Tablets Replacing Desktop Computers?
You’ve probably heard it too. Tablets will be the thing of the future, we’ll all have one, and we’ll all use them for everyday tasks. They’re already creeping into our schools, into shops, hospitals, businesses… They’re all over the place. But does that mean they will replace desktop computers?
I mean, when you think about it, these tablets are getting more and more powerful, and can do more and more things with them. In fact you can picture coming home with your tablet, slotting it into a sort of dock, in which then it acts like a normal computer. So it does seem like a future that could happen. There are Android tablets that do this kind of thing already, they slot into a base which makes them like a laptop, but it makes you wonder… if you wanted a laptop, wouldn’t you just get one of them instead of buying a tablet and a laptop attachment for it?
One thing that I do a lot with my computer is video, graphics editing and typing. These things really don’t mix with tablets at the moment, I’ve tried video editing on a tablet and it’s just painful and annoying and slow. Eventually your pointer finger gets ludicrously sore from all the precise taps and drags that you have to execute. In my opinion, even if tablets were incredibly fast, and could handle video editing easily, it still means a lot of finger wagging.
Graphics editing on a tablet? Pffft, get out of here. Yeah so Adobe has a Photoshop app for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch, but does it create graphics? No, it barely styles photos. Really you’d expect better. But again I can imagine if there were any decent graphics developing programs for the tablet, they’d be a similar hand exercise to making a movie.
Typing? Goodbye tablet. Yes you can buy keyboards that you can plug your tablet into, there are even ones that run over Bluetooth, meaning more things you have to charge up and fiddle with. Tablets are too annoying to type on, no matter what brand they are or what OS they run. Touch screens aren’t good for typing.
However, there are some things that tablets do that my computer doesn’t do very well. Making music is one of them, I find Garageband on the iPad to be better than the actual desktop program.
“But Ben, Garageband for desktop has far more instruments, effects panel, thousands more loops, way more music tracks. The iPad app is featureless”
Yes, but the thing about the Garageband app for iPad is that it’s cleaner, in my opinion playing the keyboard on the iPad is better than playing the keyboard on the desktop using the actual computer keys. Also in my case where I have a Windows computer, it’s also a better option than spending $50+ on a music making app. I’ve made WAY better songs on the iPad app than I ever have in the desktop app. The Garageband iPad app seems to sound better too.
Managing connections, I get quite a few newsletters, website comment notifications from this website and emails from YouTube telling me some dumb arse has made some mindless question about something that was already explained in the video. I also have Twitter and Facebook to take notice of. For this iFind that tablet devices are really good, far better than a computer. There’s no way I’d be checking my emails with my desktop computer on a camping trip. This is where the tablets shine, online stuff and playing games. I wouldn’t bother trying to use them for much else, it’s fun to have a go at making a movie on them every now and then, but for something like that it’s just not practical. Then again, when it comes to internet stuff if my computer is turned on that I’ll use it in preference to a tablet, because I get the full web, not this mobilized crap that 80% of websites are changing to these days. YouTube Tablet Version is a pain in the backside, you can’t edit your settings for your videos and don’t get me started on Mobile Facebook.
Anyways,
That’s my quite ridiculous rant for now.
To tell you the truth I only wrote this picture because I took a picture of an iPad awhile ago and I wanted to use it somewhere. So that was the inspiration for this post, apologies if it sounds unstructured. I thought it up as I went, unlike most my other posts where I already have a string of thoughts to include.
Til next time,
Ben.