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Topic: Tablets

Color me surprised. I am 90 percent post-PC

Summary: I have been using mobile devices for the lion's share of my work for a while, but it surprises me how close I am to chuck the PC totally.

James Kendrick

By for Mobile News |

I had an epiphany this morning that frankly has taken me by surprise. I realize I am fully 90 percent post-PC, without making a special effort to get there. A lot has been said about the "post-PC" era and what exactly that means. For me, it means that I now can do at least 90 percent of my work and play on a mobile OS-running device. The Windows PC/Mac has largely been kicked to the curb.

I have been using mobile devices to do a bigger part of my work for a while. This didn't start out as a concerted effort on my part to make do, it just happened as I grabbed the mobile device first and found it to be more enjoyable to get stuff done. The more I used a "non-computer" for working, the more I realized that not only was I able to do so, in many ways it was better than sitting at the old PC chugging away.

Related:

I realize that my situation is unique, and I am by no means suggesting that anyone can shelf the PC. My work is almost entirely conducted online, and that makes it a good case for using a connected mobile device. My mobile device of choice to work with is the iPad 2 and external keyboard, but I also use a Galaxy Tab 10.1 with keyboard just as efficiently. I prefer the iPad, but the Android tablet works just as well for my work.

I have long been platform agnostic on the computer side, working with both Windows PCs and Macs for years. Neither had an advantage over the other for the things I do, and both platforms are just fine. I do think this ability to move back and forth between the two computer platforms made it easier for me to do the same with the mobile device, or post-PC device. Most of my work is online and mobile web browsers, iOS and Android in particular, now make it possible to do the lion's share of that work just as easily as on "real" PCs.

The realization that I am mostly post-PC came about as I was planning for an upcoming business trip. The trip will last most of a week, and I am agonizing over whether I need to take a "real" laptop or not. I know bringing a tablet/keyboard combo will suffice for nearly everything, and it aggravates me to bring a clunky laptop too for that measly 10 percent of the work that would require it.

Truth be told, I have developed work-arounds for the 10 percent of what I do that is easier on a real PC. I can do these remaining tasks on the tablet, it's just a real kluge and is a pain in the lower region. What it comes down to for the upcoming trip is am I willing to put up with the PITA for those tasks for which a laptop would be easier? Maybe it would be worth it just having to carry the little tablet/keyboard and suck it up for the 10 percent.

Whatever I eventually decide about the trip, the fact is the lowly tablet, post-PC device that it is, will soon be capable enough to easily handle all of my needs, including that pesky 10 percent. When that day arrives, and I suspect it will this year, I will have no real need for a computer. I will be able to do absolutely everything for both my work and personal needs on the post-PC device. Should I desire I could retire the laptops I have now and go pure slate with keyboard.

How about you? Are you getting close to being post-PC, and if so, how close? What exactly is preventing you from hanging up the old computer and going pure post-PC device?

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Topics: Tablets, Hardware, iOS, iPad, Laptops, Lenovo, Samsung, PCs, Windows

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185 comments
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  • RE: Color me surprised. I am 90 percent post-PC

    You are definately not alone in this trend. I am eager to see how Windows 8 devices play a role in that whole experience... time will tell...
    jake_grey
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Color me surprised. I am 90 percent post-PC

      @jake_grey I've been using Windows 8 since September on 2 of my devices and it is a fantastic, gold-standard Post-PC OS. They have really set the bar for other Post-PC Operating Systems to try and match.
      gomigomijunk
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Color me surprised. I am 90 percent post-PC

        @gomigomijunk
        I have found the exacvt opposite. I too have been using windows 8 since dev release and find it a very cumbersom event tos even do the most mundane of jobs. The UI is a real drag and slows work to almost unbaereable speeds. For me and most I talk to testing it windows 8 will be a huge skip until the next windows or possible a migrate from windows if Microsoft doesn't take a look at most of the customers wamts and complaints with what they are doing. The wp7 sales alone shows the great distaste people have for the Metro ui alone.
        Fletchguy
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Color me surprised. I am 90 percent post-PC

        @Fletchguy If you run Windows 8 on modern hardware and not in a VM, then you will find that it is just the opposite of what you have represented. Metro UI is very good, and the wp7 marketplace explosion is a good first step in the right direction for MS, coupled with the explosive growth of Nokia Wp7 smart phones outside the U.S. and I think that your argument is a stale one.
        gomigomijunk
        Reply Vote

    • RE: Color me surprised. I am 90 percent post-PC

      @jake_grey this is 80% pc the 90 percent is that one: http://www.technologyfazer.com/lenovos-ideapad-yoga-runs-windows-8.html
      nomikhokher
      Reply Vote

    • RE: Color me surprised. I am 90 percent post-PC

      @jake_grey
      I guess you finally got your work rationalised. A true professional only uses the tools he/she needs. I'm not buying an asphalt road cutter because I don't do that work. The "computer" field has been dominated by hubris and greed as so many have "had" to have the latest and greatest even if they don't need it.

      How many iPods, Zunes, digital cameras, etc are sitting in drawers because a new shape or color came out or the memory was greater. Does anyone really know how much storage or memory they really need. How many working ex-computers and accessories are sitting in closets or garages for the same reason. We also "want" faster or more complicated software but usually that means a new computer. Why don't we want something lean and useful. OSes contain everything the nerds can think of, "just in case" someone might want to do it. Has anyone ever thought they might not want something? It seems you are finally getting to a more "rational" level. But if you are considered an expert, what will this do to those who need more sophisticated machinery but won't get it because you are listened to.

      For example, I've just struggled to get my Nikon slide scanner working because Nikon no longer supports it to the extent that drivers are no longer carried on their website. And they didn't write a 64bit driver based on their Vista driver. A German enthusiast website supplied the instructions and the .inf file which got it working. The scanner originally cost $1500 and is considered still a jewel in the photo world. The same thing for environmentally friendly HP who didn't "write" a Win 7 driver for their popular HP1012 Laserjet printer. I found a website with instructions on "how to fool" the OS into using the printer. How hard were all of these to do?

      The manufacturing system depends on growth. If users keep using perfectly fine older equipment, they aren't going to buy new stuff. That's why neuro-advertising is a mainstay of the tech (cars too) industry. Convince people they need more than they have and throw out the old. I'm really glad you finally caught on to what you actually need. You don't need a rototiller in a city garden. But you could use a better weeder and shovel. Good for you. Wish everyone else would do this.

      But don't tout or intimate getting rid clunky big computers and accessories because you don't see the need. For many, they still work and most people can't really afford new stuff all the time. And I really don't want Win 8 (or Win 7 either) but have no choice from a "security" point of view.

      Cheers and good luck.
      plandok@...
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Color me surprised. I am 90 percent post-PC

        @plandok@... I'm with you and that is called retro thinking. My 18 year old Amiga 4000 is still going strong for some tasks ;) About the subject i cannot see doing my work with only a pad. I'm totally in the pre-pad era myself.
        xpect
        Reply Vote

      • I'm 100% with you, plandok@

        @plandok@... One always needs to use the right gadget for the job, absolutely! If someone doesn't agree, tell him/her to try any serious design or animation job, or for that matter, edit and encode video in high quality on any handheld device and see what kind of "pleasure" (nightmare!) that is! Unfortunately, with my late WindowsXP era printers and scanners too, I am in the same bus with you. I found some workaround in 64-bit Windows 7 (my current OS) for my HP printer and scanner (still going great guns without any hardware problem at all) for which no driver update is provided by HP post-WindowsXP. However, I have to make do with software controls and options that are very limited indeed compared to what I had under WindowsXP. All such experiences are nicely summed up by you.
        sjoardar
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Color me surprised. I am 90 percent post-PC

        @plandok@...
        Well said, there would be less landfills if every one seen it your way. Way to go!
        gh01
        Reply Vote

    • RE: Color me surprised. I am 90 percent post-PC

      @jake_grey
      Never POST PC...It???s just to comfortable to sit at my powerful PC and do everything. However, I do have my iPHONE to get stuff outside done. As long as they sell PC components and WINDOWS, I???ll be here. There???s no point not to have one. Watch, you'll leave it behind today and return to it when you realize how foolish it was to ever leave it in the first place.
      gh01
      Reply Vote

  • Then discard your PC

    Throw it in the garbage (or better yet, donate it).

    If you need something 10% of the time, you still need it.

    I'm also 90% post PC. I know I'm not 100% post PC because the hard drive in my PC recently died and I had to wait a few days to get a new one. While I was able to put off the 10% of things that I can't do on my iPad and iPhone, I still needed to do them eventually. I can't throw my PC in the garbage. I am not post PC. Until you throw your PC into the garbage, neither are you.
    toddybottom_z
    Reply Vote

    • You don't own an iPad or an iPhone

      Otherwise you yourself are responsible for that hypocritical sick market.
      ScorpioBlue
      Reply Vote

      • I admit that I am

        @ScorpioBlue <br>"you yourself are responsible for that hypocritical sick market"
        When have I ever suggested otherwise? I have to make selfish decisions that benefit me, just like every other consumer has to make selfish decisions that benefit them. Only a few do silly things like refusing to buy the best OS just because it is made by Microsoft.
        toddybottom_z
        Reply Vote

      • You admit to being a hypocrite

        [i]When have I ever suggested otherwise? I have to make selfish decisions that benefit me, just like every other consumer has to make selfish decisions that benefit them.[/i]<br><br>Then stop whining about it. You sound like a hypocritical idi0t.<br><br>[i]Only a few do silly things like refusing to buy the best OS just because it is made by Microsoft.[/i]<br><br>It's far easier to avoid Apple products than it is Windows. Nobody's making you buy a tablet. Nobody's making you buy a smartphone. <br><br>With 90% of the desktop market out there, it's next to impossible to avoid Windows. It's as ubiquitous as the Xerox machine so don't lie and say otherwise.
        ScorpioBlue
        Reply Vote

    • RE: Color me surprised. I am 90 percent post-PC

      @toddybottom_z
      Please everyone, don't throw your PC or other "electronics" in the garbage. They have toxic materials in them and much can be recycled. If a recycling service doesn't exist in your community, get one started. We don't want to end up like many parts of industrial China where people are living in highly toxic hovels handling or burning highly toxic electronic waste. I and the planet thank you.
      plandok@...
      Reply Vote

  • As todd stated above, I will never be Post PC

    I really enjoy my dual monitor desktop system and the applications I run on it. However, with my iPad, I find that my online computing hours have increased significantly.
    kenosha77a
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Color me surprised. I am 90 percent post-PC

    When my Motorola Lapdock 500 arrives, I will be about 90% post PC.
    tgschmidt
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Color me surprised. I am 90 percent post-PC

      @tgschmidt the Lapdock, sort of rhymes with Laptop...hmmm...<br><br>To understand Post-PC, you must first understand what PC means. PC means Personal Computer. In the old days, you rented time on a Main Frame....get yourself a VAX account and schedule time on the machine. Then with the advent of the Personal Computer, you could own your own device and use it whenever you wanted! That is what PC means, owning your own device and using it whenever you want!<br><br>The iPad is NOT a Post-PC device. It is a Personal Computer. You can own it. You can use it whenever you like.<br> <br>Chrome OS, on the other hand IS a Post-PC AND Pre-PC device....because Post-PC really means Pre-PC. Chrome OS is a modern day version of the Dumb Terminal. The machine you rent from today is called the cloud. Instead of owning processing power, instead of owning applications, you RENT them from the people who own the servers, now called the cloud.

      Post-PC era is also the Post-Privacy era. The days of writing a private document and keeping it for yourself are quickly slipping away. Keep all your docs in the cloud, and you don't own, nor can you expect the privacy once afforded during the PC era.
      <br><br>If you want to be truly Post-PC, get yourself a Dumb Terminal like Chrome OS and then you can claim Post-PC...however, realize that you've given all your ownership away to someone else, as well as your privacy.
      gomigomijunk
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Color me surprised. I am 90 percent post-PC

        @gomigomijunk

        Post-PC is Pre-PC. Love it! Pity there aren't more people around here with a sense of history.
        keith.manning@...
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Color me surprised. I am 90 percent post-PC

        @gomigomijunk PC really refers to first the IBM PC, and then what was long referred to as "PC Clones" or "PC compatibles." Since IBM sold mainframes, the PC implied the distinction of a personal computer, but that's not what the term means when describing computers -- that's x86 with a compatible BIOS and the proper bus so that MSDOS or similar programs designed for the IBM PC would run (mostly, but let's not remember those days). Or what's commonly called "the PC architecture."<br><br>"After 1987 IBM PC compatibles dominated both the home and business markets of commodity computers,[6] with other notable alternative architectures being used in niche markets, like the Macintosh computers offered by Apple Inc. and used mainly in desktop publishing at the time, the aging 8-bit Commodore 64 which was selling for $150 by this time and became the world's best-selling computer, the 16-bit Commodore Amiga line used in television and video production and the 16-bit Atari ST used in the music industry. However, IBM itself lost the leadership role in the market for IBM PC compatibles by 1990." ( <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_PC_compatible" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_PC_compatible</a> ) <br><br>Once PC compatibles became more common, the whole market was referred to as "PCs." You'll notice that _didn't_ include Amigas, Apples, Ataris or Commodores, which your rewrite of history would claim did, since none of them were attached to a mainframe. <br><br>Of course, my first computer, the Tandy Model I, was a dead end by the mid-80s, and I was already selling "PCs" by Samsung, Compaq and the like to businesses. Not Apples or Amigas, though. Those weren't PCs.
        daengbo
        Reply Vote
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