There are lots of daily uses where it would be ideal to have a decent-sized screen and no keyboard. Web surfing in bed (or lying on the couch,) playing simple games in bed, using recipes in the kitchen, videos and news on the road (like an iPhone without the iStrain.) Put a notch in the back so you can hang it on a wall, and it's even more versatile (and even better in the kitchen.) Plus it would be a nice compromise for traveling when the iPhone isn't enough -- have a bluetooth keyboard in your hotel room for blogging and email, carry a nice thin tablet during the day.
Actually, that last scenario pretty much sums it up. It's a small laptop with no hinge, with the keyboard reduced to an optional accessory that you can leave in your briefcase, or in your hotel room, or on your bedside table, or wherever, except when you actually want to bother with it.
Of course, most tablets fail by integrating the keyboard, keeping the hinge, and not providing a decent touch-screen interface. Really decent tablet interfaces have been limited to special-purpose applications for medical entry, warehouse inventory, GPS, or what-not.
The kitchen is the only use case I can see working. A netbook/laptop is far more usable in bed than a tablet would be.
>> "have a bluetooth keyboard in your hotel room for blogging and email"
The bottom bit of a laptop isn't just there for the keyboard, it's there to hold the display at a nice viewing angle. So you'd need some extra device for that as well.
I'd rather hold the screen with my hand. I hate the way my laptop jiggles around every time I shift my weight when I'm sitting on the couch. Plus, when I'm reading in bed I like to turn from my back to one side to the other side. A laptop kind of pins you into one position. Not really, of course, but it makes you want to stay perfectly still even when you start to get uncomfortable.
Actually, that last scenario pretty much sums it up. It's a small laptop with no hinge, with the keyboard reduced to an optional accessory that you can leave in your briefcase, or in your hotel room, or on your bedside table, or wherever, except when you actually want to bother with it.
Of course, most tablets fail by integrating the keyboard, keeping the hinge, and not providing a decent touch-screen interface. Really decent tablet interfaces have been limited to special-purpose applications for medical entry, warehouse inventory, GPS, or what-not.