CHAT BACK: iPad versus Tablet versus Notebook

Past

Even though the tablet PC has been around since 2002, it was never really taken up by the consumer market due to the fact that they were still heavy in weight, didn’t offer anything new in regards to the Operating system and required a pen for input. Tablet PCs were always considered a niche product.

That all changed when Apple released the iPad in April 2010. The iPad runs the same Operating system as the very popular iPhone or the iPod Touch which makes it touch and user friendly. Within 80 days Apple sold more than 3 million iPads to consumers.

Apple was the thought leader here and suddenly the consumer had access to their music, videos, photos, emails, the World Wide Web and thousands of other applications. Your digital life became portable!

But like every brand new product the iPad had its drawbacks. Consumers were complaining that there is no camera on the device to take pictures, no USB port to plug in external storage and, like so many other Apple products, you couldn’t take the battery out.

Present

The CES (Consumer Electronics Show) 2011 in Las Vegas finished on the 9th of January and we saw a lot of new tablets introduced that will all hit the market sometime this year. Apple will have to deal with the competition of brands like Motorola, Acer, Asus, Blackberry and NotionInk to only name a few. The consumer will be flooded with choices and in the end it will come down to everyone’s personal preferences.

And that is where the benefits start for tablets, they will come in different flavours as there have been tablets released that run on Windows 7, Android, Linux or QNX. This really shows that manufacturers of mobile phones are entering the tablet market.

The advantage here is that a tablet running the same operating system as your mobile or your computer it will be much easier for them to communicate with each other.

What is it that makes a tablet so appealing to the average person? Our lives are much busier these days and we spend much more time away from our computers. The average user uses their computer mainly for checking emails, browsing the web and watching online videos (youtube) – and now you can do all that on the go with your tablet.

Most tablets will have access to a so called App store that allows the user to download applications for the tablet either for free or for a small amount of money (usually under $10).

These applications range from small minute games to cut down versions of full desktop applications. You will be able to do simple tasks like reading your emails and office documents, but your replies will be very short as the on-screen keyboard on tablets is not as easy to use.

Google announced its new iteration of Android, called Honeycomb that is specifically designed for tablets. Other manufacturers are doing the same and release their tablets with optimized operating systems.

So far tablets have been known to run the operating system either of their mobile counterparts that usually have a much smaller resolution and screen size or a system that is meant for a full fletched computer which isn’t optimized for touch at all.

This will change from now on and there will be an optimized operating system running on the device – on one hand they will be optimized for the device to support the higher resolution, to make use of better layouts, multitasking and connectivity and on the other side for the user as it will be optimized for touch and usability.

The new tablets will feature new technologies that will extend battery life by turning the back light of the screen off when you read an e-book, they will allow you to plug in your USB stick to be able to look at your favourite photos or watch your recorded TV shows, they will have GPS capabilities so you can find your way easily if you get lost and much much more.

Notebooks

So where does that leave the notebook?

I believe the market is big enough for all devices, but the tablets will take a big chunk off the sales figures for notebook manufacturers. That said this kind of competition will also change the market and notebooks will on one hand be competing directly with tablets by offering very lightweight notebooks with full qwerty keyboards and on the other hand offer high end notebooks to give the consumer a full desktop replacement in a portable form.

So why would you chose a notebook over a tablet? The major benefits of notebooks are that they have a full qwerty keyboard and multiple connectivity options (USBs, firewire, HDMI, VGA etc.) which makes them easy to use for office like work like writing word documents, emails or PowerPoint presentations.

Notebooks also run a full Desktop operating system which allows them of running all full applications like Office, Photoshop or even 3D rendering programs.

Non touch is also a benefit, believe it or not there are still people out there that don’t like to use touch screens and prefer the use of a track pad on a notebook. A notebook also protects itself as you can fold it together and the keyboard counterpart protects the screen from being damaged.

The notebook is not dead, but it will have to accept a much smaller market share from now on.

Future

Now you have your tablet, so where can it go from here? The future of the tablet is rosy, it found the space between your home computer and your mobile phone and it will stay there.

One of the drawbacks I hear over and over again from users is the fact that they are missing the physical keyboard on a tablet, so one of the trends that we will see this year are docking stations for tablets and slider tablets. With a docking station you simply attach your tablet to it and you are able to enjoy the convenience of keyboard, mouse and a larger monitor.

The slider tablets have a little bigger form factor, but are able to slide up the screen to reveal a keyboard underneath which will make it much easier to browse the web or write emails.

The future will be about connectivity – you will be able to get your newspaper delivered to your tablet, rather than to your front door, you will be able to communicate with your fridge to check what you have to get on your way home to be able to cook that nice Beef Stroganoff of yours.

You will be able to turn the aircon on at home to have it just the right temperature when you arrive and while you sit on the bus you will be able to have a video call with your loved ones simply with a click of an icon.

Technology will keep being invented and screens will become foldable so when you take the 4 inch screen out of your pocket you can unfold it to a much larger device for your convenience.

You will have a docking station at home and at work so once you are stationary for a while you can still have the convenience of a mouse, keyboard and a larger monitor by simply docking your tablet.

The tablets have landed and found a nice little space in the consumer’s heart where they will stay for a long time.

Conclusion

The iPad has been dominant in the market since it launched mainly due to the fact that it was the only worthwhile tablet available. At the moment it has been overtaking by a multitude of other tablets in regards to specs, speed and features, but I am sure that Apple will soon have an announcement for us outlining the next generation of their iPad.

The choice a consumer will have to make now and in future will be between a tablet (which includes the iPad) or a notebook.

Tablets will be great to keep up to date with your emails, read some documents you didn’t get to read at work or make small changes to existing work. Tablets will not replace the desktop, but they will fill the gap between your mobile and your desktop computer.

If you are looking at doing some serious work on the road you won’t get around buying a notebook as it give you the capabilities to properly reply to your emails, write full fletched reports, create Excel spread sheets or PowerPoint presentations with ease.