Techie Talk

Note that very little research went into this post. This is merely based off of observation, speculation, and personal opinion.

In my Understanding Mass Media class way back in my first semester of college, my professor listed the various categories of people & technology, ranging from the extremely tech-saavy to those he called "techno weenies" (those who are pretty adverse to new technology). I consider myself to generally fall into the "early majority" category, though it does depend on my interest in the technology and whether I think it's worth spending money on or not. (The "early majority" get on the bandwagon just slightly before most people do but after the super tech-savvy people.) But even if I don't actually buy the product at that time, I am at least well-acquainted with it by that point. I generally have an interest in new technology, but not everything impresses me and I don't have a need for everything. With all this in mind, I want to talk about Apple's iPad.

When the iPad was unveiled, I saw a lot of criticism about it. I wondered why, because it seemed pretty neat to me. I understood the argument that it is essentially a large iPod Touch or iPhone (minus the phone part), but let's face it, who wants to read something substantial or watch a movie on something that small? The iPad seemed to me like the perfect travel companion (I say this as if I travel a lot). But let's face it, I'm a writer, so what does the iPad offer me in that vicinity?


I think this could work well for a business person who needs to jot down quick notes on a plane or at a meeting, but it wouldn't be much for me. And that keyboard? Hmmm... But wait!
I like the idea of the stick-on keyboard (the case and the ability to stand are cool too, but not part of this point), but it still only has Notes, and not a real word processor. Plus there's not a lot of MB on this thing. Which is fine if you want an oversized iPod touch (which I'm still not bashing it for being). It's great for watching movies, e-mail on-the-go, listening to music, or reading books (or I assume it would be; I haven't actually tried it!).
So I like the idea of an iPad, but maybe I would prefer a similar laptop. Then I remembered, didn't HP didn't do something like that? Indeed they did. Check it out. It goes from this:
to this:

to this:

Of course, no one talks about the HP because HP is kind of lame. But this is innovative! Is anyone else trying to do this? If Apple did iPad 2.0 (renamed the iTablet) and added the keyboard with swivel ability, and added a couple of new features (like a real word processor, or at least the ability to download it), and maybe iPhoto or the ability to download Photoshop so photographers could use it on the go, gave it a memory of at least (but preferably more) 100GB and priced it at $1000 (OK, preferably less :)), that would be awesome. And I would probably buy it once I had $1000 to blow. I think the iPad is a good starting point, but I see the potential for more. I wish other computer companies were trying harder to be more innovative. I feel like we're stuck in a Mac vs. PC rut. What if there was another OS out there (not Linux), that had the innovation and simplicity of a Mac but the practicality of a PC? That would be awesome. I wish I was a computer genius so I could do it.

What do you think? Are you into the iPad hype or not so much? What do you like/dislike about the iPad or touchscreen laptops?