So..
...nothing to announce then?
39 publicly visible posts • joined 9 Sep 2011
So, from the Apple UK site...
Entry point to owning a the cheapest Mac laptop (Macbook Air) is £850 for an 11.6" ultrabook with a meagre 64gb of HDD space...
Entry point to regular Mac laptop (Macbook Pro) is £999 with a 5400 rpm hard drive and only 4gb RAM
And now, the cheapest iMac available starts at £1099 for the 21.5" version....
Each one of these machines is underspecced for the price, but built with limited upgradability and deisgned to be binned and replaced when it no longer meets requirements. (Which is likely to be fairly soon given the limited specs)
Now they release a 13" laptop with an ultra high resolution, but hugely underpowered by the onboard graphics, with an entry price of £1449....
I don't even know how to sum this post up, but this trick of removing the cheaper product lines and making the entry level pricing so high is quite frankly ridiculous. The stupid thing is, it won't stop all the students from blowing their entire student grant on a brand new grossly overpriced shiny. (How else would the be able to use twitter and facebook) No wonder they were complaining about tuition fees!
At a risk of tipping the apple cart, browsing the web isn't the only use for a tablet.
Data can be moved on and off of most Android tablets using the Micro SD ports, I have a 7" Android tab which is solely used as an e-book reader. It's never online, but it's definitely being used!
As Android is more open, people are able to do more innovative things with the hardware besides simply browsing.
If you don't like the features of Windows 8, simple, don't upgrade. It is not compulsory, and nobody is forcing you to do so...
Also, they suggest removing the gadgets, they aren't saying you have to otherwise you'll suffer from a plauge of locusts for forty days and forty nights....
You would have to assume that being on a tech forum, some of us have a little common sense. if you know the source of your third party software is pukka you shouldn't have a problem...
Just because it doesn't bear the mark of the fruity corp doesn't mean this is going to flop.
Nobody seems to take into account the level of integration a device like this could have in a corporate environment. I would say that having a portable device like this which integrates fully into AD and allows granular control over security etc. will actually be a very welcome addition to the market.
For sales people who only use email and web based CRM apps, the iPad is just about useable as a work tool (if you can be bothered with the faff of having to use a third party office suite). However, anything more than that and it becomes a tiresome job.
At my office we had a bunch of QA users who insisted that they could work more efficiently with iPads, however 3 months down the line they finally got fed up with the number of hoops they had to jump through to be able to pull files from Sharepoint and edit them. The novelty of shiny wore off and they had the devices replaced with laptops.
Don't get me wrong, i own an iPad 2 and have a company issued 'new' iPad (which i rarely use other than the odd email) and they're great for browsing the web, playing a few games etc. But I don't think they can be classed as a corporate device. They are simply media consumption devices.
The Windows Surface is much more a business tool.
The bottom line is, when a large company is considering a fleet of tablets, given the choice of shiny but cumbersome integration... against securability, functionailty, native integration to existing corporate systems, and the clincher really, the most popular office suite, which do you think is going to be more desirable?
Spot on... The iPad is a nice device with a good ecosystem, but there is too much tie in and crippled connectivity.
There are similar products coming out which are superior (Asus Transformer line for example), but will not get the uptake they deserve purely because they dont come bundled with some look-at-me-you-can-tell-I-have-status-because-theyre-white headphones and a silver apple logo on them.
No Lash, you fail...
I read the article thinking that maybe it had some actual FACT based information, not just another pointless hype story based on nothing but heresay...
The article title states 'Foxconn tooling up for iPhone 5', it then goes on to state that the information is based on rumours, and even questions the relevance of the information given at the end of the article!
Yeah I totally agree with you there, even a fresh windows 7 install now has a shedload of updates.
Plus, if you are a gamer/enthusiast, you will need all the specific drivers for any GPU/Soundcard etc. and then the overclocking tools etc. etc...
The only way to properly streamline it smoothly would be using something like nLite & WDS/RIS to completey script an install from scratch, which is a huge pain in the ass too!
I do like the idea of keeping the bits and bobs apps and tools on a VM, you could simply run OracleBox or something similar on top of your desktop OS and keep the VHD (Or whichever proprietary virtual file system) backed up somewhere ready for use once the rebuild is complete?
I think the majority of you have missed the point.
The new 'endpoint' can be used for gaming etc locally as steam does all the install work. (Granted it may take a while to download the install files, but I'm pretty sure theres a way to take a backup of all downloaded content)
The VM with all the required apps for day to day computing tasks can still be accessed in the meantime.
It's not rocket science, and not a bad idea really... in fact, the gaming experience may even be slightly better without all the bloat of productivity apps installed locally.
@AC 14/12/11 11:32:
Why is this such a hard fact to swallow?
Not everyone who posts on threads like this feels the need to crucify products purely because its what everyone else does. I do happen to own all three, and as stated think each product has its own merits and pitfalls.
My BB (Bold 9780) is the perfect personal mobile phone for me, its a good size, has a replaceable battery and a full qwerty keyboard. I'm not really a BBM user, and only use the thing for a bit of facebooking every now and again, so the service outage didnt affect me at all. Hence, being happy with my BB. Only real criticism of the device is the web browser.
My iPhone (4 32gb) is a company issued device, and is also perfectly fit for purpose. The Exchange activesync works flawlessly without the need for expensive BES services, its also the device I use for the bulk of mobile browsing, add in a few useful apps and its also a perfectly good device. My biggest issues with the iPhone is the lack of a keyboard (I just cant get into touchscreen messaging on smartphones for some reason) and the inability to change the battery.
The Android device is a cheapo MID tablet, running Cyanogen firmware. Its a bit slow and has a resistive screen, but I only wanted it to have a play with Android so its perfectly fit for purpose.
Having had a play with the Nokia Lumia handset, I can say that in my opinion, it is a great bit of kit. WP7.5 is a vast improvement on every iteration so far, and it bring something new to the table with regards to the navigation interface...
Surely its better for the consumers in the smartphone market to have an additional alternative to iOS and Android (in all its different guises)?
I dont have any affiliation with any particular vendor, product, OS.... My primary home machine triple woots Win7 x64, OSX Lion and Ubuntu. Again, each OS has its own plusses and minuses, and when required, I use whichever one I find most suitable for the task in hand. Win7 is my gaming OS, OSX Lion is my enthusiast OS and was mainly installed as a proof of concept, and Ubuntu is my Linux play area.
Being able to be objective about new products, instead of bashing manufacturer x or product y, is a far more rewarding approach, and who knows you may find that whatever the newfangled product does may actually have something that you like if you were to actually be more open minded.
To conclude, I do not have any vested interest in any particular product, just like seeing credible innovation and more healthy competition in such a crucial marketplace in the current economy.
Have any of you actually tried the Lumia 800?
Its a nice piece of kit, and the metro interface is a welcome break from the standard rows of icons. Add in the active slide functionality, and the Xbox live integration and you've got a decent handset.
I'm a BB and iPhone user,I also have an Android tablet, and I'm happy with all of them... But I strongly believe thats its going to be good having a new contender in the smartphone market!
I have a Bold on my personal Orange contract, and I haven't been affected one bit by the outages. I have numerous alternative methods to get my email, and I'm able to send text messages and make phone calls. If you rely on 3rd party services to enable you to feel human and not isolated from the real world, then a reality check may be in order!