HP's Slate

[malachi1990]

And yet, the Touchbook still seems better throughout all this:

http://www.alwaysinnovating.com

[Paqman]

Plus e-readers tend to be greyscale-only from what I understand, making them less-practical for textbooks with coloured diagrams, fine-art texts, or anything else where colour is of high-importance.

They are greyscale, yes. It's the tradeoff you get for the high resolution and zero power requirements of e-ink. They're highly optimised for text, obviously.

I was actually pretty skeptical of the usefulness of e-readers, but my wife got one recently and I have to admit it's fantastic. Reading on a backlit LCD screen, even on something nice and light like a netbook or tablet just isn't as pleasant.

[Ric_NYC]

This is interesting.

Mirasol color ereader:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6u-mPpXeto8

[koshatnik]

Hmm, yet to still see a compulsive reason to own such a thing. Notebook size laptops are hardly a chore to carry around, and can do far more task wise than a slate/pad/slab thing.

I can't imagine trying to do on the fly imaging editing on a photoshoot with one.

[blur xc]

They are greyscale, yes. It's the tradeoff you get for the high resolution and zero power requirements of e-ink. They're highly optimised for text, obviously.

I was actually pretty skeptical of the usefulness of e-readers, but my wife got one recently and I have to admit it's fantastic. Reading on a backlit LCD screen, even on something nice and light like a netbook or tablet just isn't as pleasant.

Maybe for novels they maybe ok (as long as you are not a speed reader), but for technical documents and books (any reference material that requires a lot of page turning) they stink. I used a sony e reader a lot for a while there, and it was painful to look anything up in the table of contents, flip to the page, flip back a few pages, flip forward again. The page refresh times are WAY to slow for any practical use (for me), though I am really attracted to the idea of them...

BM

[blur xc]

I really can't think of a single reason to own a pad. What do people use them for, apart from looking like tools in cafes?

couch computing.

I've been skeptical of a netbooks usefulness until I got one for my wife for Christmas. The little device has won me over for casual computing. I could be sitting on the couch and decide I want to look something up- the netbook is sitting there on the ottoman, in sleep mode. 15seconds to wake up and get a wifi connection and I'm ready to go. A tablet device would just be even more convenient. The irony is the netbook is far more flexible and powerful of a device, and costs about 1/2 as much as the ipad. No multitasking is a deal breaker- most times I've got a pdf e-book, a terminal, and at least one FF window open at one time, maybe even an open-office doc or two.

BM

[KiwiNZ]

Hmm, yet to still see a compulsive reason to own such a thing. Notebook size laptops are hardly a chore to carry around, and can do far more task wise than a slate/pad/slab thing.

I can't imagine trying to do on the fly imaging editing on a photoshoot with one.

not what they are designed for or marketed for.

[walkerk]

it could well be if not for HP's dreadful record with it's consumer line of products.

Hmm. I have 2 HP laptops and 1 HP desktop along side multiple Dells... I prefer my HPs. All 8 systems are of similar specs...

[Maheriano]

I really can't think of a single reason to own a pad. What do people use them for, apart from looking like tools in cafes?

I can think of 2.

1. I replaced the stereo in my car with a computer. I put a 7 inch touchscreen in the dash and ran the USB and VGA cables back to the computer in the trunk and it plays all my music/videos and also does GPS navigation, outputting all video to the screen in the dash. If I had this I could free up my trunk and also remove the 200 feet of cables by simply integrating this all-in-one computer/screen into the dash. It would make my troubleshooting life A LOT easier.

2. I configured my home for automation. From anywhere in the world I can SSH into my desktop (Ubuntu) using my phone (Android) and turn lights/appliances on/off. I can dim lights and also activate the fireplace or garage door (last 2 coming soon). I'm currently trying to place a touchscreen by the front door to turn things on/off as you're coming/going but I don't like the idea of running a VGA cable all the way up from my computer downstairs to the screen by the door. The iPad (or similar pad) could connect to my computer via Wi-Fi to run all the commands or it could even host the server itself.

Voila, 2 of my headaches solved.

[Paqman]

1. I replaced the stereo in my car with a computer.

Wouldn't it just be easier (and a lot cheaper) to use the normal mini-ITX or pico-ITX gear, especially since you can get proper vehicle power supplies for it?