iPad me

And those won't be built by slave laborers?

As for the Ipad...there's no bigger (converted) Mac fanboi than me, but I have no use for those things...due to a number of the reasons listed above, but namely one that hasn't come up yet: Holding them to read is very awkward.

At the moment, I'm sitting in a chair with a laptop on my lap and the screen jutting up about 90 degrees...very visible, very easy to use. As opposed to an Ipad either laying flat on my lap or on some sort of aftermarket stand.

Me? I'm counting my pennies to buy what I consider to be a far better alternative. An Apple Air...

http://www.apple.com/macbookair/

 

Yeah - the Mac air seems pretty sweet and a better alternative than the IPAD

 

My fingers can't handle a touch screen keyboard. I need the actual keys, not virtual ones. My Blackberry Torch has a slide out keyboard; I use that - not the touch screen keyboard - to text and answer e-mails.
While an I-Pad sounds like a sweet ride, for me it would not be an all-in-one ride.

 

It is not a replacement for a laptop. It wasn't built as a replacement for a laptop.

But when I'm keeping stats for a baseball game I'm covering, or jotting down notes at a lecture or watching a baseball game on MLB.TV or viewing pictures sent to me from relatives, there's no other device I'd rather own.

It is a very specific device that has been coined a miracle device. So people act shocked when it doesn't do everything perfectly.

 

Admitted Apple fanboi here, I've got a 13-inch MacPro and an iPhone and would love an iPad but just can't justify why I need an iPad other than it would be "really cool to have." But, I'm also a notorius cheapskate, so there's no way I'm going to pay for two seperate 3G plans, especially since my iPhone plan is grandfathered in with unlimited data.

I just don't see a time I'd find a iPad better solution than the iPhone/laptop combo. Still, if I had the extra cash I'd still buy one, sadly, Mrs. Gibbons won't allow it

 

Regarding the 3G plan for iPad, if I'm reading it correctly, it's just month to month. If you realize you are on wifi all the time, just cancel 3G

 

It's not even month to month. You get a certain amount of 3G data depending on the 3G data plan you buy. I think there are two options. We generally run through a plan in two weeks, but we don't have WiFi at our home, so we are always using it. You just buy a new package whenever you run out. I don't think most people would tear through their data plans like we do, though.

 

I pay for the 3G month to month, must vary with your carrier.

If you travel at all, it pays for itself when you don't have to pay for hotel or airport internet access.

 

Ah, good point on the carrier. Only AT&T works in our somewhat remote area.

 

I personally love mine. It took me a while to understand it, once I understood I went and got one.
I don't need a laptop, but I don't need the computing power, the storage capacity or the extra weight. That's just not the way in which I was using my laptop.
My iPad gives me better Web connectivity than my Blackberry, and I have a keyboard for those times when I'm doing a lot of writing.
I have remote access to my computer at work and at home.
I have the no-glare coating on my screen, which almost eliminates any glare problems.
It's been great for me.

 

So does that mean if it takes me, say, 3 months to use my X GB (I forget), I don't have to pay again till then?

 

Well, apparently when I activated it, I bought the 250 MB for $15/mo, which went very quickly. I've used about 80 percent of it already and the vast majority of my use over the first 3 days I've owned it is at home, on wifi. I'm thinking the times I did have it out in 3G-land it was still getting pushed data more than necessary. I fixed that by turning that off. (No need to have the light on when the fridge is closed.)

Rather than signing up right now for the $25/mo 2GB plan, I'm going to try this:

Back when I first decided I wanted an iPad, I figured I'd get the wifi version because I would always have my iPhone for times when I had no wifi. So now I'm going to test that out. I turned off the data service.

When I'm out somewhere, it won't connect without asking me, so I can think: "Do I really need to pay this just to see the web/email/etc on a big screen instead of my iPhone?"

I'm planning on answering no most of the time, but at least I have the flexibility to go either way from here.

I still think most places where I'd want to use it for an extended time (home, airports, press box, airplanes) have wifi.