Laptop Thoughts: Slate or iPad: Motorcycle or Bicycle

"HP released its Slate 500 tablet this week. Immediately, everyone started comparing it with Apple's iPad. But the two devices have nothing significant in common. They are in entirely different device categories and can even be thought of as opposites."

image credit: uebergizmo / HP

A well-balanced article contrasting HP's new Slate with the iPad. Different tools to get to different end results for very different classes of users. The author describes the Slate as built using technology nearing the end of the line for the WIMP (windows, icons, menus, pointing devices) interface, and he thinks that in the future most mobile devices will be built using the new paradigm (as represented by the iPad), and will be predominantly MPG (multitouch, physics, gestures) computers. I do like the motorcycle vs. bicycle vision. But in real life, add an RV to the mix. Today when traveling for business, I pack a "work" laptop (locked-down, no fun stuff), that, with charger weighs say 6-pounds (~2.70 kg) - queue the RV. And quite often also an iPad tags along for down-time. In the near future I'll be able to carry an HP Slate and an iPad, at half the weight, twice the battery life, same amount accomplished - and my back and shoulders will thank me. I'll have the metaphorical motorcycle for work, and the bicycle for fun. And, as the Slate enters the mainstream, I'm sure that "fun" will be available, just as, at some point "work" will sneak onto the iPad. As the old saying goes,"use the right tool for the job."