touchbook vs ipad

[Xbehave]

Didn't realise how small the iPad is, whats it's go over say a Touchbook

Color display 9.7 vs 8.9
Processor Apple A4 system-on-a-chip vs ARM Texas Instruments OMAP3 chip
Graphics 1024×768 pixel vs 1024×768 pixel
RAM ??? vs 512MB
Storage 16, bs 8Gb
Wireless wifi(b/g/n) & Bluetooth (both)
3G Internet 7.2 Mbit/s HSDPA (avalible as internal usb pen)
Operating system iPhone OS vs any that runs on arm
Battery 10 h usage vs 5h (+5h in keyboard)
Weight 1.5 pounds (680 g) vs ???
Dimensions 9.56 x 7.47 x 0.5 VS 9.7 x 7 x 1.3
price $499 vs $299


pro iPad

It's thinner and the screen is bigger
It has more storage (but then you can just put an internal flash pen in the touchbook at 64GB costs ($260+$299=$559<$699)
Is it much more powerful? I'm not familiar with the a4 chip, but I'm suspicious of anybody who tells you the Ghz on an ARM chip
HW multitouch (i'd guess the touchbook, doesn't have it but can emulate it just like a normal touchpad can (pinch/swipe/twist/etc))


pro touchbook

Cheaper
Detachable keyboard (adds 5hrs battery life, usb ports, etc)
Carrier neutral (you can stick any 3g pen in it)
Usb connectivity
Freedom to run any Arm OS on it (even winCE)
Ability to run flash? (there is flash for arm,linux so i guess so)
Multitasking (ipad can run 1st party apps in background)


While I don't see the market for either device, the apple hype suggests people want something too big for your pocket but about as powerful as a netbook and are willing to pay for the nose through it. So why would you pay $499-$829, when you could pay $299-$700 for better devices?

[matchett808]

the touchbook is 3lbs and has 512 mb of ram

you have only compared the base model of the ipad, I myself will most probably get my first apple computer this year and it will be one of the up'spec'ed (lol) ipads.......I'm not an apple fanboy or anything but the make nice gear so am going to give them a try......the touch book looks good but it appears that there is a price to be paid to get the weight down significantly (and with double the battery life, because if I bought a slate computer I wouldn't want to lug the base around! thus the touchbook would sink at 5hrs for me....)

the ipad also charges through USB aswell.......

[ve4cib]

The storage on the Touchbook is an SDHC card on the motherboard. You can freely swap out the card for a larger one. It ships with an 8GB card, but you can go up to 32GB (at the moment -- AFAIK that's the largest SDHC cards go right now). Plus you can put a USB stick inside the device to further expand the storage by up to hundreds of GB.

The Touchbook does not come with 3G as standard; you would need to buy a third-party device and use it with the TB, just like most other laptops.

For people who use a lot of USB accessories the TB's 7 USB ports are likely to come in very handy. Plus it's designed to be easily-hackable, with the user able to open the case to get at the innards. Every try taking an iPod apart?

You are correct that the Touchbook does not support multi-touch. It's a resistive touchscreen, so you can only use one finger at a time, and it tends to be more responsive if you use a fingernail or stylus. I don't believe there is any support (software or otherwise) for multi-touch on the TB.

The TB does support Flash out-of-the-box. That was one of Always Innovating's main goals with the release. Obviously with a relatively under-powered CPU and not much RAM it's a touch-choppy at times, but it's definitely watchable.

I think the biggest difference between the two is that the Touchbook is designed to be a netbook first, but offers the ability to act as a stand-alone tablet. The iPad is designed to be a tablet first, but can be used as a more conventional computer (with the added keyboard accessory).

The other major difference is the actual quality of the devices. The Touchbook uses fairly cheap materials; the case is entirely plastic (and certain parts, like the back of the tablet case, feel like really cheap plastic). The resistive touchscreen is nice, but not stellar. And the OS is (last I checked) still very much in-progress, and lacking in the fine polish. But the TB is still a beta-level product, not the finished deal, so that's to be expected.

The iPad will more-than-likely use much higher-quality materials. The metal case-backing is standard on most Apple products now, and I expect the screen to look brighter and crisper than the TB's. And the iPad's OS, despite its limitations, will probably offer a nicer, cleaner experience out-of-the-box.

[Cabs21]

I think that the iPad will is nothing more then an enlarged iTouch(wifi only version) or iPhone(3G capable version). It does not even have a USB port or media port. Which means you will have to buy $$$$ another cable to connect camera to this device if you dont fork out more money $$$$ for a docking station with USB ports. And knowing apple they will make a whole new set of cables and accessories for the iPad that are not the same as the ones you already have.(more $$$$$) That is my biggest issue with apple is that they treat the newest product as the only product. If you don't upgrade your hardware your screwed because of lack of support and compatibility, if you do upgrade your hardware most if not all your accessories from the old hardware don't work. I know I sound like a MAC hater but I am not. I don't hate the product I just would never own one because of the business practices of apple. Sorry for the rant.

[Sporkman]

iPad has an integrated one-click (more or less) software app download/install/sales channel, with many apps available to choose from.

[muni001]

the touchbook is 3lbs and has 512 mb of ram

.....

Actually this is the weight of the tablet and keyboard together, the tablet alone weighs 1.49 lbs

http://www.alwaysinnovating.com/wiki/index.php/Physical_dimensions

I have yet to see how much RAM the iPad has, if anyone knows please post. They're both running on ARM processors, the iPad is a A9 , the Touchbook is running A8.

http://www.brightsideofnews.com/news/2010/1/27/apple-a4-soc-unveiled---its-an-arm-cpu-and-the-gpu!.aspx

http://www.alwaysinnovating.com/wiki/index.php/Touch_Book_specs

And yes, the Touchbook is not up to Apple's level in terms of build quality. But in terms of the openness, both software and hardware....

[pwnst*r]

Didn't realise how small the iPad is, whats it's go over say a Touchbook

Color display 9.7 vs 8.9
Processor Apple A4 system-on-a-chip vs ARM Texas Instruments OMAP3 chip
Graphics 1024×768 pixel vs 1024×768 pixel
RAM ??? vs 512MB
Storage 16, bs 8Gb
Wireless wifi(b/g/n) & Bluetooth (both)
3G Internet 7.2 Mbit/s HSDPA (avalible as internal usb pen)
Operating system iPhone OS vs any that runs on arm
Battery 10 h usage vs 5h (+5h in keyboard)
Weight 1.5 pounds (680 g) vs ???
Dimensions 9.56 x 7.47 x 0.5 VS 9.7 x 7 x 1.3
price $499 vs $299


pro iPad

It's thinner and the screen is bigger
It has more storage (but then you can just put an internal flash pen in the touchbook at 64GB costs ($260+$299=$559<$699)
Is it much more powerful? I'm not familiar with the a4 chip, but I'm suspicious of anybody who tells you the Ghz on an ARM chip
HW multitouch (i'd guess the touchbook, doesn't have it but can emulate it just like a normal touchpad can (pinch/swipe/twist/etc))


pro touchbook

Cheaper
Detachable keyboard (adds 5hrs battery life, usb ports, etc)
Carrier neutral (you can stick any 3g pen in it)
Usb connectivity
Freedom to run any Arm OS on it (even winCE)
Ability to run flash? (there is flash for arm,linux so i guess so)
Multitasking (ipad can run 1st party apps in background)


While I don't see the market for either device, the apple hype suggests people want something too big for your pocket but about as powerful as a netbook and are willing to pay for the nose through it. So why would you pay $499-$829, when you could pay $299-$700 for better devices?

Consumers are paying a ridiculous amount of $ for a Nook or Kindle, so...not sure where you're headed with your "argument".

[Sporkman]

Consumers are paying a ridiculous amount of $ for a Nook or Kindle, so...not sure where you're headed with your "argument".

Nook/Kindles have screens better suited for long-term text reading.

[ve4cib]

And yes, the Touchbook is not up to Apple's level in terms of build quality. But in terms of the openness, both software and hardware....

I agree completely. The Touchbook is sheer awesomeness in terms of its hackability (both hardware and software). I wish more devices offered that kind of easy access to the internals. And the fact that it doesn't require any additional accessories (like a USB adaptor) is certainly a bonus.

I'm expecting that in the next few years we'll be seeing more of the Touchbook-style detachable tablet/keyboard computers (or more of the iPad-style tablet-with-a-keyboard-accessory devices) on the market. I doubt the swivel-tablets will go away entirely, but their popularity may diminish.

[muni001]

I'm expecting that in the next few years we'll be seeing more of the Touchbook-style detachable tablet/keyboard computers (or more of the iPad-style tablet-with-a-keyboard-accessory devices) on the market. I doubt the swivel-tablets will go away entirely, but their popularity may diminish.

Indeed! Freescale was showing around an interesting prototype at CES, and an interesting price point.

http://netbooked.net/blog/200-7-inch-freescale-smartbook-tablet-ces-2010/

Honestly, if the tablet has bluetooth, then there are any number of full sized bluetooth keyboards that it would be compatible with. You'd need some kinda of a "dock" to hold it in a viewable position, but that's pretty trivial to do.

[pwnst*r]

Nook/Kindles have screens better suited for long-term text reading.

Yep, but they no other features other than simple browsing and reading. So?

[Sporkman]

Yep, but they no other features other than simple browsing and reading. So?

Different class of product.

[pwnst*r]

Different class of product.

Right, but people are complaining of its price. It's priced fine.

[muni001]

Echo on the different class of product, you only have to look at the battery life and weight of the kindle/nook/sony reader to remember that. The more apt comparison is to all the Tegra T20 based tablets that were shown at CES, and in my mind at least, the most direct comparison is the Notion Ink Adam, the specs are very, very similar (look on Slashgear for the Adam's specs), though the Adam uses a PixelQi screen for an "improved" reading experience and potentially longer battery life.

[pwnst*r]

Oh brother.

[Sporkman]

Oh brother.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0190590/

[pwnst*r]

Awesome movie. I could watch it in 720p on the iPad.

[plasma_jack]

The Touchbook II is supposed to have a faster processor according to AI's website. I would like to see how mature Ubuntu runs on it though.