yeah, it's an iPad 2. What are you using? A laptop!?

Overgrown smartphones that you can't carry in your pocket or make calls on. Fuck this entire idea in the face.

 

I personally don't have a tablet, but my mom has the iPad and it is pretty fun to play with. I know that someone mentioned this briefly earlier, but I don't think tablets are just replacing lab tops. I recently read that a high end restaurant was buying a few iPads to present their menus on. Even though that seems like a high price to pay just to save a little bit on paper, it really represents the push to go paperless. Another thing that I recently read, was that some schools are requiring students to purchase iPads to store their textbooks on, rather than buying the physical books themselves. I don't think that books will ever become completely extinct, but it seems like people really like having their reading material on tablets or kindles.

Personally, I am old school and like reading books or magazines on paper. Maybe it is because I have never read a book on a tablet before, but I like being able to fold a book and and have it in my hands. Also, I really love my Macbook Pro. If the iPad were able to run the OS that my pro has, I would definitely consider getting one. Until that happens though, I look at a tablet as more of a luxury than using it as a primary computer.

 

I have this and it shits all over tablets of any type. Best of both worlds the ability to write on the screen with a pen kicks ass for taking notes in class, especially for maths in my engineering course.

http://www.cnet.com.au/hp-touchsmart-tm2-339300272.htm

 

Tablet's fall into the Toy space for me. I want one, but it'll have to come out of my toy budget - and to date, they just aren't at a price point where they're enough fun to justify the price.

That's not to say they're toys for everyone. But my 'work' or using a computer as a tool stuff all requires a keyboard. I'm either writing, or working out of an interface that doesn't suit touch (like a CLI). I've thought a few times about a Kogan tablet, or a Nook Colour with the cracks. I'd have bought an HP if I'd been able to get one at $99. For the price they were worth while. But any more than $200 makes it just not worth it for me - and even at $200 - with a decent smart phone and a laptop - there's other funner toys. I'll get more use out of a new netbook to convert to a media center, or few other things I want.

I like OSX based laptops. I kind of hate the proclivity of referring to them as Macbooks or Macbook Air or Mac Book Pro rather than just 'Laptop'. Nobody says 'Let me just get out my Vostro' or 'Let me just get out my EEEpc' or 'Let me just get out my Vaio/Toughbook/etc' - Everyone else just refers to it as a fucking laptop - because dropping a model reference in is fucking wanky. It's like saying 'Sure, lets take my Volvo' instead of 'Sure, lets take my car'. Oh it just works? Nobody gives a shit, it's still a fucking Volvo. Also, the it just works thing? You might as well gloat about how secure your Hyundai Accent is - there's a reason they never get stolen. Who'd fucking want one? There's no return in it. Like there's no return in writing malware for a tiny segment of market share like Mac. I hope you get herpes.

But anyway, I actually do like OSX based laptops. Lion is moving towards the things in IOS that shit me - but generally they're nice work spaces and I like having access to a command shell instead of dos. And the magic touch pads are really, really nice accessories. But I find they're a bit over priced for capability at this point in the release schedule. Comparing the same hardware capability level at Dell and the price difference is just a bit fucking hard to swallow. I know the quality is better - but that's a fucking lot of difference. The capability vs price for IOS devices (tablets or phones) is just staggering - and there's nothing in IOS that I like that much more than Android on HTC. And the IOS security lock outs and various 'features' that you have to jail break your way around shit me.

I'd be delighted if someone gave me a new apple laptop, tablet, phone, or mp3 player. But I just couldn't bring myself to actually pay for one.

 

I wouldn't buy one myself, as they just don't quite meet my nerd requirements. They are no good for serious gaming (which they aren't designed for, no criticism there), I have a more portable Kindle for my e-reading needs, and an Android OS phone for emergency net use (winning drunken bets via wikipedia etc).

That said, the IPad is the unsung hero of babysitting. My brother has an both an Ipad and a kid. My nephew (15 months) has literally 2 houses full of toys at his disposable, yet the ADD little fucker is entertained by each toy for approximately 36.2 seconds. There have been times I have wept and praised Jesus for the ability to download a piano app, or a 'put the blocks in the correct shaped space' app, or a 'hit the screen and generate colours / sounds' app. I can sit the bub on my knee, hold the iPad, and he can hit it to his little heart's content.

So, I'll probably get an Ipad when I have a baby, on the seventh of Never.

 

This is a very interesting subject for me. When I was in Maine, I was training with a few guys who were months ahead of me in the flight syllabus and they all had Ipad's. Their reasoning is that you can put all of our flight publications on one of those things (I'm talking about 5,000 pages of stuff = about 25 books) and pull anything up at a moments notice. It seems to me they are solely for convenience and not necessary, but that's just me; although their reasoning makes perfect sense. A 1/2 lb computer w/ a tough case would be infinitely easier than carrying around 100lbs of books any day of the week, BUT thousands of pilots have gotten through the syllabus the old fashioned way with no problems whatsoever.

I guess I'll have to weigh the pro's and con's of spending $500 for convenience and speed...but I'll probably cave and get something.

Oh, also, I heard that the FAA is passing laws to allow Ipad's in commercial aircraft to replace the books. They can instantaneously be updated with the latest airport information, flight routes, air maps, approach charts, etc.

 

I know this is the tablet thread, but I wanted to add this in.

What people fail to realize when they look at the PC vs Mac debate is the resale value. Macs hold their value in a big way. Why? Because Apple doesn't label the Macbook line by each iteration. It's not the Macbook P90ZX-T Ultra Graphics. It's the Macbook. This allows people with low budgets to buy used and not look like the guy using a 5 year old Dell in class. The other thing is that they never devalue their products by putting them on deep clearance. They introduce a new product over the old at the same price. The current macbook doesn't drop down to be a $400 Black Friday blowout at Best Buy before the new one comes out.

Let me tell a story on why I use Apple exclusively now (at the end of writing this, I realized this was a lie, I just bought a little media pc for $150). I bought a Macbook for $1300 when they first came out in 2006. That one had some issues. Minor issues, but I bitched enough. Apple sent me a new one in 2009 for FREE. I just sold that one this summer for $700. I then bought a Macbook Air for $1300 ($600 with my old one sold). That means for predictably 8 years of owning a laptop, I will never be out of date, have spent $1900, and probably be able to sell the Air for at least $500 in 2014. So, in 8 years, $1400, cost of ownership of my computer will be $175 a year. That ain't bad. That's how much I spend on upgrading my phone every year. That's 3 months of cell phone service for me.

I know this won't be the same for everyone. But it's something to consider. How much is your Dell going to sell on craigslist or ebay or kijiji for in 3 years time? I bet it's going to be worth less than 50% of its purchase cost. Your Macbook will sell for over 50% of its purchase cost, then wash, rinse, repeat.

Same thing goes for the iPhone. I just sold my year old iPhone 4 for $450. Try and sell your year old HTC Desire or similar for that, I dare you. There have been 100 devices released since yours. Some have a 3D camera, some have a 6" screen, some have surround sound. Anything that appealed to you in your original Android device has been copied 20 times, and improved at least 10 times. Why the fuck would anyone want your old phone? It doesn't have a single thing that a new one has to offer.

As for the iPods and iPads. For some reason, these things don't hold their value worth a fuck. They're not worth buying unless you have a very good justification for needing one. I'm trying to sell my iPad right now and I haven't owned an iPod in years. They're good devices, but unless you need it, they're not necessarily worth buying over the competition. These devices, as alot of people have said here, are toys, and hold the resale value of your used Power Ranger.

Anyway, I didn't mean for this to turn into a rant. Just something to consider when you're buying electronics next time you're wondering if that Macbook is really worth the extra $400 pricetag. Chances are, in 3 years you'll be ahead.

As for people who would try a tablet if they weren't so expensive: Take a look in your local classifieds, I bet you'll find an iPad at a pretty good price in there to try out. Then if you don't like it, you can probably sell it in a few months for a $50 to $100 loss at most.

People who don't want a tablet, you're probably not missing out on anything. If it didn't look appealing to you, you probably wouldn't use it.

To those who ask, yes, I give Steve Jobs reacharounds every Tuesday and Thursday.

 

I didn't look into the desire too much. I was running off of a kijiji ad asking $250 OBO for a desire. So I was seeing 50% or less. That includes an otterbox too. So purchase cost was actually ~$570. Not bad though, getting $340.

It was Hawke, with an E, asshole. God. We had something special ok?

 

Hey techies,
I'm stuck in the grips of a dilemma at the moment. I'm going to either get an iPad 2 or the Samsung Galaxy 10.1 and I've been stewwing the pro's and con's around my head all day for each. This will solely be a professionally used device for my flight publications and anything having to do with aircraft; that in mind, I'm going to get either the 16 or 32gb wi-fi version. I really like the customization of the Galaxy, the familiarity of the Droid software as I have a Droid phone, and the ease of use of the Honeycomb software. I also like the Ipad's simplicity, its organization, and its massive support network.

I don't like the momentary lag from switching screens or loading programs of the Galaxy and it seems to be just a little more complicated program wise. I don't like how cartoonish the iPad runs and almost that it seems unprofessional to use in the work place.

75% of my fellow pilot who have tables have the iPad, but those who don't have it don't regret buying their respective machine. Almost everything else between the two seems comparable, excluding the Flash software on the Galaxy.

Anyone have any advice on breaking the stalemate other than just playing with each and my personal preference?

 

I bought an HP TouchSmart tablet before the iPad was even released. That is their laptop (with a 12.5" touch screen) and the screen flips around and then closes with the display facing up. It ran Windows. I was using that until the iPad came out. I take the iPad with me when I am travel because it is light and pretty much does everything my laptop does. If I have to go on site and need to do heavy development or coding, then I take my trusty MacBook. I recently sold the HP TouchSmart because it really didn't offer that much more than the iPad while being heavier and a shorter battery life.

I like touch screen systems. It feels very natural to me. My desktop system is an HP all-in-one 24" touch screen system. I am waiting / hoping for Apple to develop a touchscreen computer or monitor and I can finally dump windows forever. If you know anything about Apple's plan for touch screen support, please PM me. It is the only thing that is keeping me on Windows right now.