check this out.  I have been waiting for something I can actually use at work.  The Ipad is pretty an all but I am favor in knocking it off its high chair. 

http://www.exopc.com/en/index.php

Smooth multi-tasking. What's the price on that bad boy?

Battery life... 4 hours.... >_<"

what they showed wasn't all that impressive. They could have demostrated something more than that. lol

hat*- around 650

nik*-doh!

oldschoolfool- you're right a tablet running something that is more open then the ipad.....

We will see.

If I wanted a Tablet running a desktop OS, I could have bought one 10 years ago.

What makes the iPad great, is the OS. If someone takes down the iPad one day, it will be an Android device, or a yet to be created touch OS we don't know about.

Windows 7 is not going to do it. Apple has one of the best desktop OS's in the world, and there is a reason that's not on the iPad.

The Real*- You are right to a certain point.  It varies what you need.  OSs are like shoes.  Some people need them for running.  Some people need them dancing and so on and so on.  You're statement of saying apple is one the best OS  I cannot help you there.  Its great but not one of the best.  Windows is great not the best.  A lot of people have a misunderstanding that windows 7 does have the legs to be "Touch".  Try out a touch screen with windows 7 - its pretty impressive for being a desktop OS.  Ipad OS is a giant Iphone.... I can see the use for an every day user "walking shoes" to have this.  But I cannot justify the price for what it is to  its limited abilities to be a full functional true open OS tablet/slate.

I also don't agree with Apple's hardware.  Why do I need a special pin connector that only apple sells to charge and move data? Why can't Apple join the world in USB? Its a nickel and dime theory.  The worst part most mac users dont even use the desktop OS properly.  They just bought an Apple because of the bright commercials and a song that no one knows the name of the song but some how knows the words.

Now 10 years ago if you bought a "tablet pc" you would have received windows 2000 or ME. With that being said I don't need to explain why you would buy one or not.  It would be unrealistic. Now in Apple's long history they went the opposite direction in Windows usability.

Windows went large full products that could easily leave the customer a only using 20% of what the OS can do.  Apple started with small, light and easy of use products.  With a product that had limited abilities such an iPod: store all of your music, hit play. Then lets make a play list and hit play.  Then over the evolution of the product it let it users grow too.  Believe it or not I am writing this post from a macbook while using my itouch as my remote for my tv. In reality the amount of desktops that are Apple in the work environment is not high..  Most people go to work and boot up a box that has windows.  Some less fortunate have XP or Vista.  Same reason why Bootcamp and VM are very popular products in the mac world | because they can have a mac run windows - that is a straight given that the world does run on windows. 

Now Android:  Love my HTC EVO 4g. well when I get 4G.  Android is nice OS. Yet it is young and deeply fragmented across the hardware community.  Until google quits getting sued for using open source code and letting so many new hardware products come out with different versions from 1.5 - 2.2 we will never see an amazing android.  I would put money down if Google came out with a tablet themselves it would have the Chrome OS.  

Back to Windows: Check out Surface. Windows went large product and OS once again.  Great legs but most people cannot grasp what the product does because there is too much.  Now as 7 running as a tablet OS in the work environment it can happen.  I am just glad someone had the idea to say "I want a full OS on my tablet.  But! I want a friendly UI that can make use of the product easy  that they don't need to use 7".  

The EXOPC is young with a tight-nitch community for programs in its overlay of UI in 7.  Give this time to mature and it will succeed. You would think in the world of today where Cloud computing and virtualization someone would of thought to have a UI layover for graphical appearance and ease of use would have been done way before this.

I don't see how it's better than the iPad.. The only upside I see is the multitasking which is coming to iPad this year anyway.. To be clear, I don't care about the openness of my devices, I just want them to work well.

A little background on myself, and why I say what I say.

I am a 41 year old C# .NET developer. I started with C in the 80 on UNIX computers, and moved to C# when it came out 9 years ago, ironical due to a tablet PC. (we bought 30 of them for a project I was doing back in 2001).

I have been a system administrator for a few thousand people in the past as well, so I know a little about the systems side of things too. In my home, I own a high end PC running Windows 7, a Windows server 2008 file server with raid 5, a 17" Macbook pro, 13" Macbook that's my wife's, Mac Mini for our TV setup, two iPhone 4's, and a 64G 3G iPad.

At work over the last 20 years, my desktop computer has been Windows, IRIX (SGI's version of UNIX), and Linux.

So that's a little about me. Back to why I think ExoPc will fail.

Table (or slate now I guess) PC's are not replacements for laptops. They are there own beasts. What makes a tablet worth putting money down for, is all the things that make them not desktop PC's.

A few things about my iPad that make it worth owning:

• I never turn it off. When I want use it, I pick it up, tap the button, swipe my finger, and go. It's the Instant computer.
• Apps made for it are simple. They provide a small amount of info fast. For example, if I had an iPad and the ExoPC in front of me, and I wanted to time how fast it would take to find out what the high is tomorrow, and check wind speeds in my state, it would be much faster on the iPad. The UI on the Exo will take me to a webpage, and then from there I have to use a webpage like a webpage. The iPad weather app is expecting me to be using an iPad. Aside from however long it take the Exo to wake up, there is finding the area with wind speeds. Now I most likely have to type, or click on some links somewhere.
• Charging the iPad is an afterthought. It's strange how liberating that is. When I want to use my Laptop away from power, the first thing I think of when I pick it up, is will the battery last as long as I need it. That's never a question with the iPad. Even if it's 20% batter life, I just need to make sure I plug it in after I watch my 2 hour Netflix movie over 3G.
• It's hard to explain, but what makes the iPad a great device, is it's not a computer (well, it is, but you don't think of it that way). It's a window into information. It's aways there, always on, and the software is always designed to be used the way your using it.

I guess in a nutshell, why I think the Exo will fail, is once you find all the reasons you would want it over an iPad, you will realize what you really need, is a netbook/laptop.

The iPad is successful for the same reason most people don't understand it's success. It is just a huge iPod Touch with 3G. And while that's a joke to many, it's an extremely good thing in practice.

Hello all,

That is EXACTLY what this slate is! It is perfect for work or students... Go to YouTube and search the latest uploaded videos for EXopc..I have been an active member in the community at EXO and I cannot wait until I have enough money to purchase one. This IS a windows 7 computer with the added benefit of a touch user device, you can take notes, draw use FULLY functional Flash websites.. Imagine this as a netbook with a bit more power that is fully touch capable. You can also hook up any bluetooth device(or USB) such as a keyboard or mouse so you can have a wire free(or wired USB) desktop type system, any other questions please ask! :D It is a netbook without the keyboard being that it runs Win7 (and not a shotty win7 starter) it comes with Win7 professional I believe .. So anything you can do with Win7 you can do on the EXO ..It also has the options of using the cool dot GUI or just the Window desktop the choice is yours but, I know you will NOT be disappointed with this device! BTW: For those who want entertainment again mostly everything you can do with a desktop you can do with this device - including playing games that match the specs.. There is a video on the first persons youtube channel that I posted & him playing Civilization IV- It will not run HIGH powered games but, flash and alike it will run just fine... Also you can listen to music and surf the web, write email, use your Microsoft office software- make presentations etc.. You can use Photoshop and again, ANYthing a win7 netbook can do this tablet can do and better! Full touch and possiblities with using a sytlus (soon there will be palm rejection software added (as an update I assume) that will help to write on this WITHOUT using a glove, can the IPAD do this? :D P.S I do NOT work for this company I live in NY this company is from somewhere in Canada... and also don't forget to visit their forum the community is great! @user above: Yes this is a tablet not a desktop replacement but.. IT can do much of what a desktop can do in a neat little package mobile for anywhere (buy a virgin mobile hotspot broadband mobile device and you got unlimted web for $40 a month for the U.S ) and again thank god Microsoft is NOT building this LOL We know the quality will be better than theirs just because of that fact! And Windows7 is a great OS IMHO- I can't wait to read my school .pdfs on this!! It will be MUCH nicer than an ereader or PC monitor for sure :D These devices also may have GPS & 3g- they may or may not for the first run as it will be shipping around Oct.15th for the first run to us community memebers.. I will come back and post MY user review when I recieve mine :D

LINK TO FORUM:http://www.exopc.com/forum/

INT THE VIDEO CHANNELS I POSTED THESE ARE STILL PROTOTYPES: the Final version will have all the bugs out..REMEMBER this is NOT Microsoft building this **thank goodness**.. Check out the EXOpc User community on their website www.exopc.com

These following links are video/demos that prototype users are posting as reviews ..MUCH BETTER VIDEOS ON YOUTUBE for the EXOpc then their offical ones : http://www.youtube.com/user/darkkevind1978 : Check out the usage videos..for photoshop,streaming music etc..

Another community/protype user videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/ExoDreamcat - this one is more of spec testing and such but, some awesome quick overages of the features etc..

Hope this helps with some persuation :D I am completly excited for this~ Any other questions please let me know :D

*~* Mel*~*