iPad, anyone going to buy?

[CeLL]

or teh kat haz n0 nalez

[Deadsolid]

I could never figure out why the apple employees were clapping

to make you feel better about wasting $500 on a piece of shit?

[MrTwilliger]

Personally, I love the basic concept that Tablet Computing (Are people using that term yet? They should be) can provide to me and how it can easily fulfill a lot of my needs. When I first heard about he iPad I was very skeptical, I thought it was an over sized iPhone and had no real purpose.

So I decided that today, after reading this thread, I'd do a bit of research about it. And to be honest with you, I really like the potential it has. Although I do have a few questions and queries about it.

For my mini review of the theoretical reasons why I might buy one (perhaps, if my issues are resolved) I will start with the positive then work my way to the negative.

What I like about it

Now to describe what I like about it, I really do need to state my needs. I don't play many games, I read books a lot, I catch trains a lot, I listen to a lot of music, read a lot of websites and I watch a lot of DVD's. I mostly use my iPod, laptop and my home TV to supplement my needs with the ossasional physical book in my bag. Now here comes a new contender to take all 4 devices and replace them with one simple, smaller device.

One thing I love about the iPad is how tailored it will be to entertainment. As far as I'm concerns it will allow me to not listen to my iPod for music (except when I'm running), it will eliminate the need for my TV (I watch TV with my mates on the TV in the living room as opposed to my bedroom) and all my internet browsing can be done on my couch without the need for my laptop. I don't know about anyone else but I truly despise laptop keyboards and mouse pads, so much so that I have a keyboard and mouse plugged into mine and have it set up like a desktop computer. I personally love the thought of lying on my couch, listening to music whilst on an IM program and browsing the net. Also if I could find a way to rip my DVD's into my laptop and transfer them onto an iPad and view them it would supplement all my entertainment needs in one foul swoop. Not to mention the great book reading App, it looks amazing!

What I dislike about the iPad

Sadly, there's a lot. First of all, no multitasking par a few native programs. This is very close to being a deal breaker for me. When I read that I can't run IM, a net browser, a mail browser and a media player in seperate, interchangable windows.. it broke my heart. My understanding is that one program must be closed to access another. I dislike this a lot and personally would hate closing an IM App or the internet browser just because I want to quickly check my mail App, play a game for 5 minutes or finish reading a chapter in a book while I'm downloading a large file. Can you even download files and save them to the iPad to view? Again I don't know this, but if that's the case then there's another problem I have with it. If everything would be windowed and resumed at demand this would be wonderful, but at it's current state I'm disapointed by it.

Secondly, no flash. Personally, I dislike flash. It requires a lot of CPU usage and on a laptop like mine this isn't too great. But until HTML5 or H.264 (that's correct, right?) is more widely spread than not being able to view many, many web pages on the iPad is a deal breaker, plan and simple. I know what they are trying to do and it may just drive web designers away from flash, but I don't want to spend $500 and put up with an incomplete web experience.

Thirdly, no USB/SD ports. Seriously? For me it would be great to have a device that I can simply plug my USB stick in after finishing Tafe and continue working on my assignments on the train ride home. Sure I have my laptop but I hate using it on the train. The keyboard is annoying, the mouse pad is a pain in the ass and it's too darn big to lug around. Not to mention the annoyance of carrying an external keyboard/mouse with me and the quite dismal 3 hour battery life. But to hear the iPad won't let me achieve this need? Sorry, I'd rather wait till the "iPad 2" comes out with inherent USB 3.0 built into it.

And a max size of 64Gig HDD? Seriously? I don't have a lot of music but even my music collection is 20 GIG and I only buy CD's. If I downloaded music like most people (I'm against the moral implications of it, a rant for another time) I'd fill it up on that alone. Not to take into account the fact that I would love to rip my entire DVD collection and store them on it (is it possible? Someone fill me in). It would need an absolute minimum size of 160GIG TBH, that way it matches both my iPod and my laptop. Even that is pretty small by now days standards, 250GIG or more would be excellent though.

And lastly, although this is more of a social concern, I'd be worried about it getting stolen. I'm a short/medium height, skinny white guy who looks about 3-4 years younger than I actually am. Honestly, im about as intimidating as a defenseless baby. Now if some punk thug saw me carrying an iPad around, I'd be targeted in seconds. The iPad is too big to fit into your pocket so I couldn't hide it like I do my iPod and my phone. But at the same time I'd hate to carry a bag around just to carry it in to help protect myself from being a blatant target. With that said I do have the same problem with a laptop and it's not Apples fault at all.

Will I get one at it's current state? No. At the moment it doesn't fulfill my needs. A few of the problems I have with it are simply deal breakers that make me unable to justify the $500 price tag. If they fixed those problems and gave me a future release of an "iPad2", I'd buy it within seconds.

[dom]

Was planning to buy one. I bought a macbook pro instead, don't regret.

(I bought a 1TB hd too )

[bryanvan]

Was planning to buy one. I bought a macbook pro instead, don't regret.

(I bought a 1TB hd too )

OMG, I want a MacBook Pro also. How much did you pay + the 1TB?

[dom]

Was planning to buy one. I bought a macbook pro instead, don't regret.

(I bought a 1TB hd too )

OMG, I want a MacBook Pro also. How much did you pay + the 1TB?

1414.00CAD with taxes for the 13 inch.

184.99CAD for the 1TB HD
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.as ... 6822136545

I also bought this thing for $10 so I can use timemachine to clone my 250GB HD to the 1TB HD:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.as ... -_-Product

I still have my setup on my living room with my PC, but I added this next to my bed:



I realize having the wireless keyboard infront of the laptop keyboard is kind of stupid. But I bought it for when I want to be able to code and do barrel rolls on my bed at the same time.

I'm also looking into buying this for it... I use my mac a lot for watching movies and I think it would be nice to have a bigger screen: http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_ ... vldfa5kgc0

[asusi]

^ for fappin ?

[omier]

iPad, anyone going to win?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gE6OgcnC ... kLGDMyWcZQ

[bot_antist]

Was planning to buy one. I bought a macbook pro instead, don't regret.

(I bought a 1TB hd too )

OMG, I want a MacBook Pro also. How much did you pay + the 1TB?

1414.00CAD with taxes for the 13 inch.

184.99CAD for the 1TB HD
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.as ... 6822136545

I also bought this thing for $10 so I can use timemachine to clone my 250GB HD to the 1TB HD:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.as ... -_-Product

I still have my setup on my living room with my PC, but I added this next to my bed:



I realize having the wireless keyboard infront of the laptop keyboard is kind of stupid. But I bought it for when I want to be able to code and do barrel rolls on my bed at the same time.

I'm also looking into buying this for it... I use my mac a lot for watching movies and I think it would be nice to have a bigger screen: http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_ ... vldfa5kgc0

what else can you do on your bed

[bryanvan]

Was planning to buy one. I bought a macbook pro instead, don't regret.

(I bought a 1TB hd too )

OMG, I want a MacBook Pro also. How much did you pay + the 1TB?

1414.00CAD with taxes for the 13 inch.

184.99CAD for the 1TB HD
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.as ... 6822136545

I also bought this thing for $10 so I can use timemachine to clone my 250GB HD to the 1TB HD:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.as ... -_-Product

I still have my setup on my living room with my PC, but I added this next to my bed:



I realize having the wireless keyboard infront of the laptop keyboard is kind of stupid. But I bought it for when I want to be able to code and do barrel rolls on my bed at the same time.

I'm also looking into buying this for it... I use my mac a lot for watching movies and I think it would be nice to have a bigger screen: http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_ ... vldfa5kgc0

Wauw, that looks sweet, what is that thing next to your macbook? Looks intresting. Also that screen is freakishly cheap, would cost about twice as much here...

[CeLL]

OMG, I want a MacBook Pro also. How much did you pay + the 1TB?

1414.00CAD with taxes for the 13 inch.

184.99CAD for the 1TB HD
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.as ... 6822136545

I also bought this thing for $10 so I can use timemachine to clone my 250GB HD to the 1TB HD:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.as ... -_-Product

I still have my setup on my living room with my PC, but I added this next to my bed:



I realize having the wireless keyboard infront of the laptop keyboard is kind of stupid. But I bought it for when I want to be able to code and do barrel rolls on my bed at the same time.

I'm also looking into buying this for it... I use my mac a lot for watching movies and I think it would be nice to have a bigger screen: http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_ ... vldfa5kgc0

Wauw, that looks sweet, what is that thing next to your macbook? Looks intresting. Also that screen is freakishly cheap, would cost about twice as much here...

looks like a clock.
i saw a 23 or 24 inch on tiger direct for 160 usd at one point. you can find cheaper shop around.

[dom]

1414.00CAD with taxes for the 13 inch.

184.99CAD for the 1TB HD
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.as ... 6822136545

I also bought this thing for $10 so I can use timemachine to clone my 250GB HD to the 1TB HD:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.as ... -_-Product

I still have my setup on my living room with my PC, but I added this next to my bed:



I realize having the wireless keyboard infront of the laptop keyboard is kind of stupid. But I bought it for when I want to be able to code and do barrel rolls on my bed at the same time.

I'm also looking into buying this for it... I use my mac a lot for watching movies and I think it would be nice to have a bigger screen: http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_ ... vldfa5kgc0

Wauw, that looks sweet, what is that thing next to your macbook? Looks intresting. Also that screen is freakishly cheap, would cost about twice as much here...

looks like a clock.
i saw a 23 or 24 inch on tiger direct for 160 usd at one point. you can find cheaper shop around.

I could buy one form online retailers for $20-30 cheaper right now, but the shipping costs on a monitor are usually higher. Canada computers is 3.3 km away (2 miles) and I could pick it up right away without delays.

The black thing is my alarm clock. It's supposed to look like a big iphone because it's an iphone dock.

[bryanvan]

1414.00CAD with taxes for the 13 inch.

184.99CAD for the 1TB HD
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.as ... 6822136545

I also bought this thing for $10 so I can use timemachine to clone my 250GB HD to the 1TB HD:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.as ... -_-Product

I still have my setup on my living room with my PC, but I added this next to my bed:



I realize having the wireless keyboard infront of the laptop keyboard is kind of stupid. But I bought it for when I want to be able to code and do barrel rolls on my bed at the same time.

I'm also looking into buying this for it... I use my mac a lot for watching movies and I think it would be nice to have a bigger screen: http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_ ... vldfa5kgc0

Wauw, that looks sweet, what is that thing next to your macbook? Looks intresting. Also that screen is freakishly cheap, would cost about twice as much here...

looks like a clock.
i saw a 23 or 24 inch on tiger direct for 160 usd at one point. you can find cheaper shop around.

I could buy one form online retailers for $20-30 cheaper right now, but the shipping costs on a monitor are usually higher. Canada computers is 3.3 km away (2 miles) and I could pick it up right away without delays.

The black thing is my alarm clock. It's supposed to look like a big iphone because it's an iphone dock.[/quote]

Ow cool awesome, got a better picture for me ? On google or w/e? Looks intresting might buy it for my iPhone.

And seriously, I bought a 20 inch Samsung screen long time ago for my pc. And it was 200 euro. Which is abour 340$...
I wish I could buy a 24" Full HD screen for 200 euro xD

[dom]

1080p 24 (I think it's 24.6?) widescreen. Cost more than the one I linked... I saw this one and fell in love. Water bottle below the screen for size comparison.

I put the other laptop I had on the keyboard slide under my bed XD

[omier]

Lol at first i looked that the alarm clock was an Acer computer.

[dom]

Lol at first i looked that the alarm clock was an Acer computer.

No, but the sound on it is amazing. I tried the following sound setups for my macbookpro:

Using the macbook's speakers
Using the monitor's built in sound
Using my alarm clock

The alarm clock, by far, has the best sound. I never use it for this and I am really impressed.


For whoever asked, clock:



http://www.consumer.philips.com/c/audio ... 05/prd/gb/

Christmas present from my cousin

[Mirosuke]

Damn dom, even you looks like living in an apartment (you room looks so plain) you must be rich lol or a least have a good taste ;p

[dom]

Damn dom, even you looks like living in an apartment (you room looks so plain) you must be rich lol or a least have a good taste ;p

Yes an apartment, but it's really small. I am far from rich, I have a lot of debt and work long hours.

Since everyone is on my balls right now, I decided to take pics of my pc and console setup.

My PC setup actually has my xbox hooked up (as seen on screen). I use this because I mainly do online gaming with my xbox and I need a chair + wired connection for NHL10.

My console setup has all my old consoles. If you look on the shelves on the right side, i've filled them up pretty well with N64/SNES games (we had a thread about that earlier).

It also has my Wii (shit) and PS3. I use my PS3 for offline gaming and media. I think i'm going to move it into my bedroom on my new monitor. I rarely use my TV anymore. I just use it for background noise when i'm on PC/XBOX.

Spoiler!

(cookies for anyone who noticed my pc screen, plasma tv, and new mac screen are all samsungs)

[Mirosuke]

Well if you are not rich, then you looks like having a really good paying work. o.0
Uuh, Samsung. I love them lately because their product are looking-good. <33
It's just so fancy.

[Deadsolid]

I cant wait til i get home/next year at college. I cant stand this tiny desk I'm currently sitting at.

[Skyve]

Well if you are not rich, then you looks like having a really good paying work. o.0
Uuh, Samsung. I love them lately because their product are looking-good. <33
It's just so fancy.

Not really,people will spend more on "x" thing because its their hobby or they like it. Just like if you're really into car , you'll buy a really nice car but may have a small apartment

- A Lesson of Life with ExSoldier

[CrimsonNuker]

[dom]

Yes. Congratulations.

It's a patchouli scented candle (my favorite belonging actually).