I've been thinking the same thing. My last 3 macs were laptops. The iPad is a game changer for me in the sense that I don't think I'll be buying laptops anymore.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Tablet Media Event Today: 'Come See Our Latest Creation'
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
- Status
I've been thinking the same thing. My last 3 macs were laptops. The iPad is a game changer for me in the sense that I don't think I'll be buying laptops anymore.
User experience might justifiably be factored into the equation, although, $499 is pretty darn reasonable for the base model, especially so, considering it's brand.
Perhaps we'll know more about its feature set and options once it is actually released.
No doubt, my grandma will appreciate the screen size, simplicity, fluidity, and responsiveness. YMMV
Totally. I'm sick of doing word processing and stuff on my MacBook. I used to think I could just get away with just a MacBook, and not have an iMac, but my neck is seriously starting to hurt from all this looking down. I want to do a major shift and start doing all my intensive work on an iMac, and then just use the iPad for light work, instead of trying to do it all on a 13" MacBook Pro. Some people are saying the future of the iMac is bleak though? Thoughts on that martin84?
As a completely unrelated comment. I believe Apple totally have their shiz together now, and have conquered all they can conquer for the time being. I truly hope that their next goal is do create the "10 foot living room experience" that Bill Gates and Steve Jobs have talked about during one of their combined interviews. Maybe an AppleTV evolution?
Why are you still here Aiden? Seriously?
We all appreciate someone with good knowledge on these forums but you have nothing good to say about anything relating to Apple products. Barely a post goes by without you being obnoxious about Apple.
Do you really have so little else to do that you have to vent your spleen on here?
That's weird because I've had a barrage of text messages and emails off friends asking me if I knew any more about it and when it'd be available.
These are by and large, people that are no Mac users. One has an iPhone. Pretty much all of them love the idea of the iPad though.
Maybe your circle of friends just isn't the intended audience for this product. I don't think that's hard to appreciate.
Peculiar, isn't it?
Whether her jaded haughtiness is due to some latent contempt toward S Jobs himself, or to some bizarre need to exert self-importance, the snide digs keep churning out, like clockwork.
Pessimism without walls.
bluetooth PAN
I hope it supports PAN profile. It would be nice to use a non 3G iPad with an iPhone or another phone with bluetooth tethering.
I hope it supports PAN profile. It would be nice to use a non 3G iPad with an iPhone or another phone with bluetooth tethering.
I actually think the iPad is going to increase iMac sales because a lot of people are thinking the same way we are. For what it is, the iMac is actually a really good deal. But personally, the problem I have with iMacs is that every 2 years you have to buy a new screen that you don't need. The lower end iMacs aren't too expensive, so I wouldn't mind it that much, but do I really want to spend the money on a 27" screen that I'm only going to use for a few years?
If specs aren't a concern, the mac minis have the same specs (for the most part) as the 13" MacBook Pros for ~$700 less and you can upgrade your monitor under your own conditions. So here's the problem: do you want a notebook spec'ed desktop, a decent but unnecessary iMac (the screen), or a powerful but expensive Mac Pro? Before the iPad, I didn't really understand everyone asking for a Mac Pro mini tower. Now I totally get it.
As for your current situation, maybe spend $300 for a decent monitor, keyboard, and mouse setup. That way, you have the portability of the laptop, but a desktop experience when at your desk. Try the iPad out and see if you could really get away with it as your only portable "mac." When the MacBook Pro is at the end of its legs, you'll know exactly what you need.
I was going to buy a new iPod Touch and write that off as a business expense too.
We all know how that turned out.
We do? How did it turn out?
Uh, I'm over 50, been using an iPod touch for years.
There was a little invention a few years ago that helps a lot. It's called eyeglasses (not iGlasses), you may have heard.
It ranges from Mac technorati like us on MacRumors, occasional Page 1 viewers, and yes grandmothers that heard about this on the news. It haven't built some strange group of jaded Mac users.
No updates besides the iPad and a minor bump to the iPhone OS to 3.2
What.
If the iPad was "essentially a computer" i wouldnt have to hack it to install 3rd part apps on it.
If Jailbreaking proves anything its that the iPad is indeed a giant iPod, complete with all the restrictions and limitations of the Touch/iPhone.
My desktop actually is a computer and i dont have to hack it to install 3rd party software, so i fail to see the parallel with the iPad.
Will definitely be waiting on version 2 or 3 of this. I feel like Apple rushed to market with a subpar product. It is missing too many features to replace my 249 dollar PC netbook that can multiask and handle flash and has also has two usb ports.
Indeed!
I have an MSI Wind Hackbook that serves multiple purposes. Day to day, it's always on and is our music server, sending music via airtunes all around the house and accessible via the remote app on iPhones and touches. The screen is set to sleep after a minute of inactivity and because of the atom processor, the electricity draw is minimal.
I use the USB ports to charge Xbox controllers and other USB chargeable items. When we go away somewhere I don't feel I want to risk taking my Macbook pro, the hackbook comes instead...If it gets lost / stolen, no big deal. If it stays at home while we're away, it runs periscope which keeps an eye on the house and sends us a picture every few hours or if there's movement....Again, if we're broken into and it gets stolen, no big deal.....Hopefully the last picture it sends shows us who the bugger that stole it was.
It's a really useful thing to have and if Apple made a netbook with similar capabilities but in a nice machined aluminum case I would buy it in a heartbeat. Steve Jobs said that Netbooks don't do anything better but ours is perfect & does several jobs the iPad can't do.
WOW!
You just summed up everything I've been thinking and telling people about this device in just 2 sentences.
And btw, just for the Fanboys who probably think I'm spamming Apple hate,
I WAS a DAY 1 iPHONE BUYER!
Steve Jobs said that netbooks don't do anything better because Apple doesn't sell a netbook.
Didn't he once say "nobody wants a tablet"? And that nobody wants video on an iPod? According to Jobs, nobody can figure out what they want until he decides they do.
I've taken a few days to think about it and I still don't think I could buy a first generation ipad.
I can get over the fact that ipad sounds like a feminine sanitary product but still no multitasking??? come on Apple you can do better that that.
I know people are divided on Flash support, but so many sites use it for things other than ads, it really is an important format for the web.
I also have a huge dislike of the UI. It really is just a large ipod touch and those little icons on that big screen look silly and such a waste of real-estate, hopefully they will either allow larger icons or more on the screen to fill in.
Heres hoping v2.0 is better
I can get over the fact that ipad sounds like a feminine sanitary product but still no multitasking??? come on Apple you can do better that that.
I know people are divided on Flash support, but so many sites use it for things other than ads, it really is an important format for the web.
I also have a huge dislike of the UI. It really is just a large ipod touch and those little icons on that big screen look silly and such a waste of real-estate, hopefully they will either allow larger icons or more on the screen to fill in.
Heres hoping v2.0 is better
Yeah, I'd like to see a touch of attention to customer requirements mixed with that reality distortion field, rather than just another device for buying stuff from iTunes.
Maybe though, the reason the iPad is so limited is because Apple don't want people buying it and thinking they own a Mac. And maybe there's some truth in that....Certainly a lot of Macbook owners could potentially do most of what they do on a tablet running OS X if it was Atom powered or equivalent.
But then I think, "So make the tablet we all want and price it nearer to the entry level Macbook".
Maybe though, the reason the iPad is so limited is because Apple don't want people buying it and thinking they own a Mac. And maybe there's some truth in that....Certainly a lot of Macbook owners could potentially do most of what they do on a tablet running OS X if it was Atom powered or equivalent.
But then I think, "So make the tablet we all want and price it nearer to the entry level Macbook".
There was a recent article on Mac Rumors Page 1 noting that All-in-One computers were seeing strong growth as of late and many companies were planning new launches in that form factor, so I think the iMac is safe.
This. The iPad just feels like a means to sell us more stuff through the various stores. Apple wants to get their slice of the pie every way possible, and its not really helping the consumer when they have to jailbreak just to get rudimentary features like multi-tasking.
If the iPad were not a computer, you wouldn't be able to install 3rd party apps onto it, period.
We're referring to hardware here, not OS restrictions.
While I was certainly disappointed, it is hard not be after all of the hype, I think that people are being remarkably short sighted about this device. This will change computing if it gets into enough users hands. Price was the biggest impediment to that and it looks like they have solved that issue with the $499 entry point.
Yeah I wanted a camera and I wanted multitasking and maybe even some cool new interface. Fact is, none of that is needed. Camera is trivial since most people arent interested in video conferencing. Its just a nice to have. Multitasking I expect to be taken care of in OS 4.0, but its really only relevant with Pandora. Ok maybe if you are doing research on the interrnet while writing, but you still have your iphone? The cool new interface isnt necessary. To catch on, they had to make this thing as easy to use and inexpensive as possible. Some Minority Report interfce was not the way to do either of those.
This article puts it all in good perspective I believe. Enjoy!
http://joehewitt.com/post/ipad/
Yeah I wanted a camera and I wanted multitasking and maybe even some cool new interface. Fact is, none of that is needed. Camera is trivial since most people arent interested in video conferencing. Its just a nice to have. Multitasking I expect to be taken care of in OS 4.0, but its really only relevant with Pandora. Ok maybe if you are doing research on the interrnet while writing, but you still have your iphone? The cool new interface isnt necessary. To catch on, they had to make this thing as easy to use and inexpensive as possible. Some Minority Report interfce was not the way to do either of those.
This article puts it all in good perspective I believe. Enjoy!
http://joehewitt.com/post/ipad/
You need to look up the definition of a computer. My microwave has a computer in it too. That doesn't mean it's as useful as a PC or Mac.
The iPad is a big iPod Touch. Jailbreaking doesn't change this fact, and as soon as you mention it, you're out of the "masses" territory you were pushing.
The fact is, all these tablets are just fads. They haven't been selling for the last 2 years, and the iPad isn't going to change things around. This is another Macbook Air or Apple TV.
No, you need to look up the definition of a computer.
My microwave has difficulty downloading and installing apps, composing documents, sending email, surfing the web, editing photographs, and making spreadsheets, all the while listening to my music collection.
The iPad has the hardware and an OS capable of computing - this was the original point.
That doesn't mean it's as useful as a PC or Mac.
Whether it will be as useful as a PC or Mac was not the point.
Perhaps you are implying that the Apple ][ should logistically be demoted of its status of computer, since it is now less capable than an iPad.
I'd be less inclined to lump this tablet into the category of what hasn't been successful during the past two years - I recall the iPod entering the unsuccessful mp3 player arena, late, and doing well, regardless of the competitions' lack of sales.
Ironically, the tablet has't even approach the status of 'fad.' Perhaps this App store phenomenon will help things along, in this regard.
Instead of crying and complaining about my post, why not actually provide some good counter-points?
The point is, I, amongst thousands, possibly millions of others, want a tablet that runs Snow Leopard. And no, it's not called a "MacBook" to the comment after yours. The MacBook doesn't have the properties of a Tablet that we want.
The idea would be to take the guts out of the MacBook Air (Mainboard, processor) and make that into a Tablet. My money is on the table for that one. But you see, it's not as simple as going out an getting the ModBook -- Apple still needs to connect the dots for a proper OS X for use as a tablet. It's almost there! (What, with it's 512x512 icons, stacks, etc.)
Why is this so hard to grasp? We're not "speculating" that we want a proper tablet... we actually WANT a proper tablet
- Status