[Sonist]

Originally Posted by Johannes

Thanks Dmaul, Dragonbone, and Sonist.

Indeed, the markedly different views on suitability for reading A4-sized PDFs seem to be based on specific needs.

I will encounter PDFs with double columns. However, I figure that should be okay provided a PDF reader is available on the iPad that allows for automatic cropping of the margins. (These technical PDFs tend to have relatively wide margins.) Any info on the (expected) availability of such readers?

There is no particular reason not to expect a margin-cropping PDF reader app, but IMO 9.7" is still too small for most PDFs, particularly tech/science ones.

For instance, trying to read a Lonely Planet PDF on the 9.7" is farly unpleasant, even though the margins are small. The font size is too small in portrait, but in landscape the columns cause you to keep scrolling up and down incessantly, plus it just feels weird, like someone is covering half the page. I use it in a pinch when traveling and pulling out my Mac Book is too much hassle, but would not do it regularly.

I really don't see the iPad as a great device for PDFs. Or for magazines and "papers" - I think the publishers of periodicals are getting too excited over something which may not work well for their formats.

For PDFs, the The DR1000 may be the closest, but still a little to small for me.

I really wanted to like and buy the iPad, but there are just too many misses - I feel about it the same way I felt about Apple TV (which I actually bought, then sent back).