Nope. Not missing the point. We're just splitting hairs to the point where things have gotten crazy as hell.
Here's the way I see it. A tablet has far, far more in common with a PC than, say, a bike to a car, or networking equipment to a toaster. I consider high end tablets to be in the same category as netbooks. They're little PCs. One you use a mini mouse or trackpad with, the other you jab your finger at. At the end of the day, you're still doing about the same stuff you'd do on a netbook with it. Just because you can't run CAD on an iPad or Galaxy Tab doesn't make them not-PCs. Only simpler, more focused ones. Like Netbooks.
I think that tablets should be lumped in with the lower end laptops, simply because they're basically the same thing in a different form factor, and have the potential to eat away at that submarket. A rose with a touch based interface is still a rose.
So a bike is a bike like a rose by any other name, but a car is not a truck, and a PC is a computer much like an industrial control system, which isn't a computer in the same way as a PC and...CRAP! ANALOGIES CRAMMING MY BRAIN HOLES UP!
I'm on it.
It could have everything but one in common, and still not be the same. Until words change enough, iPad remains the pc that is not. (Is it a
personal computer? of course).
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Why don't you Google it instead of repeating the same question over and over again ?
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A car is not a computer. The car's Engine Control Unit is a computer. The car's navigation system is a computer, but the car itself is a car, not a computer.
A computer is an electronic device that takes input, processes according to a defined set of instructions, does output and provides storage. If your device does this, it is a computer.
Computer is a very broad and generic term. Saying an iPad isn't a computer is wrong. However, here we're discussing laptops/desktop systems. Not tablets and smartphones. We're discussing a very precise subset of the computer industry. Are we going to throw in microcontrollers, networking equipment, industrial control systems, servers and other computers into the mix just because they are all "computers" ? No, so we aren't going to include tablets or smartphones either.
And, embedded in a (modern) car is an electronic device that takes input, process according to a defined set of instructions, does output and provides storage. My car does this, hence - according to your definition - it is a computer.
That said, the car example was mainly put there to show the blurring of lines that happens as physical material is given digital qualities (digital materiality). I did not seek to imply that the "car", as commonly conceptualized,
is a "computer".
(I dont own a car, but if i did...)
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Most calculators are not computers since they are are not "general purpose" enough. I would argue exactly the opposite of what you propose: computers = computing devices.
The problem is that most people think that computers = PC = personal computers. All PCs are computers but not all computers are PCs. All PCs are personal computers but not all personal computers are PCs.
A computer is a simple device and do not require a screen, a keyboard, a mouse, RAM, ports or a lot of other things.
...I said, "what we refer to as 'computer'" - not computer, though. In short, if what we refer to as computer (C) is {A, B, E} then (C) is a subset of Computing devices (CD) {A, B, E, G, H, Y..}
--- Not because G, H & Y arent computers - but because we do not perceive them as such. That was my point.
p.s.
why need a computer be general purpose? if i put an ipad into kiosk mode browsing for all eternity, does it cease to be a computer? After all, its effectively turned into a single purpose device...
(if you meant programmability, then sure... i would be inclined to agree... wouldnt think of a programmable calculator as a computer though :- D).
