Hey now, I loathe Apple's guts as much as the next guy, but they are technical pioneers. There are massive advances in the computing field that are present due to their input.Ultratwinkie said:
The best ever was Onlive, which is dead. They were a browser based App that you could play just about anything upon.Yosharian said:
I am not an Apple fan, I would never buy any Apple products but I have to say each iteration of the iPhone has made improvements. Google also have hardware, they own Motorola and have hardware built for them by various manufacturers under the Nexus brand. Considering the business partnership they have with ASUS its no leap to imagine them building Android powered laptops, especially with laptop and tablet hybrids becoming hugely popular.Ultratwinkie said:
Google actually has their own OS for netbooks, called Chrome OS. Rumor has it that Chrome OS and Android share a lot of the same stuff under the hood, and the two projects will eventually be merged. So once again, it's not anywhere near as far fetched as you think it is.Ultratwinkie said:
Exactly Google has all of the individual pieces, they have netbooks, tablets and smartphones. They have Android and you can buy some laptops with dual boot OS that run Android. All of the separate pieces are there, they just need to ask someone like ASUS to make them a tablet hybrid ultrabook that runs an enhanced version of Android.Owyn_Merrilin said:
What attachments? Things already connect wirelessly and the tablet and laptop hybrids are a fraction bulkier than a standard laptop, the extremely thin keyboard simply folds behind the screen. You have the full keyboard and touchpad of a laptop and the convenience and portability of a tablet, they are the best of both worlds for a slight increase in weight and thickness over a tablet. They don't lack for performance either, they run on a special low power core series processor. Downside is that they hit the wallet hard at the moment.Ultratwinkie said:
Who said anything about forcing the market to do things? There's clearly a demand for docking stations and keyboard/mouse attachments for tablets, and there's clearly a supply of them as well. Market pressure, combined with some practically guaranteed advances in processing power and miniaturization are all that's needed for a future where your phone is also your desktop to happen. Just because you can't or stubbornly won't see it doesn't make it not true.Ultratwinkie said:
I went up and read it, and once again, you're being needlessly obtuse. He wasn't saying anyone was going to force anything. He was saying that whatever company makes the first modular GPU that can connect to a tablet would probably have to make the tablet itself, as well. Once they do that, if it's a workable idea, other companies will follow suit. Although personally I don't think that'll be necessary unless this shift starts in the next five years, instead of the 10-20 I was thinking of. You keep hammering on about how the consoles are outdated, and therefore it's not really impressive that tablets are already equivalent in power to them, but we're talking about seven years here to get high end graphical performance down to that commodity level you love to scoff at. That's not a lot of time, especially because we really are hitting a point where, while there is plenty of room for graphics to improve, they are most definitely "good enough" as far as the vast majority of people are concerned. Heck, we've been there since the PS2 launched. That means we're well in the realm of diminishing returns here. 10, 20 years down the road, is it really gonna matter that a desktop can put out Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children level graphics, while your phone is already putting out, say, Finding Nemo level graphics? And I do mean graphics, not art style.Ultratwinkie said:
Google or Apple need force nothing, these things already exist. Both Lenovo and ASUS are selling tablet hybrids that pack low power versions of core i5 and i7 CPUs. They are 2-3mm (folded) bulkier than a tablet thats all.Ultratwinkie said:
Actually, there's two things people are arguing for here: one is the completely modular system, which includes an external GPU. The other is a system where all the processing power is already on board, with the extra connections being to a mouse, keyboard, and monitor/TV. Even the external GPU idea only adds one more connection, which, despite your seeming inability to comprehend it, would be something you only connect to while you're at home and doing something that needs some serious graphical power. Otherwise, all of your processing power would be on board. Personally I think we just need to wait a little longer, and the commodity level stuff will be good enough for anything that doesn't require a supercomputer -- at which point the university/military research lab can darned well buy themselves a supercomputer.Ultratwinkie said:
I didn't see the quote about adding GPU like peripherals, yes that does sound dumb and unnecessary. Integrated devices exist Google just need the OS, they have the customer base there. Android is the most popular smartphone OS and unless Apple work fast they are on track to take the tablet market too. If people are used to having Android as part of their daily lives and like it and Google market a powerful tablet hybrid people will be willing to buy it.Ultratwinkie said: