The GF's Laptop is coming to the end of its days. So thinking of replacing it with either the IPAD 2 or getting a Mini Netbook. the Ipad is great to use but can i justfy paying 170quid more for just surfing the net and watching youtube? your thoughts would be appreciated.
Now this is just my opinion, but I feel that for general use over a netbook an Ipad is easily worth the extra money, I've just got mine a couple of days ago and haven't stopped using it, I'm even using it more than my desktop for things like general web surfing youtube etc. and I remember I had a go of my Uncle's netbook a couple of months ago and thought it was a vile piece of, well I won't finish that sentence, but you get the idea. Basically it had a terrible screen, a horrible keyboard, rubbish trackpad, it was just awful and no comparison to something like an ipad, in my opinion. Best thing I would suggest is get her to go and try a small netbook at somewhere like PC WORLD *vomits* and then let her go and try an ipad, see which one she prefer's, I spent the best part of a month deciding whether I really needed/wanted an IPAD, but decided it was right for me, because within the next year or so I want to be doing alot of travelling and need something light and portable, obviously I may get a laptop as well, but that would be something like a macbook air, which is a considerable leap from a £400-500 IPAD, hope that helps dude, and good luck
or look at the asus transformer which is a tablet and netbook !!! i couldnt do with a normal ipad type tablet as typing is a massive chore even for simple emails
netbook are the worst kind of computer ever invented. 16:9 screen feels like looking through a letterbox, keyboard sucks due to its size and speed is none existence. get an ipad, it'll be the best choice for general internet browsing. best thing about ipad is its 4:3 layout that feels like reading on a pad of paper, not through a letterbox.
so not the same thing as the Asus tranformers is far more practical han a mashed together solution for ipad.
no it provides the same end solution which is a much needed keyboard but the transformer does it far more elegantly and is beter for mobility. would you really sit on the train with your Ipad and then get out your keyboard dock and set it up Transformer you get simply get it out of you bag unfold it and job done. would you sit at home on the sofa with the ipad k/b dock what a pain that would be - but wait since the transformers is just like a laptop with a flexible position its comfortable
The new 13" MacBookAir... Now with the updated hardware and it's 1440x900 resolution this is probably the best mobile PC available currently. Totally worth the €1100 imho compared to other netbooks, tablets or notebooks selling for €500+. Netbooks are underpowered with their AtomCPUs and Llano isn't that exciting either. In addition the screens of those devices are usually terribad. The other notebooks in the 13" category are heavier and have less battery-life, aswell as worse screens. And tablets? Well tablets are nice I must admit, but you can't do anything with them but to consume media and surf the web. Writing and working on a tablet is not really possible due to the lack of a keyboard (and the touch-thingy is bad for writing) and the lack of productivity-software. So yeah, I've ordered a new MacBookAir 13" for all those reasons and it'll be fine for the next 5 years to come.
fair enough on the train comment. i hadn't thought about that. but your usage model at home on the sofa sounds more like a laptop...... isn't whole point of tablets is to be able to hold them up and view them however you like?
The 13" MBA? Surely if you're going to make ridiculous suggestions, the 11" is a better comparison - size is more comparable, cheaper and no loss of oomph. The Transformer has a few advantages (or is that one?) over the iPad, in that the keyboard is more integrated, but at that point why not just get a netbook, as that's what you're essentially buying anyway. I use my iPad without the keyboard all the time, and it's fine for landscape typing - particularly with a decent case that will hold it at a slight angle. I use the bluetooth keyboard occasionally when I need to type anything longer. The Transformer with keyboard is going to be bulkier than any tablet, iPad or otherwise, which strikes me as being the opposite of what a tablet is for.
i guess so but if you wanted to relax yet pop a few emails off the transformers is much more practical for this guess it depends on the situation but id take a transformer over a ipad with dock any day
Er it seperates making it just like any normal tablet ? the advantage is that it can be docked into a keyboard/battery for more laptop type use. it has all the advantages of a tablet and all the advatanges of laptop for practicality
But then why drag the keyboard section on a train journey, when you want to be carrying as little as possible? You listed problems with docking the iPad, but the reality is that with both products you need to be carrying a keyboard section in addition to the tablet.
i see what you mean but the keyboard integrates with the transformer so carrying it around isnt an issue unless you skip down the street waving the tablet around most people ive seen with tablets carry them in bags !
It depends on what your GF uses it for. I've had the liberty of owning/borrowed an Ipad (1st gen), 2009 Eee pc 1005ha and now currently have a 13" Macbook Air. A quick look on the internet at boring fashion websites ( not exciting sites like bit-tech) and bbc news the ipad excels at. I love how easy it is to pass the ipad to your other half/friends in the room. As already mentioned emails are a bitch to type on the ipad if they are of any great length. I do find it a pain transferring videos through itunes onto to ipad (although VLC fixes a lot of this). My time spent with the ASUS Eee pc was a mostly positive one. I used it mainly for typing notes when i was in lectures at university. The battery life i loved (around 8-10 hours) but if your GF is using it mainly at home it won't be much of an issue. I just could never get over how underpowered the atom chipset really is (HD youtube is a no-go area) and the letterbox screen that other forum members have highlighted is a bit of an issue. However, my GF feels its fine for casual web browsing and the like. The macbook air 13" seems a good compromise with a second gen core i5 ULV processor, an integrated graphics chip which won't cry at HD video codecs and reasonable ( not as good as a netbook ) battery life. However its just too ruddy expensive and probably a waste of money for her intended use. It has to be remembered whilst we will probably argue at the differences between processors/RAM/ memory timings, (unless the guys girlfriend is in a small minority) she probably doesn't care about these things. I know the main priority my one has when picking tech is battery life. Take her into the Apple store, and (cough) PC world and let her try them out and find what she likes. You can be with her and provide sagely advice when she picks up the crap PC world budget ones. As you mentioned about her already owning a laptop, perhaps she is comfortable using them and would quite happily take a netbook. If laptops are her things, Intels ultraportables (windows answer to the macbook air) are due out end of this year and the start of the next. The price point of these seems to be a lot more attractive than that of the Air, so a potential wait might be worthwhile. The biggest deciding factor in your purchase would be your budget!
Just out of curiosity, do you have actual experience on typing with tablet, or is the bashing based purely on expectations and/or previous experiences with smartphones? I'm not flaming or anything, just curious since I've been pretty surprised how usable the "keyboard" on iPad is. Sure enough, it lacks the tactile feedback of a real keyboard and hence causes somewhat more typos, but other than that its pretty decent. Fast as hell to type once you get the hang of it. 4 months with iPad 2 here so far, would never even think of going back to regular netbook/whatever. Fabulous device.
ditto, I have found typing on the ipad surprisingly easy, even for longish email's, and bits and pieces on here as well, all I have to do is use the case that I have the Ipad in and it's in a comfortable typing position
The MBA 13" is better then the 11" easily. It has a better screen, better batterylife and more RAM and bigger SSD for only some €100 more. And it's not a ridiculous suggestion at all, if we look at the shelflife of the Apple-hardware. The new MBA 13" is good for stleast the next 5 years, so we're looking at €200 per year and the first two years (EU warranty) you have free of charge in-shop-service aswell. That's a fantastic value actually.
