[jfruh]

"Ideally, what I would like (and I think most people would like) is something of the form factor of a MacBook Air (thin and light), that has a detachable touch-screen that can run apps written for iOS or Android, and when the screen is connected to the main body, acts like a fully-functioning laptop."

What's the difference in practice between "a laptop with a detachable screen" and "a tablet that fits into a case that holds up the screen and provides a keyboard"? In terms of form factor, those two strike me as identical. Of course, if iOS doesn't do it for you in the laptop form factor, then it doesn't do it for you, but that's more a software than a hardware problem (and I'm willing to bet is a software problem not everybody has).

[prophetjohn]

The difference is that an iPad docked to a keyboard isn't a fully functioning laptop. It seems like the author is looking for (for instance) a device that runs OS X, with all the power of a MBA when in laptop mode, but once you detach the screen runs iOS and has limited functionality. So maybe the author really just has a problem with the limited capabilities of iOS and the performance difference between an iPad and a MBP.

[moonchrome]

Sounds like the "keyboard" would then have to have special hardware (pricey/not efficient) or the pad would have to have multicore/scalable hardware that draws more power when connected to the "keyboard" and the keyboard could have extra hardware like more storage and IO ports and a PSU/high capacity battery. It would be cool to merge this concept with something like padphone - sort of a Russian doll concept :) And the ARM manufacturers seem to be going that route for performance anyway - adding cores/disabling them for power saving. I assume the same concept could be applied to memory and GPU.

[ugh]

Ok, that might be what the author wants and needs, but why does he claim to be able to tell everyone else what they want? That seems kinda self-important to me. Your own experience is not necessarily that of everyone else.

[twiceaday]

That's the point. A laptop with a detachable screen implies a full OS with the ability to run in mobile mode. A dockable tablet implies only a mobile OS. The former can be your only pc while the latter is purely supplemental.

[geon]

There is absolutely no reason why a dockable mobile device would not deliver a full desktop experience.

Have you seen the Android/Ubuntu demo? They ran Ubuntu on a cellphone in a dock. Very impressive.

[Mythbusters]

Windows 8 has a similar experience built in whith the advantage that you have a full OS with you at all times if you need it.

[freehunter]

Sounds like a Touchpad or an Android tablet in a case with a chroot to boot Ubuntu. This is what I do with my Touchpad, and it works just like an ultraportable laptop with 10 hours of battery life.