An iPad Is Not a Laptop
Cafe Grumpy’s one of the best coffeebars in NY. It’s known for two things: One of the few places that to get Clover-made coffee in NY, and it banned laptops. I was there last Sunday; it’s incredible. People were talking.
That is, instead of staring silently, glass-eyed and slack-jawed, faces aglow with the soft light of a laptop, occasionally slurping coffee, rows and rows of slumped-over humanity. The place was packed. Bustling. Alive. I couldn’t find a place to sit.
It’s a vibe I haven’t seen in a coffeebar in a long time, especially not in New York. (The closet-sized abraco excepted, where everybody always seems escstatic about being there, and perhaps not coincidentally, cannot sit.) People used to go to coffee shops to talk. Read. Or hell, enjoy coffee. Now they’re simply the other place to use a laptop: not home, not work. People sit affixed and silent. For hours. I’ve done it. But there’s no question: Laptops smother the atmosphere. So it’s amazingly refreshing to feel something different, people connecting to people, instead of gadgets.
Which brings us to the iPad. It’s supposed to be this third thing. Bigger than a phone, smaller than a laptop. It browses; it’s got books; it plays video. Can it possibly have a place in a laptop-free utopia? I asked Caroline Bell, who owns Cafe Grumpy, if she’s going to drop the banhammer on the iPad when they come out. Her reply surprised me:
I think iPads would make for some interesting conversations these days because you don’t see too many around yet…plus, they don’t take up much table space nor do they create a physical barrier between you the rest of the world when you put them down in front of you. So, I guess I won’t be adding no iPads to the signs just yet!
I wonder how long that’ll last.
View full post on Gawker: valleywag
An iPad is not a laptop.
An iPad is not a laptop.
An iPad is not a laptop.
An iPad is not a laptop.
An iPad is not a laptop.
An iPad is not a laptop.
An iPad is not….
nvleafs
I really respect the woman who owns the coffee shop for doing this. She definitely took a risk, and it paid off apparently.
At my local coffee shop, no one ever talks. Everyone has their laptop open and is staring at their screens. I love the digital age with smartphones and laptops, but it really seems people have forgotten about the joys of conversation and all that fun stuff. I do include myself.
FutureShock
Do they ban laptop or laptops that use their power outlets in their coffee shop? I laptops using outlets only then I can understand. If they ban all laptops then they have to ban the Ipad as well. Why aren’t NY laptop users boycotting the shop before it set a precedence whereby other shops ban laptops too?
franco1975
Wow, so she hasn’t seen many around yet… She obviously has her finger on the pulse of technology. On that topic I haven’t seen many Windows Phone 7 Series devices around yet, hmmm
PsychoSuperman
@mmmiles: Ohhh right I forgot. My netbook doesn’t meet the minimum “pretentious” quota.
Max_Power_Turbo
LASN (Live action social networking), it’s the new LARP.
FriarNurgle
@Max_Power_Turbo: It’s unlikely someone who would want to ban laptops would really care about the distinction…
Duncan Stevenson
@Max_Power_Turbo: They’re trying to keep the place classy.
mmmiles
@BleekBleek: I think the presence of a book is kinda different. Books are a common talking point. I can’t imagine someone asking a stranger in a coffee house what they’re doing on their laptop, but asking about a book someone happens to be reading is more acceptable as a conversation starter.
Duncan Stevenson
surprising that she hasn’t seen too many if them around….obviously a technophobe
Frizzaldo…
Well, I bring my laptop to Starbucks to do work – that’s what I’d want to ban if I were in their shoes.
An iPad is a casual media device, so I can how it would fit into a conversation better than a work device.
Are newspapers or books banned at this place? That would be comparable.
mmmiles
If it cant multitask, cant make calls, then it has no reason to even exist.
Acey
Oh halleujah! She has seen the light brother, and now will be healed! I said Amen! Put your hands on your head and say it with me:
ipad allowed, ipad allowed, ipad allowed…………………………………..
SirTech
of course it’s not a laptop, It’s an overgown iphone/ipod touch.
jinlee
This is interesting (the ban on laptops, not the exclusion of the iPad from the rule). I’ve never really been to a coffee shop where laptops were banned, nor have I ever seen a coffee shop filled with non-chatting laptop users. I always seem to be able to talk without feeling I’m disturbing those working (which I assume is the atmosphere they are trying to avoid).
I can totally see how that atmosphere would be unwelcome and I think their move to ban laptops is a bold but positive move.
It’ll be really interesting to see how the iPad exclusion from the rule pans out. Do keep us updated Giz!
Duncan Stevenson
Don’t books create a mental and physical barrier between you and the rest of the world? Why would they discriminate against laptops?
BleekBleek
Can I bring my 10inch netbook?
Max_Power_Turbo