Apple iPad Ping!
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And for those who still don’t know... Bill Gates does not run Microsoft any longer. He hasn’t for 7 years.
He’s still the chairman though.
We own both an iPad and a Surface. The iPad is a gaming/media/e-reader device while the Surface has replaced my laptop giving me tremendous portability and access to all of my Windows programs (especially Office). Nearly all of the useful apps on the Apple are also available for the Surface. When I go for another tablet it will be a Surface-like device.
If all you do is surf social crap, watch videos, and email/chat you do not need a full PC. That is why PC sales are down. People who are not performing “real” work do not need PC’s. It is not that complicated.
Sorry, Bill. I know not a single person who is unhappy or confused about their iPad. It is a tremendous device. I do recognize it is not a replacement for a lap top, but it has many uses.
With a bluetooth keyboard, it works pretty well for some functionality...although having no mouse make it unworkable for spreadsheets and other purposes.
It all depends on whether you want a computer to actually WORK on or a TOY. Tablets are toys. People buy them, mostly, for games and everything other than actually computing anything. Kinda hard to drop a PC-but how many tablets need replacing because of dropping or water in them or whatever? And you actually have to sit down at a PC. I don’t get the need to constantly have video input everywhere-walking, driving,eating,etc. UNPLUG sometimes-sheesh! All this fascination with zombies makes sense when you see how many are willing zombies walking around tuned out to the world, focused on a screen texting or playing games!
Many people, as I, have a laptop with a large external monitor and an iPad.
The iPad is for the bedroom, bathroom and traveling, the PC is for work.
PC sales are down because people are not upgrading as often as they used to. The laptops have been very well built over the last few years. You only need to buy a new laptop when the cooling fan stops. Mine is 5 years old and there is no reason to buy another one that would basically have the same capacities as my current one.
My take on the iPad, mostly for surfing the Net and for kids playing games on it.
Microsoft is banking on the Tablet ultimately replacing the PC in the Enterprise, but they are going to have to figure out the keyboard issue.
There's MS Office for Mac, I'd certainly want to devote minimal effort to capturing the iPad market as well.
Gates is both right and wrong here (though of course one would expect him to present things in the most favorable light to Microsoft).
There are essentially two different types of computer users: content creators and content consumers. The content consumers are quite happy with a tablet — it serves all of their needs. Content creators either find workarounds with tablets or use a notebook (ultrabook class, most likely) which is more suited to their needs.
But content consumers dramatically outnumber the creators.
The Surface (Pro) tries to bridge the gap between tablet and notebook — how successfully will be judged by the passage of time, not by any predictions we make here. For my own purposes, I’d much rather get an ultrabook-class (as a content creator) while my wife wants a tablet because she’s a content consumer first and foremost (while she is an active blogger, she actually prefers working at a desk to do that... organization thing).
If I absolutely, positively had to have a single machine to do everything and it has to be Windows-based, the Surface Pro would be very attractive. But a smartphone and ultrabook is the way I’m looking, because I don;t have those constraints.
Office is becoming increasingly irrelevant Billy Boy.
My wife has a Kindle HD Fire which she absolutely loves. It is way more than a reader. She uses it to surf the net, watch movies on Netflix, check and compose email, play games and listen to radio (via Tunein). Cost is about $200 for the small version. Sharp screen and decent sound.
Before posting my response/reply, as per previous replies/posts, I still feel that a large part of I phone, I Pad, and Mac users are members of the Apple cult and use their expensive equipment as expensive show off toys to which they are addicted to and are used minimally to overcome issues in the real world.
Recent events with people I’m related too re using the I Pads have made me a believer in I Pads.
My family and friends used to call me a Tech Wiz. Then, when I retired, my black box HPs and Windows were all I needed and a simple Trac Cell phone. I went from Tech Wiz to a semi luddite.
I haven’t changed that much. My current HP Pavilion with Windows 7 is one year old and I have a new Trac LG phone to text my younger relatives.
Two younger relative’s recent experiences with the I Pads are positive, and I can see me possibly using the I Pad Mini for trips and use in the tv room to avoid going to my home office. Most of those uses are to answer a question from my wife re general things to budget and other personal items. I could use a WiFi mini pad for those uses and at most hotels and places we vacation at.
One of the younger relatives in his fourties is a mid level manager in post harvesting and finishing an expensive perishable farm product for retail sales. He is an avid weekend outdoors guy and often does his very active weekend things in areas he doesn’t really know. He uses his I Pad, not a mini, with Verizon 4G Lite, to get maps, weather and apps re the races/events. It is amazing the data, precise where/time points (no more need for a GPS) and for incredible photos of the events.
He and his immediate supervisor are looking into using I Pads to replace bulky portable PCS re real time data on the where their crops are, re any problems and best harvest windows and other apps after harvest.
The other user is a young female relative, recently accepted at a very good private high school. The school requires a high end I Pad with Max Memory and she uses the school WiFi and her home Wi Fi. All of her text books and other printed learning material will be available on her I Pad. Supposedly, that will pay for the I Pad’s cost, $750, after the first-second year. Also, she will not be lugging 40 +#’s of books and other paper around, saving her back. We bought her the I Pad and her parents bought her the required key board, which she had to pass a typing test. Even though, she will not officially start school until this September, she uses her new I Pad daily to receive messages, reading material and other matter.
The young lady’s dad is a top exec in a heavy duty world which is using more high tech each day. He and similar level managers recently went to I phones to ease their phone and email load via use of the I Phone when out of their offices.
Their rules have become, don’t phone me if you can text me. If what you need to be considered/approved is too long for a text, use email limited to a couple of paragraphs.
This has been very successful on both sides of the users.
The on site photos taken with the I Phones document the problems, questions, issues, successes and opportunities in the field for clearer understanding on both sides of their company and customers.
This young man has been watching his daughter’s use of the I Pad and his relative’s uses as noted above. An I Pad mini might become a tool around the office, in the field and traveling companion for him and his peers.
Bill Gates and his MS thugs and HP/Dell and other makers of PC’ had better be looking at how to compete with the I Pads and maybe the I Phones for real business uses.
I wrote a book on my iPad via a bluetooth keyboard. If I could only have one device it would have to be the laptop because it can do more, but I love my iPad. I use it twice as much as I do the laptop.
Not having a real keyboard isn't much of a bother as I can use the touch screen keyboard easy enough to complete most tasks.
I was never looking for something to replace my desktop or laptop, and in fact I didn't even want the iPad, but work bought it for me so I wouldn't have to lug around my laptop as I needed access to certain spreadsheets and programs wherever I may be.
I have no desire at all for the Surface and its functionality. Many people probably will. Personally, I have a laptop for those needs, and I will always have a desktop for my primary work. The iPad, for me, is simply a useful supplement to both.
Have never owned an Apple product, mostly because I began using computers in a business environment long before Apple was any factor at all for business applications.
But I’m surprised to read here that IPads do not allow use of a mouse or keyboard. A few months back I bought a cheap Android based tablet just to see what practical use I might make of it. I can attach a wireless mouse and keyboard to it (a generic one I already had).
Another big negative as I understand is that IPads do not come with Adobe Flash Player, which is used for many sites I visit. Also, Adobe stopped supporting Android last year (my cheap Android has the last Flash Player version for Android devices). I plan to buy a better quality tablet later this year, and for the reasons discussed it will probably be a Windows based tablet.
Can’t create documents... Never heard of google docs?
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Well, if you're going to be "creating documents" larger than casual emails, you probably want to be on your computer, with 16gb of RAM and 8x3ghz cores, two or three large monitors, and a terabyte of flash, ideally with your iWhatsit plugged into a docking station or just there on the network. You don't want to be using Mr Bill's lame excuse for a UI for serious work!
Of course, if you're out and about, then a lightweight pad or smart phone is handy and lighter in weight than a proper computing platform. Look up things on it. Take notes on it. Call or text on it. Then plug it into your real platform and get to work when you get home and comfortable.