with 2-3 Ubuntu VMs running, all while using Skype, Spotify,
Backblaze, Google Drive, etc, etc.

~~~
WorldWideWayne
I've had a Surface Pro since it was released and I love it.

It's better than any Apple product that I've ever owned. Instead of forcing
opinionated workflows on me and artificially limiting my options, I get to
work the way that _I_ want to and if I need Unix, it's running in a VM.

~~~
Touche
It's weird of you to say that given that the Surface RT has the artificial
limitation of only being able to run apps from their app store.

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mhurron
The RT and Pro are not the same thing. Notice how everyone is praising the Pro
specifically. You're more comparing a MacBook Air to a iPad and asking why is
everyone developing on OS X when the iPad is so limited.

The RT really should have never existed, it's a horrible mark on the Surface
line.

~~~
Touche
How are they "not the same thing"? The only difference is the chip
architecture. That's like saying a PowerPC Mac and a first-gen Intel Mac are
"not the same thing". That's ridiculous. That they placed artificial
limitations on the ARM version definitely is a black mark on the Surface.

I really don't get the love of the Pro though. They are heavy and don't get
good battery life. That's fine for a laptop thing, but not for a tablet. And
because of the compromises necessary to make it _both_ , it just strikes me as
a poor laptop and a poor tablet.

~~~
martin-adams
>> How are they "not the same thing"? The only difference is the chip
architecture

A change in CPU architecture has a much wider impact. Windows on ARM cannot
run all the legacy windows applications. That definitely "not the same thing"
when you need those applications.

When Apple moved from PowerPC to Intel, my next Mac meant I had to throw out
hundreds of pounds worth of software because, "they are not the same thing"
and Final Cut Pro PowerPC version didn't not emulate on Intel.

Yes it's heavy compared to other tablets, but far more comfortable in a tablet
environment than any laptop.

~~~
Touche
Windows on ARM can run any software compiled for Windows on ARM. It can run
Notepad because they compiled Notepad to run on ARM. It can run Office because
they compiled Office to run on ARM.

They arbitrarily disallowed anyone else from doing the same thing. This is
what killed RT. It's a computer that they gimped so that they could call it an
appliance.

~~~
WorldWideWayne
"It's a computer that they gimped so that they could call it an appliance."

So what? Nobody was even talking about RT, but besides that - Apple does the
same thing with OS X - it can run on any Intel architecture but I'm
_artificially limited to running it on Apple 's outmoded and overpriced
hardware_.

Can we get back to discussing the awesome Surface Pro though? Because that's
the machine that represents the future of computing, not the RT and not any
Apple device that I can think of. Regarding the battery life (on the Pro) -
you couldn't be more wrong. Have you actually used one for 7-8 hours? That's
about what I get on my original Surface Pro and the battery life has only
gotten better in the newer models.

~~~
Touche
Anything less than 10 hours on a tablet is not-good-enough, IMO. Also, is the
Surface Pro 3 light enough to be used without making your arms tired? I had
that problem with the original RT.

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joesmo
The article starts out strong then becomes an ad for the Surface Pro 3 without
actually stating what's so great about the SP3. Sure tablets are not killing
laptops for all the reasons outlined and more. This isn't news. What also
isn't news is the existence of the Macbook Air (and similar non Apple models)
and its ability to run regular programs since its inception, including
_windows_. It's easily powerful enough to develop apps on (that's what I use
for consulting) while being light and small enough to be carried. In other
words, the Air and other ultrabooks have been able to do for years exactly
what the author touts the SP3 as finally being able to do: run regular
applications with a keyboard. No one needs need a poorly written, wandering
article to them that.

~~~
notahacker
The SP3 has the form factor and touchscreen of a tablet when you want it,
reportedly doing a more convincing impersonation of a decent tablet than other
touchscreen laptops.

The Macbook Air or my cheap four year old Samsung almostultrabook, on the
other hand, are far more competent than tablets at most things, but no good at
actually being a tablet on the rare occasions that touchscreens are useful or
the laptop form factor gets in the way.

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mcintyre1994
"People are abandoning their tablets, being less fulfilled with the purchase"

Are there any sources for these 2 claims? Neither follow immediately from the
(sourced) claim that tablet sales are slowing - nor are they obvious.

~~~
mreiland
I don't have any sources, but it certainly tracks with my experience.

I use my ipad 3 for pulling up info when I don't want to move. Watching a
movie and wonder who that actor is, that sort of thing.

But for normal, consistent use? not really.

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mrjatx
I have a tablet and a laptop. I want a convertible badly. I'm tempted to leave
OSX for one (a Surface 3 most likely).

Catch up, Apple. You used to innovate. If 10.10 is another nightmare for my
dev environment like Mavericks and the recent xcode updates the decision will
be even easier.

~~~
seabrookmx
If you rely on XCode is moving to Windows really an option? (honest question -
I know nothing about XCode but I was under the impression it was used only for
OS X and iOS development).

~~~
mrjatx
You need xcode at some point to sign and publish apps. What I have setup is a
continuous integration server (bamboo) on a mac mini that I tell to build the
apps for testing. I haven't actually set it up for signing/publishing.. but
theoretically I could have it do that as well. So I should have no problems
writing the actual code in linux but then I'll wind up with a few additional
steps along with extra hardware.

I'm surprised that Apple hasn't locked down xcode to only be installed on
specific devices, like MBPs and Mac Pros. That would be a huge slap in the
face but I can totally see it happening if doing what I mentioned above
becomes more popular.

Personally I'd rather just code for the web and be as OS agnostic as possible,
html5 and javascript

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freehunter
I don't want to replace my tablet with a laptop, and I don't want to have a
kickstand keep my screen up. I want a tablet that docks into a keyboard. I
want the stability of a laptop whenever I need it and the comfort of a tablet
whenever I want it. Asus did it with their Transformer Book T100, but I don't
know of anyone else doing it.

I don't want a Yoga, that's the same old convertible laptop we've had for
years. I want the entire screen to detach and become semi-portable. And I want
the keyboard dock to have a big battery in it, so the tablet can run for 10
hours and as a laptop it can run for 15 or 20 hours.

Why is that not a thing?

~~~
nlawalker
Lenovo has the Thinkpad Helix.

But why not just have two devices? When you detach the keyboard you
practically _do_ have two devices, but one of them is useless. This is my
guess as to why this hasn't really taken off - because the keyboard doesn't
fold itself into another dimension when you don't want to use it.

~~~
hollerith
>But why not just have two devices?

There's some convenience to not having to sync data between devices, which is
why a lot of people ditched their desktops when 10 or 15 years ago it started
to become affordable to get desktop-like power in a laptop form factor.

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gress
This is because 'X is killing Y' is almost always a meaningless analogy
designed to generate controversy rather than understanding.

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Zigurd
Tablets should not aim to kill laptops. Tablets, and a new generation of LoB
apps and collaboration tools, should aim to kill cubicles. Laptops will just
be collateral damage once you rip out the cubicles and spend more time face to
face with your co-workers.

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crazychrome
what will kill laptops? time. just like what it does to typewriters: old
people fade out, new people come with what they are familiar with. there will
be much better input methods (e.g. voice + virtual keyboard hybrid), much
better UI paradigms, much better devices at much better prices.

to be honest, i don't see anything in everyday office work requires more
computing power than what iPad offers. Most heavy-lifting computation will (if
not yet) be done on cloud.

in fact, I'd argue the single thing blocks the transition from laptops to
tablets is the ridiculous long review process Apple imposes. It mandates a
1-week per iteration of software evolution rate. how many startups can live
with it?

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general_failure
Laptops are not innovating and to me that's what really killing laptops. Sad
that people are hardly innovating in the laptop space and blindly following
the tablet money without understanding why tablets are making money

~~~
Zak
I'd say what's killing laptop sales is older laptops. The software most people
run on their laptops is not especially more demanding than it was say... five
years ago. Even for hackers, a five year old Thinkpad or Macbook Pro with its
RAM maxed out and an SSD is a perfectly viable computer.

We've seen plenty of innovation during that period in the laptop market. Entry
level machines haven't changed a lot, but they cost half as much. At the high-
end, much of the focus has been on size, weight and design. The Macbook Air,
when it first came out in 2008 was pretty revolutionary. Then, a laptop was
considered thin if it was under an inch thick. Now it's common to hear people
protest that they couldn't possibly lug around anything so bulky.

Maybe these aren't the kinds of innovations you care about. I'm with you
there, and a lot of the features I'd like to have aren't even available, but
there has been considerable progress.

~~~
MBCook
As someone using a four-year-old MacBook Pro I can tell you that the thing got
a whole lot better soon as I put an SSD in. It's not that heavy and it's easy
enough for me to use so I don't really have a compelling need to replace it.
It's got more than enough power for my everyday tasks.

I think the other thing it's really killing laptops is people who didn't want
to buy one in the first place. There are a lot of people who just wanted a
portable computer they could use to play around on the Internet. They were the
people drawn in by $300 laptop, since laptops no longer needed to cost
thousands of dollars. But now that you can get a smaller lighter tablet that's
easier to use for about the cost of a poor netbook that market has mostly
dried up. At this point people who are buying laptops are people who need real
computers. Just like desktop sales are down, but are still purchased by the
people who need to power and don't mind immobility.

Another way to phrasal this might be "the laptop bad fad is over".

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kayoone
For me the MS Surface would be more appealing if they had built something like
the Thinkpad Helix convertible, but i can't see the benefit in the typecover
thing and the kickstand.

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wyclif
Needs an editorial once-over for spelling and grammar.

