Ipad

[SuperMiguel]

What is you guys opinion on the ipad? Worth getting one?

[Murphy]

It's worth it if you have specific needs that it can fill, otherwise it's just a toy(maybe still worth it if you have money to burn).

Personally I think an android tablet like the galaxy tab would be more useful, even if only for the better web browser.

[saturation]

You should know what it can't do.

It won't run applications unless its written for the iPad's OS.  Of course, they are rushing to rewrite them, and you'll have to pay for it, when it exists, and why pay for what you already have, some of which is freeware?

For practicality, and far less money, a netbook will do all the Ipad can do, including better battery life, national digital access via your existing cellplan [ and the right phone if you need this portability, why pay for 2 accounts if you don't have a current iPhone] and wifi, but its not as elegant or slim.  It costs 1/3 that of the iPad, has 10x more available memory, has all the interface slots built in that the iPad omits [ so it drives you to use the network, and thus, pay for what can be free] such as USB, firewire, memory card support.  When you have all those iPad adapters dangling on your iPad it doesn't look as slim.

A Kindle is a better option for slim net appliance if portability is your concern.  But for both the bigger issue is the kinds of plug ins they can interpret, for specific website you go to.

I current use an Acer Aspire one, with 10-15 hour battery life for non-network access, 6-8 hrs of continuous net surfing via wifi [ I leave it on all day, thus] 160G of HD storage, easy expandibility, its basically a laptop scaled down 1/3 the size, and it was $200.  It runs SPICE, the usual web and email, loads encrypted VPN network dongles, and nearly all kinds of proprietary encryption decryption schemes used for secure communications, and because a netbook is simply a small power frugal laptop, you can be sure it compatible with most anything out there for a PC.

[CryptLordGR]

if it was more reasonbly priced, more close to the price of the Kindle it could easily replace it but it is so costly that you could be a powerful laptop

[JohnS_AZ]

I looked closely at the iPad, Kindle, Nook, and like Saturation I finally bought a netbook. Mine is an ASUS, and I'm totally in love with it.

[Time]

I'll never understand why so many people throw Nooks and Kindles in the same category as the iPad and Netbook.

I love my kindle and I love my iPad.  I wouldn't read a book on my iPad and I wouldn't surf the net on my Kindle despite the fact that I can do both on either.

Nothing beats e-ink for reading.  Nothing beats a high resolution back lit color image for web surfing and watching movies.  Their optimal uses exist in 2 different domains of functionality, its like apples and oranges to me.

[saturation]

An EE looks inside the iPad:

http://www.tmworld.com/article/509103-Electronic_sleuths.php

Its much simpler than it looks.

[johnmx]

A friend of mine has one and only uses it for four things:
1 – Input data by hand during laboratorial experiments. He could do this in a tenth of the time with a normal PC and a numeric keyboard. After one week he realized that it is no practical at all and stopped doing it.
2 – Play games like I did 16 years ago in a game boy.
3 – Carry weight in the bag every day.
4 – To show off.

I understand that in some specific circumstances the iPAD can actually give some advantages, but probably that only happens in 0.01% of the cases.

[the_raptor]

I wouldn't drop money on one now with all the competitors coming out for Christmas or early next year.

The only real use I see for tablets is browsing the web while you are laying on the couch. Unless someone invents a new input device they are just toys.

[tinsmith]

If it does what you need to get a device to do and it does it better than other devices without incurring a substantial price increase, then you should get it. If it doesn't, then you shouldn't.

The Apple iPad is nifty for what it does, but it's also very limited in comparison to other computing devices at around the same carry bulk.

[Chris_R]

I'll never understand why so many people throw Nooks and Kindles in the same category as the iPad and Netbook.
I love my kindle and I love my iPad.  I wouldn't read a book on my iPad and I wouldn't surf the net on my Kindle despite the fact that I can do both on either.

Because most people only have the money for 1 small gadget, and so if they're going to be carrying about any gadgets in their bag it's likely to be only one, instead of a tablet, a netbook and an ebook reader.

I really dislike the ipad and apple as a company in general now, just because they keep coming up with such BS and yet people will gladly eat it right up for a massive price.  Have a read of Cory Doctorow's reasons here which I pretty much agree with. http://www.boingboing.net/2010/04/02/why-i-wont-buy-an-ipad-and-think-you-shouldnt-either.html

Basically, if I can't take it apart and poke around with it, then I'm not interested.  Obviously for a smaller device that's more difficult, but at least with my phone I can pop the back off to replace the battery when it inevitably wears out.  If I want the battery replaced when it dies in an ipad (and it will) then I have to shell out yet more money to apple to do it for me.
If I want to download anything onto my ipad?  I have to shell out more money to apple so that they can decide what I should and shouldn't be allowed to install.
If I want to develop some software for the ipad, then I not only have to shell out more money for an apple computer, but then I'm only allowed to use the official apple sdk.  And if I wish to sell any software that I develop, then guess who I have to do it through?  And of course only if they decide that my software is up to their standards.

So if it isn't obvious, I went the netbook route.  I have an Acer Aspire One with lots of hard drive space, plenty of RAM, kubuntu installed on it and most importantly, it's mine!  I decide how I want to use it or take it apart or what I can install on it.

[saturation]

Here's an interesting view taking an iPad in lieu of a laptop.

What you need in accessories to match:



http://news.cnet.com/8301-13556_3-20024089-61.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20#comments


But read the comments by the faithful!  You've got to admire Jobs for creating groopies who are beyond practicality, just as in the 1990s equally faithful were agog over the Newton, but the genre was made real by its competitor, the all ASCII text Palm Pilot.

[flapjackboy]

You've got to admire Jobs for creating groopies who are beyond practicality, just as in the 1990s equally faithful were agog over the Newton, but the genre was made real by its competitor, the all ASCII text Palm Pilot.

As much as I'd like to lay the blame for the Newton at Jobs' feet, it was actually developed during the John Sculley era.

[Lance]

To be honest apple stuff is overpriced. It's a fun toy, but there are other less expensive tools with more software options that get the job one, like some of the aforementioned products above.

[tinsmith]

Here's an interesting view taking an iPad in lieu of a laptop.

What you need in accessories to match:

Actually, that picture is at best metaphorical, and more cynically it borders on bullshit.

I love the part where someone wants me to believe that an iPad in some meaningful way can replace a relatively high-end SLR. With several lenses laid out nearby.

For that matter, the laptop or the cell phone. I'm going to do spreadsheets on it and then hold it to my ear to make a phone call? No.

At that point and discarding chargers (the iPad replaces AC/DC converters?), headphones (wtf?), and other nonsense objects like belt cases and batteries...the only thing left on the table appears to be a pocket notebook and pen. Oh wait, you can't do pen input on the iPad because it doesn't have a sensor capable of that.

So where does that leave the iPad? If it has a purpose, it's not to be found on that table.

[Time]

MADTV-IPAD

This was a MAD TV skit that came out quite awhile before the iPad did.  Kind of funny.