[covingtoncat73]

Dunno if Best Buy still has the original for $399 but that sale had me curious. I do email, a few messageboards and news websites, Twitter, Netflix (very important, it is how I get my TV), and iTunes on my home computer. Oh, I also use Adobe Digital Editions for my Kobo. I haven't written anything in about 2 years but, if I take up my writing hobby again, I would also like a word processing application at home. Will the iPad work for this?

My Dell laptop is 4 years old and runs Vista, unfortunately, and the battery has been dead for 2 years, so I have to keep it on AC power and am thinking of a replacement. I am leaning towards a Netbook which would be at least $100 less.

Sorry, I know this is more about other functions than eReading but I did get a Kobo on supersale at Borders (I had a Borders gift cert to boot), so I just got into eReading. I'm liking it so far, and, if I continue to like eReading, I may go for a Kindle, if I don't get an iPad, to have access to Amazon and still get the library's eBooks through my Kobo. So my options are these:

1. Get a new battery ($120) for my funky old, 10lb laptop and keep using it with Vista, maybe get a Kindle.

2. Get a new battery ($120) and upgrade to Windows 7 ($200) on the old laptop, maybe get a Kindle but later. (least likely)

3. Get a new, inexpensive Netbook (Toshiba mini-netbook) ($279), maybe get a Kindle but later.

4. Get the new iPad 2 WiFi 16GB ($499) - don't need Kindle

5. Get the iPad w/ WiFi 16 GB ($399) - don't need Kindle