Tablets vs. Laptops vs. Smartphones vs. Desktops
I bought an iPad when they first came out. I'd already been using an iPhone, so many of the iPhone apps carried over directly. And fairly quickly a rich ecology of iPad-specific apps, making use of the larger screen appeared.
I view the iPad, and to lesser extent the iPhone, as primarily a _consumption_ device. Great for reading the news, checking Web sites, following blogs, etc. while on the go. Or while sitting on the couch. Or on the toilet. (Yeah, so sue me.)
Nevertheless, I use a MacBook Pro Retina about 8 hours a day. And the iPad in other places. And the iPhone while on the go.
(I worked for Intel from 1974 to 1986. I was in the Homebrew Computer Club. I built my first home computer in 1978. I bought an IBM PC in 1983. I had the first version of Microsoft Word, with a mouse, around that time. I followed Apple. I bought the stock the day after the Macintosh introduction. It matched some of what I was using at Intel, a Symbolics LISP machine with a GUI a lot like what the Mac was offering. I left Intel in 1986. I bought a Mac Plus for my own use. Since then, I've had about a dozen Macs. I also made a couple of million bucks on Apple stock. I still hold most of the Intel stock I bought in the 70s and 80s. The dividends are nice. I hope the stock returns to around $40 or so.)
As for Android, about the same as the iOS ecology. For the main apps, about the same. I've used the Amazon tablets, and they do the job for media consumption. I stick with Apple because I can afford to, because it was there first, and because I'm not interested in having arrows in my back.
(I like arrows in my back, but I'd prefer they be because I'm exploring Bitcoin, or Haskell, or Agda, or quantum mechanics, not because I'm learning Android over iOS.)
As for Intel vs. ARM, or iOS vs. Android, it will be what it will be. (But I hope Intel goes to $40, of course). I think Intel's manufacturing is spectacular. Why Intel's market valuation is less than that of SnapShat or Instagam or MyLittlePonyDotCom is one of life's great mysteries.
--Tim May, Corralitos. CA
