- 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.