A strange thing has happened. After years of using a notebook as my only computer, I'm considering going back to a desktop machine. Why? The iPad.
It's too early to tell for sure, but the iPad looks like it will do almost everything my MacBook does away from the desk: reading, browsing, watching movies in bed. It'll even take care of the one thing that makes me schlep a notebook with me on vacation: importing and backing up photos. In fact, for many things it'll be better than a MacBook, as it will be as grab-able as an iPhone for quickly getting something done, and I can jiggle it around without killing the hard drive.
This leaves a few very specific tasks for my "real" computer. Work, for one. Writing Gadget Lab posts involves a lot of applications open at once, and it requires a proper keyboard. The second is photo-editing, which needs the horsepower of a full operating system (right now, at least). Both of these require a big screen to avoid flipping between open windows, and to let me see the pictures properly.
When I am using my MacBook like this, it is desk-bound, hooked up to a monitor, keyboard, Wacom tablet, a slew of external drives, a card reader, speakers, and so on. With, say, an iMac, I wouldn't need half these things, and I would never need to unplug the extras that are hooked up.
Desktop sales have declined as notebook sales have climbed over the last few years. Prices of laptops have dropped and modern notebooks are capable of running all but the highest-end software. Better still, we can carry everything with us. But if the iPad is enough computer for most things, the desktop starts to look pretty good.
I'll compare Macs here, both because I use them and because the well-defined range makes comparison easy. The same rules would apply to PCs. The basic MacBook Pro and the basic iMac both cost the same: $1,200. The MBP is a good machine, but the iMac is way better in terms of performance and specs. It has a 3.06GHz processor versus 2.26GHz and a 21-inch screen instead of a 13-inch. The hard drive is three times bigger, it has double the memory and double the USB ports. Sure, one is a marvel of miniaturization, but if you never need to pick it up, the MacBook Pro is a pretty poor desktop computer.
Will the iPad mean a boost to sales of desktop machines? Probably not. Most people who need a "real" computer will likely still buy notebooks. But will the iPad cut into notebook sales in general as more and more buyers realize that it is plenty powerful enough for their needs? Almost certainly.
Photo: Jon Snyder/Wire.com
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