Tablet
computers seem to be selling well, but they are inferior to the
now-nearly-extinct netbook. Limiting and limited in design, the
tablet appears to be intended for use by the casual peruser of
internet data, not by the individual for whom writing is a way of
life. Useful perhaps to a housewife chasing toddlers (who might need
to put aside her computer at a moment's notice without first powering
it down), or to field-operators needing a quick glance at technical
specifications (without having to wait for a laptop to spin up), the
tablet is intended to be held with one hand and operated with the
other, and to run one program at a time. Tablets must be propped up
against something or against a separately-sold propping-up-gadget
should the user desire to look comfortably at the screen or to type
out a message with all ten of her fingers, whereas the netbook has a
built-in, adjustable screen that can swivel to and stay at any of
more than ninety degrees of articulation. Unlike the netbook, tablets
do not have depressible keys or physical keyboards, which makes it
harder to write upon them comfortably, a problem which tablet-makers
are trying to fix by adding retractable keyboards to their design (a
move that all-but obviates the supposedly revolutionary keyboard-less
tablet design). While perhaps more portable and thinner than the
netbook, the tablet requires the user to carry around add-on gadgets
in order to make it usable, whereas the netbook is a complete and
fully developed package that is more than capable of doing anything
one would need to do on the interwebs. The netbook, with its
clam-shell design, automatically protects the glass screen when it is
folded against the keyboard upon closing, compared to the tablet,
which again requires the user to carry around a separately-sold (but
arguably far more customizable) screen cover.
In
summary, the tablet is for people who like to buy and to carry around
a sack full of add-ons in order to make their tablets usable, whereas
the netbook user's computer is a compete, compact package of vast
utility. Tablets are for casual and affluent consumers self-enslaved
to the candy-floss joys of conspicuous consumption, but writers,
being a frugal and cunning breed, prefer the netbook.
場黑麥
ioanni
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