I have an iPad Pro and a bunch of laptops. Honestly – the iPad Pro does 90% of what people do with a slim and light laptop generally. You can go to all your favorite websites, you can write in your blog, you can watch youtube, use facebook, twitter, reddit etc but the other 10% is stuff like:
-Any application that requires fine mouse control, personally I just prefer to use Photoshop and Excel on a laptop versus the iPad (I know there’s iPad apps for them but they are meh for me)
-AAA PC games
-programming
-torrenting or usenet or some service like that
-Video editing and Audio Production (Yes I know iMovie and Garageband is on the iPad but its nothing compared to Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, ProTools etc)
thats about it. If you do one of those things above, you still need a laptop. Otherwise an iPad Pro will serve you well.
As much as Chinese like to believe they are a rising superpower, they are still much behind the USA. While they are second in the world in total GDP, only behind the USA, their GDP per capita is 8x lower and GDP per capita is generally a good reflection of how developed a society is. In Asia, China is by far the dominant economy but they are 5th in GDP per capita, behind Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan. Also Hong Kong if you want to consider that separate from China.
I also don’t think anyone would argue that the Chinese military is better than the American military, they are way behind on that as well.
In terms of technology, China is catching up on electronics (Lenovo and Huawei have been making gains on Apple and HP and Dell though the level of innovation is still behind), and is probably ahead on infrastructure (Chinese high speed rail and new buildings look far more impressive than American ones).
In terms of soft power or cultural exporting, they are behind pretty much all 4 East Asian Tigers + Japan, let alone trying to compete with Hollywood. While people around the world have heard of American movie stars and pop stars, and kpop has dominated the world as well, very few people outside of China (besides immigrant Chinese) really care about Chinese movies or bands. They have a long ways to catch up on that.
So yeah in order to catch up to the USA, here’s what Chairman Xi should do:
Try to reduce the gap between rich and poor more, keep supporting the growing middle class and improving the GDP per capita
Increase military spending to be more of a global force
Emphasize cultural exports more and focus more on entertainment industry. This might be difficult though, since as a communist state, creative expression is a little difficult.
I just finished my trip to Taiwan, which concludes the last East Asian country I’ll be visiting. I visited China first in 2011, then Korea in 2013, then Japan and Taiwan this year. I already talked about some of these differences. Below you can see some videos I made.
I think that every one of these countries has there own unique idiosyncrasies and differences with each other, but its no secret I prefer South Korea the best. I think the nightlife there is the best and Korean women by far care the most about their appearance and are the best looking on average, but I think Taiwan and Japan have the best manners in general. Its interesting to note that I didn’t see a single tomboy in Seoul in all my time living there, whereas in Taiwan or China its very easy to find girls who dress or look like boys. This is a very unique factor about Seoul, the gender boundaries are very clear and the women there are the most feminine. In addition, some other things unique about Korea I noticed; I’ve seen the most couples on the streets there than anywhere else I’ve traveled to, literally every 1 in 4 people on the streets are a couple, and its the only Asian nation with a Christian majority. That’s interesting about Korea to say the least. Other Asian countries trend towards either Buddhism or Islam.
I plan to go to Shanghai again next year, this time to take some video since I didn’t have a camcorder with me last time.
Then I can do a proper comparison between Seoul vs Tokyo vs Shanghai, all three megacities. Taipei is too small of a city to be counted amongst those three.
I also find the more I learn about these different Asian cultures, the more I find that China in particular tends to have more in common with the USA than with Korea/Japan/Taiwan.
Similarities between China and USA
-They are tied for being the 3rd largest country on Earth
-They are the two biggest economies in the world
-Chinese and Americans are both known for having a lot of national pride, sometimes bordering on arrogance
-They are both very diverse countries with multiple races and languages
-There is a huge gap between the rich and the poor in both countries
-They contain the world’s first and second largest population of prisoners
-They contain the world’s first and second most billionares
-They are the largest influences in their respective hemispheres
-Chinese and American women are both known for being strong and independent
-Most people dress casually in both countries and there is no ‘standard’ for appearance, compared to Korea/Japan where more people dress up and wear makeup
-No rules on politeness either! You can be as nice or as rude as you want to in both countries. In Korea/Japan there are politeness rules in both the language and culture