Gadgetory

- So here's a question, what's a computer? - What's a computer? - Now I know it's really a huge question and it's also a really obvious question. We all kind of know what a computer is. So I have a better question, which is what is a computer going to become in the next couple of years? A bunch of companies are actually trying to evolve what we think of as a computer and I've been using all four of the major options for the past year and phew, what a computer is going to become is a harder question than you might think. (upbeat music) Now in this video, we are going to compare a Surface Pro, an iPad Pro, a MacBook Pro, and a Pixelbook. I have a lot of thoughts that we're gonna come back to but I wanna start with that question from earlier. The one that was inspired by that Apple commercial. You know the one. A teenager bicycles around the streets of New York and uses her iPad to just sort of hang out and do her homework. And it also has this moment where she actually makes closing the foldable keyboard on the iPad Pro seem cool. Super can't do that, I don't think anybody else could do that. Just like, nope. (laughing) It just can't. Here's what I thought when I watched this video. I thought it's like a little statement piece that has a kind of an emotional impact but what I didn't expect is how angry everybody got at this commercial. How pissed off everybody was and the thing that pissed everybody off was that last line. - What you doin' on your computer? - What's a computer? - I hate this commercial. I get so angry every time I see it. There's a new iPad commercial where the teen girl on an iPad says, "What's a computer?" And I'm just not ready, I'm still mourning AIM. - Hey, what are you doing on your computer? - What's a computer? (yelling) (smashing) - That one's funny. (giggling) Here's what I think that line is saying and why I think it riled people up so much. It's saying that the iPad Pro is so successful at replacing all of those other devices, that it's so clearly the winner of the future of computing that all of our old ideas about what a computer is, they're not just wrong they're irrelevant. But hey, it's an ad. It's designed to crack your brain a little bit. And to be a little bit provocative and unexpected. So I have to admit that I kind of love it. (upbeat music) Now that doesn't mean that I think that the iPad is going to take over. But, I do love that it recognizes that the way that we think about computers is changing. A younger generation isn't gonna have the same hangups that I have about what a computer is supposed to do and the way I'm supposed to interact with it. Let me tell you, I have hangups. Like, I really want windows. I mean the boxes you move on a screen not the Microsoft software. I care a lot about windows. It makes it so much easier for me to do work. I like to have at least three active pieces of software open on my screen at all times. Three of these machines do that, the Pixelbook, the Surface Pro, and the MacBook Pro. The iPad Pro? No, it doesn't do that, but the iPad does something that these other machines don't. It does a killer job of running a huge suite of great mobile apps. There's just a massive number of really good, awesome apps that you're already used to using on your iPhone and they're here, on the iPad and they work great. But I could go on, the Pixelbook has windowing and a great browser and great web apps. And the Surface Pro it just has windows with full-on proper windows apps. And then there's the MacBook Pro which has the touch bar because Apple doesn't want a touch screen on a Mac because Apple, I don't know, is completely overthinking this whole what's a computer thing. The point is that all these companies are trying to create a new kind of computer and they're doing a few specific things to get there. Well, except the Mac but let's put that aside right now. I know there's rumors about app frameworks but we're gonna move on. Just hang with me here, I wanna look at these three computers and the things that they're doing to invent the future of computing. Number one, these operating systems are secure and they're basically always updated. The whole idea of Windows 10 is that it's the last version of Windows and Microsoft constantly updates it for you. Chrome OS has the same thing, you don't even know what version of Chrome you're using, it just gets updated. Plus, it also offers fewer vectors of attack for hackers and it's the same deal with iOS. The word for all this stuff is managed operating systems and the idea is you don't have to worry about all the stuff you used to have to worry about with an operating system. They just get updated and secured for you. Number two, these computers run what I guess we're gonna call modern apps. So the whole idea behind S Mode for Windows, it's meant to force apps to use a more modern coding method that feel more like tablet apps than those old Windows 95 apps. And I already mentioned iPad apps, I think they're great. And now Chromebooks can run Android apps, which are less great but they are slowly getting better. I mean hell, I don't think Google's ever gonna make another Android tablet ever again. They're just gonna make up Chrome OS Tablets for awhile. The point is that all of these systems can run a different kind of app that are more like mobile apps than they were before. Number three is I think these computers need to run full powered apps. You might call them legacy apps. So the Surface Pro, for example, it can just run any full-on Windows app that you want. And the Pixelbook still has Chrome and so it can run full Chrome web apps that can do almost anything you want as long as you have an Internet connection. Now the iPad Pro, it can't quite run everything you want but Apple is building up to that rather than starting with that. And finally, number four, I'm just gonna say it I think that these things need to be able to work as tablets. It's important that they have a touch screen. It's important that they have apps that work in tablet mode and it's important that you be able to carry them on, touch them directly with your fingers, and even use a pen if you want to. Now the Mac is the odd duck out here. There are rumors that Apple wants to find a way to get iOS style apps on this thing but we're just gonna have to wait and see. (upbeat music) So, whenever I travel now I only take one of these computers with me at a time. And, each has its strengths and each has its pitfalls. Depending on your needs you could be happy with any one of them as your only computer. But, they all have trade-offs and none of them do exactly everything that I want. Every time I use one of them, I think it sucks like I think the iPad, I wish it had more windows. I look at the Surface, I'm like well, the Surface has more windows but then I use the Surface and I think it's apps suck. And I'm like, well the web apps on the Pixelbook aren't great and round and round and round we go. Nobody's put it all together yet and you know what? That's frustrating watching these companies try to find the future of computing while all of us ourselves are trying to define what we want from the future of computing could make anybody irrationally angry. And, hey, maybe that irrational anger might just come out of some precocious, smart kid just kind of casually asks, "What's a computer?" Hey everybody, thank you so much for watching. If you like this video, I'd appreciate it if you hit the like button or even the subscribe button. That would be cool and let me know in the comments if you had to pick one of these computers to be your only computer for the next couple of years, which one would it be? And be honest, tell me also what you think you'd miss out by picking that computer. I'll hang out in the comments for a while and we'll have a chat.