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Comment by latch | Hacker News Reader

I guess I'll ask the obvious [to me] question. Why not just buy an Air?

Because $1000 for the entry-level Air still puts into the luxury-goods category relative to everything else on Best Buy's PC aisle.

iPad+Keyboard is probably a compelling alternative to a crappy lowend laptop for say students with light word-processing needs, but otherwise spend most of their time on web, social networking, and games.

Yup, my roommates are all med students and 99% of their class related needs are covered by iPad + bluetooth keyboard (they all got a keyboard case). (they still use a laptop because they have a bunch of medical software that doesn't exist on iOS)

Stanford med school actually "gives" (this verb seems out of place considering the tuition) every incoming student an iPad.

Having seen people use the Asus Transformer, they really like the fact that they can have both a tablet and small laptop in the same device. Of course the OS limitations of a tablet usually mean you can't use it for some serious work like typing (although that isn't too much of an issue with some web apps these days).

I've got a Transformer at work, and it's a really nice device in a lot of ways. The UI is much snappier than standard desktop operating systems, and the build quality is head and shoulders above the netbooks you can buy at, say, Best Buy that seem to already be crumbling when you get them home. But it's worth noting that it's suprisingly heavy and the weight is poorly balanced, because they need all that super thick glass over the screen. Furthermore, after you use it for awhile, you don't ever really want to touch the screen, because it's faster to type or use the trackpad.

Hopefully there is some third way where we can get a snappy OS, vague nods towards physical quality, and a netbook that doesn't feel like an accident waiting to happen every time you pick it up.

How does the transformer work as a power tool? Can you open up a simple development environment easily and actually get work done or is it more of a media consumption device? I've been using a cheap netbook running arch(with just a wm, it's snappy enough) as my primary device, but I really want a practical reason to get a more portable transformer.

I have a Xoom but I've found

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aide.ui...

this remarkably capable for Android development. You can even open up an Eclipse project directly in it and edit and install right on the device. Not sure if this is the kind of development you're looking for but developing for Android on Android is a reality with surprisingly few compromises. The IDE is called AIDE by the way.

I have tried to do that, but I have ended up with just connecting to server and running vim (with some hacks like nerdtree that make life easier)

I can imagine having that as primary device, but only with some other computer to connect to via SSH (and constant internet connection).

oh, connectbot probably had some problem with Transformer's keyboard AND it doesn't have "esc" button (which is kind of useful in vim), so I used some custom-build version that maps the search key to "esc" (since you don't need the search key anyway). But they maybe fixed it since then and I am still using some ancient version.

It's more likely the battery that is causing all that weight. Nearly all tablets are about 1/2 to 3/4 battery (in terms of mass and volume).

For me, the Transformer Prime is not so much a tablet as a netbook with Ice Cream Sandwich and ridiculous battery life.

I generally have no interest in tablets because of the OS limitations you mentioned, but the well-designed keyboard that ships with the Transformer made the deal for me. Like the Brydge, it has a solid hinge, and it also has a second battery that charges the Transformer as needed, providing an extra 10 or so hours of battery life (for a maximum of 18).

I thought the obvious question was, "is this a joke?"... and then I saw the kickstarter page.

I think battery life is a big factor. (I don't personally own an Air, so I am assuming that Airs don't actually achieve specified battery life: 5~7 hours.)

I have a 13" MBP with a 2.5 Ghz core i5, which is advertised at 7 hours. Doing simple stuff, I routinely get 6 hours. If I'm streaming high quality video (MLB.tv is all I have to report from) that gets cut in half.

15" hi-res. 6 hours average, 10 hours if all I'm doing is coding. My average brightness however is 5 dots, though I've been noticing I can get 6+ hours coding on max brightness when I'm too close to a window.

No touchscreen on the Air.

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