Should or Shouldn't You Purchase an iPad?

[Rob Williams]

With many notable tech product launches, there usually seems to be some general consensus as to whether or not the product is worth it, or useful. With the iPad, opinions are all over the place, and it seems to be that while many people find it unbelievably cool, many others find it to be pointless. Like most things, the usefulness of the iPad comes down to your personal goals for the device.
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[Naish]

I don't understand why ANY review sites are giving this thing praise. It's a 10 inch ipod touch with the same locked down operating system.

If it ran OSX, I would go out and buy one on launch, but this is a pretty useless "tablet" to me.

 

[orthancstone]

I don't understand why ANY review sites are giving this thing praise. It's a 10 inch ipod touch with the same locked down operating system.

If it ran OSX, I would go out and buy one on launch, but this is a pretty useless "tablet" to me.

Your point brings up one of the problems with tablets in general: By trying to cram a fully functioning OS on a small screen, touch sensitive system, most tablets have failed.

In fact, up until the netbook it was difficult to find a good small form system that worked well for its intended smaller design (and even then, netbooks are still niche).

You pan it for being a larger iPod Touch, but remember that the Touch & iPhone have been successful for a reason; Jobs & Co are harnessing that to try and bring life back to tablet design by simplifying the underlying system itself while providing plenty of power and option in something that's meant to be portable but entertaining as well.

Now, how successful they've been is obviously up to the user (I'd say they've still got a lot of work to do) but the complaint that it isn't a full OS...honestly, I'd say that's a good thing. When MS tried to make a tablet-centric version of an OS it ended up still being bloated; I don't really believe OSX would buck that trend. The flip side is that they have an OS that works on a small form device; why not start from there and work to improve it with a more powerful device?

 

[Naish]

Your point brings up one of the problems with tablets in general: By trying to cram a fully functioning OS on a small screen, touch sensitive system, most tablets have failed.

In fact, up until the netbook it was difficult to find a good small form system that worked well for its intended smaller design (and even then, netbooks are still niche).

You pan it for being a larger iPod Touch, but remember that the Touch & iPhone have been successful for a reason; Jobs & Co are harnessing that to try and bring life back to tablet design by simplifying the underlying system itself while providing plenty of power and option in something that's meant to be portable but entertaining as well.

Now, how successful they've been is obviously up to the user (I'd say they've still got a lot of work to do) but the complaint that it isn't a full OS...honestly, I'd say that's a good thing. When MS tried to make a tablet-centric version of an OS it ended up still being bloated; I don't really believe OSX would buck that trend. The flip side is that they have an OS that works on a small form device; why not start from there and work to improve it with a more powerful device?

You make a great point about past failures, and I can understand improving the OS... but they didn't really do anything to it. No filesystem access or multitasking both really kill it. You're right though, the success is up to the end user, and sadly, end users love gimmicks (Nintendo Wii!) .

I'd just like to see Apple try to bring "iPhone OS for iPad" a little bit closer to OSX as far as features go.

 

[orthancstone]

but they didn't really do anything to it. No filesystem access or multitasking both really kill it.

Well, they do have the upcoming 4.0 OS, which some people are saying might be better tuned to give the iPad more power/options (doubt we'll see filesystem access, but hopefully some folder capabilities and multitasking).

So there is some hope for useful updates in the coming months.

 

[Kougar]

The iPad is an oddball device... but you can use it in ways that you can't use an iPod or iPhone-sized screen. That alone is what makes it different. It's certainly a niche product unto itself, but all indications are that it will be successful... you can quote me on that. As if I needed any convincing after seeing the general reception to the device itself, even a friend of mine that doesn't own Apple-anything surprised the hell out of me by buying one.

For everyone else that wants an iPad-like device but with a laptop's functionality (and non-Apple price) can simply wait for the HP Slate. Just remember that running a full OS will come with a price... it has hardware specifications that make a netbook look good by comparison, and will have about half of the battery life. Windows 7 will help ensure the battery life stays near to that 5 hour mark, if not less for video playback.

This is probably where Apple made the right call... the iPad can't handle desktop usage scenarios, it exceeds the hardware's capabilities. Beefing up the hardware would only decrease battery life and make it less portable. At this point they probably went with the right choice by limiting the platform itself, otherwise it would only suffer from the same problems I expect the HP Slate to have.