UPDATED 12:43 EDT / AUGUST 26 2011

Why I’m Waiting for a Windows 8 Tablet

Up until about two years ago I had never owned a laptop, or even a cellphone. It wasn’t that I didn’t want one, or rather thought I needed one, but  a matter of having the disposable income to finally get one. This meant that for the better part of my 20+ years of dealing with computers, both as a tech and a developer, my main machine has always been a gradually improving desktop.

Even when my financial situation improved to the point that I could see myself getting a laptop without my wife slapping me upside the head as she asked about how the bills were going to get paid, I decided to upgrade my desktop to a more contemporary hardware setup.

Once that was done I decided that it was time to finally get myself a laptop, a nice HP Pavillion DV9000. I thought since spring was coming that meant that I could spend my time working outside on the patio.  Well, that was two years ago, and for much of the last year that laptop has been set  off to the side, unused. The simple fact was that the laptop didn’t fit my workflow. As it is, I have a dual monitor setup on the desktop and there are days where I wish I had another monitor.

My current desktop – a light day

So after giving it a RAM upgrade (2GB to 4GB) and a general dusting and cleaning, I gave it to my grandson as a gift for pulling up his grades and making it into his next school grade. Sure, I could have kept it as a second machine, but really it was too much,  and when push came to shove it really wasn’t that mobile.

This left me wondering what was next on my list of options as a good viable mobile and minor work machine. Of course the smartphone I have is out of the question because even though it is nice and light it is nowhere near something that I can comfortably work on; and as far as entertainment – other than a couple of made for smartphone games, smartphones are crap. I mean seriously, how do people really swallow the marketing hype that smartphones are a great way to watch TV or movies?

About the only time I am driven to punishing myself by watching video on my phone is when my wife is watching something on TV that I totally can’t stand whatever happens to be.

So, a tablet is beginning to make some sense.

Yes the iPad is the front runner at this point but I am not an Apple type person, never have been and as long as they continue down the “locked in” road I never will be.

As for Android, well, they might be the more geek friendly option, but let’s face it, I’m not an Android fan not to mention the fact that the fragmentation of the Android platform is, and will be, a big problem.

This leave me with a whole lot of nothing at this point, sort of.

There are some companies that are marketing Windows 7 powered tablets, but at this point I don’t think that is the answer either. Not only is Microsoft not recommending the idea, but the fact is I don’t think the current Windows paradigm suits a tablet. Windows 8 on the other hand, is a different story.

Granted I am going just by what we have seen so far from presentations by Microsoft as well as information that has been slowly coming out about what we can expect, but I like what I am seeing and I think for my needs a Windows 8 powered tablet may just be the answer.

I still have my desktop, which will continue to be upgraded as needed because that is where I do the vast majority of my work and communication.  However, I also want to be able to be mobile. I want that mobility without sacrificing my ability to work without any of the tools that I have come to use; or have how I can use my tablet dictated to me by someone else’s design precepts.

For me a Windows 8 tablet seems to be the answer for a mobile personal computer that is light, functional, and marginally better for entertainment consumption that a smartphone. Laptops are nice, but really, as we move to a more mobile world; and as technology marches forward, a good functional tablet that is an extension of my desktop makes a lot more sense.

I’m not going to argue the merits of the other tablets that are out there, because just as with desktop personal computers the choice of a tablet personal computer is a personal one; and I for one am going to start saving up my pennies for a Windows 8 tablet.

 

[Cross-posted at Winextra]


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