[geeks] iPad - NOT a 'Miss' for me I'm afraid

[nate at portents.com]

> Is there reason to think that RSIs are related to the force exerted?

Sure - the buckling spring technology in the old IBM typewriters and
keyboards (now being made by Unicomp) works well once you figure out that
the pressure needed to register the keystroke is less than the pressure
needed to bottom out the key (unlike membrane keyboards which require a
near full bottoming out to get the keystroke to register).

> I would counter that there also is no cushioning effect of springs,
> just hard impact of fingertip on unmoving object.

Because fingers themselves have build-in cushioning and capacitive
touchscreens require minimal force, it is possible to type with the
lightest touch (once you get used to it).  You can certainly mash a
capacitive touchscreen if you want, but there's no advantage to doing so.

>> I would never trust, say, a college term paper, to a $200-300
>> netbook.
>
> In what sense?
>
> Don't forget, data you don't have backed up has to be assumed to be
> data you don't care about, and that's just as true for a "netbook"
> (whatever they are), an iPad, a laptop, a desktop, or whatever.  I
> certainly would trust a paper to a $200 machine in the sense of using
> it for making edits.  But I'd also start feeling uncomfortable if much
> time elapsed between making changes and backing them up - and I'd feel
> that way regardless of the machine.

Backups are always a good idea.  And if I was a college student and had a
3D connected touchscreen device that I could use to take notes on all day
and could back up at any time to my iDisk on the internet over that
connection, that's a pretty great way to keep things backed up and synced
between my iPad and my computer back in my dorm room:

http://www.apple.com/mobileme/features/idisk.html

(and for the record, I don't know if I'm personally going to own an iPad
any time soon, however I think it is a great product for certain people)

- Nate