Comment by tytso | Hacker News Reader

Comment by tytso | Hacker News Reader

Personally, what I'm starting to converge on is a smartphone plus a Macbook Air / Ultrabook / Chromebook, with the smartphone providing the tethering capability, and where I'm always carrying the smartphone, and carrying the light weight MBA / Ultrabook / Chromebook air with me 80% of the time. What I need out of the lightweight notebook is a keyboard, larger screen, fast browser (which one of the tablets or smartphones provide today) and minimal off-line capabilities (i.e., off-line GMail, Google Docs, and eBook reading). Anything else is a bonus. Today I'm doing this with a MBA, but I can easily see a next-gen Ultrabook or Chromebook meeting my needs.

Ultimately, the problem with a tablet is that its weight / capability just isn't favorable enough. Anything I can do with a tablet, I can do with a smartphone (although perhaps with a bit more scrolling), and a tablet's browser rendering speed and lack of keyboard makes it reach for a lightweight notebook every single time (and the MBA / Ultrabook / Chromebook isn't that much heavier than a tablet).

I think this is actually a hint towards the future of computing. I imagine that your smartphone will be your sole computer and then everywhere else (home, work, library, friend's house, etc) there will be something like dumb terminals that will associate with your phone to give you access to a bigger screen and keyboard and even extend the processing, memory, and graphics capabilities of your phone.

I would agree that the client's will get thinner (dumb terminals like chrome books), however I still think your own portable dumb terminal will be far more popular than a community / shared dumb terminal.

I use a MPB, but I'm envious of the MBAs and will no doubt eventually spring for one. I have absolutely no interest in a shared dumb terminal with a different feeling inputs / outputs (keyboard, mice / touch, screen).

Maybe if we're all using touch screens eventually, but I'm not convinced the keyboard will go away anytime soon, and I prefer my own setup. If anything laptops have become a very personal item, sometimes even a fashion statement (not my thing but it's there).

I was assuming we'd still have laptops and every other form factor we have now, just that you'd need your smartphone in your pocket to actually use your laptop. It is the hub, it has all your files, it is automatically backed up over the net, etc. Same thing with tablets. You could interface with an e-ink display for reading and an iPad-like device for entertainment and consumption. Your smartphone would store your save games and character data for various video game consoles, etc.

Asus Padfone + 10" inch touchscreen + Mobile Dock? Tegra 3 quadcore + companion core.

http://event.asus.com/mobile/padfone/

http://www.asus.com/Eee/Eee_Pad/Eee_Pad_Transformer_Prime_TF...

Like http://alwaysinnovating.com/products/smartbook.htm?

I think that's the direction, too. But they need to be "docked" wirelessly. Doing it with wires, or by actually docking them in another device is way too cumbersome and people won't do it. If they do it wirelessly (maybe with Wi-Fi Display technology?), and make it connect with everything, it will probably get a lot more used this way.

This is why I've been hoping that Google would just make Android have 3 UI add-ons, that get activated based on what type of device they are in. If it's the phone, then it shows the phone UI, if it's a larger screen, like a PC screen, the tablet version gets activated for it, and if it's a TV, the "Google TV" version gets activated there. Of course, they should try to make them as similar as possible, but you shouldn't underestimate that they are ultimately different form factors and they need their own optimized UI.

Also once that UI is activated, it should probably be activated on the phone as well. For example, I think it would be best if you could control the TV UI directly from your phone by touching it and interacting directly with it rather than "tabbing" through the TV UI with a remote, which is slower, and reminds me of how a dumbphone's UI was controlled before touchscreens. Pressing the UI element directly is a much faster approach.

It's interesting that you tend to have your smartphone and notebook together, because I am the opposite. I found that after I got my smartphone I tended to use my laptop less because many of the things I used to do with my laptop I could now do with the smartphone (I do not have tethering needs which obviously makes a big difference). I firmly believe that my smartphone is increasing the life of my laptop by severely reducing my need to haul its parts all over the place to check email and browse the Internet and that sort of thing.

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