What is an iPad really good for?

I've seen the advertisements for these things, but I've never used one. I don't think I know anyone that has one either. It certainly is interesting how blurred the lines are becoming between these devices. I'm just glad I don't have to repurchase applications across devices. At the moment, I've been getting by with my first generation Kindle Fire for things like gaming, movies and surfing. The wireless isn't anything to write home about when it comes to streaming movies on a home network. It's fine for the other stuff, but where it really shines is in-flight. That silk acceleration feature works wonders on crowded hotspots. I actually had better WiFi without any of the lag and stutter I get other places. What makes this story great is that on the last two flights we took, I've sat next to iPad users and both times they've complained of WiFi problems. Probably from all the people streaming. Not sure what Amazon does, but it sure would be nice if I could toggle this one all the time from my side. I'm guessing this is like opera's turbo feature or something. Not really sure, as I haven't really used opera on any of my devices. A friend of mine recommended it, but chrome been working great on my phone and dolphin is my everyday browser on my tablet.

 

Hi Wendi,

I'm leaning towards a 13" MacBook Air laptop (the 11" seems too tiny!), but I haven't pulled the trigger yet ...and thanks for steering me to the MBA.

Cruise

 

Techwiz,

Thanks for your feedback, but I don't get your comment (quoted above)?

Cruise

 

Before you pull the trigger for an MBA check out the Vizio Thin and Light Touch laptops. The best laptops design wise you can get with Windoes.
If you want more power you could always get the notbooks which have a similar design.

When they launch em with the new Haswell cores the battery life will get even better.

 

I'll do that this weekend (at which time I need to pull that trigger).

 

All depends on what your requirements are.
My deciding criteria were combination of portability & work functionality.
I bought a Toshiba netbook and love it. Travelling weekly (it slips into a Fed-Ex envelope in my messenger bag. Easy retrieval when going thru TSA). Real keypad. When I get to my working destination in the Midwest, I plug in mouse & 19" monitor (that I bought for <$100) and get to work. Minimalist Intel Atom (despised by many) runs AutoCAD, browser, email, spreadsheet, plus a couple other app.s simultaneously without significant slowdowns.
Have this thing on more of the day than my multi-monitor desktop; so convenient.
Had I to do it all over again, I probably would have opted for the Lenovo 11.5", but I've no complaints with the netbook.

 

The new apple operating system has been causing some people to feel motion sickness and there has been some overall issues with glitches. This is to be expected after a major update. My comment implies that you can expect your iPad will eventually get the update and have similar issues. I don't see apple rolling out simple fixes for all of these problems. It's my understanding apple doesn't have centralized way to toggle the zoom feature causing the problem. The only reason I mention this is because you will be spending hours starring at this tablet for potentially productive activity. That could be hard to do if your getting motion sick in the process.

 

Thanks for the clarification but that's a non-issue for me as it's clear that the iPad (or other tablets) just won't do - for my needs.

 

+1 to that. I had apple ipad for 2 years and eventually got bored of it. I did ended up getting myself a new one but it way just gathering dust on my book shelf. The reason for me ditching my ipad was the need to comfortably use keyboard and not be constantly locked out of my operating system.
My gf on the other hand being Windows security illiterate (like most people) was more than glad to unload that ipad from me. She bought herself a keyboard and uses it for school to type up notes. Her computer needs are very basic and so it suits her very well.

 

It really boils down to when one would tend to use the device (and for what). On my last birthday, my husband gave me an iPad and (as I'm not an iPhone user) I was totally consumed with the novelty of iOS and its apps for a few months.

This past summer we went on a 2 week vacation (on holiday for Brit friends) and instead of taking my 14" notebook with me (as I usually do) I took the iPad. It turned out to be the perfect device for this purpose (entertainment, surfing the net, email and viewing our photos). But speaking of photos, no way is using the iPad's rear-facing camera a substitute for a decent digicam!

After returning home and taking on some work-related apps with my iPad, (spreadsheet crunching and word-processing) I found that it just doesn't 'cut it'. Using its on-display keyboard is a joke, and the BT keyboards built into some iPad cases aren't much better. So from my perspective, an iPad is terrific to take along on vacation (holiday) where the last thing you want to do is work, but that's about it!

Jo Ann

 

Jo Ann has stated my thoughts exactly on how useful the Ipad is when travelling.

On pleasure trips of less than two weeks, I've only been taking my Ipad with me for a couple of years now. For looking at traffic maps, weather forecasts, points of interest around your location, and simple email the device is hard to beat.

 

To bring closure to my thread, after 'playing with' an 11" and 13" MacBook Air for a few hours this past weekend I fell in love with the 13" and decided to buy it. Unlike my 15" HP Win7 laptop the 13" MBA is not only smaller it's very light and very fast (due in large part to its SSD)! I also found the MBA keyboard and touchpad infinitely better than that on my HP laptop. Now I just have to acclimate to OS X (after being a Windows user for many years)!!!

Cruise

 

I hope you don't grow to hate OS X as much as I do.

 

I certainly hope not roger, but you've peeked my curiosity as to what it is (specifically) about OS X that turns you off?

 

I found it to be very limiting compared to Windows, and in my opinion a lot more thought has been put into the design and usability of Windows. I know there are many that would disagree with me, but I stand by my comments.

 

So far I haven't noticed any such limitations, just some (habit-forming) operational differences that I need to learn, like using the command key, deleting forward, and using Finder.

 

Out of curiosity, did you want to switch to OSX? Did you consider getting an Ultrabook?

 

I did checkout a few ultrabooks but none of them had the MBA's 'quality feel'. I've been a Windows user for as long as I've used computers and just got my 15" HP Win7 notebook 15 months ago, but after a few business trips found it kind of large and heavy.

During those flights I noticed a lot of people using iPads so (as this thread started) I wanted to find out if it was the solution I was looking for, but as it turned out it just wouldn't do for my needs. When Wendi mentioned the MBA I checked it out and 'fell in love' with the computer itself (rather than OS X)!

 

I will actually get a Mac myself when this XP machine dies. As I have used OSX on and off and I really enjoy it, as much as XP. But I don't know wich model or even notebook or desktop yet so we'll see.

 

I prefer Android to iOS because it's more flexible, more apps.

Here's what I mostly use it for:
-- to read ebooks
-- to watch tv shows/movies while traveling or on the exercise bike at the gym. when i lift weights, i record the results in an excel sheet on my tablet.
-- to browse the internet and check/reply to emails when away from my laptop. very convenient when you are out of the house/office and need to check something from the internet (e.g. find an address, directions, ...)
-- i have a bunch of kids' apps and games on it too for kids.
-- games for me to kill time (e.g. when waiting at a doctor's appointment or something).
-- occasionally i use the map/gps for directions.
-- GPS navigation, audiobooks, music, car locator, quick weather check, internet radio, skype, news updates, alarm clock, flash light, camera, etc. work fine on it too, but i also have a smart phone, so i normally just use that for these functions, although showing photos to friends is nicer on the tablet because of the bigger screen.
-- I could use it for light work (editing documents, excel sheets, etc.) but i prefer to do that on my laptop. it's convenient for work emailing/skype conferencing though.

limitations:
-- tablets are obviously less powerful than laptops and have more limited professional apps than PC's so you should not expect to do things like serious video editing on it or run resource hungry mathematical simulations or virtual machines on it or anything like that.
-- because the screen is small and there's no mouse/keyboard it's not efficient for serious work/typing/editing/programming. now you can type and edit MS office documents fine, but it's just less convenient and the tablet office apps have fewer features.
-- you need to learn to type/swype with your thumbs. there have been many advances in touchscreen keyboards (on android at least) that can making thumb typing/swyping efficient. i personally like KeyMonk for two thumb swyping, and SwiftKey is supposed to be good if you like a predictive model for your typing (it's supposed to auto-guess/complete words as you type).

 

Who here has actually tried what I suggested? Here's an example in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nh2NSLgaII

 

it's a good suggestion for people who want to be truly productive with tablets, but most of us have laptops/desktops for that and prefer tablets for fun and convenience.

 

no offense to anyone on this topic, but i never understand why people choose to pay triple/quadruple/quintuple the price of specifications-wise much better alternatives for apple products. be it a cell phone, tablet pc, mp3/mp4 player or smart tv.
never did, never will.

 

Well a few of their products like the MacBook Air are fairly price competitive. If you don't like Ultrabooks though, that's a separate issue.

Also I would imagine that many people's preference for Apple are not always related to the specifications like style, popularity, being *mostly* virus-free (OSX vs Windows), the ease of use, etc.

And if I may ask, imdb, what was the point to your comment?

 

you may, for sure. because i wanted to know the motives behind the decision to go for apple products which cost (at least) triple the price of alternatives which (in almost all cases) do the job much better (imo, of course).
and you listed them as "like style, popularity, being *mostly* virus-free (OSX vs Windows), the ease of use, etc." which i doubt are valid.
for me, performance & efficiency come before style & popularity.
regards.