Why I'm getting an iPad
The iPad is exactly what I've been waiting for. Many people I've talked to are pretty disappointed with Apple's latest announcement, but I'm thrilled. Sure, it wasn't as revolutionary as people thought and won't replace my MacBook Pro but it does fill a void that I've been wanting to fill for a while now.
Netbooks are garbage. I bought one for $300 a couple of months back and have been completely underwhelmed by it ever since I opened it up. It's slow, sucks at multitasking, runs Flash incredibly poorly, and dies after about 4 hours of usage. It's not the ideal solution for someone wanting to casually surf the web, watch videos, or send an email while relaxing on the couch. Apple realized this and came up with a solution.
To fully appreciate the iPad you need to put it into perspective and see it for what it is and what Apple wants to do with it, not what you hoped it would be. What you hoped for doesn't exist and won't exist for some time. There's not going to be a tablet computer with good battery life, capable multitasking, good (not even great) Flash compatibility, and reliable performance any time soon.
Apple's iPad is a bridge between an iPhone and a MacBook Pro. It's not really a bigger iPhone and it's not really a low quality laptop. This is something different. Whether or not Apple likes it, the iPad is going to shine for people looking for a coffee table computer. It'll be great to leave there and use in those "Oh crap, I wanted to look thisorthat up!" or "Let me send my mother an email and see how she's doing" during a TV commercial. I'm also really looking forward to taking it to places where an iPhone just doesn't cut it but a laptop is overkill. Think coffee shops. Taking the iPad with you to Coffee Bean to read the paper or (hopefully) your favorite magazine or just to browse the web with a cup of joe is going to kick ass.
Just this weekend I was at the Grand Californian hotel in my parent's room with my wife. We were hanging out and having some drinks, talking about cars and other things. A couple of times we started passing iPhones around to look at pictures online or play a game. It would've been awesome to just have us all on the couch around an iPad instead of having to pass a tiny screen around between us. In fact, in the 10 hours or so that we spent together there were a few times where I thought about how nice it would've been to have an iPad around.
Knocking back some drinks at the Hearthstone Lounge, I started talking about new cars with my mom's fiance. We were discussing different models and my desire to purchase a new car in the next year. It would've been pretty neat to be able to look at these cars and get pricing information, payment estimations, etc... on an iPad while we were talking about them. Sure, it wasn't necessary but would definitely have added to the conversation and made it more interactive between us.
While not as revolutionary as I and others hoped, I am extremely impressed with the iPad. It's a well designed internet appliance that may not fit into my everyday life, but will absolutely make certain situations more enjoyable and make the news and magazines that I love to read more accessible. It won't replace my Kindle as an eBook reader, my iPhone as a phone, or my MacBook Pro as a computer, but it will make it easy and more enjoyable to absorb content from the internet and share multimedia with my family and friends. This is why I'm buying an iPad.
Netbooks are garbage. I bought one for $300 a couple of months back and have been completely underwhelmed by it ever since I opened it up. It's slow, sucks at multitasking, runs Flash incredibly poorly, and dies after about 4 hours of usage. It's not the ideal solution for someone wanting to casually surf the web, watch videos, or send an email while relaxing on the couch. Apple realized this and came up with a solution.
To fully appreciate the iPad you need to put it into perspective and see it for what it is and what Apple wants to do with it, not what you hoped it would be. What you hoped for doesn't exist and won't exist for some time. There's not going to be a tablet computer with good battery life, capable multitasking, good (not even great) Flash compatibility, and reliable performance any time soon.
Apple's iPad is a bridge between an iPhone and a MacBook Pro. It's not really a bigger iPhone and it's not really a low quality laptop. This is something different. Whether or not Apple likes it, the iPad is going to shine for people looking for a coffee table computer. It'll be great to leave there and use in those "Oh crap, I wanted to look thisorthat up!" or "Let me send my mother an email and see how she's doing" during a TV commercial. I'm also really looking forward to taking it to places where an iPhone just doesn't cut it but a laptop is overkill. Think coffee shops. Taking the iPad with you to Coffee Bean to read the paper or (hopefully) your favorite magazine or just to browse the web with a cup of joe is going to kick ass.
Just this weekend I was at the Grand Californian hotel in my parent's room with my wife. We were hanging out and having some drinks, talking about cars and other things. A couple of times we started passing iPhones around to look at pictures online or play a game. It would've been awesome to just have us all on the couch around an iPad instead of having to pass a tiny screen around between us. In fact, in the 10 hours or so that we spent together there were a few times where I thought about how nice it would've been to have an iPad around.
Knocking back some drinks at the Hearthstone Lounge, I started talking about new cars with my mom's fiance. We were discussing different models and my desire to purchase a new car in the next year. It would've been pretty neat to be able to look at these cars and get pricing information, payment estimations, etc... on an iPad while we were talking about them. Sure, it wasn't necessary but would definitely have added to the conversation and made it more interactive between us.
While not as revolutionary as I and others hoped, I am extremely impressed with the iPad. It's a well designed internet appliance that may not fit into my everyday life, but will absolutely make certain situations more enjoyable and make the news and magazines that I love to read more accessible. It won't replace my Kindle as an eBook reader, my iPhone as a phone, or my MacBook Pro as a computer, but it will make it easy and more enjoyable to absorb content from the internet and share multimedia with my family and friends. This is why I'm buying an iPad.
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