Jeff Atwood on Surface and the Tablet Plus Keyboard Form Factor

Jeff Atwood:

After living with the Surface RT for a few days now, I’m convinced that this form factor is the replacement and way forward for the stagnant laptop. I can’t even remember the last time I was this excited about a computer. The more I use it, the more I think that touch plus keyboard is the future of all laptops.

Possible, and that certainly is what Microsoft is betting on with the design of Windows 8. But it’s worth noting that that’s a bet against Apple, which is both the leading tablet and laptop PC maker in the world.

Also, the photo Atwood includes doesn’t exactly sell me on the ergonomics of using a tablet as a laptop with keyboard. Many of us have used laptop and notebook interchangeably over the years, but the tablet era is showing that there’s a semantic difference between the two. Tablets with hardware keyboards can make for great notebook computers; I have yet to see one that makes for a good laptop computer.

★ Friday, 2 November 2012