Why the PC has never been more important

Matt Egan

At the iPad 2 launch (you may have noticed it), Steve Jobs used the phrase "post-PC world", suggesting that Apple’'s second-generation Tablet means the PC is no longer central to our lives.

Mac fans won’t want to hear this, but Apple’s idea is little more than a development of the ‘always-on, everywhere’ ideal as promoted for years by companies as disparate as Google, Microsoft and RIM (make your own jokes about Apple taking other people’s ideas, adding polish and walking away with the loot).

In his Apple iPad 2 speech, Jobs pushed a theory he first espoused the previous year, when he opined that PCs would become “like trucks”: useful for certain tasks, but not for everyone (even though every red-blooded male would like a truck). The inference is that Apple’s tablet makes the PC like Windows tablets of times gone by: very useful to very few. Ironic, right?

But is the PC going the way of the dodo? The contrarian in me points out that to use an iPad as intended, you need to sync it with iTunes – on a PC. But that's a silly argument. Once it’s set up, you don’t really need to use iTunes with your iPad. A colleague recently failed to notice he’d mislaid his laptop for three days, so able was he to use his iPad for... well, everything but the kitchen sync.

Drop me a line and I'll tell you *which* colleague...

It all boils down to semantics.

The iPad 2 and its rivals are simply the next generation of lightweight, portable computers. They’re PCs.

We’re at a point where you can do most things, most of the time from a portable device – provided that you have connectivity. But just because you can use a tablet or smartphone for all of your daily computing tasks, it doesn’t mean you’d want to.

Mobile devices are good at mobility, but they’re not better than a desktop PC or laptop at much apart from that. Sometimes greater processing power, a hardware keyboard and a large screen make for a better tool. Try composing a long email, editing a spreadsheet or touching up a high-res photo on a smartphone or tablet. You can do it, but I still think you’re more likely to use a well-specced laptop if one’s lying close by.

Consider some of the major advances in home and portable computing in the past 20 years: from Windows 95 to Google Search, push email on BlackBerry handsets, the prevalence of Wi-Fi, ubiquitous 3G... They all reduce the importance of a single, central PC to that of a data and communications hub. But they increase the number of devices from which we can access the data, and the number of ways in which we can communicate and create.

In defending the PC's honour, my US colleague Jason Cross redefines the term ‘PC’ from ‘personal computer’ to ‘pervasive computing’. I don't fully agree with his linguistic sophistry, but I take the point.

Far from a post-PC world, we’re living in an era of multiple PCs: connected companion devices of all shapes and sizes. The PC has never been more important, nor more diverse. The iPad is just one of them.

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.c ... ID=3265489

I'd still take even a netbook over a tablet any day, mostly due to the keyboard and mouse... I only really use a trackpad or touchscreen when I'm on the crapper

The majority of the public will surf the net, write emails and that's pretty much it. They don't need a traditional PC set up. However, it's not always useful. If I want to type an extensive reply on any forum, it's better to use my laptop. If I need to do anything more than surf the internet, I will fire up my laptop.

RE the keyboard thing.

I was sceptical about the iPhone when it came out and also the iPad. I didn't much like the idea of typing on either of them.

However, having used them both I have to say that I'm mightily impressed. The "intelligent" keyboards in both devices and decently sized "keys" allow for very fasting typing. I'd go as far to say that I can type as fast on an iPad as I can on a normal keyboard. Possibly faster as the "intelligent" part allows me to think about what is coming next rather than what I've just typed (if that makes sense).

However, (two howevers from one sentence ) I would never be able to use an iPad for programming or coding. Firstly because the keyboard does not have all buttons instantly available. I'd hat to miss my ; : . [ { ( etc... keys. Secondly because it isn't actually possible even if I wanted to.

I think I'm basically agreeing with what the guy said. For most people, a tablet is fine, it browses the internet well, it displays/shares/emails photos well. It can play music. It can even do a decent job of editing graphics and video. However, for the more specialised tasks (mainly stuff people get paid to do) like programming, video editing, 3D graphics manipulation, high quality image processing, high-end gaming, etc... a tablet will never do.

Well, the first example I remember of a non-academic suggestion of 'always on internet access everywhere' was in the revised edition of Bill Gates's book, so I don't know what Google & RIM have to do with it. Not that Google have had an original idea that's succeeded anyway (if you look at Google's range of services, the ones that have worked have been copies of other people's ideas; the stuff they've thought up themselves have mostly tanked).


Quite so - I can't help thinking when Jobs said 'post pc' he actually meant 'post MS windows'.


I'm sorry, this bit is flat out wrong. There are numerous tasks where a tablet with a touchscreen is better suited than a desktop PC with a mouse. That's just basic ergonomics.


Um, duh. Apparently the reverse doesn't hold in his world though...


Um. I've done all those things on a tablet. I gave away my laptop because I simply don't need it any more. He's running a fallacy along the lines of 'because I can't do it, nobody must be able to'.


Wait,what? Windows 95 was about the most 'me too' product ever invented.


No, stop, really, you're killing me. Google is no great 'advance' over Altavista or Yahoo, it just managed to gain a bigger market share.


What, the point 'if you can't win the argument change the goalposts?'. Ugh, what a mixed metaphor, I do apologise.

Jon

Hmm... I've been considering getting a new MBP recently (although possibly not till the next revision).

And following on from this thread I have begun to wonder if I would like an iPad instead.

However, I was thinking. If I had only an iPhone and an iPad (and a wireless internet connection) could I easily transfer photos/movies taken on my iPhone onto my iPad?

At the moment I don't think so.

Anyone?

Take the iPad, add Apple's iPad stand-with-keyboard and what's the problem? Or any tablet with a plug-in/wireless keyboard. If you're comparing it to a laptop, it's not an extra bit of kit, it's just a removable part.

I don't see why a "long email" needs a well specced (say C2D, 2GB RAM, latest graphics, 250GB HDD) laptop. Perhaps a laptop might be easier, but not necessarily a well specced one...

Stories are the 'iPad dock with keyboard' hasn't sold very well at all - somewhat backed up by the fact Apple updated the iPad dock for the iPad 2's different shape but haven't bothered updating the dock with keyboard. people either don't feel the need of a hardware keyboard or are using bluetooth ones (or USB with the camera connector, but that's a bit of a bodge).

Jon

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/photo-tr ... 52940?mt=8

Like this?

You will still need a computer for iTunes though.

And it shouldn’t be. The iPad (and related devices) do what most people do - a few games, mostly web browsing and light tasks. I’d even call word processing a “light task”, and by that I mean it does not require the grunt that a desktop machine, or even a laptop, can give you. If you want mega games, want to render 1080p videos; eg shunt a lot of bits around very quickly, then a tablet device is not for you.

I have no idea how I’d do what I was doing today on an iPad. Even if the software I need was available on that platform, it would be a lot more hassle than using my desktop machine. What I am doing now (replying to this forum) I am doing on my desktop simply because I am sat in front of it. I I was down stairs, I’d more likely be using my iPad than the MBP for this kind of thing.

I agree. Was just sayin' that I don't know if I could/would even if I was able.

RedTube has an iPad webapp AFAIK...

When I saw my first iPad the other day, my mated had a case with an inbuilt Bluetooth keyboard. When I saw it, I thought it it was brilliant.