I’m dubious about this device, and haven’t bought one, though I’m considering it as a substitute for a laptop when I’m doing nonacademic travels in foreign lands. After all, you can use it as an e-reader and also get emails via wireless; and it’s lighter than a Mac laptop at half the price. You can also use Skype, though without the video. And I’ve always been a Mac-ophile.
If you’re one of those weighing an iPad purchase, and are worried that it’s just a high-tech toy, read the commentary by my ex-Ph.D. student Mohamed Noor on its value to academics. He’s very positive. And weigh in below with your own experiences.
The fact that you can’t download and store a pdf file (like a paper) is a negative point for the academic, imo. You have to read it through Safari..
This isn’t correct- many apps on the iPad will let you download and store a pdf file. I use GoodReader for this and have several pdfs saved there permanently, and even annotated with comments, highlighting, etc. And you can export it just as easily back to your computer.
I also use Good Reader, and highly recommend it. I also read WEIT and other blogs on the iPad through Pulse.
Also: iPad+Dropbox=PDF nirvana
I don’t know about half the price of a laptop. My last netbook (running Linux) cost less than £200; the iPad costs nearly £500.
But the iPad does seem pretty cool.
I got a Kindle (£109) a few months ago. It’s quite useful.
And on the lighter side: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/apple
I meant half the price of a Mac laptop. Fixed.
Basic iPads here in the US cost $499. Much less than £500…
We’re getting ripped off here I guess. I just checked the Apple store — the cheapest iPad (without 3G) was £429, and £529 with 3G.
Some of the phone commpanies are selling them for about £200 with a subscription (about £25/month).
Still, if it’s really useful, £500 isn’t so bad.
My vision gets worse with age so I’ve come to depend on ereaders. I had a Sony; it died and – what a surprise! – Sony wasn’t able to repair it for a reasonable price. I now have an iPad. The Sony was to the iPad as swamp scum to a Cadillac. For someone in my situation the iPad is neither toy nor luxury. How I would feel if my vision permitted me to read the thousands of books that I’ve collected over the years, I don’t know.
I have no personal experience, and for the present I will continue to use a laptop for travel.
I did read a review. I think it was based on class tests at Reed College (if I remember). They had tested a kindle (ebook reader) a couple of years earlier. The experience was that the ipad was far superior for students reading textbook material. Apparently the kindle is too slow when jumping around from section to section, which is something that students do.
The new non-Apple ones seem much more useful, allowing things like the ability to view flash sites, and decent multi-tasking.
I would wait until Apple is forced to make the iPad into a decent full-featured device by competition, as it was with the iPhone 4.
I was in the marked for one a while ago. I then considered and compared the iPad to a netbook by Acer (Aspire) and the Aspire won. For $1oo less than the cheapest iPad with NO accessories, I received 160 gigs storage, a keyboard and all the Office software I need. I use this netbook for academic purposes and unless I need to type long reports, it is my PC of choice. One can easily spend $1000 on an iPad with all the “needed” accessories but to what end? A cool toy? I’ll take a good netbook any day and with the change left over (when compared to the iPad at max gig storage, cover and keyboard) I have enough for a $500 car payment and gas for a month.
Two members of my immediate family bought the little Acer netbooks, and both have had endless problems with them – dead USB ports, freezing, weird bugs with the wireless networking. Both replaced them within a year.
I got an Asus equivalent, for a whole $299 plus tax. Never had a single problem with it in nearly two years, although the microphone crackles a little since I dropped it in a parking lot.
I have a Toshiba net book, absolutely love it.
For me, its the key board. I can’t live without a real keyboard.
If office software is important to you, allow me to highly reccommend open office from sun microsystems. That’s what I use, as macs don’t come preinstalled with any office software. It’s compatible with all MS files and it’s free as hell. Can’t be beat, honestly.
That said, I think iPads are too damned expensive for something that lacks flash support. Apple has a bitch on with Adobe. Next year they’ll be half as much and include most of the necessary features that they currently lack, because google will release Cupcake, the tablent-oriented version of Android. And Android tablets will own any iDevice this side of Steve Job’s fat head! I love Apple computers, don’t get me wrong. They’re elegant machines. But my Droid2 does more than an iPad.
Our department evaluating them at work for company issue, but I haven’t done much testing yet though some of my co-workers seem to like testing them.
For a start, I have this natural aversion to Apple, with wackjob Steve Jobs, and their insane control freak policies, and fanboys… they’re kind of the Scientology of the tech world.
The bottom line though is that an ipad is just a juiced up phone (without the phone). A while back I read a performance comparison with a Macbook, and the notebook was something like 16x faster … and a lot more flexible.
Not being able to grab a folder full of files of any sort and just put them on my device and open them as needed is one of the biggest obstacles a iPad has to counter vs a netbook.
You’re basically restricted to opening the file types that Steve condones (no matter how popular), or paying for something that would be free on a laptop or jumping through enormous hoops.
It’s like the iPad was intelligently designed rather than evolved to fit a suitable niche…
Free on a laptop, or any Android device…
? What’s free?
1/2 of a computer for 1/2 the price? What’s not to like? Then you only have to carry 1 1/2 computers around if you want to do anything the iCripple can’t do.
I can think of lots of reasons why it’d be really nifty to have an iPad. However, for me, there are other things I’d much rather spend my money on.
If they sold for $100, I’d buy one. Not because I think that’s all they’re worth, but because that’s as much money as I’d be willing to part with right now for what I’d get out of one.
That could well change. I could wind up in circumstances where an iPad would be far more useful than a laptop, or I could wind up with more disposable income, or I could discover some “must-have” feature.
Actually, there is exactly one such feature that I’m aware of that could theoretically tip the scales for me: using it as a digital music stand. I’m not in any rush to go that route, but I can easily see how the iPad or one of its descendants could be far superior to the current state of affairs. But, of course, there are concerns about readability (it’s a small screen compared to most sheet music, and think of an outdoor wedding with the sun in your eyes or on the screen) and reliability (there simply can’t even be a hint of a worry that the batteries might be going south right at the start of the grand finale after a full day of use). Plus, there’s the whole question of getting sheet music into the blasted thing, and so on.
Someday I’m sure I’ll own a device that traces its heritage directly or indirectly to the iPad. But that day certainly isn’t in the immediate future, and I’m not so sure it’s in the near future.
Cheers,
b&
Ben,
Have you looked into using a tablet computer as a digital music stand in any depth? That’s something I’m interested in. If you play classical music, there’s a vast amount of pre-copyright music available for free as .pdf, at imslp.org and other places.
I imagine the digital music stand application would work best as a way to keep a large collection of music handy for casual reading — when it comes time for the outdoor wedding or the solo recital, I think I would rely on paper! Also, I think technology has a long way to go to compete with paper music, when it comes to hastily writing fingerings and dynamics.
I used a Tablet PC for years as a digital music library and display unit as I could hold tens of thousands of pieces of music in PDF format on it, and it would sit easily on my piano or keyboard music ledge.
I could also notate with a pen on screen or plug in a MIDI device for a more complete musical solution.
Since an iPad shows about half of an A4 page legibly it’s not a decent replacement.
I use my iPad for most things where I previously used a laptop. This semester I gave all my lectures from it, either preparing them directly on the iPad in Keynote or updating them on my desktop and then transferring them.
It’s lighter than a MacBook, battery time is *fantastic*, about the only down side to it is that reading books is not brilliant in direct sunlight. But I have read both novels and non-fiction on I, no problem.
Best bits – films, comics, web browsing, and meetings. No more notebooks, I simple take my iPad and write notes in document using Pages. Downside? None.
I have a Galaxy Tab and I love this thing. Has replaced my main computer for everything but serious work (I am a software engineer). What was said about the ipad is also all mostly true for my Android Tablet. I just love this thing. I have your blog added to the news reader Pulse app (also available on iPad) and am now writing this comment via the tablet. I definitely recommend getting a tablet. Not big on iOS so I got an Android tablet.
Another Galaxy Tab user here. Using it right now to post this comment. Like it a lot so far, although there are still a few things I haven’t figured out how to do.
My sister-in-law got an iPad for Christmas and I had a chance to play with it a bit. I would not want to hold it in one hand for more than a couple of minutes, whereas the smaller Tab can be comfortably held for long periods.
I won one, and really enjoy it being a college student on a wireless campus. However, I feel that a netbook would be a much better purchase at half the price and able to use flash. It is a very fun novelty device, and a good, intuitive combination of an ebook reader, portable movie watcher (with the Netflix app or with files-the screen is nice and big) and an internet browser, and way worth free, though I would not have paid $500 for it. The PDF reader iAnnotate is really nice for reading and annotating scientific articles and for downloading PDFs, so that is no issue. It also lets you organize them in a folder based system. And, as mentioned, the battery life is phenomenal at 10 hours of use time.
I’ll add my 2 cents here- first, I agree with virtually all the specifics of the comments here, even the negative ones. Yes, you can do more things like a laptop would with a much cheaper netbook (my daughter has one). Yes, it doesn’t support Adobe Flash, whereas some competitor products do (as do nearly all laptops). Yes, the native apps are limited, and you will have to spend some money to buy some. And yes, Steve Jobs is a whack-job.
For me, however, I love my iPad, and no way would I want a netbook instead. First, unlike a netbook, it’s not intended to be a laptop replacement- it’s something straddling part of the valley between a smartphone and a laptop. It’s portable and thin (thinner than a netbook and smaller in all dimensions than a spiral-bound paper notebook). It turns on super-fast, the screen is amazing (both in size and resolution), and the battery life is awesome. I carry it around when I’m walking around campus, just like a small folder.
For work, I use it for taking notes at meetings/ seminars and giving talks. Yes, I had to buy an app for doing the latter- it cost me $5. Indeed, the total I’ve spent for all the apps I’ve bought for the iPad in the 3 months I’ve had it comes under $25 (GoodReader is ~$3). It’s totally silent as I take notes- no “tappity tap” like with a keyboard (I didn’t even buy one). For teaching, I use it as a tablet, where I draw on its screen as it’s projected to the class, sometimes on top of my PowerPoint slides: a feature that would be far clunkier with even a full laptop much less a netbook.
At home, I recline in bed and stream TV shows or Netflix on it- the screen is far bigger than a netbook’s, and the weight is far lighter than a full laptop. Or I just read papers- again taking advantage of that screen size and the fact I can literally just rotate it to switch between portrait and landscape view (or lock it in one view if I don’t want it to switch).
It does multitask nicely- that feature was introduced with the system upgrade last month (which was free). In terms of Flash, that deficiency just doesn’t come up often- YouTube and FaceBook videos show up fine, and many third-parties that stream on the web via Flash do so with other encodings in free, downloadable apps. If I’m dying to see someone’s cute kid video that’s only Flash-encoded, I wait to see it on my computer later.
I still have a laptop and still use it- the iPad didn’t replace it. I still have a smartphone and use that, too. But I use both a little less now that I have an iPad. Do I “need” it? Absolutely not- everyone got by in 2009 without them. But if you have the money to spare, and you think it’s worth it for you, it’s a tool to facilitate your work and play. It was a good purchase for me, but won’t be for everyone.
The speed thing Mohamed mentions really strikes you in use – laptops and netbooks take a while to start up, but the iPad is effectively always on; the battery life is so good I never turn it off, just suspend it, ready for instant use next time.
I’m retired now, but I used to be an ILT manager in a college; about 8 years ago we trialled Dell and Toshiba tablet-laptops for classroom teaching: the lecturers loved them because they were so much more flexible than a PC or even laptop, but they were too expensive to use widely (about £2000 at that point); they were also not very reliable. Using iPads now would be a no-brainer (we would get an education pricing deal of course).
Excellent appraisal. I used to use just one kind of heavy all purpose leather gloves for gardening. After an experienced gardener visited and shopped for other gloves for me, did I realize that a gardener is not completely equipped unless she has about three different kinds of gloves.
My beloved was given both an i-pad and an i-pod touch for a decade of volunteering at a computer history museum. We have have desktops and laptops already. They all have their uses, and I am so happy we can have them all (no way could we afford to buy the i-pad and i-pod touch right now).
Because of the i-pod touch, shopping is a cinch (and if one of us is in a wi-fi hot spot, it seconds as a means of direct communication for us as we do have a portable phone). We listened to audio books together in bed which is great fun. The i-pad has basically replaced TV for us. My beloved uses it when putting on seminars. They are beautiful and good at what they do.
I take my iPad everywhere, and couldn’t imagine living without it. I use it to teach, showing my lecture slides, projecting the paper we are talking about in class (and highlighting important sections on the fly), and playing video and audio. I also use it constantly at home for email, RSS, web, media, games, etc. etc.
The tablet form factor is far more convenient and unobtrusive than a laptop, as there is nothing to physically open or unlatch — it’s just “there”, and no more cumbersome than a pad of paper. And, while this may come off as Apple fanboyism, it is hard to overestimate how “frictionless” the OS is for many tasks — it doesn’t feel like one is manipulating an operating system, but instead directly handling an app. The UI melts away.
My spouse and I both have an iPad, and since getting one we barely use our home computer.
As for the downsides, I really haven’t missed Flash all that much, but I suppose there would be those who would. It is certainly not a device I would write a long paper on, at least not without a physical Bluetooth keyboard. And the lack of an underlying user-accessible file system does mean that swapping files among apps can be cumbersome at times.
But after having an iPad, it is clear to me that tablet devices with a dedicated tablet-focussed OS are the future of computing. Laptops and desktops will likely be around for a long time, but they will increasingly be relegated to specialist roles, as tablets become more ubiquitous and more capable.
I went with the Mac Air. A very lightweight laptop. Full OSX – I can even unload and edit photos from my cameras while traveling. Solid-state hard disk so it travels well. It has an external CD/DVD drive (optional) which I usually leave home.
I get anxious reading long docs on a back lit screen and prefer my bebook for that. I can also take and incorporate notes on that. My alpha smart key board works for portable word processing and quick google searches, though most google searches are easier on my droid x than anything else. Also, I have an ipod touch with more memory for a fraction of the price and it is even easier to carry around than an ipad.
I will continue to hold out on the ipad until they come with the 3D holograms for crystallography.
The iPad doesn’t have any tools which I need for work, so there’s no point in me having one. I’ve thought about using one to interface (wirelessly) with a web server built into some instruments, but it can only control the instrument and not download (enough) data; I can use an HTC phone with a web browser to do the same job. Everyone I know with an iPad loves it and has found some use for it, so I must be one of the exceptions.
I’d wait on a first generation ipad purchase. First, a new ipad version will be coming out in a few months (it’ll likely have cameras). Second, with the next android optimized os update, there will be an explosion of android tablets. There’s also the blackberry playbook that’ll be released in a few months as well. Both android and blackberry tablets are able to play flash content.
Personally, I’m hoping microsoft comes out with a tablet based on something similar to their windows phone 7 interface / operating system. For me, it’s far more appealing in terms of interface design.
Jailbroken iPad BT keyboard iTeleport VNC = possible laptop replacement. But then you to carry around a keyboard too, and rely on VPN and VNC to a (laptop) server for secure access to a real OS with real apps. Easier to just carry around the laptop.
For Christmas, my mom bought me a Kindle 3. At first I was like “WTF mom! the iPad killed the kindle!” I felt like the guy in the Onion article Non-Widescreen Version Of DVD Received As Hanukkah Gift. But my wife told me to give it a chance, so I spent 5 min on the Google, discovered that the Kindle 3 has a one month battery life, beautiful b&w display for documents, a basic web browser, all on a Linux kernel for less than $150. So I cracked the box open, and within 30 minutes I had a jailbroken Kindle that I could WiFi ssh, and downloaded the free Wizard of Oz series to read to my kid. I love the Kindle, which is probably a lot more useful to me than an iPad. Thanks Mom.
why not just use a smart phone?
The screen — & keyboard — are just so much bigger on an iPad!
Yes, but do you really need something the size and weight of an Etch-A-Sketch for routine email and web surfing? I find the Galaxy Tab’s book-sized form factor more convenient for most purposes.
‘Cause the screen and keyboard are 1/10 the size… I was doing that at seminars before I got my iPad, but it was a major pain to type, to read, etc…
Screen size? that’s why you use the IPad over a smart phone? I hope it was worth the 500 bucks or so.
swype more or less does away with the problem of typing on a small keyboard.
I wouldn’t hesitate in recommending an iPad — as an adjunct to your laptop &/or desktop (I have all three).
You can share documents very easily between machines ŵ cloud services apps like Dropbox — which also allows you to save PDFs from Safari. They’re almost immediately available on your other machines as well (Mac and Windows). The client apps are free & the service is free up to a few GB.
An app like TeamViewer (there are many alternatives) allows you to access the other machines from your iPad over the Internet. One of my colleagues is a big fan of this and once wrote technical paper on his PC via his 3G iPad while sitting in the doctor’s waiting room.
You might also check out apps like Evernote that allow you to capture, create and edit documents and other content across machines.
I bought the iPad in June and like others who own one, am an enthusiast. Many luxury feelings, from downloading a fresh newspaper every day before my feet hit the floor, a wonderful weather app which is great for weather junkies like me, and NYTimes at my fingertips. I carry it in a small backpack so I have many of my fave books with me (not WEIT – as it isn’t in eBook for Australians yet….hint). I’m slowly replacing my library, so that for eg, Victor Frankl’s ‘Man’s Search For Meaning’, poetry, etc is with me. Also, photos from my digital camera and the ‘Pad is the best medium for photo-viewing. So that’s the consumption side. Its great for note-taking, emailing, writing. For serious writing, one needs the blue-tooth keyboard. For what it delivers, I consider it an inexpensive must-have. I also read some of the same Kindle books on my iPhone, highlighting as I go, and these are wirelessly updated by Kindle!
People raise important issues about the difficulties arising from the iPad’s and iPhone’s closed file system and jailed OS, but these are all easily solved by jailbreaking the device.
I can transfer files to my JB Apple iOS devices using the standard Apple Finder via the Cydia Netatalk app, which broadcasts afp, or by the iFile app, which views/emails/trashes files, or by good old ssh/sftp.
One iPad cost not to overlook is another 3G service contract, which will quickly overtake the cost of the device. You can, of course, Bluetooth tether a JB iPad to use a JB iPhone’s 3G connection, but that’s a PITA, and it’s usually easier just to use the iPhone.
Yeah, and cellular internet providers are getting really touchy about tethering. Verizon will allow you to do it for $15/month, which I guess you might do if you didn’t know about PDAnet. I heard if you really tack out your data usage you’ll get a nasty bill, as tethering violates your contract with Verizon. Like, $0.25/mb kind of nasty.
Do any of you guys have grad students at your beck and call?
Did you know that the iPad Software Development Kit is available for virtually nothing and an 11-year old non-programmer can develop code?
Set your people (even grad students) free!
Imagine walking into your lab, pressing a button on your iPad and having all your experiments send updates. Right there, in real time.
“… an 11-year old non-programmer can develop code”
Yeah, that could be a problem. I’ve seen a hell of a lot of code that looks like it was written by an 11-year-old non-programmer.
Besides, as I pointed out in my previous post, without a data storage facility the iPad does nothing that cannot be done on a phone with bluetooth and a touch screen. The larger screen may be useful for some things, but not really all that much.
I wonder why so many people complain the iPad has no Flash player. Personally I think that’s a good thing. Those web page designers who make a web page depend on the Flash plugin should be fired. The Apple folks are also right about Flash corrupting the system; on my laptop it somehow screws up the graphics driver and if I try to switch to a second virtual terminal the system hangs. And don’t forget how many annoying ads are enabled by the Flash plugin.
Some people are trying to develop a free player based on the latest specifications, but that’s a slow task and some features may not be available in some countries due to software patents. Until a reasonable non-corrupting player is available, Flash is best avoided.
Think of it as a smart phone with pretensions.
I travel worldwide pretty much nonstop (100+ days a year), and have been doing so since 2004. I also live in Afghanistan, probably the worst country in the world for technology. I have been here 2 years lol.
I went through all sorts of electronic gadgets in that time to try and keep connectivity (which is still damn near impossible in the locations I usually end up in).
Nothing has ever come close to the versatility and convenience of the Ipad. I replaced my netbook and sony ebook with it, and haven’t looked back.
For pure travel purposes, I have never owned a better device. and I can’t imagine how awesome they will be a few years from now with competition etc.
I am reminded of Peter Serafinowicz’ take on it… (sorry about the canned laughter)
the iPad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRNStwBm5_Y
the Mactini: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noe3kR8KqJc
and the iToilet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMcSiTL9yAU
I have an HP elitebook convertible tablet. I use it in tablet mode for all the things you do, taking notes at meetings with OneNote*, presentations etc. – but it is also my primary computer with all the capability and horse-power you need for that.
It is fatter, heavier and more expensive than an iPad, but then the iPad is fatter, heavier and more expensive than my old 2000 vintage iPaq (which I don’t use now)
*OneNote is great, I work as a consultant and I have notes from all my meetings with different clients – and since it translates my handwriting (in the background) it can be searched as data. Thus when a client asked about a project that was shelved two years ago – I could quickly find bring up my handwritten notes from our last meeting, get the names and photos of the people that were there – turn my handwritten notes into a document, edit and send a proposal.
The biggest thing that’s missing from the iPad is built in OS level handwriting recognition. It needs to be at the OS level so that it can work with every application.
– And then ports! USB and SD card at a minimum
I’m not a Luddite (anyone expecting a “but” here?) and I do not have an iPad (or indeed any other iApple kit) or a “smart” phone of any kind.
This is for one reason and one reason only – the touch screen. I loathe and detest finger prints on my screens with a vengeance!
Many times in the office the battle cry of “do not touch my screen!” can be heard emanating from me. Why can’t people point at something on the screen without touching?
So, the chances of me getting an iPad are extremely slim – I’d rather get religion first – especially after I saw one in use on a train journey recently.
The owner played a couple of games, and then decided to read a book. Switching from the colour game screen to the mono eReader screen showed up masses of greasy finger prints all over.
That did it for me. No touch screens in my life!
Maybe I am a Luddite after all.
Happy New Year.
Cheers,
Norm.