Let’s be clear: I do not own a tablet.
This doesn’t mean I wouldn’t like to own one, but at this time I do not feel compelled because none of the available models really quite fire on all cylinders as my needs, wants and desires would dictate. But they are getting closer.
I often find myself asking the question “What would I do with a tablet?” I mean… I have multiple computers in my house. There’s the iMac; a home-built, Windows XP Pro driven desktop; an Apple 13-inch MacBook Pro; a Vista-driven laptop and my iPhone. One could be forgiven for assuming I already have plenty of computing power at my fingertips and that a tablet would be a colossal waste of both time and money.
And yet….
Apple iPad
Truth is I know what I’d do with it: I’d do the same things I already do on my other computing devices. I know that sounds really stupid and profound at the same time (mostly stupid though), but it’s the truth. The way I look at these various computing devices is each brings something to the computing experience the others do not. Could I make use of any one of them in a full-time capacity, eschewing the rest? Of course (with the exception of the iPhone as it isn’t quite a powerful enough device). But each excels in different ways, thus making my computing options more robust. More beautiful. More interesting and useful.
For example… I’m an avid amateur photographer. Working on large RAW files from my camera is best done by a computer with some more serious computing power. It is even more handy to have a large screen as the software I use for editing, Adobe Lightroom, takes up plenty of screen real estate all on its own. More screen means more picture showing during the editing process. Win-win.
The laptops are great for more everyday activities like e-mail, web browsing, my RSS feeds, etc. I can use the iMac, but why tie myself to the computer desk in the bedroom when I can sit anywhere in the house and get things done? Breakfast with the laptop or iPhone is a great experience. Catching up first thing with news, e-mail, etc. is a breeze over breakfast using either the laptop or iPhone. To be frank… I actually use the iPhone more at breakfast.
But I would gladly replace the iPhone with an iPad at breakfast as the larger screen would undoubtedly make reading so much more pleasant as I already know based upon the laptop versus iPhone dynamic.
And I don’t mean to pick on only the Apple iPad. Certainly it has garnered the greatest amount of press. And sales (by a long shot). And maybe the alternatives are better… I don’t know. Certainly Motorola’s Zoom gets plenty of attention along with it’s Google Android operating system.
Motorola Zoom Tablet
But what I find really funny about the entire tablet phenomenon is what it is possibly doing to PC/laptop sales. Consider this information:
“Interestingly, 28% now use their tablets as their primary computers, while 43% sped more time with their tablets than their PCs or laptops.“* Really? That’s incredible. At least I think so. For years desktop PC purchasers were herded and steered towards buying the most powerful desktops they could (or couldn’t) afford so that they could do what? E-mail? Web browse? Type a letter in Microsoft Word? Yeah. As consumers we bought into this bigger/faster is better motif (including myself) just so we could do very mundane, everyday computing things. Little did we know all we really needed was a tablet.
Granted, a tablet is and will continue to be rubbish for long-term typing. While I don’t mind rattling off a quick e-mail reply on my iPhone with its virtual keyboard, I would not even consider anything longer than a short paragraph or two. When an e-mail requires a more lengthy reply I always wait until I’m next on a laptop or desktop. Period.
But consider how much stuff you do every day while sitting in front of your desktop or laptop that doesn’t really require a whole lot of typing and then consider how nice it would be to accomplish those tasks on a device that is both lighter, smaller, more portable and with better battery life than those other devices you currently utilize. It’s enough to make me want a tablet all the more even though it really only duplicates abilities I already have.
It’s a brave and strange new world out there in computing.
* Page 8 of June 2011 issue of Computer Power User magazine
