Initial iPad Thoughts
Like most geeks, I read about today's iPad announcement with some interest. I mean I do like the odd Apple product after all.
My initial gut reaction: underwhelmed.
But then again, I think I'm probably not Apple's target market. Don't get me wrong, it looks lovely and if someone wanted to buy me one, I'd say thanks with a big grin on my face. It just doesn't do anything I can't already do with the devices I already have. And I think that's why I was left with a meh feeling.
I have an iPhone and I love it. It's become like a second computer to me. An ultra portable device with which I can make calls, surf the web, read email, tweet, watch video, read books, take photos, and play games. And it fits in my pocket. In short, it's convenient.
The iPad, to me, is basically just a much bigger version of that. Except it won't fit in my pocket. Which isn't all that convenient. I'd have to tote it around in a bag. And I already do that because I have a laptop. A portable device with a bigger screen, more horsepower, and more storage than an iPad.
Now, if I was in the market for a netbook, if I didn't have a laptop or a smartphone, I would probably be extremely excited by today's big announcement. But I'm not in that market at the moment.
However, ask me if I'm kicking myself for buying my girlfriend a netbook for Christmas. Go on ask me.
Thin, portable, light, large screen. Didn't Apple already have a device to do that? I believe it was called the MacBook Air.
I too am underwhelmed Kevin. I do see many, many uses for the iPad (how could you not when virtually all the apps in the App Store run on it?), but I don't have any gaps in my gadget world that the iPad addresses.
Don't get my wrong, I think it's a gorgeous product and I'm reasonably impressed with the spec's. I just think it could have been so much more.
Maybe v2 will rock my world...
jake... ah yes, the MacBook Air. I forgot about that. I wonder if they'll kill it now that they want you to buy an iPad?
jonathan... agreed, I see its uses and like I said, it does look lovely. Just not for me. And now that I think about the specs vs the price, I'm kind of glad I did buy that netbook for my girlfriend ;-) But it will be interesting to see what improvements they make over time. I'll certainly be watching.
I have a netbook I use on occasion (it's an HP 2133) - mostly kept near the TV and couch downstairs, but it's very slow and power wise, it's no speed demon - even for something simple like MS Word and writing a few paragraphs, which is what I use it mostly for.
I've recently toyed with selling my current netbook and buying a faster one, specifically a model that is Atom N270 or better (the HP Mini 210 looks nice for $329)
There's a lot with the iPad that seems to be pretty cool for me. The iWork compatibility looks great and for writing, it would be a dream (I just switched from using MS Office 2008 to iWork 09).
Reading books, newspapers and magazines looks like it would be very nice on the big screen. It could work very well for me. And I do have an iPhone already, but it's not my main phone. And while I love my MacBook Pro, there's times when it's busy upstairs rendering video or some other intensive task (the wife says no to getting an iMac... for now), so having something I can do some writing, full size web pages and other functions, with a lot more speed than my netbook, it really could work well.
Agreed Kev, I’m underwhelmed too; looking forward to seeing where they go with it in the future, but for the time being it doesn’t do anything interesting for me. Shame.
Are you kicking yourself? I know I am, we just bought netbooks for each kid - the iPad would've been a great option - though definately more expensive. I would like one, but I'm holding out for the next generation - I'm sure it won't be a long time coming!
My thoughts exactly. I just can't see really needing this... it's a big iPod. So?
And man that name has got to go...
marty... fullscreen web is nice but there's no Flash so there won't be the same web experience we're used to. hulu, for example, won't work so no easily streamable TV.
alex... yep, I'll be keeping an eye on developers, users, and Apple themselves to see if I really am missing something here. Maybe a future hardware bump with greater storage would make it interesting.
beth... I dunno, after thinking about it, I'm happy buying the netbook. It has a bigger screen, faster processor, more storage, handles Flash, can install any software.
nat... yeah, I think tablet would have been better. Wait, no that wouldn't have been any better. Oh bugger, glad I didn't have to name it.
The ipad seems to be fantastic and will do pretty much every little thing which i would like. Nevertheless, I seriously wished they would have decided to add a video camera in the i-pad. For the selling price I do think they should have found the way to include one.
vince... I would imagine a video camera will be in the 2.0 version of the iPad. Yeah when you add up what they didn't include, it's really kinda pricey for what it is. You're gonna want 3G, realistically, so the base price is really $629.