[dmaul1114]

Originally Posted by drachasor

No issues power-wise? There's no way HD doesn't cut into its 10 hour battery life disproportionately. Anyhow, I guess the Ipad might do HD better, but that's only going to be when you have it on the device or perhaps on a wifi connection (3G can't transfer data fast enough). When you go beyond that, a Netbook is going to have a lot more options available in what it can run overall

Yep for me it would be WiFi streaming. I'll never pay for a 3G (or 4G which available in my city) as I have WiFi at home and in the office and that's were I do pretty much all my computing, streaming video watching etc.

Battery life is a non issue when watching streaming video as it should last the 2-4 hours I'd ever watch in any one stretch, and I'd mainly only be watching somewhere I could plug it in anyway. My laptop is rarely ever not plugged into power. I have it to work on the couch, work at home easily etc., not to use away from power sources.

And again, yeah a table is limited, but so is a Netbook. I'll always have a full powered laptop to cover my needs on that front, and have no need for a netbook as I don't carry my laptop around very much anyway to need something small and light on that front.

I need a tablet for document markup ,and would use it some for other reading and net surfing as well. But my laptop would be my main machine then.

I've read on my laptop a lot. A netbook would just be easier. You can sit on a recliner, recline, and read easily enough on a netbook. I don't see what's so hard about it.

I just find it uncomfortable. Hard to get in a good angle, especially since I do most of my reading laying down on the couch or bed.

Part of it is just aversion to doing stuff on the laptop or PC that I can avoid since I'm spending 8-12 hours on PCs/laptops most week days between work, goofing online etc.

As I've already said, a Smart Phone with a data plan costs about as much per month as a Cell Phone + Ipad with a data plan. So the Ipad isn't saving you money if you get the 3G.

Again, if I got an iPad I wouldn't get the 3G plan for it as I'd only use it at home and in the office and other places where I have wifi.

If I had a smartphone I'd be even less likely to get the 3G for the iPad as I could just use the phone for internet/e-mail away from WiFi and the iPad when at a hotspot.

3G just isn't useful unless you travel constantly or just always have to be connected to the net for whatever reason. I don't fit either of those, so it's a non-issue for me. Any tablet I get will be WiFi only.

Smart phones just aren't my cup of tea. I like getting away from the internet and e-mail as I waste way too much of my life on there anyway. If I'm not at home or the office slaving away I want to be able to relax and not have the temptation to check e-mail etc.

Now, yes, I see how the Ipad is better for reading. But if you want to mark up documents and such, you're going to at least want a Stylus interface, which the Ipad doesn't come with. So I don't see how it even does what you'd want it to.

It doesn't and I'm not buying one. Though I'll be keeping an eye on what comes out in terms of capacitive stylus and 3rd party mark up apps. But I'm more interested to see what competitors come up with in terms of making a tablet that's focused around stylus use and aimed more at the business professional and academic market.

If you are just using it for reading, then there are plenty of devices that do as good a job but cheaper.

Not really. For my reading needs I need a big screen since a lot of research articles are close to A4 PDF sizes. The Kindle DX doesn't have very good PDF support and is only $10 less than the iPad currently. The Que is more expensive. Again--if the iPad had markup I'd get the 16GB wifi only version ,so don't come back with the higher prices for models with 3G and more storage than I need.

And I wouldn't use it just for reading, I'd watch video, use apps/programs, surf the net on the couch, use it to check e-mail on short trips where I don't need my laptop etc.

So something like the iPad, but with stylus support, is much more attractive to me than a pricey big screen e-ink reader which can only be used for reading as I'd get a lot more use out of it.

I'm not really saying tablets aren't for me. A good tablet that could replace paper for reading AND writing purposes would be great if it also had a 12+ hour battery life (preferably more). Naturally it would be much better if it could also do other things too.

We're pretty much on the same page there. Though I don't care as much about battery life. I'd seldom ever use such a device for more than 3 or 4 hours in any give sitting as all my work reading, markup etc. has to be fit in between teaching, meetings, writing work, data analysis and all the other work of academic life.

So something that gets 8-10 hours like the iPad is stated too would be fine for me as that would get me through a days work easily and I can plug it in every night. I also would mainly use it at home and in the office, so no big deal to have to plug it in while working.

The Ipad can kinda replace paper for output, but certainly not for input. I find the battery life on it too short for the battery to not be an issue. Current tablets are no different from this, of course.

I think a tablet that did all this would do quite well for itself too.

Yep, but maybe a capacitive stylus and some document mark up apps will end up working well. Time will tell on that.

I do agree that a tablet with full markup features would sell well. There's a big niche there with academics, students, business people etc. who could use them to replace printouts, note pads etc. in their studies, work etc.

I'm here because I'm rather shocked that the Ipad can do so little. I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything. Apparently I am not.

Anyhow, if you don't care for my opinions or talking about what I am saying, then that's fine. You can just ignore my posts. It's not hard.

That's fine. There's just been far too many people here who either hate Apple, or hate anything that's not e-ink, or hate tablets that are just posting the same criticisms over and over by bashing the device for not being what they want it to be--i.e. an e-ink device made by another company!

Vs. constructive criticisms specific to the devices like lacking a stylus, multitasking, Flash etc.

I don't think our culture has descended so far that we can't handle people with differing opinions talking to each other yet (though at times, I do worry).

True, and I wasn't angry. It's just opinions that have been posted bashing it for not being an e-ink reader (not you but others) or not being a netbook etc. are just silly.

The device, like any tablet that comes after it, isn't meant to be a dedicated reader, nor a full PC. It's a different niche of item, and if it's not someone's cup of tea that's fine. But I don't see the need to go to that devices forum and bash it for not being something that it's not meant to be.

I see that as being as silly as if I went to the Kindle forum and said it sucked as it didn't have a color screen and can't do video. It's not meant to do those things, just like the iPad isn't meant to be a Kindle or be a full netbook or laptop.

We should be talking about the iPad's limitation as a multimedia tablet--not bashing it for not being a netbook or e-ink reader etc.

If someone isn't interested in tablets at all, they really have no place here. But from this post of yours it sounds like you have some interest in tablets, so it's all good. You just sounded very anti-tablet in the first posts you made, rather than just being let down by the iPads flaws as a tablet.

Sorry to hear about your grandmother. Hope she makes a full and speedy recovery?