Quote:
Originally Posted by Lo Zeno
If I buy a tablet, I expect it to be PORTABLE, so I expect it to satisfy my needs OUTSIDE my house (otherwise I'd buy a desktop PC, which I already have). But the iPad relies heavily on other devices to work... if I want to see a movie on it, I need another PC to transfer it from the PC to the tablet; if I want to install apps I need another PC equipped with iTunes; except the few cases in which I can use the external USB / SD adapter, I always need another PC.
|
iTunes is built into the iPad, so you can happily download movies/music directly to the device, no PC required. Now, maybe you don't buy from iTunes but instead convert your own DVDs or whatever (this is typically what I do); yeah, in that case you need a PC/Mac to transfer movies/music to the iPad. I have a 32GB 3GS that currently has 4 movies, 10 or so TV episodes, and various podcasts on it, in addition to 15GB of music, a dozen or so audiobooks, and several dozen ebooks. Even if I'm on vacation and don't bring a computer, I have plenty of media to get me through (not to mention all of the games and other apps). Unless you plan on spending all of your time away from a computer voraciously consuming media, I don't see this as a big issue. (BTW, my wife hooks her iPhone up to a computer about twice a year and she's perfectly happy that way.)
There are also a few different apps like Sling and Orb that can give you remote access to your entire media library at home if you really, really need access to it at all times.
Your point about "if I want to install apps I need another PC equipped with iTunes" is just flat wrong. You can download as many apps as you want via the built-in App Store directly to the device without ever touching a PC.
Don't get me wrong - I used to be a "I want my entire media collection with me at all times!" guy. What I found when I first got an iPhone is that even with "only" 16GB to work with, the amount of media I can carry at any one time vastly outstrips the pace at which I can consume it, and that a good deal of my extensive media library is composed of stuff that I really don't need access to on a daily basis (and, truthfully, that I'll very likely never or rarely revisit again).