Asustek primes Eee Pad to rival Apple's iPad | Tablets | Macworl. Netbook pioneer Asustek Computer will debut its first tablet computing device at Computex Taipei this June, making it one of several Taiwanese companies planning to reveal their would-be iPad-killers at the trade show. Asustek is working on at least two tablet devices, a company representative said Thursday. A prototype of its first Eee Pad tablet device was displayed at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this year. The final product it plans to launch at Computex will boast a 10-inch touchscreen, have Nvidia Tegra 2 chips inside and carry Google software—possibly the new Chrome OS. The company is also working on other versions of the Eee Pad that have Microsoft Windows on board and use Intel Atom microprocessors. It’s likely that only one version of the device, with Google software, will be ready for an official launch at Computex, he said. The coming launch of Apple’s iPad has raised interest in such devices around the world.
E-Books on the iPad: iBooks vs. Kindle for iPad. Ever since Steve Jobs first announced iBooks for the iPad, pundits have been wondering about the future of the Kindle and similar e-book readers in the face of this new competition. Now that we actually have access to an iPad, we had a chance to take a closer look at both the iBooks and Amazon's Kindle for iPad apps. We are still waiting for the B&N iPad app, but both iBooks and iPad for Kindle already highlight the iPad's potential as an e-book reader. iBooks It doesn't come as a surprise that Apple managed to develop the prettier e-reader app. Switching from the iBooks store - which looks a lot like the App Store - to your bookshelf is done through a nifty animation.
Newly downloaded books and samples smoothly slide into the bookshelf and thanks to a faux 3d look and a page-flip animation, the app itself mimics the look and feel of a book. When you click on a book in your shelf, it flips open and zoom to the page you left off. The iBooks app can also read DRM-free ePub texts. Can iPad replace laptop?: Larry Magid: I wrote almost this entire column using an iPad which partially answered my biggest question about the device. Can it replace a laptop PC? So far, the answer is a qualified yes. (Scroll to end for my Sunday morning update on why that yes is "qualified. ") As a writer and radio commentator, I wanted to see if I could use this device for my work. I knew that the screen would be big enough and that the processor would be adequate for word processing but I wasn't sure about the software or the ability to type on the device. Sure the onscreen keyboard is bigger than what you get with an iPhone or iPod touch, but it's still not adequate for touch typists who want to use it to write long documents.
Bluetooth keyboard Fortunately, Apple thought of that by offering an optional doc and keyboard but, unfortunately, that keyboard wasn't available on launch day. One of my biggest concerns was whether the Bluetooth keyboard and the software would be able to keep up with my typing. iPad Vs Laptops,Netbooks,Smart Phones& e-Readers. iPad versus iMac: Ciaran Blumenfeld... Hands-on: Is the Apple iPad a Netbook-killer? | iPad Atlas - CNE. They were virtually unheard of a couple of years ago, but now low-cost, low-power Netbook laptops are among the most popular PCs. After all, they approximate the experience of a larger, more expensive laptop at a fraction of the size and price. But just as we've started to see Netbooks from Asus, Acer, HP, or Dell on every coffee shop table or airplane seatback tray, Apple's iPad comes along, looking very much like a Netbook screen unhinged from the rest of its body.
The question is naturally raised, is the iPad a Netbook-killer? To pull the question back a little, when the iPad was first announced, one of the questions we wrestled with was whether it should be considered a computer at all . In the end, we tilted in the direction of "not a computer," and the factor that tipped the scale was Apple's use of the walled garden iPhone operating system.
The short answer is probably not. The 10- and 11-inch screens on most Netbooks are even bigger than the iPad screen. Apple's iPad vs. the netbooks - Apple 2.0 - Fortune Brainstorm T. By 2011, Apple will have captured 7% of the low-end computer market, says an analyst Apple's current share: 0%. Source: Deutsche Bank "We expect the iPad to compete very well against existing low-end notebooks and netbooks, particularly in the segment of the market where surfing, reading, game playing and emailing dominate the usage model.
" So says Deutsche Bank's Chris Whitmore in a note released Sunday. In fact, he writes, with the release of the iPad this spring, Apple (AAPL) will instantly add more than 50 million users to its addressable market. "With this product announcement," says Whitmore, "Apple now serves every pricing point from the iPod to high-end MacBook Pro. " While not directly comparable, the $499 iPad will be, he believes, "a formidable competitor" to the netbooks and cheap notebooks that are the fastest-growing segment of the computer market. Click to enlarge. iPadversaries! 32 Tablets, Slates, Pads, and More. Why are iPads selling as fast as Apple’s Chinese subcontractors can crank them out? In part, it’s because the iPad has a suddenly-hot product category pretty much to itself.
Before scuttlebutt that Apple was working on a tablet started to heat up, no major PC manufacturer seemed to think that consumers wanted a general-purpose, touchscreen-only computing device. Now almost all the big names–and lots of little ones–are furiously playing catch up. End result: Starting later this year, the iPad will be confronted by an army of other touchscreen machines, from potentially worthy opponents to shameless wannabees. There are also a few tablets that are already for sale here, all of which have one thing in common: Most of the reviews of them range from so-so to profoundly negative. I considered only devices with touchscreens–and only screens that are at least 5″. Shall we get started? Archos 5 Archos 7 Archos 9 Asus EeePad EP101TC Asus EeePC EP121 Augen Gentouch78 Best Buy Rocketfish Tablet Cisco Cius. 42 Reasons Why Netbooks Are Better Than the Apple iPad - Reviews. The iPad and the failings of the computer industry - Apple 2.0 -
Steve Jobs' latest creation drew big crowds; why can't his competitors manage the same magic? And isn't it time for Apple to show who can think big inside besides Jobs? Can anyone copy Apple's commandments? Measured by its contribution to Apple's (AAPL) bottom line, the launch of the iPad last weekend -- with its attendant media frenzy and lines of customers snaking around city blocks and suburban malls -- was not a particularly big deal. Let's look at the most optimistic scenarios. Apple can sell $3.9 billion worth of Macs in a single quarter, and nearly twice that in iPhones. But measured almost every other way, the iPad is a very big deal indeed -- not just to Apple, but to the whole computer industry. Apple CEO Steve Jobs saw an opportunity to create a third mobile screen -- more than a smartphone, less than a laptop -- and he seems to have succeeded where everybody else, including Bill Gates, failed.
But we do know that it's not another below-the-radar "hobby" like Apple TV. See also: Hardware Faceoff: iPad vs. Netbook. The iPad is here. Apple's much anticipated tablet device has swept the nation, and whether you can't get enough of your iPad or want to destroy every single one, it's tough to deny that the Apple hype machine has done it again. During its marketing push, Apple claimed that the iPad filled a need for a new category of devices between the phone and the computer.
And in almost every one of its iPad pitches, it trashed the netbook, the portable and inexpensive device focused primarily on accessing the web. Now that the iPad has launched and the two devices are in direct competition, which one is the better option? That's the subject of this week's Web Faceoff, our weekly poll series where we throw two two opposing web or tech contenders into the ring to duke it out for your vote. Today's poll question: Which device do you prefer: the iPad or the netbook? Which device do you prefer: the iPad or the netbook? Total Votes: 5,674 Faceoff Series: Overall Results Week 1:- Mozilla Firefox vs.
Week 24: