iPad

[FUEGO]

I'm waiting for Apple's first food venture. The iPadThai.

 

[Bestwifeever]

I'm waiting for the iPadMaxi.

 

[FUEGO]

I admit to wildly underestimating the demand for the iPad. I really thought that it was going to be a niche product.

Oy vey. There is a reason that I am IndependentlyPoor and not IndependentlyWealthy.

Rumor has it that 91% of all sales so far have been to ebay arbitragers hoping to capitalize on shortages. No one is actually buying the thing to use it.



(where's that "This is sarcasm" tag line? )

 

[Meadbh]

I'm waiting for the iPadMaxi.

 

[audreyh1]

Rumor has it that 91% of all sales so far have been to ebay arbitragers hoping to capitalize on shortages. No one is actually buying the thing to use it.



(where's that "This is sarcasm" tag line? )

There is a good reason that Apple limited orders to 2 per address.

Audrey

 

[treypar]

I have an Ipod Touch so I have no immediate reason to get an IPAD. I was considering getting a Kindle2 but the recent increases in the ebook prices turned me off to that. I guess that I will just stay with the library. It works for free.

 

[FUEGO]

There is a good reason that Apple limited orders to 2 per address.

Yeahbut... I have a dozen addresses: 101 Main Street, Apartment A; 101 Main Street, Apartment B, 101 Main Street Apartment C, etc. I'm going to strike it rich!! Yippee! Then maybe I can actually afford to buy and keep an ipad.

FYI, looks like all the reviews are picking up on the same positives and negatives we discussed earlier in this thread. I reckon we are pretty smart!

 

[audreyh1]

Yeahbut... I have a dozen addresses: 101 Main Street, Apartment A; 101 Main Street, Apartment B, 101 Main Street Apartment C, etc. I'm going to strike it rich!! Yippee! Then maybe I can actually afford to buy and keep an ipad.

FYI, looks like all the reviews are picking up on the same positives and negatives we discussed earlier in this thread. I reckon we are pretty smart!

I bet you don't have that many billing addresses! I suspect they are based on that.

Audrey

 

[Dawg52]

I saw a review of the ipad this morning on tv. Looked pretty neat, but I will not be buying one. I'm not one that has to have the latest gadget. Heck, I just upgraded to my first flip phone and that was only because I lost my old old cell phone. My laptop is still good, I have digital cable so I imagine I'm more up to date tech wise than most frugal types.

 

[easysurfer]

No ipad for me. Too many electronic devices and the subcriptions would really add up. Plus, I'm still kicking myself for not buying apple stock when it was $13 a share

 

[audreyh1]

DH loaded up on Apple stock back in the early 2000s when it was around $13 a share, so maybe that's why we feel we can afford an iPad - LOL!

I've been needing an iPad since I bought my iPod Touch. An iPad is what I really wanted. We never bought an iPhone, because I didn't care about the voice and we weren't interested in paying that much for voice + data. I only wanted the data. So when Apple announced the no subscription, data only service available from AT&T for the iPad I just about flipped out with joy. That is a huge deal, and way more reasonably priced than current cellphone data plans.

Now maybe some of the other cellphone companies will feel they need to offer a no subscription model? Probably no hope - but one is better than none.

Audrey

 

[DallasGuy]

I'm may eat my words in the future but this seems like a way-overpriced toy. Not enough memory to do much with. Don't get me wrong...there's nothing wrong with buying a toy...buying toys is fun! I'd actually consider buying one if they ever dropped below $300 in price and had over 100GB of memory (I have alot of music). It will be years and take lots of competition from other manufacturers with their IPAD clones before the prices drops that low though. I just bought an 11.6 inch netbook with 2gb ram, 250gb memory, windows 7 for around $307 on sale....and in my opinion it is alot more useful. Having said that I'm guessing that netbooks and IPADS really won't compete very much in the same product market.

The one thing that bothers me with the IPAD is that you really get nickeled and dimed to death by adding useful attachments and apps to it. I guess that's why Apple is doing so well. They are marketing geniuses.

Consumer Reports Electronics Blog: How my $499 iPad purchase became a $1,170 credit card bill

I will admit though, these are pretty cool!

 

[audreyh1]

Hmm - I guess I never was one to buy a bunch of apps. I know they are wildly popular. DH bought I think 3 games for my iPod Touch - one was $2, one was $1, and one was free!

There are no apps I need to buy for my iPad to use it the multiple ways I intend - all those apps come with the device. There are a couple of small accessories I'll get, but not enough to add much to the bill. I already know I want the top model - so I'm not fooling myself that way.

So, I don't feel "nickeled and dimed" to death. I expect to pay for content that I keep on my local devices and use long term. And I have bought plenty of music for my iPod and I much prefer that pricing model than having to buy CDs.

In 2 years - I expect there will definitely be a 100GB iPad. Whether it will be under $300? Probably not. But it will likely be significantly cheaper than the initial top end iPad. Apple does drop prices over time - sometimes very aggressively.

Audrey

 

[happy2bretired]

I really would like to buy one before next January, in time for my next winter vacation. I'm hoping things will die down a little and any bugs worked out first...more apps developed, etc.

I'm a little confused about the memory sizes since I'm not that techie. Can anyone give me examples of how fast the memory would be used when just surfing the net? There is a big price difference with the size of the memory and I don't know how to figure what I would need.

 

[IndependentlyPoor]

My only problem with the iPad is its size. I can't put it in my pocket like I can my iPhone. If I buy one, it will be mostly for eBooks and probably never leave the house.

 

[explanade]

For just surfing the net, no you wouldn't need that much. You can get by fine with the cheapest model.

If you load music and video, then it will use a lot of memory.

What a lot of people are doing with iPhone though is using apps. For instance, instead of going to the NY Times site on the web browser (which works perfectly fine), you can download the NY Times app. which is better formatted for the iPhone than their web site.

There are apps. for other media companies and for just about everything.

So apps. don't use as much memory (storage) as video files but they can pile up. People can have dozens and dozens of apps.

One of the most popular apps. for the iPad are programs with a large collection of recipes. There is one called Epicurious from Conde Nast. So with the bigger screen, there's going to be more content-rich apps. and that will require using more memory.

You can probably get the lowest priced model and use it for a year or two and see how it fits. Then you can sell on eBay or Craigslist, get some money back, and buy a newer model which will probably have more memory and other features.

For travel, especially overseas, the model with the 3G radio is appealing. Hotels can often charge a lot for Internet access and the connection speeds can be poor. Or some hotels don't have Internet at all.

 

[Meadbh]

I travel a lot and usually bring my laptop as I need to stay in touch. My laptop has everything I need but it is 7 years old and I have been thinking that my next computer investment would be something that's easier to carry. I may be a candidate for an iPad. It's expected to launch in Canada on April 24th. We'll see whether it meets my needs when I get a chance to kick the tires!

 

[audreyh1]

I really would like to buy one before next January, in time for my next winter vacation. I'm hoping things will die down a little and any bugs worked out first...more apps developed, etc.

I'm a little confused about the memory sizes since I'm not that techie. Can anyone give me examples of how fast the memory would be used when just surfing the net? There is a big price difference with the size of the memory and I don't know how to figure what I would need.

You don't need that much memory for surfing the web. My laptop has 4G of ram - so obviously that is more than enough!

The memory is for storing music, ebooks and videos. If you are mainly using it for surfing the web, then get the minimum memory, and you will still have quite a bit left for storing music and ebooks. Video is more demanding memory wise.

Audrey

 

[explanade]

I lug my laptop on my trips too and always look for a place with Internet access.

It would be great if I could just replace the laptop with iPad, so much lighter (and apparently faster while getting much better battery life).

But I like to load photos to my library, which is pretty big now, during the trips, not wait until I return. So I can't see it replacing the laptop.

If I only wanted to surf and view other content like movies, then it would be fine for that. With the 3G model, it would also make getting Internet access a lot easier, especially overseas.

 

[audreyh1]

For just surfing the net, no you wouldn't need that much. You can get by fine with the cheapest model.

If you load music and video, then it will use a lot of memory.

I disagree about what you need for music. I have a ton of music on my 4G nano. It's full, and I have to swap out sometimes. But that's another thing - you don't have t keep every stored on your iPad or iPod, you can swap out as needed.

My 32G iPod Touch has almost all my music plus a few photos and one small video a few photos and all my calendar and contact/addresses and only has less than 9G used and 6G of that is audio. So I still have over 23G available on my iPod Touch! So that should give you an idea. 16G is probably plenty even if you do want to store a bunch of music and photos.

Video - yes, can really eat up space. Music - not so much. Photos - some but not as much as video. And since text document files tend to be very small, I'm thinking ebooks should not be much bigger than music files, but I guess we'll find out!

Audrey

 

[audreyh1]

One of the most popular apps. for the iPad are programs with a large collection of recipes. There is one called Epicurious from Conde Nast. So with the bigger screen, there's going to be more content-rich apps. and that will require using more memory.

Yep - this is a going to be a HUGE one for me. The Epicurious web site is very good and I use it a lot and I will probably get that app (one of the very few ).

I am really tired of lugging my laptop to the kitchen! After 10 years, the internet made cookbooks (almost) obsolete for me. But having the laptop in the kitchen is a somewhat cumbersome, so I'm very much looking forward to using the iPad for this.

Also - I'll take the iPad with me to the grocery store as it will have my shopping list!

My personal recipe collection on my computer (mostly PDF files) is still less than 0.5G so no problem keeping that on the iPad.

Audrey

 

[audreyh1]

I lug my laptop on my trips too and always look for a place with Internet access.

If I only wanted to surf and view other content like movies, then it would be fine for that. With the 3G model, it would also make getting Internet access a lot easier, especially overseas.

Yeah - that's the primary motivation for us. Having our own device to use for internet access when traveling without having to lug around the laptop (which also contains so much sensitive personal data that I can't afford to lose it).

And even just running local errands - having maps, store info, etc. right at my fingertips. To do this today I would need an iPhone (and have to read the small screen).

When traveling, I will NEVER use someone else's computer to access my email account or banking web sites. But that's really all I need to do while traveling - unless I'm doing a bunch of photography in which case I really do need a laptop.

DH just came by and showed me that the 3G version has a "locator" function for when you can't find it, and even a remote "wipe" function - very useful if stolen!!!

Audrey

 

[IndependentlyPoor]

Photos of lines at Apple stores.
iPad Lines Go WILD (PICTURES): Send Us Your PHOTOS!

 

[audreyh1]

Photos of lines at Apple stores.
iPad Lines Go WILD (PICTURES): Send Us Your PHOTOS!

Oh - this always happens at Apple Stores for a new product launch!

Personally, I can wait an extra month to get mine!

What I'm real curious about - is what does the iBookstore look like? Can I see it without an iPad? 30,000 free titles sounds good to me! This includes Project Gutenberg which means most of the royalty-free classics are covered - that's what I am most interested in.

Here is kind of a preview from several days ago - before the store is completely functional or populated. Sneak Peek: The iPad’s iBookstore « Mike Cane's iPad Test

Audrey

 

[IndependentlyPoor]

Don't miss the iPeeps:
Peeps Want iPads Too (PHOTOS)