About 6 months ago I picked up a new laptop and decided to go to the higher end of my budget. This in spite of the fact that the iPad had just come out with much fan fare. I remember thinking at the time that (assuming no catastrophic errors or crashes by my new laptop) this might end being the last time I bought a laptop at least in the conventional form that most of us know it. With the popularity of the iPad I was thinking that more and more people would seek out more portable devices like the iPad. No doubt there would be more options from Apple's competitors which we have already seen and this will push prices down and make them more mainstream.
While I am hardly a predictor of the future I get the feeling that as iPads and similar devices are able to handle more advanced features, take on more memory, and so on they will become much more common place. Likewise, there is no reason to believe that these devices will not be able to handle everyday online business needs. For that matter, there is no reason they can't handle the set up and maintenance of websites.
In many ways smaller handheld devices already do. Smartphones can accept credit cards and handle most web duties. There may be some arguement as to how effeciently they can do certain web activities but no doubt tech companies will continue to improve the speed and physical ability for such devices to meet business needs.
Ok, we maybe a ways off from considering the conventional laptop dead but I think you get my point. There is no reason to believe that a handheld device won't soon do everything a laptop does with the same ease.
How long do you think conventional laptops will survive? Will iPad like devices overtake them? Do you see them as useful replacements to manage online businesses? What are your thoughts?
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