What the f*ck is the big deal with the iPad?

[Vice]

Why is the iPad so popular? I see it as a useless toy. Sure, it's got cool games and sh*t. But games are a waste of f*cking time. The only thing that I can think of is business, and even then, it's pretty terrible for updating word/excel files and pdfs.

But it would be a great coffee table toy for when I'm wealthy, but I see very little practical applications for it.

The sheep continue to follow the trend. Pathetic.

 

[Rogue]

Different people have different needs and expectations.

There is a market for 'lightweights'. These are mostly people who either don't have a computer or whose digital needs are minimal. I personally have an iMac and iPhone, so an iPad has no meaning to me unless it could run a full desktop version of Photoshop (which will never happen), but there are people who are not tech savvy who just want to surf the web and check their email. There's nothing inherently wrong with that.

 

[Julius_Seizeher]

The iPad and the platform of "book reading tablets" are useless innovation.

As if my eyes aren't burnt out enough from staring at MIS all day at work, then I'm going to read a book on a electronic screen too? Stupid!

 

[Warrior74]

It is a toy. And he who has the latest, greatest toy wins. I went to an after party for a ballet and there were about 3-4 ipads being passed around, people showing funny videos, performances, cool websites, etc. That is what ipads are for. I showed two potential clients my work and hooked up with them on FB. Winning. It's the facebook of computers yah?

 

[Alle_Gory]

It doesn't have flash....

 

[Brownrice]

The iPad is the start of the future for mobile computing. This type of device will eventually replace the laptop soon. It's a great business toy. Great to pull up stocks on, read newspapers, browse the web, watch videos etc.

 

[BigJimbo]

After 12 hours in the air with my iPad2 I am basically thinking of asking it to marry me. I watched "Maid in Sweden", read a week worth of "Corriere dello Sport", read two issues "Tatler" (Russia), read "World Soccer", watched 5 episodes of "The Partridge Family", and worked on a moodboard.

F--- Android devices! BTW, remember when Keith Partridge had an issue with hot chicks chasing after him? Or how about when Danny got messed up with the Mob and Al (from Alice) was a thug in the episode!!!!! That is basically the s--t you watch when going through a thunderstorm over the Atlantic.

All I can suggest is Zinio!!!! God Bless that app.

 

[user43770]

After 12 hours in the air with my iPad2 I am basically thinking of asking it to marry me. I watched "Maid in Sweden", read a week worth of "Corriere dello Sport", read two issues "Tatler" (Russia), read "World Soccer", watched 5 episodes of "The Partridge Family", and worked on a moodboard.

F--- Android devices! BTW, remember when Keith Partridge had an issue with hot chicks chasing after him? Or how about when Danny got messed up with the Mob and Al (from Alice) was a thug in the episode!!!!! That is basically the s--t you watch when going through a thunderstorm over the Atlantic.

All I can suggest is Zinio!!!! God Bless that app.

See, you're still an American at heart. Were you too effeminate for American women? Do they appreciate the "finer things" where you're at now? That's nice. Good for you, bud.

 

[KarmaSutra]

After 12 hours in the air with my iPad2 I am basically thinking of asking it to marry me. I watched "Maid in Sweden", read a week worth of "Corriere dello Sport", read two issues "Tatler" (Russia), read "World Soccer", watched 5 episodes of "The Partridge Family", and worked on a moodboard.

F--- Android devices! BTW, remember when Keith Partridge had an issue with hot chicks chasing after him? Or how about when Danny got messed up with the Mob and Al (from Alice) was a thug in the episode!!!!! That is basically the s--t you watch when going through a thunderstorm over the Atlantic.

All I can suggest is Zinio!!!! God Bless that app.

I just watched Val Kilmer's Doc Holliday spin his cup mockingly in the face of Ringo.

I watched it on my Droid and didn't have everyone around me thinking I was a pretentious prick.

 

[squirrels]

The iPad is the start of the future for mobile computing. This type of device will eventually replace the laptop soon. It's a great business toy. Great to pull up stocks on, read newspapers, browse the web, watch videos etc.

No, it will not replace the laptop.

I own a tablet...typing on it is a pain in my ass. I've taken to using the "all-thumbs" approach because I can never seem to keep my fingers in the right place on that touch-screen...it provides no feedback. I can type pretty damned fast on a REAL keyboard. Touch-screen devices look high-tech on Star Trek, but there's a reason they haven't caught on, and it's not because the world never had Steve Jobs.

It's nice for web-browsing, but it makes it impossible to do things like "hover over" links and cutting/pasting text is also troublesome.

I have basically relegated it to duty as a $600 alarm-clock.

The only place where it MAY surpass a laptop is portability/travel. If you want Internet functionality and cheesy games while you're abroad or sitting in an airport/on a plane, it simply can't be beat.

It will NEVER "replace the laptop". The laptop has "replaced" the desktop for all but gamers and other graphically intense workloads...IT is the baseline for PC technology. The iPad/tablet is a light implementation that sacrifices functionality for portability.

Only one in twenty people who own tablets are better served with it than they would be with a $600 laptop or a smartphone. The other 19 just think it's a neat toy.

The price-point is probably the biggest deal-breaker. Look at the flier for Best Buy next time it comes out...look at what kind of a diesel laptop you can get for the price of an iPad or Xoom Wifi. Why the HELL would you spend $600 on a device that does less and has a less intuitive/featured interface unless you either 1) want the portability or 2) want the cool-factor?

 

[Brownrice]

No, it will not replace the laptop.

I own a tablet...typing on it is a pain in my ass. I've taken to using the "all-thumbs" approach because I can never seem to keep my fingers in the right place on that touch-screen...it provides no feedback. I can type pretty damned fast on a REAL keyboard. Touch-screen devices look high-tech on Star Trek, but there's a reason they haven't caught on, and it's not because the world never had Steve Jobs.

It's nice for web-browsing, but it makes it impossible to do things like "hover over" links and cutting/pasting text is also troublesome.

I have basically relegated it to duty as a $600 alarm-clock.

The only place where it MAY surpass a laptop is portability/travel. If you want Internet functionality and cheesy games while you're abroad or sitting in an airport/on a plane, it simply can't be beat.

It will NEVER "replace the laptop". The laptop has "replaced" the desktop for all but gamers and other graphically intense workloads...IT is the baseline for PC technology. The iPad/tablet is a light implementation that sacrifices functionality for portability.

Only one in twenty people who own tablets are better served with it than they would be with a $600 laptop or a smartphone. The other 19 just think it's a neat toy.

The price-point is probably the biggest deal-breaker. Look at the flier for Best Buy next time it comes out...look at what kind of a diesel laptop you can get for the price of an iPad or Xoom Wifi. Why the HELL would you spend $600 on a device that does less and has a less intuitive/featured interface unless you either 1) want the portability or 2) want the cool-factor?

The iPad along with other similar devices will eventually replace the laptop. They will keep getting better and better every couple of years. The Ipad right now is the best viewer of documents and media out there. It's not at the state where you can work solely from it so it can't replace the laptop yet but that will change.

People not catching on to the ipad? Lol, it sells like hotcake.

 

[Warrior74]

you might not be able to type on it. but the kids will be. Paper is on the way out for good. Give it 100 years. Everything will be digital (and trackable).

 

[ArcBound]

The iPad along with other similar devices will eventually replace the laptop. They will keep getting better and better every couple of years. The Ipad right now is the best viewer of documents and media out there. It's not at the state where you can work solely from it so it can't replace the laptop yet but that will change.

People not catching on to the ipad? Lol, it sells like hotcake.

Eventually is the key word. For example, the iPad 1 had 256MB Ram, the iPad 2 has 512MB Ram. source: http://www.razorianfly.com/2011/03/03/how-much-ram-does-ipad-2-really-have-report/

To put it into comparison cellphones of today's age have as much ram as that.
Now take into account the cost of the iPad2 is $499 for the cheapest and worst version. source: http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_ipad/family/ipad

Here is a laptop for $349 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115979

So in sum you can buy a laptop for $150 less than the cheapest ipad 2 configuration (thats not even on sale) that has a faster processor. SIX times the RAM 3gb:512MB. SIXTEEN times the hard drive space 250gb to 16gb, and much more. Not to mention that the ipad 2 comes preloaded with ios4 meaning you will be able to install even less programs than a standard Mac. At this point its like what squirrels said, if you buy an ipad you're only buying it cause you want the portability factor or the cool factor.

On a sidenote my cellphone has more RAM than the ipad2.

 

[Brownrice]

Yes eventually is the keyword. That's why I said it's the future in my first post. In about 10 years, mobile devices like the iPad will be cheaper and 10x faster, much thinner and lighter than they are today. You will be able to use it in the same manner as a laptop if you want with light accessories that transform it into a laptop.
I might be wrong but I think the laptop as we know today, in its pure form, will be obsolete by then.

 

[element0]

Yes eventually is the keyword. That's why I said it's the future in my first post. In about 10 years, mobile devices like the iPad will be cheaper and 10x faster, much thinner and lighter than they are today. You will be able to use it in the same manner as a laptop if you want with light accessories that transform it into a laptop.
I might be wrong but I think the laptop as we know today, in its pure form, will be obsolete by then.

So you will have a iPad that is fast/efficient/useful, that sounds like a Laptop to me.

Remind me again, what does an iPad do that a laptop (or more specifically netbook) can't?

 

[Alle_Gory]

It's a preview of the tech that's coming. Ideally laptops and tablets would merge and become something like this:

http://www.asus.com/Eee/Eee_Pad/Eee_Pad_Transformer_TF101/

Laptop when you want it, tablet when you don't.

 

[Vice]

The iPad along with other similar devices will eventually replace the laptop. They will keep getting better and better every couple of years. The Ipad right now is the best viewer of documents and media out there. It's not at the state where you can work solely from it so it can't replace the laptop yet but that will change.

People not catching on to the ipad? Lol, it sells like hotcake.

The best viewer of documents and media out there is not an iPad, but really, really big widescreen computer monitors.

The only reason why it sells like "hotcake" is because of its hype, and Apple's genius marketing. Apple is "in" right now.

Yes eventually is the keyword. That's why I said it's the future in my first post. In about 10 years, mobile devices like the iPad will be cheaper and 10x faster, much thinner and lighter than they are today. You will be able to use it in the same manner as a laptop if you want with light accessories that transform it into a laptop.
I might be wrong but I think the laptop as we know today, in its pure form, will be obsolete by then.

All I see here is idle speculation.

The reality is that although technology will get thinner and lighter, there are limits to how small things can before they are not ergonomic. Keyboards will stay relatively the same over time, simply because if they're any smaller, they'll be useless. Ever try typing on a damn smartphone? I assume you're a man (which usually equals big hands, which usually equals large fingers), it can be frustrating to accurately hit the right characters that you want. The buisiness community has no f*cking time for that sh*t.

Laptops will be around for quite a long time. They'll be thinner than ever before, especially with things like the Raspberry Pi already being developed.

Tablet PCs are a fad for adults. They've been around for YEARS, and Apple has used its idiotic followers to push out a new product and now everyone's on the tablet boat. A few years from now they'll go back to what they were before: expensive toys and specialty computers for niche jobs such as underwater archaeology.

 

[element0]

It's a preview of the tech that's coming. Ideally laptops and tablets would merge and become something like this:

http://www.asus.com/Eee/Eee_Pad/Eee_Pad_Transformer_TF101/

Laptop when you want it, tablet when you don't.

Yea, that looks much more reasonable as the future, than just the tablet.

 

[Brownrice]

So you will have a iPad that is fast/efficient/useful, that sounds like a Laptop to me.

Remind me again, what does an iPad do that a laptop (or more specifically netbook) can't?

It's not about what one does that the other doesn't. It's about innovation and portability. Technology is always evolving. that's the beauty of it.

You don't have to believe me. I'm confident in my predictions nonetheless.

The best viewer of documents and media out there is not an iPad, but really, really big widescreen computer monitors.

The only reason why it sells like "hotcake" is because of its hype, and Apple's genius marketing. Apple is "in" right now.



All I see here is idle speculation.

The reality is that although technology will get thinner and lighter, there are limits to how small things can before they are not ergonomic. Keyboards will stay relatively the same over time, simply because if they're any smaller, they'll be useless. Ever try typing on a damn smartphone? I assume you're a man (which usually equals big hands, which usually equals large fingers), it can be frustrating to accurately hit the right characters that you want. The buisiness community has no f*cking time for that sh*t.

Laptops will be around for quite a long time. They'll be thinner than ever before, especially with things like the Raspberry Pi already being developed.

Tablet PCs are a fad for adults. They've been around for YEARS, and Apple has used its idiotic followers to push out a new product and now everyone's on the tablet boat. A few years from now they'll go back to what they were before: expensive toys and specialty computers for niche jobs such as underwater archaeology.

We are talking about portability here, if a large wide screen is portable to you then more power to you. The tablet has been around for a while but it never had the functionality of an IOS or Android OS. Tablets with Windows were nothing great.

Just because you don't like the IPad, doesn't mean it's a toy. Don't be quick to call a large group of people idiots. Apple is doing something right. They created the first home PC. They are the most innovative company of the last 20 years when it comes to consumer products. They have a good following because they deliver.

 

[Alle_Gory]

Laptops will be around for quite a long time. They'll be thinner than ever before, especially with things like the Raspberry Pi already being developed.

The Raspberry Pi is just an ARM circuit board with Linux installed. It's nothing revolutionary. We already have ARM based smartphones and netbooks.

The real innovation will come next year with nVidia and Microsoft (Windows 8 ARM edition) betting big on ARM for the desktop. If that takes off then we will see smaller and thinner computers like nothing ever before.

For everyone else: ARM is an alternative to current microprocessors based on the old x86 and the x86-64 (64bit) architecture found in most computers. It's extremely power efficient and cool to the touch which is why it's used in tablets and phones.