Is the iPad "worth it"?
 

I am looking at purchasing the $499 16 GB, non-3G one... is it "worth it", broadly speaking?


Thanks :)

Have you touched one? Hands on for a reasonable time in the store?

It is indeed a thing of wonder and beauty. A lovely shiny bauble. Great screen. Marvelous. I just didn't know what I would use it for.

However, my iPhone does most of what it does when I'm on the move. When I'm sitting down at home, I want a laptop that I can touch type on and that has no limitations on the browser - the reason there are so many apps is that they should be websites!

So, my vote is for no, it's not worth it, if you have a decent smartphone and another computer or two for proper browsing.

No it is not worth it.

Unless you think it is worth it.

Seriously - whether a $500 gadget is "worth it" depends entirely on what you plan to do with it. Buying it merely for games would be a waste of money, but if you plan to use it for email, web and other work related tasks, you could be able to justify it.

Personally, I was not impressed with mine (I got a 3G version). At that price point, I can get a very nice laptop and do 10x more. But if you like the form factor and don't mind the trade-offs, then go for it.

Of course. It's cool. It's a must have. All the important people have one! You can get apps!! Haven't you been following along?

I don't think it's worth it, but I do like this guy's take on the it:

http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2010/05/ive-...-the-ipad.html

Couldn't agree more.

I think that if you have to ask the question, it's not worth it to you. Apple prices its devices at a premium to their features - a premium the market supports solely because people want to buy pretty, sexy Apple devices and believe the marketing.

I'll probably buy an iPhone 4 after three years of holding out because I think the the whole iPhone experience (including the prodigious number of apps) finally justifies the price tag.

I don't need my PC, Laptop or Netbook anymore, since I got the iPad. For people who just consume, it's all you need. If you have to create content, then you would still need a real computer and keyboard. I like my over priced, well designed device from AAPL. (my shoulder does too)

Sorry Dave, But I am really tired of this misinformation that so many seem to enjoy dishing out. Apple's products are not just a collection of off the shelf hardware welded together. They sell for more because they get the consumer experience right. I could have purchased a netbook, my wife has one, what a POS. Slow, limited, no battery life, no touch screen and I have to wait for it to boot up. Much the same can be said for a $900 laptop, but it would be a bit quicker. The iPad is great at what it does and clearly millions of people agree.

As often as we hear about Apple fanboys we should hear just as much about Apple haters. Not saying you are one, but clearly you are missing the point of the iPad.

Which is clearly why I haven't bought one. :)

#marketingfail

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I love the iPad although it does have some shortcomings. It is incredibly convenient for email and surfing. What I like it for most however is reading, both books and PDFs of scientific papers. Also, I use it for marking up PDFs as well. My assistant puts them in dropbox, I make comments of how to deal with them and put them back. I've also written some short docs using the word processor and emailed them as word files to people. I'm still having a bit of trouble with presentations.

I don't have any problem with people buying iPads...if you want one, get one.

But I find your netbook complaints a bit odd:
Inaccurate
I don't see how you could have found a netbook with no battery life. My eeePC lasts at least 7 hours for simple tasks and almost 5 playing movies on a flight.

iPads are even worse
The iPad is going to be slower and more limited than any netbook. Less RAM, less storage, slower processor.

The Tradeoffs
In sleep mode a netbook should wake up within a second, in hibernate mode about 10 seconds. Indeed, a netbook has no touch screen but you do get a keyboard and mouse that the iPad doesn't have.

Ultimately, I don't think there's much point comparing a netbook to an iPad since they're not intended to be used for the same things. Sure, you can do similar things on both devices but the usage model is not intended to be the same. An iPad is for lounging around and consuming media. A netbook is a general computing device. You can browse the web on a Kindle too, but it would be silly to compare an eInk device to a netbook or a tablet!

I have been testing the 32gb iPad 3G extensively for a client. Having now flown quite a bit with it ... and now about to under take a number of trips with only the iPad for my client I can safely say that the iPad will surprise you.

I didn't think it was going to be a great tool. I have an iPhone 3G, Blackberry Curve, 13" MacBook Pro and EeePc 1005 HA netbook with around 8hrs battery life. I didn't know how the iPad would work into my kit.

Well I have completely shed the EeePC 1005 HA and just did a trip leaving the MacBook Pro at home (since it didn't require photo editing as most trips do) and its great. Really ... it is. For e-mail, Twitter, Blogging, word processing, creating client presentations (swapped PowerPoint for Keynote) its a fantastic tool.

What is very important to remember hower ... the iPad is not a computer so if you need the processing speed of your laptop, then stick with a laptop. But even editing image files on my iPad (and my next trip will be with the iPad to edit image files, dropping the laptop) .... you'll be surprised.

Happy Flying!

I keep seeing everyone claiming how great their device is because it has 5K, 10K, 20K or however many apps out there. In reality, 99% of them are crap. What is important is what functions a device can handle, not the fact that someone wrote a whoopie cushion app for Android or a cracked iphone screen gag.

The popular apps like Pandora, readers, weather, browsers, etc. will get written for all major platforms since the demand is there. I'm thinking there are probably 100 or fewer core apps that 98% of the population wants/needs/uses.

The real measure is what can Device A do that Device B can't.

Cnet columnist Brooke Crothers wrote a column on May 23 about how the iPad is "a solution in search of a problem." Many readers wrote in about how he missed the point. His compilation of some of those responses is here.

It's a fair statement that not everyone needs, or wants, an iPad. Not everyone needs, or wants, a road bike, a globe, a coffee grinder, or any number of other devices - yet there are those who find them somewhere from useful to essential. Those who post "it's useless because ..." should rephrase that as "I don't need it because ..." YMMV, MMMV and HMMV.