http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr78DvvYK6w
The Inspiron Duo is the first device I have seen that actually impresses me as a viable competition to the iPad. We'll just have to see if Window 7 touch capabilities are up to the task.
Looks pretty slick. Here's another view of it showing it in use: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nS9Sy7DkobY
But I'm wondering why you posted this on the Mac forum? Isn't that like tossing a gauntlet down? [:)]
It does look slick - but not sure why you say it can compete with the iPad while other convertibles can not. What is the advantage of this system over, say, the HP tm2 line - which uses both pen and touch inputs?
The need for a pen kind of disappears with a real keyboard.
From the specs it appears the HP tm2 would easily run Logos 4 in all aspects where the Dell duo may be limited by its ram. All the tablets seem to have one feature or another that is undesirable. Either too small or too heavy or too large or not powerful enough. The ipad is basically an app launcher and is good at it and is very portable with a nice size display, but it is not a computer per se, so it can't really be compared to a tablet with a quad processor. IMO what is needed is a tablet that can run all the features of Logos and yet be light and portable, with a nice battery life.
Not for me - I use both pen and keyboard input regularly. I use the keyboard input for formal writing, but when taking notes, marking the text, highlighting, etc., I use the pen if the application can use it. This why I use MS OneNote rather than Logos Notes as I do my Bible study. When the computer is flat, the pen make sense, but when the keyboard is open, I use the keyboard. I am not overly concerned with converting my handwriting to typed notes. I do it occasionally, but very rarely.
I would never want to use a Tablet like device, unless it can take good clean handwriting. Though I have had three tablets over the years that have done this, I also own a netbook that can open like a tablet. However, the netbook cannot track my handwriting smoothly. I cannot use it for taking handwritten notes.
I would never want to use a Tablet like device, unless it can take good clean handwriting
Yes, I was looking at the H.P. Slate 500 which has an active pen input. It is lightweight and very portable, but has already been criticized for a jerky multi touch. I guess its too early to make a judgement, especially on how it will handle Logos notes and searching etc.
Other than the way it flips around, I'm not certain that the Inspirion Duo is all that distinct from all the convertible table/keyboard combos that HP has been putting out for the last decade. They've never been big sellers except in very niche markets.
And it's interesting that Dell would name it the "Duo."
Could be a recycling of that old Apple machine name, but it's an obvious name choice anyway. "Duo" means "Two" in Italian. It's a great name for this product: two because it supersedes the previous Inspiron line, and it provides a dual way of viewing your screen -- either in table mode or like a traditional laptop.
I agree it's not likely to be any more of a game changer than previous convertibles. But the timing is more ripe for this one, with everyone ga-ga over tablets now (due to the iPad), and yet still wishing for the full power of a Windows machine. If they do the marketing right they might just do well with it.
Why is this thread in the Mac forum? I thought that I'd left Windows behind over a year ago! [;)]
Why is this thread in the Mac forum? I thought that I'd left Windows behind over a year ago!
That was your mistake Alan. But then you will need to ask Dennis - its his fault.[6] - for the answer to your question.
But the timing is more ripe for this one, with everyone ga-ga over tablets now (due to the iPad), and yet still wishing for the full power of a Windows machine.
Surely your use of everyone is hyperbole.
I like my iPad, but I have no desire for it to be anything like a Windows machine, full-powered or otherwise :-)
Mac vs. Windows teasing aside, obviously tablets like the iPad and the incoming wave of Android devices will continue to become more powerful over time. But where the iPad has succeeded (and this may also apply for the Android tablets if they are successful) where traditional tablet PCs have failed over the years, I strongly believe is directly related to both interface and size/weight.
The traditional Windows interface (and even the Mac OS on the Axiotron Modbook tablets) have never hit any kind of significant consumer interest due to the fact that the interfaces of traditional personal computer operating systems aren't natively designed for tablets. I believe this is where the iPad (and the iPhone before it as the iPhone was an outgrowth of years of R&D into tablet computers) has been successful where others have failed. The interface had to be completely rethought.
Granted, iWork Pages on the iPad is not as full featured as iWork Pages on the Mac (but I also assume it will continue to improve), but at the same time I wouldn't want the OS X version of Pages on my iPad. It wouldn't work. And honestly, I can't imagine using Word 2010 on the Dell Inspirion Duo as a touch application. Of course, maybe that's the advantage of convertible keyboard.
However, the whole presence of the keyboard, in my opinion, demonstrates one of the iPad's strengths over and against the completely unsuccessful tablets of the past--the keyboard is wholly optional. It's not built in (from a hardware perspective) at all. Yes, you can use a physical keyboard with an iPad, and I sometimes, do. But when I want to carry just my iPad, it's light and fits easily into my hand. I'll be very interested to see what the Dell Duo weighs compared to the iPad. The iPad could certainly be lighter (most of its heft comes from its battery), but by the time Dell throws a keyboard into the mix, well, at that point it seems that one might as well just get a no-compromise laptop.
Honestly, I'm skeptical that the Duo will be successful, and that honestly has nothing to do with the fact that I prefer Macs over Windows computers. I simply don't see how Dell is bringing anything new to the table that hasn't already been tried without any real acceptance.
This is where I think the HP Slate might be successful - it has the footprint of an iPad, but the power of a Windows machine (note, I am not trying to be sarcastic here, just trying to describe the Slate). With the presence of one or more USB ports, keyboards, mice, etc., can easily and cheaply added to the default configuration.
So, the Slate has the size and weight, but it's still reliant upon an operating system not designed or optimized for tablets. This goes back to my main point that I described at length above. The iPad has been successful for both size and its interface. I don't see the Slate meeting both of those factors, but who knows.
And lest you think I'm just spouting Apple-fanboy rhetoric here, as I mentioned above, I believe that a lot of the new and coming Android tablets are going to be successful, too, for many of the same reasons the iPad has been successful. I'm more excited about tablets in general than the iPad specifically (although I do like my iPad!)
I honestly believe we're seeing a significant shift. It's difficult to make an exact comparison to earlier shifts, but perhaps a crude one is the Apple II to the Mac. When the Mac was first released, all it brought to the table was an innovative interface and the fact that it had a handle on top making it slightly more portable than the Apple II (but the Mac was still heavy!). As far as capabilities, in 1984 there was much more that could be done on an Apple II than on a Mac. And what a lot of people don't remember is that the Apple Ii continued to be sold for eight more years, all the way until 1992! In those eight years, the Mac improved exponentially while the Apple II, while improving slightly, primary stagnated until it was much less capable than the Mac and was eventually deemed irrelevant by both customers and Apple itself.
This is a crude analogy, but I'm not so certain that we're not in a similar transition between traditional computers and mobile devices.
Who's to say in 8 years that a mobile device like an Android table or an iPad won't be more capable than current traditional laptop and desktop computers?
And who knows, perhaps you'll be able to carry a device the size of one of these tablets with you on the go, and then come sit at a desk and connect to a larger monitor and external keyboard the way many of us currently use laptops with external components.
What I don't see primary in this shift or on these new devices is traditional computing platforms--regardless of whether it's Windows or OS X.
Ten years ago I had a PowerBook running a new platform called OS X. Today I have a MacBook Pro running OS X. Yes, the processor has changed, but the paradigm has essentially remained the same (although I'm glad we've progressed beyond the first release of OS X!). I'm not certain that in another 10 years, we're not going to be doing something completely different in the area of computers than what we are doing now.
And I believe that the new breed of tablets with operating systems that have been completely rethought for touch and high mobility may very well be a big part of that.
I threw it in here because there has been a lot of talk about the different iPad competitors and the Mac Air lately. I guess despite the fact that there have been other tablet computers on the market in the past this is the first one I've seen that is Netbook size (10" screen), dual core Atom processor, and the ability to convert to a standard keyboard input. I know windows is not up to par with Apple when it comes to touch screen input and I'm not interested in buying one, just thought I'd submit it to the scrutiny of the community here on the forum.
I do not believe the slate has the footprint of an iPad, it is much smaller and again crippled by Windows.
