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Feel free to cal me silly for wanting such a thing

But I just want a 17" 16:9 Tablet for running games, watching movies and web browsing etc.

You are free to want whatever you want, but how do you plan on holding a tablet that big? Especially when gaming?
 
You are free to want whatever you want, but how do you plan on holding a tablet that big? Especially when gaming?

Same as I do my iPad, It will be laying on my lap (a bit far away for the current small 10" screen really)
Or I'll lay on my bed with it propped up against my pillow (nice gaming position) :D

I never hold my iPad in the air to do anything, other than perhaps look up a phone number, it's always laying/propped up against something.

The iPad, could for me weigh twice as much really, it would not really make any real difference for how I use it.

Ok, I don't want it to weigh a TON, but I'm not THAT fussed.
Naturally, I'd like it to be 3mm thick, weigh 2 ounces and last a year on batter y life, but I'd rather have a bigger screen :)
 
Same as I do my iPad, It will be laying on my lap (a bit far away for the current small 10" screen really)
Or I'll lay on my bed with it propped up against my pillow (nice gaming position) :D

I never hold my iPad in the air to do anything, other than perhaps look up a phone number, it's always laying/propped up against something.

The iPad, could for me weigh twice as much really, it would not really make any real difference for how I use it.

Ok, I don't want it to weigh a TON, but I'm not THAT fussed.
Naturally, I'd like it to be 3mm thick, weigh 2 ounces and last a year on batter y life, but I'd rather have a bigger screen :)

Well, I don't hold the iPad up in the air either, but I find I do have to use a hand to support it, even when it's on my lap with a pillow. I'd think a 17 inch iPad would be awkward to hold, even if it weighed 2 ounces -- try cutting a cardboard that size and see what happens. A 13-14 inch would be nice, though. Something where the screen itself was the size of a letter/A4 size paper. But for me, weight is also a concern -- I wouldn't want it to get heftier than the original iPad.
 
I get the feeling MS will struggle simply due to being so late to market; similarly with phones. Don't discount the effect bring first has.

I think what you meant to say was don't discount the effect of Apple bringing something to market successfully before Microsoft.

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If you want to fly and the only plane in the sky is the Sopwith Camel, you either don't fly or you have to go with the Sopwith Camel.

Apple customers who wanted a tablet have had no choice, they either buy the (in effect) one model Apple make, or they go without.
Given that choice they bought the only thing there was to buy.

You're incorrect.

In effect, you're arguing that the iPad competes on marketing and cache, while Windows 8 tablets can only compete on saturing store space with more than 12 options?
 
No, People bought the iPad, because at this brief moment in time, Almost anything apple make is cool, hip and trendy.

If Apple was cool, hip and trendy when it made the newton, then that product would of had a different history. But Apple did not have the same mass cool/hysteria image is does nowadays.

You sound like you've never used a pre-iPad tablet running Windows. MS didn't realize that a tablet OS shouldn't be a desktop OS. Metro aims to finally fix this...

The pre-iPad Windows tablets sucked. There are more than a few butt hurt owners of these devices on this forum. Those tablets failed to gain traction because few were purchased, compared to sales of laptops. These tablets were the proverbial zit on an elephant's ass: yeah it's there, so what?
 
You sound like you've never used a pre-iPad tablet running Windows. MS didn't realize that a tablet OS shouldn't be a desktop OS. Metro aims to finally fix this...

The pre-iPad Windows tablets sucked. There are more than a few butt hurt owners of these devices on this forum. Those tablets failed to gain traction because few were purchased, compared to sales of laptops. These tablets were the proverbial zit on an elephant's ass: yeah it's there, so what?

Problem being now they're thinking their desktop OS must = their tablet one, despite different UI related capabilities!
 
Problem being now they're thinking their desktop OS must = their tablet one, despite different UI related capabilities!

I know, and people are struggling with this, though I suspect in reality it's easy to step past to use Windows as normal.

From a corporate point of view it does make sense, if you can get people, who may not be very techy, to use the new Metro front end on their new desktops over the next few years, buy apps and become happy with it, then they may be more lightly to feel at home with a tablet that looks and feels the same to them.

At the moment, someone coming from Windows, would be faced with UI's they know nothing about.
So I can understand the logic behind wanting to make people get used to it, even if it's going to upset techy people initially having a front end to click with a mouse to get past to a normal desktop

If it works or not, who knows. I guess it depends on what new a radical things iOS6 brings to the table?

I very much like the way you can split the screen on Metro, approx 1/4 - 3/4 spit, and have one app running in a special mode in the 1/4 part and the main app running in the 3/4 part. I can see that being very useful rather than all one screen at a time and nothing else, one of the main limitations of tablets at the moment.
 
The avg person is not going to want a windows 8 tablet. Only windows fan boys and people that can't afford iPads will get them

I hear that Microsoft is charging over $80 for an operating system license. If that is true, then people who can't afford iPads won't be able to afford a Windows 8 tablet.
 
i think microsoft will wipe out the ipad.
Because what windows is doing with windows 8 is making almost the same thing for coputers and tablets so for instance world of warcraft and about a million other apps will work on the tablet so unlike android and apple who had to start with a small amount of apps the windows tablet because windows is the main operating system will start out with millions of app and far better ones than we can see on the android or apple market

Yeah, but these millions of apps are not optimized for Windows 8.:rolleyes:
 
I hear that Microsoft is charging over $80 for an operating system license. If that is true, then people who can't afford iPads won't be able to afford a Windows 8 tablet.

I think that's for individual!s who want to run Windows 8 on an Android Tablet in a dual boot configuration that supports Windows 8. That's pretty sweet and I'll buy a copy if I can run it on my Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 :)
 
How will Apple counter Windows 8 tablets?
Or indeed do you think they have to?

Apple has, in effect one tablet. Ok it comes in 3 memory sizes, 3G or not 3G and two colours. But in effect it's one model in one size with one speed.

Windows 8 tablets will come from a whole range of high end PC makers, In a variety of styles, screen sizes and powers. Some based upon Intel chipsets, others based on ARM chipsets.
Not only able to run tablet Metro based apps, but also full windows apps if you, the consumer should need or wish to.

Apple can see this coming with their, in effect single product, only make by themselves in the one size and design.

Do you think they are just not going to bother and assume they are untouchable in their current leading position, or do you think they are going to have to come out with a new product or products to offer consumers the choice that they will have from Windows 8 models.

In a years time there could be a whole line of various Windows 8 tablets on display at Best Buy, all running Metro, looking the same as Windows 8 does on people's new home computers. Are apple just going to still have just their single model on a stand at the end of the long line of Windows 8 models?

Blue Screen of death. AHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
I havent been this excited for a new gadget since the announcement of the iPhone 4. At first I didnt believe in tablets, but when I bought the iPad it completely changed my mind. Now I prefer tablets way way more than laptops.

iPad is great but iOS is still a mobile OS and I think tablets should be able to do much more than what Apple gives us right now. If you watch Windows 8 videos on Youtube on tablets you will see its SUPER smooth, with no LAG whatsoever in any video I have seen. Its got a great multitasking feature (the two Windows at the same time), it has great gestures (to change apps so easily and nice), etc.

I cant wait to have a iPad like tablet with Windows 8 and be able to use Vuze, jDownloader, Office, etc.

If the tablets have fans then I wont buy any. I want one just like iPad, which runs cool and silent. Give me a Windows 8 tablet with the display of the iPad 3 and it will be one of the best gadgets ever.
 
i think microsoft will wipe out the ipad.
Because what windows is doing with windows 8 is making almost the same thing for coputers and tablets so for instance world of warcraft and about a million other apps will work on the tablet so unlike android and apple who had to start with a small amount of apps the windows tablet because windows is the main operating system will start out with millions of app and far better ones than we can see on the android or apple market

It was exactly this mindset that doomed the windows slate PC, that you can just port a table-based computing system onto a tablet and expect it to just work. People want ipads, not imacs that rest on their laps. :p

Working and working well are 2 different things. I can VNC my computer to run diablo3 from my ipad. Good luck trying to control the interface using the touchscreen with any degree of competency.

It is taking Apple long hours of R&D just to figure out how to converge their OS and IOS lines, and even then, they are doing this in small, incremental steps (ie: consolidating apps/features across both platforms, rather than releasing one unified OS for both).

I don't believe Microsoft can magically just crack the secret to this in that short a period of time. Apps that run well on a desktop don't necessarily work as well on a touch-screen tablet, and vice versa.
 
It was exactly this mindset that doomed the windows slate PC, that you can just port a table-based computing system onto a tablet and expect it to just work. People want ipads, not imacs that rest on their laps. :p

Working and working well are 2 different things. I can VNC my computer to run diablo3 from my ipad. Good luck trying to control the interface using the touchscreen with any degree of competency.

It is taking Apple long hours of R&D just to figure out how to converge their OS and IOS lines, and even then, they are doing this in small, incremental steps (ie: consolidating apps/features across both platforms, rather than releasing one unified OS for both).

I don't believe Microsoft can magically just crack the secret to this in that short a period of time. Apps that run well on a desktop don't necessarily work as well on a touch-screen tablet, and vice versa.

Exactly. iOS and OS X are the same OS underneath, as is obvious if you jailbreak an iDevice and take a look at the file system. But Apple has kept the UI discrete, to optimize one for the tablet experience and the other for a desktop experience. It has been slowly growing iOS for years now, and many developers have started to follow Apples's example by offering both desktop and tablet/phone versions of their apps. You visit an app's website, and pictures with three versions of the app -- desktop, tablet, phone -- are becoming more and more common. It's going to take Windows 8 years to catch up, and some devs are going to be lazy and not update their apps because they think the desktop version runs ok on tablets. Apple forced their devs to write a separate tablet version if they wanted to be on tablets.

Also, because of the initial separation of iOS and OS X, we've got devs who started out writing phone/tablet apps expanding into desktop versions, as well as the other way around. I believe this makes for more variation and innovation in apps, as those coming from one direction is bound to see and do things differently than those coming the other way. I think Wndows 8 might eventually get devs who start out with the tablet side of things, but initially, it's overwhelmingly going to be desktop apps being ported to tablet format. I just think it's going to be a huge challenge for Windows 8 to achieve the same robustness iOS has as a platform.

Finally, I'm not in love with the Metro interface. Live tiles are good, but when I tried the consumer preview, I realized that most of my apps aren't going to be live tiles -- only apps I use regularly that could take advantage of it is mail, calendar and weather. So I'm left with screenfulls of same-looking tiles that are harder to tell apart than traditional icons. Differentiating them by color ony goes so far.

But most significantly, after decades of trying and failing to bring a usable tablet to market, Microsoft doesn't have my trust as far as tablets are concerned. I do like Windows 7, but am cross with the idea that Windows 8 messes up the desktop experience to promote tablets. I'm planning on hanging on to W7 until Microsoft sorts it out with Windows 9 -- and I'm very close to jumping ship to OS X. Only thing holding me back is I don't want to deal with the Mac version of Microsoft Office (!), and I need Office for work.

I don't know how many users there are out there like me, who always used Windows and never looked at Macs, but who were gradually more and more pulled into the Apple ecosystem through iPods, iPhones and now iPads. Piggie thinks Microsoft will be able to entice users to their tablets by familiarizing them with the UI on the desktop. Well, Apple's years ahead of them in enticing users to the Mac through familiarity with iOS. Point is, there are already users like me. As of now, users familiar with Metro interface -- well, there are the people using Windows Phone 7, and that's it. Microsoft has a huge mountain to climb.
 
Another factor that will work against Microsoft in the tablet space is Windows RT (formerly known as Windows 8 for ARM). Microsoft will be pushing two versions of Windows 8 in the tablet space: the x86 build and the ARM build. While the x6 version is the one that will be installed on laptops, desktops and x86 tablets, Windows RT will only be installed on ARM-based tablets, and won't have any support at all for non-metro apps, as there will be no "classic" desktop included with RT. This effectively fragments the Windows 8 audience into three groups: users of traditional laptops and notebooks who will prefer the classic UI over Metro; owners of x86-based tablets who will see the biggest benefits from Metro, and ARM-based tablet owners, who won't have any choice but Metro.

During the CES Keynote (which was comically bad), both Steve Ballmer and the various mid-level managers that came on stage referred to Windows 8 as "the no-compromise OS". By renaming the ARM version Windows RT, they technically lived up to that claim as far as the "Windows 8" brand is concerned, but in all honesty all they did was was play a shell game with consumers, investors, and partners.

I've used all three preview builds of Windows 8 (developer, consumer, and the current release preview), and I still have not been able to use it for more than 15-20 minutes at a time due to the way the new OS works and its ability to rash some of the most basic Windows apps. For those cases where I still need to use Windows, I will be sticking with Windows 7, as Windows 8 is not what I want from an operating system.
 
One thing is for sure.
It's going to be interesting :D

Microsoft will see this as a market they can get into.
There are people who want a tablet that can do more than apple will let one do.
Devs will write for it.
Intel based models will floor the iPad when it comes to CPU/gpu power.

Will they rule the world, well, who knows :D
Will apple one day allow the iPad to do more, well who knows :D

Two things for sure.

Hardware will get more powerful all the time, windows tablets, intel ones won't be as super sleek as ios and android ones for some time, windows rt ones should be.
So it's your choice, the customer.

Will Microsoft get it all perfectly right 1st time? No, of course they won't.
Did apple get iOS right 1st time, no of course not, that's why we are v6 now reminder.

Apple fans will not remember this point and of course slag off, basically windows tablet OS v1 as no good, that's to be expected.

I'm looking forward to "the journey" anyway.
 
"Piggie: Not only able to run tablet Metro based apps, but also full windows apps if you, the consumer should need or wish to."

You may not have noticed but people who use tablets (iPad), have moved beyond their need for Microsoft apps (other than Office) and have numerous ways to connect and share data!

Metro Apps? Surely you jest?

The iPad is and will remain the genre defining device. It will no doubt evolve with developers eager to create amazing apps.

Microsoft was late to the game because they have no vision.
 
"Piggie: Not only able to run tablet Metro based apps, but also full windows apps if you, the consumer should need or wish to."

You may not have noticed but people who use tablets (iPad), have moved beyond their need for Microsoft apps (other than Office) and have numerous ways to connect and share data!

Metro Apps? Surely you jest?

The iPad is and will remain the genre defining device. It will no doubt evolve with developers eager to create amazing apps.

Microsoft was late to the game because they have no vision.

Actually, I do belief that there are a percentage of people who are simply "putting up" with tablets are the moment in what they can do.

I'm "putting up" and "having to accept" the limitations of the iPad and such devices.
I want them to do more and I want them to have more connectivity, but at the moment it's not there. I don't want to modify my life to suit Apples corporate moneymaking ideas, I want to do things that I want to do.

If someone gives me files on a USB drive (a movie, music, photos) I want to be able to plug it in and read the stuff.
I don't want to have to jump through hoops and blocks that Apple have deliberately put in my way to perform a tack that should be simple and take seconds.

I'm "putting up" with things.

If I'm offered a good alternative that can offer me things that I don't currently have then I, and a percentage will look at it and consider it.

I'm in no way saying Msoft will beat the iPad, simply that not everyone who has an iPad is extactically happy about the way you have to work around things to perform a (what should be) a simple task.

Remember Apple do things, not just to make things cool and trendy, they put blocks in the way and force you to work in a manner that steers customers to buying things from their systems also, they don't want you doing things the easy way. They want you to do things there way. That's why Apple exist. To make money. If it was to make the world a better place then they'd not charge you like $50 for a $5 item in a device.
 
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