ipad

[dublinred]

Laptop is near the end of its life and was thinking of replacing it with an ipad , any thoughts on this?

I wouldn't be a major techie just basic internet and you tube required , they look pretty good , I can't get an iphone at work so thought it might be a good way of seeing these apps people keep raving about.

[outspoken]

I would love an Ipad and might talk to someone about getting me one but trust me mate youl love the app's I have an ipod touch and most of the apps on that can be got on the Ipad.......I have everything from news to sport covered and of course facebook , twitter and youtube so I would defo. recommend you get one.

[dahamsta]

Overpriced tat for fashion victims. IMHO.

[A N Mouse]

Wait and you'll be able to get better and cheaper.

[Lev Yashin]

I have an Iphone and ya the apps are great and gaming is surprisingly good but i dont think id even consider and ipad...why not just buy an iphone...the pad is just chunkier version that cant make calls...it has no USB connectivity so you cant plug in stuff, webcams and so on.

Stick to a half decent laptop (which are pretty cheap now) and buy an iphone...sorted! :cool:

[dahamsta]

If apps is the goal, you don't get the crap walled garden with an android handset, and there's plenty of android tablets in the works. You won't pay over the odds for a pretentious logo either.

[Jofspring]

My brother got one. Great thing to play around with for a while and it will be handy going on holidays and travelling for watching movies and i was impressed with the sound quality listening to music off it.

All in all it can be guaranteed apple will release one in a year or two with loads of added features and release statements that they have "reveloutionised and brought new features to the ipad" and "they have listened to the people and given them what they want". Basically they'll add things that should have been in the ipad originally.

The one thing that has been bugging me about it is how Apple are comparing it to a netbook and saying it will do away with them. Surely an ipad is pretty useless unless you have some sort of computer to hook it up to to add music, movies etc... so surely there will always be the need for a netbook/laptop/computer no matter how advanced the ipad gets. If you don't have a computer of some sorts is the ipad pretty much useless to you or if you are using an ipad to replace a computer is it useless to you? Seems it to me.

[dublinred]

Thanks sounds like its an accessory rather than a laptop /pc replacement , didn't like some other reviews I seen also so will probably just get another laptop and wait for a while .

[Ash]

Pity it didnt have a phone in it too cos then there would be some mad Trigger Happy TV moments :)

[don ramo]

i was reading somehwere about this saying its great for mutitasking on the go, i was reading paticulary about indepentant film directors, saying instead of carrying notebooks and a stack of paper work, now the ipad has converted the 10 of 15kg chuck into a nice little thick sheet of paper,

plus with all the apps and wifi thay have faster connection to scenes that were just filmed, and you can get a connection so that you could hook it into a camera, just like a laptop,

i assume it just connects by wire into your pc for chargeing and can then be synced to you pc and you can transfer stuff on and off it,

i wouldnt buy the first generation though, maybe the 3rd if not 4th, plus find a friend working in apple if you have any, get that discount,

[dahamsta]

Guff argument imho, "netbooks" have been around for yonks, including tablet netbooks. I have a full-format, full-spec Lenovo X300 lappie myself that isn't all that much bigger or heavier, and will do a hell of a lot more. A convertible tablet of the same spec was available too, and Dell had an even smaller and lighter version at the time, I just didn't want to buy it because it was very new.

I'm not saying the tablet isn't a great format, or that Apple's one doesn't have it's upsides, I just don't understand what all the fuss is about, and why people would pay such a ridiculous premium for the brand. I wouldn't mind if that brand was absolutely fab and reliable, but all Apple have given their users is disrespect and distrust. The iPhone 4 and their handling of the dropped calls issue should be a hint to the fashion victims that it's time to move on.

[Dodge]

Why is having a cool little gadget any sadder than having a hugely high spec machine that you won't even use a tenth of its capabilities (not aimed at you either dahamsta)

I know people who spent well over a grand on a top end laptop and do nothing but browse the internet. These people will get far more use out of a ipad. Yeah, they could get a netbook, but the ipad looks a helluva lot better. And looks matter, as a designer you know this more than most.

Do any of the mobile phone companies offer 3G data only plans? If they did I could see a big plus to the ipad too.

[dahamsta]

My using my laptop was simply an example, since I don't have a comparable product; unless you count my phone, which does everything bar have a bigger screen. As does the iPhone. :rolleyes:

It's not about high spec, it's about comparable spec. Apple products are quite simply overpriced for their capabilities, and again, it's not because of superb quality or customer service. Their latest phone doesn't work properly as a phone, and when they're brought up on it they try to bullsh*t their customers. This is hardly the first time they've dissed their customers. Why buy from a vendor that has zero respect for you?

Personally, I don't get the design thing. I don't like them at all, they remind me of a visit to French Connection, which is never a high point for me. IMHO they're about fashion, not design. Big difference.

[don ramo]

i think with apple realeasing a fairly polished product, it will force the others companies to get off there arses and do something, i read that HP, DELL and one of two ther computer companies had tablet devices set for release at the start of 2011, now they have all scrapped there ideas and gone back to the drawing board, just because they were so underspeced compared to what apple have released,

it may be overpriced but it does exactly what it says, that problem with iphone is a bit of an issue, but i recall a cartain fella by the name of bill gates promising us cutomers that he brand new windows 2000 OS will never crash, i recall being told when i bought my first pc all those years ago that it would take a life time to fill the 8GB onboard hard drive, yet i wasnt compensated or told how to fix these issues never mind being reimbursed for what it cost to do so, things evolve, i would deffinately be interested in a device like the ipad above a netbook or laptop, its a proper compact computer for on the go, but i would give it another generation of two and a 40 if not 50% reduction in the cost,

[Lev Yashin]

I have a 3gs and I had one problem with it in the year or so I have it and i have to say dealing with their customer services was a pleasure...polite and swift in getting in sorted.

[Ash]

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/apple

[Pauro 76]

iPad really doesn't appeal to me. Sure you can sync your iPad to your laptop and iPod etc. but with no USB, DVD drive, connection only by wi-fi, getting a seperate contract, I'm steering well clear.

[strangeirish]

iPad really doesn't appeal to me. Sure you can sync your iPad to your laptop and iPod etc. but with no USB, DVD drive, connection only by wi-fi, getting a seperate contract, I'm steering well clear.
Don't blame you. Basically it's a tampon with no strings attached.

[Aberdonian Stu]

The iPad is actually rather good for the tablet market as a whole. The presence of Apple alerts non-traditional tablet buyers to the market and has also seen more third party developers of applications look to enter the fray (many of whom are making apps that work on a broad variety of tablets, not just iPads). This should lead to a greater level of market growth than merely the sales accrued by Apple. In short, the iPad mightn't be the best tablet but it's the best thing to happen to the tablet market in a long time.

[dahamsta]

True, and the same can be said for the iPhone on the apps front. It may have taken them 3 iterations to get to copy and paste, but my handset is definitely better because of their idea there. I wonder when they'll get that the walled garden isn't going to work in the long run though? It didn't work for Docomo, it ain't working for Murdoch, and it will fail for Apple at some point in the not-to-distant future. They need to cop themselves on while they still have a slight advantage over Android. It's a very tenuous lead at this stage...

(Speaking of Docomo, it could be argued that they came up with the idea first, although they went even further with the walled garden and that was their downfall. Humanity just goes around in circles, we're a pathetic species.)

[OneRedArmy]

I've had the iPad since UK launch back in May and I use it almost exclusively when I'm couch surfing and travelling, at the expense of my laptop which gets much less use.

Pros
Great screen. REALLY great screen* (see cons below). Fantastic for movies & browsing.
Already lots of great apps, including Amazon Kindle app, which is way better than ibook.
Pressreader, which has a raft of global newspapers delivered every morning in searchable PDF (including the Irish Times).
Great native email client, much better than expected.
On screen typing surprisingly easy and fast. Again, much better than any other touchscreen I've tried.
Starts instantaneously, closes down similarly. For use when travelling this is a significant benefit over a laptop.

Cons
Price. Seriously overpriced whatever way you look at it.
As good as the screen is in indoor conditions, its absolutely useless in daylight without an anti-glare screenfilm.
Its heavier than you would imagine, which makes reading in bed tiresome after a while.
No over-the-air-syncing. USB in this day and age, seriously?
Lack of flash support. More websites than you imagine still use it.

I'd agree with Adam that unless Apple change their approach to doing business, their 15mins of fame could hit a wall soon. They are behaving more and more like Microsoft as the months go by. Its very hard/impossible to grow double digit and remain a youthful, entreprenurial company at heart. Antennagate really didn't reflect well on them IMO.

[dahamsta]

Already lots of great apps, including Amazon Kindle app, which is way better than ibook.

Gah, sure I've Kindle on me dinky little Desire. Surprisingly usable too, although I haven't read a whole book yet. Seriously tempted by the new Kindles, but the ridiculous price of ebooks will continue to put me off. In some cases they're charging twice the price for something that uses less resources and has a distribution cost a fraction of that of a real book. I don't think so, Tim.


They are behaving more and more like Microsoft as the months go by. They are, but Microsoft are still at it. The difference is need and want. MS keeps chugging along because of the lockin, which is fading, but not quickly enough. Apple thinks they have a lockin with the App store, but they really don't with Android and to a certain extent Symbian hammering away at them. Need MS, want Apple. No-one needs Apple. No-one.

I can't argue with "unless [they] change their approach" they'll screw it up, but I don't think that's a factor with Jobs involved. He's just too pig-headed. Gates is a kitten compared to him on the pork-lobal front. He's his own, and Apple's, worst enemy.

He's a complete pr*ck too, by all accounts.

[Jofspring]

In fairness I've never heard anyone complain about apples customer service (not that i'd be talking to loads of people about it in fairness). The iphone 4 problems where blown way out of proportion. My brother has one and even when the bars drop when holding it in the "death grip" it still receives texts and phone calls so i see no problem with it. My Nokia N97 does the same thing when held a certain way. Many others have reported very little if any affect.

Personally i got my first Macbook last year and have never had a problem with it. Not one (Touch wood). Numerous amounts of people i know though have had windows 7 for a very short period of time and are already having loads of problems with it so it seems Microsoft really are going no where at the moment.

I'm not big into the tech side of things and i didn't even know who Jobs was when i bought a mac for the first time. I went purely on the advice of friends when deciding to get one. So he could be the biggest ass hole in the world and i wouldn't care. The product i bought from apple is doing exactly what i want it to and thats whats important to me. No computer company in the world is perfect (and that includes apple), neither is any tech device to be honest. Every bit of technology has its flaws. Most people will buy what suits them which is fair enough if it does what they want it to.