The Cornerplay: The most popular computing device has yet to be invented, the 15-inch tablet

[Guest]

I think that personal computing will be done by your phone with the display being wireless. This way, you go to the office and you have your pc with you, you go home and your phone connects to whatever size wireless display there.

 

[psycros]

I'm always amazed at how common sense so often eludes the writers of many tech articles. The future will be 7"-10" tablets and larger hybrid devices of which the Surface is a very early example. Everyone sees it coming except the industry bean counters and tech journalists. Why? Because it MAKES SENSE for the vast majority of consumers. Its simple, no-brainer logic - a tablet for the most casual activities and a hybrid for everything else (not including crossover devices like Nvidia Shield). Only hard-core gamers and graphics professionals will still have towers by their desks. Office PCs will be mostly thin clients or "cloud-connected" terminals.

 

[at0mic_Mike]

I can't believe people cry about the weight of these little things. I wore a tool belt at work for 15 years, must have been around 25+ lbs fully loaded (without the drill). I really can't imagine a 1lb piece of plastic totally wearing someone out by the end of the day. BUT, a 15" tablet would be perfect to sit on your lap and actually be able to read from a normal distance. Like someone else said, mount it.

 

[Guest]

I question people's reading comprehension. How is a 1.5 pound tablet difficult to carry, even if 15 in size? Was the iPad too heavy?

Also I agree that tablets will get bigger. My nexus 7 is basically gathering dust after I upgraded to an G3. There's no point for it since my phone is so large.

If I get another tablet, it would be a much bigger one.

 

[Guest]

"yet to be invented"..?

Invented? Really? Produced, maybe. But the technology is here: tablets are nothing new, keyboards, docks and stuff like that are nothing new. So a 15" tablet doesn't need to be invented. An invention is when you make something new, not when you make something bigger and/or lighter. (Unless off course you work for Apple, then rounded corners are an invention.)

 

[Jeffrey Yuwono]

One major thing people seem to misunderstand is that the computer of the future I'm writing about is not just a 15-inch tablet, it's a 15-inch tablet that weighs 1.5 pounds.

I'm not talking about fat, bulky, heavy 15-inch tablets of yesteryear. I'm talking about something thin, light and sexy, but with a 15-inch screen.

Next time you're at a Best Buy, get to the best 15-inch laptop you can find, whether a Dell XPS or MacBook Pro. Hold the screen. Now pretend you can rip that screen off...THAT'S the tablet I'm talking about (assuming the OS is up to par).

It'll take a few years to get there. This year and the next, we get ~13-inch tablets that weigh about 1.5 to 1.7 pounds (SP3, Tab Pro and probably the iPad Pro too). That tablet would be awesome, but America wants 15-inches.

So not this generation, but in the next -- when technology has advanced enough -- we'll finally get 15-inch tablets that weigh 1.5 pounds. Once that tablet is priced at $600 or below with a keyboard cover, you will start to see a massive shift away from all those "crappy" 15-inch Windows laptops people are buying today.

(That was the whole point behind the scatterplot charts. To predict when the shift will happen.)

 

[tipstir]

ACER has 21-inch Android touch-screen sure you would be tether with the power cord. Really don't need to go as high 15.9-inch really huge tablet. Transparent tablet would cut the weight, but still that would be more expensive than the native 9.7 to 10.1-inch tablet. Based on current market value today.

Can't carry your desktop powerhouse computer with you, so you got a laptop instead. After the fall of Netbook now the tablet was born. Android Tablet is no where near a Windows Tablet so that's where the issue is. What can you do on Tablet? Suppose to be able to do what you can do a laptop, but touch-screen suppose to be able to by-pass the keyboard and mouse. Then there was issues with the touch-screen in prior.

Now let's make tablet sales rise by making larger model at what cost to the consumer?

Largest tablet I have every own is 10.1-inch on Android side. Windows 8.1 tablet is 9.7-inch. Both tablets are heavy and Windows tablet sports 2.5 HDD inside making it even heavier.

But I find myself more using my Powerhouse Desktop than even my Power Laptop which is severs as DVR 24/7. Tack on Wave WiFi Keyboard and Harmony Remote and you got a fun multi-usage entertainment device. Where the tablet was suppose to be that replacement it can't manage it.

So ACER 21-inch and their 27-inch so call tablet (aka desktop touch-screen panel) more for either hanging on the wall or being on your desktop or even on the floor. But you can't walk around holding such a large device, just too heavy.

My 2x 10.1-inch netbook, 2x 15.9-inch laptops, 3x 23-inch desktop, 1x 32-inch desktop, 1x 40-inch desktop and 1x 46-inch desktop. Again with all the tablets I have owned since 2010 roughly 40 of them.

 

[Guest]

In my opinion, the 15" laptop is actually a desktop replacement for most people as it is quite powerful and portable enough to certain extend. In the future, I could see that 17" laptop could become more popular as it will offer more real estate for heavy productivity (multi window work) while offering some degree of portability. Desktop is mostly overkill (in term of performance) for majority of people and you lose the flexibility to move it once in the while.

Tablet, in the other hand are mean to replace light and portable laptop. First, it must be light and easier to be carry around especially in the constraint area like in public transport (plane,train etc) without sacrificing light productivity (revising document etc). it's in my view, that 13" would represent the best size for this purpose. You wouldn't want to do serious work on this tablet as it would require extra accessories such as keyboard and mouse to be really productive. Unless significance progress in the stylus technology or alternative data input can be achieved, there is no point to go beyond 13" to be extra productive.

As it is now, I would prefer to have 17" or 19" laptop for main productivity, 13" tablet for portability (meeting and traveling) and 7" tablet to play around (casual activity, gps etc)

 

[Marty LK]

A 15" tablet would be nice if it doesn't weigh too much.

 

[Guest]

Jeffrey, there's a couple of issues here. Unless Apple sticks an I5 processor in a 15" iPad, it'll be nothing more than the world's largest iPod touch. People forget that's part of what makes them thin and light: the ARM processor, which also makes them a very different computing device than a 15" laptop. So you can't make this leap yet. If you read about the phenomenal engineering that Microsoft pulled off with the cooling system inside the Surface Pro 3, that's what it will take. But it still adds weight. Another is fragility. WHEN the day the fanless x86 processor arrives (unless you want to use an Atom), you'd still have to have some very light material to produce a 15" device at 1.5 pounds. I'm not saying that it's impossible. I'm saying that you're going to end up with an extremely vulnerable device. Obviously a 15" span is easier to bend, now add lighter materials? And then to protect it, you're going to add weight by adding a case. What are you accomplishing? You still don't have a keyboard.

Secondly, the span of a 15" device is simply too cumbersome to carry around. It's not necessarily about weight. Like one of the posters said, the 15" sales are because people are using them as desktop replacements. They are carrying their iPads around because they are smaller, less prone to bumping them on things, and easier to fit in a purse or handbag or under a car seat or in a glove box. Here's a test for you: get a piece of .25" plexiglass in the dimensions of what a 15" tablet would be, carry it around, and try it in those places I mentioned. An 11 or 12" span fits in more places than a 15" span. Simple as that. And you still don't have a keyboard.

And price. You're not getting that device with a keyboard under $600 from anybody. Never from Apple, and not with an x86 processor. As devices get thinner and faster, the price goes up commensurately. There's a reason why people buy the "crappy" Inspiron 15: it's $250 and it will last them 4 or 5 years.

How many times did I mention a keyboard? A 15" device screams "pull up that big *** spreadsheet buddy". Your fragile 1.5 pound device is missing something pretty major. Maybe you don't need to rip the screen off that laptop after all.

The Surface Pro 3 is about as close to the perfect size to thickness to weight ratio as you're going to get. I own one; I can do spreadsheets and databases on it, and it can even encode video. Microsoft nailed this one...there's no doubt about it.

 

[fimbles]

Tablets are useless for productivity. Unless of course you plug in keyboard and mouse and turn it in to a laptop.

Tablets are for the coffee table, portability is a non issue.

 

[Jeffrey Yuwono]

Jeffrey, there's a couple of issues here. Unless Apple sticks an I5 processor in a 15" iPad, it'll be nothing more than the world's largest iPod touch. People forget that's part of what makes them thin and light: the ARM processor, which also makes them a very different computing device than a 15" laptop. So you can't make this leap yet. If you read about the phenomenal engineering that Microsoft pulled off with the cooling system inside the Surface Pro 3, that's what it will take. But it still adds weight. Another is fragility. WHEN the day the fanless x86 processor arrives (unless you want to use an Atom), you'd still have to have some very light material to produce a 15" device at 1.5 pounds. I'm not saying that it's impossible. I'm saying that you're going to end up with an extremely vulnerable device. Obviously a 15" span is easier to bend, now add lighter materials? And then to protect it, you're going to add weight by adding a case. What are you accomplishing? You still don't have a keyboard.

Secondly, the span of a 15" device is simply too cumbersome to carry around. It's not necessarily about weight. Like one of the posters said, the 15" sales are because people are using them as desktop replacements. They are carrying their iPads around because they are smaller, less prone to bumping them on things, and easier to fit in a purse or handbag or under a car seat or in a glove box. Here's a test for you: get a piece of .25" plexiglass in the dimensions of what a 15" tablet would be, carry it around, and try it in those places I mentioned. An 11 or 12" span fits in more places than a 15" span. Simple as that. And you still don't have a keyboard.

And price. You're not getting that device with a keyboard under $600 from anybody. Never from Apple, and not with an x86 processor. As devices get thinner and faster, the price goes up commensurately. There's a reason why people buy the "crappy" Inspiron 15: it's $250 and it will last them 4 or 5 years.

How many times did I mention a keyboard? A 15" device screams "pull up that big *** spreadsheet buddy". Your fragile 1.5 pound device is missing something pretty major. Maybe you don't need to rip the screen off that laptop after all.

The Surface Pro 3 is about as close to the perfect size to thickness to weight ratio as you're going to get. I own one; I can do spreadsheets and databases on it, and it can even encode video. Microsoft nailed this one...there's no doubt about it.

Thank you for a thoughtful comment.

My argument is that the 15-inch, 1.5 pound tablet (once it can be achieved) will be the single most popular computer form factor. Because it'll be big enough for households to use as their primary computer, and it'll be portable enough for two handed use such that another 10- to 13-inch tablet is unnecessary. And yes, I'm assuming a Surface styled keyboard accessory to along with it.

Having carried a 15-inch laptop the majority of my professional working life, I strongly disagree it's too large for travel. The key to changing people's perceptions of that display size is weight.

 

[MikeSmithFL]

One major thing people seem to misunderstand is that the computer of the future I'm writing about is not just a 15-inch tablet, it's a 15-inch tablet that weighs 1.5 pounds.

I'm not talking about fat, bulky, heavy 15-inch tablets of yesteryear. I'm talking about something thin, light and sexy, but with a 15-inch screen.

YES, YES, YES. (I know, this is an old conversation, but I just came across it so it's new for me)
I agree (can you tell?)
I'm suffering with a 23 inch tablet that is wayyy too heavy. It's a Dell touch-enabled monitor that I prefer to use horizontally - and it weighs a ton! I also have a couple of 10.1 inch tablets.
A 15 inch tablet / laptop replacement would be perfect. I don't carry my tablets with me, but I have them scattered around the house. The 10 inch ones are too small and the 23 inch one is too big & heavy.

You've hit it right on the mark. A 15 inch tablet (at 1 to 2 lbs) would be PERFECT for what I want. It's an augmentation to my TV and my personal computing system. I have 2 tower PCs and a 17inch laptop. Each one serves different purposes. The laptop is actually a Dell mobile workstation that I use for my CAD work, one of the towers is for my home "theater" and the other tower is for my website development. The different PCs just fell into those applications because of the jobs I was doing at the time of their purchase. As the work got more complex and needed more horsepower, I upgraded for the job. But, the PCs still remained in the different parts of the house where I performed the work.

My 10 inch tablets were too small to comfortably continue using as remotes to my desktops/laptop so I got the next best thing - the 23 inch Dell touch-monitor. It's the right dimensions, but uncomfortably heavy.

I want a 15 to17 inch tablet that I can use as my "window" to my computing environment. It doesn't have to have a lot of horsepower because I use my own personal "cloud" in the house. All the processing is done elsewhere, I just need the tablet to act as a lightweight wireless monitor.

I liked your article and your premise for it. I can't agree enough.