2nd Thoughts

If you've played around with it you already have a lot of necessary information. I have an MBP attached to a 23" display and that's my desktop (unless I'm travelling), but there are lots of times when I want to sit in the living room and not the home office and surf or answer e-mail. I do that now on my iphone; I look forward to the larger screen of the ipad. I'm also going to use mine heavily as a PDA - calendar and contacts. I use my iphone constantly for that now, and it would be great to have the larger screen. Planes are good too; I never take out my 15" on a plane. It's too expensive and too fragile to use casually in public places.

So I have a clearly defined double use for my devices, and the ipad will augment the laptop nicely. If you're hesitating, why not wait? You can always get it later on.

This is like asking people who are already in the pool if they are interested in going swimming. Most of us have bought it and love it. Is that love because we bought it? Maybe some of the time. You mentioned a number of useful situations for you personally. Balance those situations against the cost, and make your decision from there.

I have found the device to be very useful for keeping up with email, social networks, new feeds, and casual web surfing. I am even editing a blog from the iPad, that is focused on the iPad, just to see what it is like. I am a technology junkie anyway, so this is just my latest fix!

Your Daughter has one and now you will have one. Much easier to help her use her IPad if you have one also. Besides, it's not meant to replace your laptop. You can and should use your laptop when necessary but now you don't have to use it when it's really not necessary. Your IPad is just another tool to help you get things done, including making good use of idle time. Just being able to pick it up and read part of a book you might otherwise not do is simply remarkable. You'll find that over time you will be using your IPad for things you didn't image it would be handy for when you bought it.

Then again, sell it on Ebay and you're out nothing but have some valuable experience.

I think a iPad is a want item and not a need item. It certainly cannot replace a notebook or a desktop.
I think it would make a great coffee table photo presenter or as some say a quick informational gathering tool when you don't want to fire up a computer. But in reality all these things can be done without it. But it has drawn a lot of attention and if you have the money then why not?
For me I can live without one and financially $500 plus can go so many other places I need it to go.
I may actually consider one used or refurbished when it comes out. The reduced costs may persuade me to go for it!

D/FW wrote:
After tinkering with hers for a while today (in a non-WiFi area) Im beginning to have 2nd thoughts about even purchasing one. THEN AGAIN HER'S ISN'T 3G EITHER.

I don't think you can really judge by tinkering for a while without the internet. It is a brand new device and people haven't figured out what to do with it yet. Most apps do require internet connectivity, but that will change. Unlike the iPhone, the iPad is big enough to do things on its own. In time, it will become much more functional without the internet.

Also, once you have one and start using it, you will really see just how handy it is. Yes, you can do all that with a notebook and wireless card, but it just isn't the same.

I have found that for all the ways the iPad is NOT a laptop is exactly what makes it perfect. All the times and places when the laptop is not as portable or convenient to get out and boot up - that is when you will grab the iPad. I find myself using the iPad more and more for all kind of things. It is just so fast and handy for all kinds of tasks. I had second thoughts too, but am so glad I talked myself into getting one.

Tinker without internet is really not a fair test, because the fact is the iPad is an internet driven device rather it be via Wifi or 3G.

Your best bet is to take it for a spin not for a few minutes, but a couple of hours with internet.

I don't have one yet as I ordered the 3G version, but I have a few buddies that have a Wifi version and I've played with it enough to know that I will find it very useful. There are many times while sitting on a couch or in my easy chair, or even laying in bed that I may want to do some reading, review some videos, respond or send some emails, make contact with my buddies on Twitter or Facebook. I could go on and on and on. This is a perfect device for that.

My buddies are actually using it to do some blogging, along with editing and/or creating documents via the Apple software that you can buy. He exports perfectly to MS office users to be able to view and even edit.

I think over time we'll see more and more great apps available, which will just continue to expand its capability. However, it will never be a desktop or notebook resplacement in my opinion. But then it wasn't designed to be.

Yes notebooks can do everything an iPad can do, but that doesn't mean that the user experience with the iPad won't be great too and worth the investment. Many are opting to wait till version 2 or 3 and that is fine too. I'll hand my version 1 down to someone else and get one of those too, just like I've done with my iPhone.

John Scott1 wrote:
I think a iPad is a want item and not a need item. It certainly cannot replace a notebook or a desktop.
I think it would make a great coffee table photo presenter or as some say a quick informational gathering tool when you don't want to fire up a computer. But in reality all these things can be done without it. But it has drawn a lot of attention and if you have the money then why not?

Obviously, you haven't used one. In fact, it's more than that. For example, I have motorcycle repair manuals and video guides for my bike on my iPad. You might say that you could easily use a MBP to that. And I did. However, when I'm trying to remove a part, hands filled with grease, I had to clean up to fire up my MBP. With my iPad, and its oleophobic screen, I don't have to clean my hands. Just touch and go.

But it's more than that. I eBayed my Kindle. I eBayed my MacBook (you know, the white plastic version), because I don't need it as my "fact check" computer for dumb comments I see on the news shows. And, I could replace my MBP completely with iWork and a bluetooth keyboard, except my MBP does a few things better like huge computations of 10 year pro-formas. I need a bit of horsepower for that. Designing and updating my website requires my MBP connected to another monitor. But I'll have to tell you, for my moment to moment needs, the iPad has taken away 50% of my quality time with my MBP.

I'm beginning to realize that I really just need an iMac on my desktop with two monitors, my iPhone and my iPad to cover 99.9% of my computer needs. I could travel with my iPad, save for one small issue that a lot of hotels don't have WiFi, you still need to plug into a LAN connection. That will change.