Review of Dell Inspiron Tablet/Laptop Hybrid 156
Barence writes "It's rare that Dell breaks new ground in terms of design, but the new Dell Inspiron Duo changes all that, according to PC Pro. First revealed at IDF earlier this year, the Dell netbook has a screen that swivels in its own lid, turning the Windows 7 device into a tablet. 'The Duo's relatively modest premium over a high-end netbook buys you the touchscreen and slick conversion to the tablet format, as well as full Windows 7 and a decent hard drive. If you were thinking about buying either a netbook or a tablet, the Duo does both, though it doesn't do the tablet bit as well as an iPad,' PC Pro's reviewer, Jack Schofield, concludes."
Re:Soon I will be proven right... (Score:5, Informative)
You're wrong. Tablets will get thinner and lighter, and you'll dock them with keyboards (wirelessly) and larger monitors when you need to. Fewer and fewer people will see the need to buy a desktop or laptop computer.
Re:Idiots (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Idiots (Score:2, Informative)
Yep, I'll be doing a presentation shortly, and for this I'll use my iPad.
I'll just hook my projector up to-- oh, guess I'll be using my laptop after all.
Turns out: "better" is your opinion, and your idea of "presenting" is incredibly narrow.
Turns out: you're wrong. It's one thing to have an opinion, it's another to be clueless.
What you need:
http://store.apple.com/uk/product/MC552ZM/A [apple.com]
How it works in practice:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GysMfb4_79A [youtube.com]
Re:Entirely new! (Score:4, Informative)
It's linked in the article.
Vadem Clio
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vadem_Clio [wikipedia.org]
Hybrid (Score:3, Informative)
Actually, you didn't research enough.. (Score:1, Informative)
You need to do more research. The connector is a measly $29. http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC552ZM/A [apple.com]
The connector you're referring to works ONLY for keynote a small number of applications. From one of the highlighted reviews: [quote]I teach high school and thought the vga iPad dock connector would allow me to project everything I see while using the iPad, but alas there are severe limitations to which applications will show on the classroom LCD projector. I wish I had known this before purchasing the connector. The Apple Store description says the connector will display slideshows and movies, but I didn't realize that was it...[/quote] Further research (i.e. reading more reviews) indicates that it DOES NOT just redirect video output that normally gets sent to the iPad's screen. So it's actually a ripoff for $29 since it only works for a small number of applications (for now). So unless you ONLY plan to do presentations through keynote, show pictures, or movies, this isn't the device for you. If I want to include a demo of, say, Mathematica in my presentation, or maybe make use of a web page as a quick aside during my talk, tough luck.
Re:Idiots (Score:5, Informative)
While true, there are some things you leave out. First, notice the presenter view on the iPad. It displays slide number and.... well that's it. I'm used to the power point presenter view [cybernetnews.com], which displays the slide, your slide deck, notes, a timer, and drawing tools. For the iPad you have to constantly turn around to see the screen. Also you can't annotate the screen. These are seriously limitations to presentations.
Further, as I mentioned, VGA output is enabled on a per app basis. For example, you can't plug the iPad into a TV and watch shows using the ABC player, while this functionality is standard on any netbook with a web browser. For presentations, this means you can't open a web page to show your audience, a common enough task, as safari doesn't support VGA out.
So, while you assume the parent was referencing an inability to connect his iPad to a projector, he was actually alluding to the anemic presentation functionality it offers.
Re:Idiots (Score:5, Informative)
As a lecturer, I have a presentation every other day. I find my iPad is awful for them, as you can't annotate the slides. Further, developing presentations in iPad Keynote is an exercise in patience, while exporting from Power Point to keynote is a crapshoot, especially if you have complex animations. I resort to my trusty Dell Latitude XT for presentations. Even if it is heavier, it offers much more functionality.