@commodorejohn
Tablet = laptop - keyboard - useful OS - freedom of choice in software - hard drive. Yeah, that's innovation.
Actually, it is. It's 95% of what people want to do in a simplified, easier to use, more reliable, and less expensive package. That's innovation. Bigger is not always better.
Ahh, "the cloud," that magical invention of magic wherein your data ascends to a higher plane of existence, free from the toil and suffering of this physical world, to a Gnostic sort of heaven where it is freed from the corruption of the flesh forever and exists in a transcendent state of Pure Mind. Come one, come all, to the Temple of the Cloud, to speak with your data through the Spirit Links!
What's that? You say that it's not absolved of its physical nature? That it has been spirited away to a data center in Texas? But, but, that's a real place! Things can happen to it there! Why, if the Internet weren't faster than a hard drive, there wouldn't be any advantage at all to "the cloud!"
Actually, data hosted in a true cloud is not at any single data center - the data exists in many so that no single data center failure would cause a disruption.
"The Cloud" may just be a buzzword, but the reality of what it is and its advantages cannot be ignored. Taking a photo on your phone, then going home and picking up your tablet and having it be there - that's cool, and that's made possible by "The Cloud".
"The Cloud" has made it easy for everyday people to have instant access to their email, contacts, calendar, etc. - from multiple devices, all in sync. Update your calendar on your phone and come home and your PC will have the appointment as well - all without syncing via cable.
"The Cloud" has allowed people to backup their important data to an off-site location with ease. People who probably never would have backed their data up before because they can't be bothered with manually backing up their data, swapping hard drives, taking a copy off-site, etc.
Are their downsides? Sure. Hey - I'm old school too. I like to know where my data is, I like having my backup in my hands so I know it's safe. But the reality is "The Cloud" has brought us so many capabilities that make technology so much more useful it's not even funny.
Simple: I look beyond current sales figures, not relying on the assumption that things will continue forever as they have for the last two years (in which case tablet sales would outpace global population growth by something like 25x,) and consider the ultimate long-term usefulness of the thing: it is no more capable than a laptop (typically less,) not very much cheaper, and typically a worse deal in terms of power-for-money. Its sole advantage is that it's lighter, which laptops are continually working towards anyway. Eventually they will reach a saturation point of "light enough," and tablets will have no more advantages left, Q.E.D.
It may not be more capable than a laptop, but it's a heck of a lot more convenient. My notebook sits on a shelf 99% of the time since I purchased my iPad. The reality is that most things I want to do on my notebook I can do so much more effortlessly on my tablet. I can browse the web in bed, or while eating lunch, or while taking a crap if I'd like.
They're instant on - so easy to pick up, tap my email icon, and read my email than grabbing my notebook, waiting for it to come out of sleep mode, opening Outlook, waiting for it to sync, etc.
The lack of a keyboard sometimes stinks, but to be honest if I need to do some real work I go to my office where I have a nice keyboard, nice mouse, and dual screens. We'll have to wait and see how Microsoft's tablet with cover/keyboard works out, but personally I don't like typing on my notebook keyboard much more than typing on my tablet's on-screen keyboard.
For me, and for many people, notebooks are getting squished between tablets/smartphones and desktop PCs. I don't see the desktop PC going anywhere anytime soon, though people are keeping them longer and the new customer growth potential is not there so new sales growth will suffer. People are buying tablets for their kids instead of PCs, and the family shares a PC. I do see the notebook market shrinking as tablets advance.
