iPad 2 already changing the way I do things.

[Night Spring]

And maybe it's because it's not just time that matters but the experience. If I'm sitting on the couch or lying in bed, it's a hell of a lot easier and more pleasant to just grab a tablet. Much of it is the form factor. Propping a laptop up on my lap in bed or on a couch is unwieldy and awkward. Holding a tablet is like holding a book. Better experience.

Agreed. Also, MBA has a lid that has to be lifted open. I find I need two hands to do this, one to push the lid up and one to hold the body down. It's not *that* much of a bother, maybe, but it's still not as hassle-free as just picking up a tablet. Oh, and don't tell me you keep the MBA on your desk with the lid open all the time. If you do, you are just using it as a desktop, and that's a completely different use case from portability devices.

 

[mavis]

Easier to get out than a mba?? Do you guys hear yourselves?

Sure. It's much easier to sit on the couch googling something on the iPad than to get the MBA, open it up, place it on the table carefully, look up what I want to look up, then close it and take it back to the charger in the other room when I'm done (if for no other reason than I don't want my two kids to spill something on it if it's lying on the coffee table) ... So, yeah - the iPad is MUCH easier for stuff like that.

And maybe it's because it's not just time that matters but the experience. If I'm sitting on the couch or lying in bed, it's a hell of a lot easier and more pleasant to just grab a tablet. Much of it is the form factor. Propping a laptop up on my lap in bed or on a couch is unwieldy and awkward. Holding a tablet is like holding a book. Better experience.

Well said.

 

[spiderman0616]

Easier to get out than a mba?? Do you guys hear yourselves?

I never liked laptops, just simply because of the form factor. I have owned several over the years, and they have mostly been used in my house. I don't like using them on the train or airplane where personal space is already at a premium.

My iPad, on the other hand, goes everywhere with me. I realize the Macbook Air is very thin and light, but I still don't like the real estate that the keyboard needs.

If someone had made a decent tablet a long time ago, I would have ditched laptops by now. But the iPad is the first one I've liked.

 

[Blakjack]

It's a tablet. It runs apps. Get over yourself...

It's not magical, it does not poop out ice cream, it's a computer without keyboard and specific set of software.

You are Sad!

 

[BergerFan]

It's a tablet. It runs apps. Get over yourself...

It's not magical, it does not poop out ice cream, it's a computer without keyboard and specific set of software.

Indeed. It's thinner, lighter, faster... Those are all good things.
But when technology gets out of the way...

 

[vrDrew]

It's not magical, it does not poop out ice cream, it's a computer without keyboard and specific set of software.

It also doesn't cure cancer or write love sonnets. And, in fact, it doesn't even do things that are technically possible on a computing device: It doesn't project 3G holographic images. It doesn't even run Flash animations.

But thats really missing the point. What the iPad DOES do, it does incedibly well. And in a way that is refreshingly unique for a computer device. It does away with many of the annoyances we've come to associate with computer use: tedious boot times; buggy, laggy software, and impenetrable hierarchical file systems. And its touchscreen Operating system and wide screen estate gives software developers a whole new way of letting users interface with the world, media, and each other.

So: Yes. Its incredbily refreshing to read the words of someone who is experiencing the joy and exhilaration of using their iPad for the first time. Discovering, in a way no tech website review or magazine article can convey, how decidedly different the iPad is from anything that has gone before. Not everyone is going to get that feeling - their expectations may be different, or their needs outside of what the iPad can do.

This forum has more than enough posts from people whinging about backlight bleeding or Asian scalpers. I think we can read a few words of genuine enthusiasm without too much effort.

 

[Meanee]

It seems that most posts here are either "OMG I hate it, backlight bleeds worse than decapitated kitten" or "It's so magical, rabbits pull it out of the hat"

My point is, it's a great device. Some things it does, it does it amazingly well. Others are piss-poor bad. Most things fall in between. It's great that people love it, but stop making it sound like it's a perfect device. It, like any other device out there (Honeycomb tablets, playbook) can be improved.