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Yeah I expect life is very different in the South, while we here in the North get to grips with the abacus the South is talking Android tablets and iOS.

I recently read a study by MyType that said iPads were mostly bought by elitist fuds, they questioned 20,000 people and found that in the average population 3% either owned or considered buying an iPad, while 11% were critical of it, presumably the rest didn't know what it was or had no opinion, in the category of "elitist fud" they found that number went upto 18% with only 3% being critical, however in the category of "independent geeks" who are listed as people who are most likely to be self directed young people who look down on conformity and are interested in videogames, computers, electronics, science and the internet, only 4% owned or said they plan to own an iPad while 33% couldn't really see the point of it.

If the next generation of computers belongs to Redmond then more than 90% of the world will continue to be happy computer users, the other 50 or so people will try in vain to convince us that their minority OS really is so much better than ours, the other 90% will continue not to care.

I think Android has a better chance here, but even then I think you underestimate the power of Windows, the mere fact that something isn't Windows is enough to sway a vast number of people into giving it a wide berth.

Yes but nobody knows what Linux is, of course it was never going to succeed in Netbooks. Linux has been free for the desktop forever; the only reason nobody uses it is because it's pure crap as a desktop OS. I think you grossly underestimate just how much of a street presence iOS and Android have, particularly in the South.

If the next generation of 'computers' belongs to the boys at Redmond as the last generation did then we should all kill ourselves, by the way.

Ask 50 people on the street if they know what Windows is and chances are all of them will know even if they never actually use computers, you ask them about Android or iOS and more than half wont have a clue what your talking about. I think the netbook market is a perfect example of the power of Windows, people said no one would use Windows on a netbook and Linux would dominate, where is Linux now? Yes thats right its being severely dry humped by Windows on netbooks. People need to stop kidding themselves on that stuff like Linux or OS X or any derivatives are relevant to the masses as they simply aren't, no one cares besides a few nerds.

You should've told me you could build an iMac for £589, I just bought 6 - you'd have saved me a fortune.

That's the thing, Windows isn't the only OS familiar to people anymore. iOS and Android are becoming very familiar, and I don't think people will think twice about buying a tablet running one of those instead of a craptastic cheapo PC next time they're in the market.

I think you'd be pleasantly surprised by how much bang for your buck can be had for under £300. I recently built a PC for someone excluding a monitor for around £250 and it was vastly overpowered for what it was required to do. I just priced the main components in an iMac costing £1,649.00 and without even shopping about to get the best prices my total came to £369 so for just over £300 I could give you the iMac experience minus the shiny packaging and monitor, another £220 gets you a 27" monitor.

I agree a cheap tablet would probably do the job in most cases, but the problem is they already have hardware more than capable of doing everything they could ever think of doing, how do you convince those same people to buy other hardware to do the same thing? Especially hardware running an OS that might be unfamiliar to them, given that choice most people statistically opt to stick with Windows.

Did you say sub-£300 computer? I'd rather forgotten what the great unwashed were computing on these days, save for the deathlike Acer laptop I got earlier in the year.

The vast majority using only a fraction of their PCs potential is surely an invitation for diverged devices such as tablets. Perhaps a £150 Android tablet will do the job 5 times out of 10. If that were the case, sales of cheapo PCs just halved.

Meanwhile back here in reality...

I like your vision of the future even if it is a bit Apple coloured and unlikely to happen. Lets be honest the majority of people have no interest in any of that stuff, they simply want a cheap sub £300 computer to browse ebay and send emails. I build PC's for people and it always surprises me how little people actually use the technology available to them, upon investigation it isn't because its too difficult or they don't know how, its mostly because they don't have any practical need for it.

I agree that the MacBook Air itself is no fairy, but the very form factor is an embodiment of a future text-input machine. It has retained all of the local grunt needed for a decent computer in this day and age, but it's easy to see how something even svelter could exist in a cloud driven future. It's no gaming machine, no video editor; it's not a general purpose PC like a MacBook Pro could be termed.

Now I'm yearning after an evolved MobileMe that'll untie my iDevices from my Mac. Sigh.

I would have to take some issue with any notion that the new MacBook Air computers are merely "screens and keyboards". Although I do agree that the future is more likely to be along these lines than to the paradigm that we are currently used to. Ultimately I would expect our computing device to be something that we engage with using our natural built-in communications capabilities*, with speech becoming the dominant means. I wonder how long, for example, the screen will be used for much of what it is now used for.

The new MacBook Air computers are equating, in performance terms, to the current 15" MBP thanks for improved chipsets in the new machines. And they are no slouches at multi-tasking as witnessed by a WSJ columnist

I was surprised to find that even the base $999 model was powerful enough to easily run seven or eight programs at once, including Microsoft Office, iTunes and the Safari browser with more than 20 Web sites open. It also played high-definition video with no skipping or stuttering.

The full review article can be read here --> http://ptech.allthingsd.com/20101027...d-in-a-laptop/

I do think that Apple are showing the world the way forward in many respects. However, the traditional manufacturers with their vested interests are holding us all back.

* - So what I'm looking for here is the computer interaction that we see in 2001 A Space Odyssey, Iron Man, Star Trek, that sort of thing. I do not, however, see the likes of Dragon Naturally Speaking being the end goal.

It is one thing to be able to speak to a machine to command it to do things. But what I am looking for is a machine that will be socially interactive, almost sentient, one that I can talk with and not to. That is my future for personal computing, as and when it happens.

Even Apple's new Airs don't have 3G. What on Earth is that all about?

I believe manufacturing costs plus worldwide availability has turned both 3g and bluetooth into manufacturing options

Well that's it, order placed for the Avanti service. Supposedly there'll be improvements in the coming months as clients are migrated to their brand new satellite at no charge, but even so it'd be foolish of me to expect miracles.

I may hook the Sure Signal up to it once it's installed in a couple of weeks. That should be good for a laugh. Maybe I'll call Customer Services at a few of my favourite mobile networks and see how they like speaking to someone who sounds like they're thousands of miles away.

The design of the iPhone 4 certainly does make it fragile, and I can understand why many would be put off by that. Holding two pieces of glass bound by a metal band that doesn't even cover their edges is something of an experience; luxurious, and petrifying!

A bumper or case sorts that out, though, and tbh I'd still rather have the iPhone 4 than 3GS even if it meant having a case. It's frickin' quick, that screen is lickable, and the flash - well, I forgot how much of a nightowl I am

At least with the 3GS the glass on the front is slightly recessed by the metal bezel and protected if dropped. A while back my phone shot out of my shirt pocket in a public toilets with a stone floor and after the initial bounce it slid face down for a couple of metres. I was convinced the glass would be broken or scratched to pieces but after inspection I found the metal bezel felt a but rough but other than that it was all good. I love the look of iPhone 4 but the more I examine the phone in Apple stores I can't commit. When iPhone 5 comes out next year Apple will be need to make the design bullet proof and able to receive bars in a lead box!

The iPhone 4 [supposed] fragility is a bit of an urban myth. The thing with this glass, any glass, is "how" the phone lands. There are a few videos on YouTube that show that it can take repeated and very intentional dropping to break the glass. However, it really is all down to pot luck. Land wrong and the glass will break.

And therein may lie the problem - the corners. These make excellent small points of contact with the ground, concentrating the shock in one very specific plate and as that travels radially out through the sheet of glass it will, inevitably, shatter. This can best be illustrated with one of those spring-loaded hand-held centre punch tools. If you "fire" it at a sheet of toughened glass such as a car window the glass will shatter as if hit by a huge rock. The truth is that the point of impact is miniscule but very concentrated, and the glass (no glass) can take it.

My iPhone 4 has left its bumper case and is now in a leather wallet-style case. The aperature for the camera is too small and so causes a vignette effect. I'll be taking a high speed twist drill to it at the weekend to open it up a bit.

I really want an iphone 4 but the way the glass shatters is not acceptable. I have dropped my 3GS a good few times and unless you look very closely you wouldn't be able to tell. £139 is quite a good deal to replace the broken phone but the 1m drop that broke the phone s pretty poor. I'm holding on to my 3GS for now.

I know that Apple stores are very busy with people trying to iphone 4 and ipad, trying to get to ask someone a question is sub impossible. The Apple stores are generally really hot inside too. In the Marina store in San Francisco I gave up on several occassions as I was being cooked.

Loving the stars at the end of each paragraph - why, or how, they're there I have no idea! Apparently my new iPhone 4 has somewhat of a personality...

Indeed, it looks like it caught one of the edges of the screen as it landed, and the thin surround around the glass is no match for even the smallest bit of grit. A terribly unlucky drop that resulted in the shattering of the entire screen.

gorilla - I'm very, very hopeful that a Genius will take pity on me and replace it. Hopefully the worst case scenario is paying a fixed repair fee for an exchange... I've had, and seen, so many good experiences with Apple, particularly in stores, I just sorely hope that it's my turn to be spoilt.

There are numerous stories in the internet where people have dropped their iPhones and Apple have replaced them no questions asked. I'd imagine that given the current PR problem Apple (seem) to be having that the genius bar will replace your handset. It doesn't actually sound like you exerted much in the way of pressure on the phone and that really is quite a shocking break.

In any case your nexus one running 2.2 will seem so much better than an iPhone. I promise ;-)

Flippin eck! That's terrible news. Sorry to read this.

I know that even the toughened glass can fail, but I didn't think it would do so quite as readily. Videos posted on YouTube suggest that it takes quite a few drops to make the glass fail. But your experience suggests that it is all rather down to the luck of the draw.

Fingers crossed for you that Apple will be able to help. No doubt the independent repairers will be able to help if Apple can't or will not.