Do you think touch technology like on the iPad will replace the traditional computer we know now?

No, it will not. it is cumbersome to input data as we’re used to.

You can attach a physical keyboard to the iPad. I touch screen isn’t gonna replace a real computer for me. The iPad is really not meant to be used in place of a laptop. You have to hold it awkwardly if you want to type on it without using a keyboard. It was just made for Apple to make more money.

I hope not. I like typing on a conventional keyboard and the mouse helps me to maintain my already excellent hand – eye coordination.

YES.

Being of a new generation, I know that while many adults view the computer as made for work, the computer is evolving. Communication and culture are embodied in the internet, and with something as revolutionary as the iPad in terms of viewing the web, it will soon be very popular.

What I mean is, the iPad allows you to touch what you are looking at. You can adjust it to fit to your eyesight needs, and turn it the way that you would like. It may sound dumb, but I have used an iPad, and it is truly great. It is not built for work. It is made for viewing the internet, it is made for watching full-length movies in stunning HD. It is made for using wonderful apps and spending time at home having fun.

The iPad changes the way that one views the web, and Apple knows that. My prediction: Microsoft will continue to make the standard computer as we know it today, and that will be used for work. Apple will continue its innovation and create more things like the iPad, using the same amazing interface for the web and possibly emailing. Apple will continue with one or two models of the computer known today- they will be updated, and they will be treated well—and they will be great. Apple will not lose the work approach, but may change it a bit.

Why do I think this? It is partly just a prediction, but I have something to back it up. The traditional desktop computer, with a seperate computer and monitor and keyboard and mouse. Other companies make many of these, in different varieties. Apple has one: the Mac Pro. It is a great computer, and although I don’t believe that I have used a new one, I imagine that it is very well put together. It is updated occasionally, and works very well for work and advanced computing, although it is not the main event at most Apple stores.

I can imagine telling my grandchildren, or even my children, “when I was your age, everybody used these things called trackpads to move around.”

I’m afraid it could happen, which would further isolate the already marginalized blind community.

I don’t think so. I think something more innovative is going to happen. Touch screens are fine for mobile devices but they have definite deficits when needing to work for an extended time. As far as I’m concerned the ipad is just a giant iphone.

I can not imagine playing videogames without a keyboard and a mouse.
I need the mechanical feedback, the feeling that I have pressed a button, the clicking sound from the mouse. I need to feel the buttons under my fingers so I know that I am not sliding around like on a touchpad keyboard, which would require constant visual confirmation that I am indeed pressing the right button.

Whether I think so and whether I want it to are completely different. I don’t want it to, since I quite like traditional keyboards (for tactile reasons, I like being able to feel what I am doing). I have an iPhone and I love it but don’t get me wrong, if I had to type something longer than a paragraph on it, I would probably throat punch the nearest person after a while. This is completely independent of what other people might think and in situations like this, generally the majority wins. I think the iPad is a joke anyway since it’s just a big iPod touch. I think people who are saying the iPad is going to revolutionize anything are out of their gourd since it’s just a large iPod touch. The only thing different is the ebook store thing, the battery life (although the MacBook Pro has an 8 hour battery life), the screen size and the price. I can get a good netbook which does more for less money.

I think at some point it will. I don’t feel the technology is quite ready (error correction, tactile feedback, sensitivity all need to improve) yet but in 15 years… I’m willing to think the keyboard will be on it’s way to relic status (the mouse already is for me).

Oh, the thing about tactile feedback is it’s a hold over from people who are used to keyboards. If people start growing up on iPads and their ilk it won’t be much of an issue except as a means to keep in and slowly phase out the older generation.

No.

I don’t see a risk of it happening any time soon. The touch technology is too finicky at the moment. It slows people down. People want to be able to do everything fast and its just not possible to type fast on a touch screen at the moment.

Besides, that would mean having to tilt the monitor downwards whenever you wanted to type something without breaking your wrists!

Keyboards are the best solution at the moment until something better comes along, but touch technology I’m afraid isn’t there yet.

I answer a huge volume of mail, write my blogs, fill orders & more. From my iPhone.

Yes. It can be paired with a Bluetooth wireless for long typing projects.

For the majority of people, the power of their computer are severly underutilized.

My husband says I wouldn’t like it because it can only run one program at a time, and I would have my little icons telling me when something has come in on my other sites.

Keyboards could be an issue, but there might be alternatives like voice input, even silent voice input, if you don’t want to disturb others in the room while talking to your iPad, see

http://www.fluther.com/disc/80262/read-my-lips-how-useful-are-cell-phones-that-can/

Eventually. I think there will be two camps. New world computing (iPad) will be much larger than Old World computing (computers we all use today).

I bought an iPad 3G 32gigs, and let me tell you this: I don’t miss my Macbook pro. I realized I was useing my MBP so limited that I was just using it for small tasks as I do now on my iPad. my big needs are done on an iMac 24 inches. The iPad will end the laptop’s 25% market. and it will be keep growing