And as accurate :)

Indeed.

Worth it?

Not sure, think you have to answer that question.

However for me it was for the following reasons:If you're on the edge I'd suggest picking up an iPad from BestBuy (milo.com will search local inventory for you) and try it out for two weeks. If you like it, keep it. If not take it back to BestBuy and return it (BB charges no restocking fee, at least per the 3 store I talked to in the greater IAH area.)

Hope that helped.

A lot of people are buying it? Well – game, set, match then. :D

What I find the most interesting about the iPad is the degree to which their owners will tailor their work/leisure habits in order to conform to what the iPad does – or more specifically what it doesn’t do, rather than the other way around – in order to convince themselves that they really need an iPad.

My own views of the iPad aside you will never hear me suggest that Steve Jobs isn't a genius, even if only in the way that say, P.T. Barnum was also a genius.

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Well, this is simply untrue. For me it is much better for browsing or watching movies than a notebook. It is enormously useful as a reader. Im not tailoring my reading to that unless you want to call reading more because it is easier tailoring to the device. So I'm a sucker because I no longer have to carry a bunch of Pdfs with me in order to read when I travel? Whatever.

I have no doubt that some will find the iPad to be a thoroughly useful and complimentary device, I never suggested that the iPad didn't have a couple of legitimate uses, not at all. But is this true for "millions" of people, I doubt it.

But if for example the iPad is for someone really just a sexed-up Kindle, or PSP, or P-DVD player then IMO there really isn't anything all that revolutionary about it, save for the price.

Having used a friend's iPad a bit recently I will say that the first of the big deal killers is having to hold the damn thing. Unless one is seated at a desk it is beyond annoying trying to hold the thing up in order to use it, a problem my friend discovered early on in his ownership and has tried to ameliorate [not solve] with a $70 leather iPad case with a kick stand that works only slightly better than manipulating the device by itself.

All told he has invested darn close to $1000 on his iPad WiFi, cases, dongles, etc. which just strikes me as odd when there are any number of laptops/netbooks out there of similar size, weight, battery life, and screen size/resolution that can do significantly more than can the iPad and that also come with an articulating screen that can be used comfortably in far more situations.

Just my observations, YMMV.

I've got a good friend who's in RD here in IAH with HP, and as an Apple guy, we have a lot of heated arguments thoughtful exchanges of ideas.

Mainly the premise of his arguments revolve around functionality in that Apple deprives users of this and how there's so much more your generic smartphone can do over the iPhone (or netbook over the iPad.)

And he's right, there probably are a lot more things those devices can do. But that's the funny thing, those devices seem to do everything except what I want them to do. Can I partition my iPad to run multiple O/S's, have command line interface, or install any random piece of software I want?

Nope.

However, what he constantly does not get is that I don't *want*, much less need, to be able to do that. What can I say? Somehow I've just never gotten the itch, much less the need, to switch from Windows 7 to Linux while sitting in 1B at 36,000'.

What I do want to do is email, internet, tethering and browsing with the occasional game. That's what I do on my laptop and thats what I do on my iPad --- and on a side note I always find it amusing how my gadgets always seem to work better than his, at least for those simple functions, but oh well. Different strokes for different folks.

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Someone here or in a review somewhere made a very salient observation about this. The observation was that most devices are designed primarily to create content. The iPad is primarily designed to use content. The vast majority of people primarily use content. And that is what the iPad excels at, with enough creation ability to make it very useful and replace most of what I use a computer for in content creation while traveling as well.

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By the way, the $39 Apple articulating case is a must have accessory in my opinion. It totally changes the feel of the thing.

Sure, I can understand that, and for anyone who neither has nor wants a real computer [laptop/netbook] then perhaps the iPad is a great choice.

But if one already has a competent, relatively compact and modern laptop/netbook then there just isn’t anything the iPad can do that those devices can’t save for the fact that the iPad looks cooler.


As I wrote [quipped?] in another thread:

If this is what the iPad was indeed designed and marketed for then cheers all around, let’s just all be up front about about… :D

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No, that is simply your opinion. I think the iPad is better for web surfing and reading and watching videos than a computer. Is is vastly easier to use than a net book for these things and a little better than a full size notebook or desktop.

One thing I should mention here is that perhaps my views on the iPad have been "enhanced" recently by several, what I will term, cultural observations, which are by way of watching several attempts by new iPad owners to awkwardly break their new baby out into what are otherwise inappropriate social situations in order to demonstrate just how integrated their iPads are in their daily lives, betrayed in every situation by the ungainliness of the device itself, their inability to try and make device do what it is they are trying to do, and the fact that the flow of the conversation invariably grinds to a halt with pleas of, "wait, wait – here you go, no, wait. Oh, here. See, wait, here it is…" as if their iPad was some new bodily appendage that their brain has not quite taken control of yet. :D

Seems like more of a problem with your friends. Trying to read a lot of documents from a laptop, now that is ungainly.

What if your location/hotel/office doesn't have Wifi and there is no 3G signal? I can hook my 2.8 lbs laptop up to a RJ-11 or RJ-45 socket or tether it to my cell to use as a modem. All things that I have actually had a need to do.

Really, what if you don't have the time or inclination to encode your movies and transfer them to the iPad before a trip? Me, I just throw a couple of DVDs/Blu-Rays into my laptop bag and I am good to go. ;)

Look, my point - all in good humor - is that I have to have a real computer with me anyway so there just isn't anything the iPad does better save for a very few times when a touch screen would add bit of convenience.

:

Very well stated and an interesting perspective. In my professional and personal life I tend to be a "consumer" of content rather than a creator with exception of emails and presentations. This may be why the device fits my needs so well.

As for the worth / not worth it debate.... I respect the opinions of those that don't like the iPad and ask that you respect my opinion as well. This shouldn't become a "my dad can beat up your dad" discussion. We all have different needs in life and find ways to handle these needs in different ways. To each his/ her own!

Now can we all get back on subject that Delta SM program sucks! :D:D:D