The netbook is dead.
This was clear to me after using the iPad for just a few hours.
I’ve had a netbook for a couple of years, and I use it occasionally. It’s been a nice conference machine since I could do some light coding, etc. on it (which requires an editor and access the file system – for now, at least) and it is more portable than my laptop – primarily though I used the browser, did email and took some notes. The main reason I used it instead of my laptop in various situations was its size and weight. The iPad soundly thumps it in both cases.
I thought the real keyboard on the netbook would be a difference maker, however the netbook keyboard is cramped enough that typing on it is nearly equivalent to the virtual keyboard on the iPad. I’m frankly shocked by this, but the iPad keyboard in landscape mode is stunningly usable.
Both devices kill your posture; being small enough that they make you want to hunch over them. With the iPad I try to position it on my lap in such a way that it’s propped up towards me, a bit more awkward with the netbook.
I’m not going to get rid of the netbook just yet, but I’m running out of niches for it.
interesting. the keyboard is one of the two big barriers to entry for me, so the feedback above is a real eye-opener. i’m reserving judgment until i actually use an iPad, but i’m still of the opinion that a smartbook – i.e. same form factor, avec keyboard – will work better for me.
we’ll see if that holds up.
After using it for a few days, I think they keyboard would really just get in the way. You use an iPad differently – it’s hard to describe.
It seems to me that, in some ways at least, a tablet like this would occupy a slightly different niche: is the keyboard usable enough to really handle semi-extended use (a couple of hours at a time)?
lack of flash is what is preventing my swap to an ipad — if not, i have no hesitation in changing over from my netbook.
yes, i know html5 is the next best thing but lack of flash is a big deal for many of the websites i use, read, browse to on a daily basis. there are a lot of times where I’m looking up something (on google) on the iphone and i can’t access parts of a site due to lack of flash support — very annoying.
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You mentioned light coding. Have you tried that with the iPad? I type a lot on my netpad in notepad++ to do long tedious coding and I find the keyboard very usable. I don’t see using an onscreen keyboard that takes up half the display to be very convenient. I also drag my netbook around with me and sometimes plug it in to monitors lying around because I have standard vga port. I watch tons of flash. I use all the USB ports, camera, headphones, and even the SD card slot. I have completely replaced my big laptop with this netbook. I don’t think that is remotely possible with an iPad. If anything the netbook, especially tablet netbooks killed the iPad before it launched.