iPad or not?

An Ipad can do most everything a netbook/laptop can do, and vice versa. The one major drawback is the the Ipad's inability to display Flash content like on YouTube. What makes the Ipad so different is the "touch" interface. If you really want a touch tablet type device, do yourself a favor and checkout the Android based competitors especially Samsung models. Android is open-source so there will be less restrictions to which apps you can install.

Nothing except that it is generally easier to use, much lighter in weight, longer battery life, can use many of the apps that are available for smart phones. IMO, access to the app market is the great advantage. And the touch screen technology is far superior to mouses and touch pads. The draw back is the lack of keyboard but with a little practice you can learn to use this on screen keyboard just as well as the small keyboards on netbooks. My personal opinion is that the tablets - ipad and others - will replace the netbooks. It is the next evolution. As a long time Mac user I get terribly frustrated when I try to use my wife's school issued PC. I think they are terrible.

I am on my iPad, traveling, right now. It does play YouTube videos--we watched several funny ones yesterday. It will not show websites that use Flash Player, they just come up black. I was a dedicated PC user, and frustrated with my husband's Mac, until he bought me this iPad. Now I love them---especially the speed. But I cannot compare it to a Netbook as I have never used one of those.

I have had an ipad for over a year and love it. I can watch a movie, read a book, play a game, surf the web, and make notes. It is easy to use and is different than a mac's OSX.
If you are looking for a tablet it is the only way to go. Yes it doesn't play flash but I have not had any real problems surfing because of it. Flash is an outdated technology that has been replaced on most sites by html5 and it runs just fine on the ipad. I would be way overestimating if I said I have had 5% of sites I have visited not work because of the lack of flash on an ipad. I wasn't a huge iPad fan when they first came out. I thought it was just a big iphone/ipod touch. My Mom bought one for my Dad so I got some time to use it and really liked it and bought one for myself. My mom also did not think it was worth the money and is not a big computer user, but according to me Dad he would like to buy a second one so he can get a chance to use it.;) I owned a dell notebook and it was awful. I could not even get a video to play on it, which was the reason I bought it. The irony was that it had HDMI out. I would check out an iPad for yourself and see if you like it. They are not for everyone, but if you are going to buy a tablet it is the way to go.

The device actually comes with a youtube app which works very slickly so, obviously, youtube works. There is an irony here that helps explain why the iPad has exploded in popularity (and why Apple is very good at what it does); People unfamiliar with iPads assume that only techno-geeks or people with too much money on their hands or people irrationally devoted to Steve Jobs are interested in them. When in fact, the opposite is true. The biggest fans of iPads are people who DONT want to spend a minute thinking about the specs of a device - they just want to pick it up and have it work, instantly, and without instructions. People are increasingly using iPads as a replacement for their laptop, thereby SAVING money (at least if they were Mac users to begin with). And the fastest growing segment of iPad users are people who have never purchased an Apple product before. Having said all that, The iPad isn't the same thing as a desktop computer or a fully-functioning laptop, particularly when it comes to work-like duties. But for information and entertainment (for 90% of the people, 90% of the time), it's actually better in many ways - certainly in portability, which is the most important factor in "infotainment".

One drawback to an iPad is that it does not have a "real" operating / file system. I recently took a two-week trip to Switzerland and I used the iPad constantly, as I had uploaded all the train schedules we would need, and other stuff, in PDF form. However, I first uploaded them to the iBooks app, then bought a different PDF app that was better. I had to reload all the PDFs so that the new app could use them. Also, I did get terribly frustrated trying to delete some photos off my mom's iPad as hers filled upshe had thousands of other pictures on it and we were adding the ones from our trip every day. I still haven't completely figured out how to manage that!

I've traveled with a netbook in the past, but I'll be taking an iPad on my next trip. The only reason is the weight. My netbook got crunched, and I had to replace it, and no netbook + cord and charger now comes close to the weight of the iPad + cord and charger, even when you add the camera connection kit. Or when you add a wireless keyboard, which I may do. To date I agree with all the reviews - the iPad is great for consuming content, it is not good for creating content, which means maintaining my blog will more laborious on the iPad. It's also a good thing I'm going to Europe, as a number of the hotels in Asia on my last trip had Ethernet connections and no wifi.

Chani, In deciding whether or not to buy an iPad on your "shopping spree", I'd suggest taking a close look at your anticipated uses. A few thoughts to consider: > iPads are great for things like watching movies or reading books, but the screen is not as functional in bright sunlight as other platforms (ie: Kindle) > If you're primarily a "touch typist" and will be doing a lot of typing, you'll have to decide how well you'll be able to function with a virtual keypad. You could buy an accessory keyboard, but that means hauling around another device. > If you plan on doing a lot of photo storage with large file sizes, an iPad may not be the best choice. The maximum memory is 64 GB, which will work fine for the average person using JPEGs but not as practical for those working with large RAW files. The iPad's do some things really well, but they're not for everybody. Although I tend to use Mac computers almost exclusively at home, I use a Netbook (Windows 7) when travelling. I chose that method as it has the "right blend" of features for my specific needs (a "normal" keyboard for typing and a 250 GB hard drive for photos). Cheers!