Netbook Vs. The IPad: Which Computer Platform is Better for Productivity?

A technology battle commences on April 3rd when Apple's iPad starts shipping. Apple looks to take a bite out of the robust netbook market and cash in. As far as productivity is concerned, the netbook may still reign supreme after the iPad arrives on the scene. You should still be able accomplish far more with a netbook. In some areas the iPad shines, but when you face it off with a netbook, the iPad looks to be nothing more than an over-sized iPod Touch. Here is a break down on why the netbook is still king as far as productivity is concerned.

Bulk
There is no question, the iPad has a hand up on the netbook in the bulkiness department. It is smaller, lighter, and has a faster boot time. It also has a very sleek design that makes it an ultra portable computing device. On sheer looks and design alone, one would think that the iPad as far superior to netbooks. If you take a look under the hood, you will find that in many technical areas the netbook still wins.

User Input: iPad Touch Screen vs. Netbook Keyboard
When viewed from the productivity perspective, far more is accomplished with an actual keyboard and a mouse. The iPad's multi-touch screen offers a lot of features, but its on-screen keyboard is more difficult to type with than the semi-standard keyboard that comes with netbooks. If you want to use the iPad to the fullest, then the separate keyboard/charging dock will be needed.

Just one application at a time for the iPad
The biggest drawback for the iPad is that you can only run one application at a time. Netbooks, even with Windows 7 Starter, can run multiple applications at the same time. This leads to an exponential productivity boost when using a netbook. For example, on an iPad, if you are typing a research paper in iWork, you will not be able to have Safari open at the same time to do a little research.

iPad Displays vs. Netbook Displays
The Apple marketing department would have you believe that iPad displays are clearer and brighter than netbook displays. This is not necessarily true, as newer netbook OLEDs monitors are brighter and more energy efficient. Most netbooks on the market today do not have the capability to handle HD video, but this is about to change as Intel releases and new graphics chip-set and CPU that will handle HD.

Price: Is the iPad cheaper than a netbook?
The clear winner in this category is still the netbook. Most netbooks cost a hundred or more dollars less than the iPad. In addition, in order to get the most from your iPad you need to make additional purchases for even the simplest of applications from Apple's application store. If you have a netbook that has Ubuntu Netbook Remix installed, you have a computing platform with a full suite of software that works in nearly every business environment, and the software is free.

iPad Disk Space vs. Netbook Disk Space
Again, netbooks are the clear winner it comes to disk space. Most netbooks offer up to 250 GB of memory. The SSD drives on a iPad, while more efficient in speed and power consumption, still only hold 64GB. For 64 GB you pay a huge premium. Look for this to change in the future as SSD drives become the standard disk drive format even for netbooks.

Operating System and Software for the iPad
It comes down to OSX vs. Microsoft PC. At least that is what Mac and even Microsoft would want everyone to believe. But did you know that desktop PCs, and netbooks do not just run Windows? There is another operating system known as Linux that is gaining ground. There some powerful desktop variants of Linux that compare quite favorably to OSX. Ubuntu Netbook Remix is one such variation, and with this operating system running on a netbook, you get a more powerful computing platform than if you ran Windows 7 Starter. The big plus is that Ubuntu Netbook Remix is completely free, and you are not strangled by Windows 7 Starter Edition. The drawback to running Ubuntu and other distributions is that they are always trying to up with equipment vendor.

iPad Internet Browsing
Next we take a look at browsers. Like the iPhone and iPod touch, the iPad runs the Safari browser which is a capable browsing program. However, the big drawback is that Flash Media will not run on the iPad. What does this mean? Well, no Facebook games, or any other web applications that use Flash media. If you are required to take a lot of online training for your job, then it may not work, since most online training programs use Flash media. Apple has hung their hat on HTML5 is the new web format for developing media, but HTML5 is still several years away from being implemented.

Everyone assumes that you either use Safari, Internet Explorer, or even Firefox. But there is a fourth browser out there that is quickly gaining a head of steam in the three-way browser wars and that is the Google Chrome Browser. This browser will run under Windows 7 on a netbook or on Ubuntu Netbook Remix. That fact that you can run Flash media on a netbook with any of the aforementioned browsers, but not on an iPad, leaves the iPad behind once again in overall capability.

Lack of USB for the iPad
There are NO USB Ports in the iPad, meaning you are unable to use a flash drive. You can plug it into another computer, via a special cable, but there are no USB inputs. This means that there is no way to load pictures from your camera onto your iPad. The iPad has all of kinds of neat slide show features, and uses all kinds of multi-touch technologies that lets you search folders and flip pictures, but there is no way to get pictures onto the iPad without the use of a secondary machine or the web. You will have to email pictures it to yourself. Or you will need to use another PC or Mac to either upload them to web server that stores photographs, or use the cable to download them to your iPad.

There is no way to directly plug in your camera, no SD cards, and no USB. Hardly convenient. With a netbook, you just plug in your camera and away you go. Another reason why many pundits are calling the iPad an over-sized iPod Touch.

There is no iPad webcam
To keep the price down, Apple must have decided to leave out the webcam. This was a little bit of a surprise since the iPad is touting itself as the ultimate mobile device. Imagine the cool factor in holding this tablet and video chatting with your buddies. Webcams are standard equipment for just about any netbook. Look for a webcam to be added to the iPad with the next release.

Netbook is still better than iPad
Despite its short comings, the iPad is still bound to be a success for Apple. The sleekness of its design and familiarity that consumers already have with its functions will help contribute to its success. However, the iPad will need to have hardware and software improvements before it reaches the capability standards of netbooks.