What ipad can do that macbook can't?

After re-reading your original question, now I see what you were getting at. Sorry about that.

For me personally, it would be a no brainer. I would opt for the MacBook Air. I'm a Mac only guy and have always been a Mac only guy. My limited experience with PC's was when my daughter attended Cyberschool and the laptop that they issued their students were Dell computers. She used this laptop for two years and while it served its purpose, I was never wild about the Windows OS. To be fair about it, I had never used a PC before and haven't used one since, so my experience is very limited with Windows.

For me, the big drawback with all of the newest Mac computers is the lack of an optical drive. I know that the computing world is going to the cloud, but not every person that uses a computer has constant Internet access and even those that do may not have the fastest download speed around and that makes having to rely on downloading software for your computer a real pain. On top of that, if you have a collection of movies or videos on DVD, that excludes the MBA - unless you want to buy an external optical drive to lug around with it - and that sort of defeats the purpose of having the light, portable computer in the first place.

In closing, like I said earlier, only you can decide what will work best for you, but once again, based on what you are saying... and as much as it pains me to say it, I would go with the far less costly PC. Based on what you want to use the laptop for, the $800.00 difference is probably hard to justify for a MBA.

I agree, the biggest pro for the iPad is portability. It goes anywhere. While the macbook won't, at least not as easily.

But, just like Ralph said, the iPad lacks function. It was created to be a portable portal to iTunes and the content there. A 'consuming data' device. It was never meant to be a 'creating data' device, so anything going that way is kinda operating outside of the original scope.

If I'm busy or traveling, I can exist on my iPad for days, just checking mail and the internet. But I don't chat on it, nor can I really create anything. If I need to use photoshop, I'll break out the laptop because teh iPad just doesn't have the oomph or easy file sharing that I need.

What you can do will depend on what your budget dictates, but people tend to be happier with the iPad if they remain aware of just what it can and can't do. It's a great device, just not a full fledge computer replacement.

The MacBook Pro can do much more than the iPad can do, except be as light and portable. Even the MB Air is heavier than an iPad. But the iPad is very easy to use on airplanes, subways, trains, etc. Places where light and small help.

The MBP and MBA, however, can have software installed that goes far beyond that in the app store for the iPad.

If you have a MacBook Air and iPhone you have the broad range covered...the question then is do you want that middle spot where reading of books, magazines, text files is much easier than on the small iPhone screen? I have all three and use each where it is strongest...the iPad is terrific for reading books and email and work on the internet when traveling.

My humble opinion....The iPad cannot hold a candle to any Mac computer. They are two different animals, if you will.

The iPad is amazing and I use mine every day at work - even more than I use my iMac. I'm using my iPad right now. But the iPad doesn't run InDesign, PhotoShop, Illustrator....the necessary software that we need every day in order to do what we need to do. It doesn't have the computing power, the flexibility or the storage capacity that you can get even with a MacBook Air. Transferring files to other computers into quite as seamless as we need to be either.

If you are asking what your best bet would be - only you can answer that. The iPad is great because of its portability and it will work for about 85% of what I need to do in a day at work. But it's that other 15% that I need it do that it just can't do, so I could never be - nor would I ever be without a Mac computer of some type.

I tend to agree with Demo,

Even though the Mac Book Air is fantastic, for what you want to do, it seems like the MBA is just too expensive.

Many, many less expensive laptops around will fill your needs just as well.

Though if money is not an issue, then by all means go for the MBA.

You mentioned you only do simple stuff on a PC ( Office and videos).

Apple's iWork suite of apps is a good Office replacement and there is a version that works on the iPad.

Contrary to some Mac users' opinions, an iPad IS a creation device as well as a consumption device.

iBooks for iPad can import PDF documents and books, There are 100 's of thousands of apps that can make an iPad a very productive device. If you get a large enough storage size iPad, if your creation needs are simple, you can use the iPad as a laptop replacement. If you are watching videos on a PC, you can watch videos on an iPad, as well. If you want to use the iPad as a laptop replacement, it certainly can be done.

Look at the 32 or 64 GBs storage model iPads. Maybe, also, look at the cellular versions, too! These have both WiFi and cellular data service capabilities.

Here's a good article on the subject of IPad as laptop and/or PC replacement.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/236995/apple_ipad_day_30_the_verdict_can_an_ipad_ replace_a_pc.html

You can easily hold the ipad/ipod with one hand.