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When? iPad > Laptop

F

fosking

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 28, 2010
58
1
When will the iPad become better than current average laptop models?

By this I mean powerful enough to run full programs and software which could completely replace my current laptop?

My laptop has replaced my desktop. Now, it's just a matter of time when a tablet computer will be good enough to perform all the tasks of my laptop.

1-2 years?
2-3 years?
3-5 years?
More than 5 years?
 
When it can do wired and wireless printing, when it has a proper file system to be able to download and upload files via Safari (such as music from Bleep), when it has a USB port and the ability to have apple's own phone connect to it, and... hm, there's a 4th one on my list but i've forgotten it. When it can do these things, it'll be a replacement for what I do on my laptop. I imagine to have all of these is still 2 or 3 years (revisions) away.

So the ability to run full programs... depends if they upgrade these things as slowly as they've done on the iphone.
 
It can run FULL programs now, it's just those programs have to be written for the device.

It's biggest problem is it's input method.

If Steve swallowed his pride and did an "Optional" stylus for precise work, then it would answer the problem, but at the moment they have to re-write everything for CFI

Chubby
Finger
Input.
 
grapemac said:
When it can do wired and wireless printing, when it has a proper file system to be able to download and upload files via Safari (such as music from Bleep), when it has a USB port and the ability to have apple's own phone connect to it, and... hm, there's a 4th one on my list but i've forgotten it. When it can do these things, it'll be a replacement for what I do on my laptop. I imagine to have all of these is still 2 or 3 years (revisions) away.

So the ability to run full programs... depends if they upgrade these things as slowly as they've done on the iphone.
Click to expand...

+1

It will need a faster CPU and the ability to do the things listed here. I need it to have word and PP and have the ability to hook up to a printer and projector... Once it has those features it can replace a laptop for me.

Not too far off I'm surer..2years?
 
For now, mouse/cursor is totally better than fingers, regarding pro apps like Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Final Cut, Motion, etc.

The "present" concept of multi-touch screen is not for hard work. After an hour of working with advanced graphic on an iPad, my head would explode.
The only task that could take advantage of it, is video editing, because there's a lot of "drag-and-drop" that could fit perfectly on an iPad.

At AllThingsDigital, Steve Jobs said that in the future, common people will have iPads or similar, but not hard-workers. Hard workers will have "trucks", as he called PCs and Mac. So there will be more powerful iPads, but for certain pro apps, trucks is going to stay around for a long time.

Multi-touch is a pleasure to use, but not for every task. Apple won't make the same mistake of Microsoft, that simply "put" Windows on a touchscreen, without any interface modification.

For now, I really can't see how to hard working on an iPad.
 
modpod79 said:
I have some problem with iPad, it's that I can't find a way to directly connect my iPad to the projector, I can't find something like gate....Have to make it through another computer! Does anyone know how?
Click to expand...

You cold buy the VGA output cable for iPad/iPhone 4. That should do it. Cand get more directly connected than by a dirty great cable. Or even the composite or component video out cables
 
millar876 said:
You cold buy the VGA output cable for iPad/iPhone 4. That should do it. Cand get more directly connected than by a dirty great cable. Or even the composite or component video out cables
Click to expand...

true, but I prefer to work in PP rather than keynote (all of my current PP presentations are created in PP so switching to Keynote isn't really an option) and I'm not sure about how easy it is to create a presentation on the iPad vs iMac or MBP.

I still think I would use one of those over the iPad to create. Perhaps the iPad would be more convenient for actually presenting the lecture.

I woud like to see the ability to access with USB and be able to easily move files in that manner.
 
3lionsbecks said:
true, but I prefer to work in PP rather than keynote (all of my current PP presentations are created in PP so switching to Keynote isn't really an option) and I'm not sure about how easy it is to create a presentation on the iPad vs iMac or MBP.

I still think I would use one of those over the iPad to create. Perhaps the iPad would be more convenient for actually presenting the lecture.

I woud like to see the ability to access with USB and be able to easily move files in that manner.
Click to expand...

Keynote opens PP files with few problems, mostly text formatting. I LOVE creating Keynote presentations on the iPad. Presenting is easy, with a few "wishes"...I wish the slides showed up on the screen so I didn't have to look at the projected image, and I wish there was a way to control the iPad remotely (like with an iPhone?) so I could walk away from it.
 
3lionsbecks said:
I woud like to see the ability to access with USB and be able to easily move files in that manner.
Click to expand...

Oh, and with programs like GoodReader and QuickOffice, you can link to another computer wirelessly to transfer files.
 
fosking said:
When will the iPad become better than current average laptop models?

1-2 years?
2-3 years?
3-5 years?
More than 5 years?
Click to expand...

It's all a big guess, but judging on past Apple hardware and how they have evolved, I would say:

5 years to best the current average Macbook in all ways.

The iPad is going to be the form of the future, and laptops will dissolve away within 10 years. They need to up the processors and drive memory. It's assured the drive memory will be expansive in 5 years, but the processors are a question.

A big problem is that the software you have now will probably NEVER run on iOS. Well, at least for the next 10 years or until processors are so amazing they make the current OSX look like tinkertoys. At that time you won't want to transfer over the old programs. What we might get is a migration of certain productive programs into a limited version for the iPad within the next couple years.

Watch it every year. You'll notice a good hike in iPad speed in 2011 or 2012. 2015 will have an amazing iPad compared to today. Compare the top iPod of 2005 to the top iPod of 2010- video vs. video-apps-wireless-camera etc.
--------------------------------
My old 1999 clamshell iBook is still useful, but compared to what is out now, it's just a nice little word processor and limited internet machine. The iPad from March is more powerful, more capable (aside from expansion), larger resolution, WAY longer battery life, and is smaller. So in 10 years they made a much more powerful machine that is 1/6th the size.

2020 will be something.
 
It's hard to say because as miniaturised tablet technology improves, other technology does too. So even in 5 years, a tablet will look underpowered compared to a desktop. But I think we're approaching a point where a smaller, less powerful device like an iPad will not be limited by being slower. It's not that helpful, but in terms of raw power I'd guess the iPad will be as powerful as today's laptops in 3 or 4 years.


However, the difficulty of comparing an iPad to a laptop is that they really are Apples and Oranges, and Apple wants it that way.

- the specs disappear under opaque design and proprietary hardware, meaning comparison is challenging. This helps Apple to 'rip us off' (to have enormous hardware profit-margins).

- they have entirely different interfaces: touch based versus point and click

- most importantly, they run different operating systems


I suppose I'm missing your point. When will the iPad be better than a MacBook; when will it be able to do everything a laptop can? The limits on this are software and interface, which are dictated by operating system and development. Hardware capability should fall into place without too much worry.

There are so many barriers to the iPad playing with the big boys. The largest is its infantile dependency: it must sync with iTunes. Yes it's true that you can use an iPad without iTunes, but that removes its only way of transferring data from or to another computer. Content may only be added by Apple approved methods: iTunes, the App Store. Another fundamental difference between iPad and laptops is that iPhone OS is a closed system. I won't discuss the merits but I will say that as a closed system it might struggle to stand alone. The trouble is, I don't see iPhone OS (what iPad runs) easily cutting its white, copper umbilical cord and running free, from 'proper' computers or its restrictions. Perhaps the solution is in the cloud, where Apple's feelers seem to be spreading.
 
Ganges said:
MEH.........


Looks like a brick, and make me want to build a wall. No thanks
Click to expand...

Actually, it's pretty cool. A Mac it ain't. My wife uses one in one of her jobs, and the stylus/Wacom digitizer is great for taking nots ..DIRECT printing, etc. But its heavy, won't re-orient itself

I'm waiting
 
...When Apple activate the cloud and every activated iPad gets access to 200 gig iDisk space.

then perhaps it wont be a slave device to your mac, it will be a slave device to your mobileme account.
 
I want a MacBook Air with a fold-over touchscreen running dual OS....OSX or iOS4, selectable on the fly.

Under $1000 of course.
 
@iZac haha, sadly I think apple will continue to guard the gates to its walled garden

@reallybigfeet shame about the processing architecture
 
The Dell E4300s we have at work have a little MIPS or ARM SoC with a modified Linux installation letting you run it on low power.

Shame about it being Dell though...

For me, the iPad was better than my laptop before I bought it. It will always be a complementary device to my 'truck'.
 
fosking said:
When will the iPad become better than current average laptop models?

By this I mean powerful enough to run full programs and software which could completely replace my current laptop?

My laptop has replaced my desktop. Now, it's just a matter of time when a tablet computer will be good enough to perform all the tasks of my laptop.

1-2 years?
2-3 years?
3-5 years?
More than 5 years?
Click to expand...

10 minutes after Apple stops making full laptops.
 
mgamber said:
10 minutes after Apple stops making full laptops.
Click to expand...

Hahaha...This is the best answer because Apple doesn't want to cripple their own strong market. That being said, I still think the device will be more of a replacement device within the next year. The reason for this is because the demands that consumers are already putting on the device regardless of Job's original intent of being a consumption device. To retain his strong market for the device, he will make concessions like printing that will make the device more of a replacement device. I agree that a printing feature as well as an accessible file area would definitely be the software additions that put it that ballpark.
 
I would need developers to port their software over to it. As it is, Siemens, Allen Bradly, and GeFanuc only develop their software for Windows. Also need a wired Ethernet port and a serial port (or a USB port to use a USB to serial adapter). I still have to access serial devices on a weekly basis.
 
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