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Scott's Column
Windows 8, Tablet vs. Laptop vs. Both
April 1, 2012
By Scott Lewis
This month I tell you about my experiences with Microsoft's Windows 8 Customer Preview. It will not be a review, but a look at it with the hope of using my Bamboo Pen & Touch tablet to control the Metro interface. Next up I think about whether I would be better off with a laptop and a tablet... or a laptop that converts to a tablet.
Current Topics:
I downloaded the ISO version of Windows 8. This allows you to burn the install to a DVD disc. I did that from my main computer, so that I could install it on my guinea pig PC.
With a bootable DVD in hand I started up the Guinea Pig.
I went into the BIOS BIOS to set the machine to boot from the hard drive that had Linux installed on it. I figured I could just wipe out Linux. I did not want to mess with the Windows XP or Mac OSX installs. See there are three hard drives in that computer that each boot to the different operating systems.
Or so I thought...
I changed the boot priority to the drive that was different (tow of
the drives are identical... and I assumed those has Win XP and OSX on
them).
When the machine boot from the DVD and the install began, it offered
Upgrade (yikes!) or Custom.
Since I was not booting from my Win XP drive the option to upgrade was
unsettling. Regardless, I choose Custom Install. When I went to select a
drive I saw 4 drives listed... not 3. Huh? I was pretty sure I had three
drives in there, one with Windows XP, one with OS X and another with
Linux. And the partition information was all over the map. I was
confused.
So I opened the case and lo and behold... there was 4th drive. I have 3
SATA drives and 1 IDE drive. None were labeled so I took this time to
label the drives in the machine... with a Sharpie. And then I wrote down
the BIOS description of each drive and what was loaded on it.
I had to unplug all the drives but one and boot each... one at a time...
but I got it all done. In the end... I left all the SATA drives unplugged and booted
to the Windows 8 DVD while the 320 GB IDE drive was the only drive
plugged it.
The
Windows 8 installer super simple. The hardest part being entering the
product key. In fact, that is all there was... well that and selecting the drive.
When the computer first boot up it recognized my Bamboo Pen & Touch
as a touch pad... but it would not recognize tapping for clicks. I could
move the pointer around, but that was it. I still had to use my mouse to
click the buttons.
After rebooting the Bamboo would still work the same way... I could move
the pointer around but not click (tap, touch, whatever). However, I did
discover at this point that 2 of the 4 physical buttons on the Bamboo
represented click and right-click.
At this point I went to Wacom's web site and downloaded and installed
the drivers for the Pen & Touch (yes... the drivers for Windows
7). Poof... the touch works great... with
two huge caveats. 1) It can only recognize up to two fingers, so
gestures that require more are out. Two finger scrolling worked
beautifully, and pinch to zoom worked equally as well if a bit slow. It
took a lot of repeat pinch, pinch, pinch to get a significant amount of
zooming. 2) Touch gestures for Windows 8 Metro interface did not work.
It saw the Bamboo Pen & Touch for what it is... a mouse pad. Windows 8
was not fooled into thinking I was touching the actual screen.
What about Windows 8 itself. I see a little room for improvement on the
Desktop side. It takes way too many clicks or whatever to get to a
point to shut down the PC. I assume they will iron this out. Other than
that it worked extremely well. In Desktop mode it feels like Windows 7
except maybe a little cleaner and less flashy. This is probably a good
thing to aid performance on lighter hardware.
I could still use the Metro interface, but it is not fun when you are
not directly manipulating objects on the screen by touching them.
You are just using the touch pad like on any old laptop.
I can see
the potential. I can see how this will work just from the experience of
using my phone with its touch interface. I can see spending 10-15
minutes learning the nuances of Windows 8's Metro interface on a tablet.
So what? What difference does it make if you have to spend 10 minutes
getting used to something new. It will not be hard... just require you
to take that quick 10 minute tour.
Overall I like it. And this is going to make my next purchase really
hard.... as we progress to...
When the iPad 2 came out I decided I was going to get one when I could
afford it. But then a strange this happened. I started doing a contract
programming job in New York. This would require me to travel to New York
with a laptop so I could bring my code and development tools with me to
do installs, setup servers, migrate data, etc.
I gave up on the idea of an iPad and decided I would get a laptop. If
I was going to get a laptop I wanted it to be able to replace the iPad I
would be giving up. I cannot afford a laptop and an iPad.
This led me to looking at Ultrabooks. When Intel pushed this spec on the
public it was just what I wanted. A super slim PC that used an SSD. It
would be as cool as a MacBook Air, but it would run Windows. Long
battery life and light weight were the biggies for me. Also the super
fast resume from sleep times. If I had a tablet it would sit on the
coffee table most of the time. I would pick it up every time I wanted to
look something up based on what I was watching on TV. IMDB would be one
of the most used app on an iPad for me, so it would need to be super
fast and easy to get to on a laptop if I could only have a laptop.
If I bought a laptop it needed to replace the iPad (or any viable
tablet). Instant web surfing and IMDB would be 90% of what this laptop
would do. If I liked it enough I might... and that is a big
MIGHT... use
it for email.
Surely I would access my GMail account on it. But would I
migrate my desktop email to it. I don't think so because I believe in a
thick email client. I use Windows Live Mail... and have all my mail
stored locally. I have a saved mail folder that has emails that were
worth saving... at the time they were saved. I have over 1700 messages
in that folder. Add to that another 1700+ messages in the folder that
has emails from this web site and I have around 3500+
emails... plus a couple of other folders holding even more emails.
I am a pack rat this way. If it was worth saving when I saved it... I save
it forever. I know that I would not move my main email to a tablet, but I might move it to a laptop. And then my laptop would surely get
enough use with web surfing, email and IMDB. Wow... this sounds exactly what
a tablet would be used for. Plus I could use it for occasional
programming projects when on the go.
I could replace a tablet with a laptop... if it were super light and
resumed super fast. That spells Ultrabook. And the search has been on
for an Ultrabook. Remember, the reason for the laptop it to put my
development tools on it. So I will install Visual Studio 2010 and SQL
Server Express on it. These tools use up a lot of desktop real estate.
I was hoping for an Ultrabook with a 1600 x 900 screen.
With Windows 8 and its merging of the touch based Metro
interface... and the access to a standard computer desktop
interface... this could be the ticket for me.
What I really need is a tablet running Windows 8, that has a 128 GB SSD
in it. It also needs to dock to a real keyboard and mouse for the 5-10% of
the time I will access my development tools.
With the iPad 3 now out... I want one. I want everything. I want a
tablet, I want a laptop. I want both.
Lenovo unveiled the IdeaPad Yoga. This is a laptop
that has a screen that folds complete back... and then
it is a tablet. The screen is a touch screen and the keyboard is
deactivated when in this mode.
This really does sound like the perfect solution for me. But at what
cost. The rumor is it will be $1,400. But wait... the iPad is $500 and a
good Ultrabook is $900-$1,000. So for the price of an Ultrabook
and an
iPad I could buy the Lenovo Yoga.
Hmmm......
Conclusion
Next month I will tell you about the new monitor and camera I bought.
See you then.
