Not really. He didn't list anything important as it relates to actual performance, just pretty trivial cosmetic differences, like "it makes less noise" and "it's always on". The point about Harware, for example, completely ignored that the iPad only has 256mb of RAM which puts a severe limitation on what can be created for it. The point about Software completely ignored the fact that you're reliant on either an over-the-internet stream for a movie, or a low-quality on disk copy. It's not like you can pop in a bluray into the iPad and watch a good quality movie (which, incidentally, all the DVD apps auto-play and don't actually require launching the app in question..)

To be honest, the whole OP reads like one of those infomercials for a tomato cutter that shows people practically cutting their own hands off because normal knives are just so ancient and cumbersome and dangerous and this new thing is so much more awesome and easy and better in every way.

Only it's not. Sure, the iPad can get you online quicker 'cause it's always on, but can it actually compare to the utility of a laptop? Not even close.

My biggest issue with the ipad, besides the fact that it is an Apple product is the flash storage! It is limited and I like to have my stuff with me when I need it not remote in to my PC to download a needed file and I am not sure but I believe there is some Cloud Computing scheme to store the movies. I would take one for a gift, but I will not buy one!

I'll stick with my Windows 7 netbook, thanks anyway.

here's my take on an iPad after using one for a few weeks now....

In order to make full use of the iPad one must be willing to change the way we think of "computing".

1.   make as much use of "cloud computing" as possible which means that some of us might need to make a 180 degree turn around from storage-centric thinking to that of "streaming"

2.   understand (as brad pointed out) that the iPad is primarily a "consumption device" which (if harnessed correctly) can effectively replace all/every other digital consumption devices a person currently owns

3.   eventhough the iPad cannot be used effectively as a (at least on par with any other) content-creation device it can however be used to review, present, transmit said created content and in a pinch can even be used to remotely control said "content-creation devices" remotely.

For me the power of the iPad is particularily apparent in a remote/streaming capacity.  I can sit on the dock at the summer house and (via 3G) remotely admin any/all of my servers, watch live or pre-recorded TV shows streamed to the iPad, review/edit documents and access a centralized calendar and email accounts literally with the flick of a finger.  To me, that is TRUE technological innovation.  Sure 3G streaming still has it's issues, but all of the above are huge steps in the right direction.

I say, keep it coming............in the meantime maybe we need to re-think our computational needs and our overall aproach to computing.  Just because we've always done things a certain way doesn't mean "different" can't have something progressive to offer.

If used correctly, using the iPad can feel like you're holding the reins to the IT infrastructure in your life.  A very powerful tool if used in that way.   

By the way, I'm not an apple-fanboi (just in case my post was going to draw some flames in that vein), I have equal parts PC and Apple devices in the IT structure of my life.

the Monk

http://www.ipadhelpforum.net/ipad-help/

Looks like "it's just working" fine to me...

But yeah, most Apple products aren't really my thing. Steve Jobs is one of the most pretentious bastards I've ever seen and Apple's overall attitude just grinds me gears. Not to mention, I don't find any of their software to be overly usable at all. I used iTunes for a bit but really, WMP or Songbird works just as well and doesn't make me look like I'm trying too hard be cool.

That's actually my main problem with the company. Their marketing campaign is centered around being the hip new thing, the cool thing. It is an excellent and succesful marketing campaign, but as you said, really cheeses me off. There is a certain pretentiousness that many of the more rabid Apple fanboys seem to posses. Although really anyone with an unhealthy fixation on one way of doing anything is likely to be annoying...Most of my friends are neutral and don't care either way. But when I see one of Mac's commercials, my reflex is to roll my eyes. Steve Jobs is a succesful businessman, and he has a lot of people suckered on his marketing technique.

Like it or not, that is my two cents.

Same here!  I particularly dislike the smugness of Jobs.... his marketing that tries to convince the buying public that his products are far superior to any others... particularly Microsoft's.  While his marketing strategy may appeal to the fanbois and 'hip' set, I find it irritating and would never purchase an Apple product based purely on the advertising. 

However, if I had a need for something, and Apple provided the best option for the price, I would certainly consider an Apple product and be happy with my purchase, so I'm not anti-Apple, either.  In fact, while I'd never purchase an iPod, iPhone or iPad. I'd like to try out an iMac with OS-X, but the cost is too prohibitive at this time (even for a mini-Mac... $1300 AU$) and other priorities must come first.  Hopefully one day, though.

As for the iPad advertising, well it just doesn't grab me at all.  In fact, I think it is smug and pretentious with its rather misleading "magic" and "crazy powerful" claims.  As has been noted by many, the iPad lacks 'Flash' and multi-tasking abilities, not to mention that it has minimal RAM and lacks real processing power, so it clearly doesn't have the power of even a mid-range laptop... and would certainly be inadequate for my needs. Oh, and the "more movies than you could watch in a lifetime"... on my PC I can do that already... as well as share photos and music, etc, etc, etc.

Nope, the iPad offers nothing I need or don't have already... and those smug ads make me all the more determined NOT to buy it.

I think you have it right. Apple wants to change the way we compute. But it doesn't seem organic...and when it seems like some higher up is trying to tell you how and what to do, in a way that they think is best for you, it tends to be a huge turn off.

Personally, I think this kind of techonlogical advancement is a good thing, but I only hope mobile computing does not stagnate in the Consumption-Only bog it's in now with the iPad. I hope it continues to evolve to the point where you can be a serious content producer on such devices.

That, IMO, was and is the great thing about personal computers above Radio, TV, and other revolutionary devices. The ability for the user to create content (without jumping through crazy hoops), not just consume it. The ability to choose what content to consume, not just the ones approved by a certain regulatory committee or board of executives.

So let's all hope popular demand and competition will glean the positive attributes of iPad, et al, and whittle the negatives.

sViz,

very well said.......

heard a report on the BBC regarding the plant that manufacturers the iphone and ipad in southern China. there have been 14 suicides in the last year due to working conditions/low wages. workers work 10 hours days 7 days a week and regardless of seniority earn 1$/hour.

Yeah, I've heard this also, more than once now... and despite almost slave labour pay rates, Apple still has the hide to charge absolute top dollar for all its products. 

On top of Jobs' sickening smugness, it's another reason I point blank refuse to buy an iPod/iPhone/iPad.  And what is it with all this iCrap anyhow???   I can understand "iMac" to indicate the more recent Intel architecture, but all this other iCrap is ridiculous.  i this and i that.. it's enough to make i sick

Uh-oh, too bad!!!  I was considering an iMac PC for mid-2011... until i read this.  According to this PCMech article, ALL Apple computers are made in cheaply made in China.   Won't be buying one now, then... will I!!!!

Thing is, how many other companies (Intel, AMD, Gigabyte, etc) have set up operations in China to exploit cheap (almost slave) labour???  It may be that China has edged out many Western nations in manufacturing, but it is the greed of Western corporations that has enabled this... all at the expense of the lowly Chinese worker. At the end of the day, however, if we boycott the companies responsible for such atrocities, what 'll be left for us to buy?

Many of Chines workers suffer sub-human working conditions we wouldn't even subject our worst convicts to, much less an animal... yet very little is said or done within the international community to help improve conditions for them.... we still purchase the products without so much as a by your leave or thank you to oppressed who made them.  More to the point, how many manufacturing jobs in the US UK and Australia, etc, have been permanently lost as a result of companies shifting operations offshore to China??? 

Since the dawn on the industrial revolution, economies without a solid base in manufacturing have struggled, so why is it that developed nations like the US and the UK keep selling off their manufacturing assets??  These counrties suffered extensively during the world financial meltdown... yet China, Taiwan and South Korea were thriving.  Why?  Because they have recognised the importance of having tangible products to trade in a consumerist and tech driven world...instead of trying to create intangible IT wealth, electronically and on paper. 

I'm just a lowly pensioner with just a basic understanding of economics, but it still beats me why treasurers, finance ministers and corporate entities persist with their financial strategies when they clearly have failed.  They need to get back to basics, but I don't see that happening until the major banks and establishments like Wall St are brought to their knees... and large corporations become honest (I won't say again because I don't know they ever were).

Hehe, here's 8 reasons why purchasing the iPhone 4 is a mug's game.....

Apparently, the iPhone 4 has little or no backwards compatibility with previous editions.... attributed by some to the Apple greed factor.

Oh, and there's the piss-weak battery!!  If users engage the video call component, the battery's dead flat in 15 minutes... making for a good paper weight for the rest of the day if one leaves the recharger at home.

What amused me, however, were some of the reader comments.... for example: 

I heard there is a class action lawsuit over the new iPhone.

http://mashable.com/2010/07/01/class-action-lawsuit-apple-and-att/

Not just one class action law suit, but TWO similar ones.  And while Apple isn't taking it too seriously right now, it might want to think about preparing to have several fights on its hands.  While these 2 law suits deal with reception issues with the iPhone 4, other law suits are expected to be filed with regard to the lack of backward compatibility of apps, protective cases and other peripherals.   I don't recall all that was said because I was giving Po` a bit of lip in another thread, but I overheard a thing on TV earlier and it seems even some of the Apple faithful are disappointed, with some calling the "complete redesign" a "gratuitous cash grab."

Hehe, being smug (or in the case of Steve Jobs... the King of Smug) only gets you so far... then people wake up and smell the roses.  Apple might be riding the crest of a wave now, because of the iPad, iPhone and ipad, but that ain't gonna last and Jobsy's bubble is gonna burst, much like a virgin in a pin factory... one prick and its gone.  While Apple has been on the cutting edge with portable media devices, smart phones and pad-type PC's, etc, they have always been expensive, and it won't be long before companies with price competitive alternatives are taking the lion's share from Apple.

As I stated above, I will never buy any of Apple's i-gadgets (not when iPads sell from $629 - $1149 AUD... 11% more than US customers), but at some stage I may consider a tablet if the price is right and it isn't a constant cash drain because it's essentially driven by pay for apps, as I believe the i-gadgets are.  I'd want something that includes word processing, media, browsing basics., etc... in other words, something that pretty much works right out of the box, without having to buy dozens of apps the achieve reasonable usefulness.

starkers,

the iPad does "work straight out of the box" as Brad pointed out.........as a media/digital consumption device.  Browsing, viewing, listening-to, light content-creation and digital sharing all "work out of the box" as advertised.  It's when you want to do a little bit more with the device that you have to look for paid-for apps.

How exactly is my buying iWork for the iPad any different than my buying MS Office for my PC?  Not to mention that the cost of the iPad + iWork is far far far less than the cost of my PC and MS Office Proffesional! 

Plus, now with a nifty 12-dollar app I can use my iPad to remotely control/admin any/all of my PC, Mac or server computer systems.  My entire business is now only a finger-swipe away (and thanks to the 3G iPad version) pretty much anywhere in the world.

that's absolutely "reasonable usefulness" in my opinion,

the Monk

EDIT:

....and as far as a phone (since you mentioned the iPhone 4 etc.) I've been a Sony Ericsson fan for years now.  My first cell was a Diamond Tel (back in 1993 I believe?), then went to a Nokia, then a Samsung 1998 and then my first Sony Ericsson in 2003.  I've never looked back.  I'm now using an SE Xperia X1 and because I use a phone primarily to make calls and/or to email/text (which the Xperia X1 excels at thanks to the best slide-out qwerty keyboard on the market) I have no desire to move to any of the other available smart-devices (least of all an iPhone). 

The reason I'm telling you this, is to point out that my love for the iPad should not be construed as "apple-fanboi-ism".  I'm all about "the best product for the job".  I do believe the iPad is the "best tablet/thin-client for the job" because in my opinion I've made it more than "reasonably useful" at reasonable cost.  There is nothing else on the market today (or even in the forseeable future imo) that would/could effectively replace (at such a resonable time & money investment) the now very important and powerful role the iPad assumes with regard to my daily IT demands.