iPad Drives Apple to New Highs in U.S. Customer Satisfaction Survey for Personal Computers

[SactoGuy18]

The problem with the iPad is the price: US$499 for the 16 GB Wi-Fi only version. At that price, for just a little more I could get a real laptop computer with 4 GB of RAM and 320 GB hard drive running Windows 7 Home Premium, the first really stable and decent version of Windows since Windows 2000 Professional, in my humble opinion.

 

[ericinboston]

Huh?

Not a personal computer? I'm an airline pilot for a major carrier. The iPad has fully replaced my laptop. I can generate the reports I need to, through my company's web portal. Access all company documents and references for our operations through the same secure portal. Download and store all my aircraft manuals and training documents as PDF's as well as annotate and mark them up. Access and communicate through our intranet-company mail system. Check flight, equipment and crew statuses. Additionally I manage my investments, bills and banking accounts through my iPad (critical in an industry that can have you on the road 50% of the year), receive my magazine subscriptions, read my books, and enjoy movies and TV while commuting on aircraft. And yes, enjoy gaming that bests a DS or gameboy (and I have owned both).

Sure...99% of what you said is web-based...and web-based "computing" has been huge for about 10 years now...and will continue.

I just can't come to understand how you must define personal computing. Unless you can't break from a mouse, or only consider personal computing to involve programs such as Turbo CAD and Adobe Suite 5, you are simply wrong. The iPad, for me, has actually put the "personal" back into computing. In my hands, on my couch, in bed, on a plane or in my grandmother's hands as she looks effortlessly at photos of her great-grand children, doing all of the things I most regularly do. That IS personal computing. To say otherwise is either disingenuous or simply ignorant. Which is what a review is when based on no personal experience. And your post makes clear you do not own one. Any movies you haven't seen or unread books you would like to additionally review while you are on a roll?

I agree with you and others that state many computing tasks have transitioned from thick client to web-based...as well as new web-based tasks being born (online banking, online shopping). However, there are still loads of thick client apps that simply don't port well to a tablet-based computer or web based system. Examples: MS Office (where you actually sit and type for hours), Audio editing, Video editing, Photoshop or other photograph editing, Winzip/Winrar to compress files, FTP access, chat software, backup/restore software, and of course the numerous web-based applications that either require Flash or require a browser that is better/more powerful than Safari. Those are a few examples.

As an owner of an iPhone 3GS, the iPad is just an oversized iPhone while removing features (phone, camera, GPS, poorer display than 4G) and adding features like larger display. At the end of the day, my personal computing tasks still require me to do things that an iPad simply cannot do: share files via industry-standard devices/ports (no USB on iPad), print (coming sometime in 2011 I think), use a true keyboard rather than a virtual one (I like the iPad and iPhone virtual keyboard but my typing is about 1/2 what I can do on a normal keyboard), use a mouse that has far more accuracy than a touchscreen (touch is nice, but sometimes it is a real pain such as clicking on the wrong link) and most importantly, is free from an Apple-monopoly-approval-system world of applications. Again, these are SOME examples of what I use my personal computer for yet the iPad cannot perform.


And contrary to your belief, I have used an iPad...for about 45 minutes (as I already used to the iPhone) and it just isn't "magical" to me nor is it anything near what I would....let alone worth dropping $500 for the basic barebones model that can hold about 2 movies and 400 songs at once. You? Sure...maybe it fits your bill just fine. Me? I'll wait for much future versions when it truly may replace my desktop/laptop.

-Eric

 

[mlblacy]

No? Why then...

The iPad has nothing to do with these stats...it's not a computer.

Is it crushing net book sales?
What exactly do you think it is? Oh wait, I know... It's only a content consumption device, like a radio or tv, lol.

It has everything go do with these stats...
Cheers,
Michael

 

[mlblacy]

And what else do you expect...

What else do you expect from all those fanboys?

From the trolls?

 

[notabadname]

Sure...99% of what you said is web-based...and web-based "computing" has been huge for about 10 years now...and will continue.



I agree with you and others that state many computing tasks have transitioned from thick client to web-based...as well as new web-based tasks being born (online banking, online shopping). However, there are still loads of thick client apps that simply don't port well to a tablet-based computer or web based system. Examples: MS Office (where you actually sit and type for hours), Audio editing, Video editing, Photoshop or other photograph editing, Winzip/Winrar to compress files, FTP access, chat software, backup/restore software, and of course the numerous web-based applications that either require Flash or require a browser that is better/more powerful than Safari. Those are a few examples.

As an owner of an iPhone 3GS, the iPad is just an oversized iPhone while removing features (phone, camera, GPS, poorer display than 4G) and adding features like larger display. At the end of the day, my personal computing tasks still require me to do things that an iPad simply cannot do: share files via industry-standard devices/ports (no USB on iPad), print (coming sometime in 2011 I think), use a true keyboard rather than a virtual one (I like the iPad and iPhone virtual keyboard but my typing is about 1/2 what I can do on a normal keyboard), use a mouse that has far more accuracy than a touchscreen (touch is nice, but sometimes it is a real pain such as clicking on the wrong link) and most importantly, is free from an Apple-monopoly-approval-system world of applications. Again, these are SOME examples of what I use my personal computer for yet the iPad cannot perform.


And contrary to your belief, I have used an iPad...for about 45 minutes (as I already used to the iPhone) and it just isn't "magical" to me nor is it anything near what I would....let alone worth dropping $500 for the basic barebones model that can hold about 2 movies and 400 songs at once. You? Sure...maybe it fits your bill just fine. Me? I'll wait for much future versions when it truly may replace my desktop/laptop.

-Eric

I mentioned similar examples of software you won't run on on iPad, such as Adobe Suite or CAD programs. However, the things I do on my iPad in my list I could not practically accomplish on my iPhone, of which I have owned every generation. I use to travel with a MBP to achieve these things. And it truthfully did not do them all as well, or certainly as conveniently. The best example being the extensive number of professional manuals and publications which our company makes available via PDF. Interaction and reference to those on a laptop was relatively cumbersome. Additionally I use Pages to generate documents for my work that look every bit as professional as what I can create in Word. Absolutely not possible on an iPhone, Touch or PS3 that you even mentioned in the OP. This again comes down to your OP statement, that the iPad is not a PC. That is simply incorrect. You should remember what the great majority of users do in their personal computing "day". Most people are not editing movies or running Photoshop CS5 at $300-$500 per App when they "personally" compute. Those things are typically done by professionals or pro-sumers at a desk at the type of machine we once referred to as a "work station". What makes an iPad a "personal" computer is that it allows the MAJORITY of real-world users do what they really do with a computer for a MAJORITY of their needs - anywhere they want. I never said it was "magical" or that it does or runs everything. Just because you personally don't have a use for it does not disqualify it from that categorization as a personal computer.

 

[ericinboston]

This again comes down to your OP statement, that the iPad is not a PC. That is simply incorrect. You should remember what the great majority of users do in their personal computing "day". Most people are not editing movies or running Photoshop CS5 at $300-$500 per App when they "personally" compute. Those things are typically done by professionals or pro-sumers at a desk at the type of machine we once referred to as a "work station". What makes an iPad a "personal" computer is that it allows the MAJORITY of real-world users do what they really do with a computer for a MAJORITY of their needs - anywhere they want. I never said it was "magical" or that it does or runs everything. Just because you personally don't have a use for it does not disqualify it from that categorization as a personal computer.

Huh? I did not list apps that were $300-$500 (ok, maybe Photoshop but you could do PSE for $75). And since when is a Mac Mini or iMac a Prosumer?...since it SHIPS with iDVD and iMovie?! That's what I'm talking about...the millions of people out there who pull in their camcorder movie, do some quick edits, and push out a dvd or final project to Youtube. And the folks who have to actually type for more than 5 minutes at a time...using Word or Excel or Powerpoint. And the people who want to transfer files/data to/from the personal computer (let me know when the iPad allows me to email a 700MB file).

The iPad may claim it can do video editing but it pales in comparison to even the cheapest apps one would run on a Windows or Mac computer...and no, not workstations. My 3 year old $550 Dell with its quad core chip and 3GB of RAM and 7200RPM drive runs perfectly fine...no need for workstation class units you talk of.

I stand by my opinion (and likely industry fact) that an iPad is not classified as a personal computer. One survey seems to think so, however, most people/industry analysts do not.

Again, SOME DAY when the tablet INDUSTRY is in full swing, the broad definition of a personal computer may change. But currently, the iPad does not offer 100% or even 90% of what a TYPICAL personal computer (defined before the launch of iPad) offers. Again examples are industry standard (USB ports), ability to upgrade storage, real keyboard, lack of an "approval" process methodology to get an application, ability to print.

You seem to think I hate the iPad. I don't.

-Eric

 

[JAT]

And contrary to your belief, I have used an iPad...for about 45 minutes (as I already used to the iPhone) and it just isn't "magical" to me nor is it anything near what I would....let alone worth dropping $500 for the basic barebones model that can hold about 2 movies and 400 songs at once. You? Sure...maybe it fits your bill just fine. Me? I'll wait for much future versions when it truly may replace my desktop/laptop.

-Eric

Why would a tablet replace a desktop? Maybe in some magical future when flash memory is cheap. I can see a time when a tablet has the computing power to take over some tasks that they currently can't really do, as you enumerated. But the storage? Nah. (also don't believe in the cloud utopia that people seem to assume is coming soon)

 

[notabadname]

I stand by my opinion (and likely industry fact) that an iPad is not classified as a personal computer.

You seem to think I hate the iPad. I don't.

-Eric

No, you don't hate the iPad. You only have this contempt for it as a personal computer. But that contempt is irrelevant, as is your reluctance to accept that label. PC Magazine, not known for Apple "fandom", has already called it a "game changer in personal computing" and has had more than one article on the iPad as such, and both its performance, as well as limitations. It even has a great article on it's cannibalization of the net book market. But perhaps you don't consider those personal computer either.

Computer: a programmable machine that receives input, stores and manipulates data/information, and provides output in a useful format

And it is for personal use. Uhhhmmm, that would make it, by definition, a personal computer. I will stick with PC Magazine and well accepted (even within the "industry") definitions of a computer and what personal means, your clear bias aside.

 

[JAT]

You guys are arguing over your opinion of what definition various journalists are using. (if I dare use that word) Maybe you should just ask the authors?

 

[ericinboston]

Uhhhmmm, that would make it, by definition, a personal computer. I will stick with PC Magazine and well accepted (even within the "industry") definitions of a computer and what personal means, your clear bias aside.

round and round we go. In my original post I stated that if the iPad is going to be lumped into the "personal computer" category, then a slew of other devices should. Are you going to tell me a PSP is personal computer? Or a calculator? Or a cell phone or iPhone? Or a GPS? What about my iPod? Sure, by it's purest definition of "computer" and your addition of "personal" we could list a million different devices...but they are not clearly "personal computers" in the way a personal computer has been designed/defined/used since the late 1970s nor your pseudo definition of stating that these items are for personal use.

Go ahead and split hairs. Right now, the iPad is not a personal computer. Yeah, it's a game changer...it's a great iPhone Large or iPod Touch Large...but it still fails to do and support a lot of functionality that a laptop/desktop/netbook computer provides (examples I listed before). If you really think about it, at the end of the day it is just a big version of the Touch or iPhone with (as I mentioned earlier) a few missing features. So unless you are going to convince me that an iPhone or Touch is a personal computer, please don't try to convince me that an iPad is a personal computer.

 

[notabadname]

round and round we go. In my original post I stated that if the iPad is going to be lumped into the "personal computer" category, then a slew of other devices should. Are you going to tell me a PSP is personal computer? Or a calculator? Or a cell phone or iPhone? Or a GPS? What about my iPod? Sure, by it's purest definition of "computer" and your addition of "personal" we could list a million different devices...but they are not clearly "personal computers" in the way a personal computer has been designed/defined/used since the late 1970s nor your pseudo definition of stating that these items are for personal use.

Go ahead and split hairs. Right now, the iPad is not a personal computer. Yeah, it's a game changer...it's a great iPhone Large or iPod Touch Large...but it still fails to do and support a lot of functionality that a laptop/desktop/netbook computer provides (examples I listed before). If you really think about it, at the end of the day it is just a big version of the Touch or iPhone with (as I mentioned earlier) a few missing features. So unless you are going to convince me that an iPhone or Touch is a personal computer, please don't try to convince me that an iPad is a personal computer.

You completely discredit your stance and knowledge of electronics if you can not distinguish the significant differences between a phone, PSP, PS3 and an iPad. Truly laughable point. What is the point of even having the discussion. Again, PC Magazine has referred to the iPad a a personal computer. I will take their industry accepted expertise and lack of bias over your clear agenda. Call it, and the Nintendo DS anything you like.

 

[Veri]

People who don't like Apple always have the choice to move to Windows, but moving the other way is often not possible. So you are going to get fewer dissatisfied Apple users.

Interpreted with more depth, this survey may simply confirm that people who are not happy with Windows understand that they would be even worse off with OS X (lack of software, cost, lack of expansion options, whatever).

 

[wirelessmacuser]

You got to stop this. No-one gives a crap about you and your bloody shares. Any chance you get, no matter how out of context, you'll try and crowbar your shareholder status in.

Look, we know you took a shot at the glorified casino that is the shares market and you got lucky. BFD. Every day I make a wad of cash in a private clinic but I don't feel the need to ram it down everyone else's throat.

Quite a display of emotion...

 

[Mainsail]

Wow! Some of these posts really slay me. It's as if some folks are saying; "I own an SUV, and it has everything I need so everyone needs an SUV"

but what if I don't need 4 wheel drive?

"doesn't matter...you are an idiot if you don't buy an SUV"

But millions of folks have bought minivans.

"they are sheeple and minivan fanboys"

But these people seem very happy with their minivans

"they are just trying to impress their neighbors with their sexy minivans"

Really, you think my neighbor is going to be impressed by my minivan

"no, because only idiots buy mini vans instead of SUVs"

 

[Veri]

Wow! Some of these posts really slay me. It's as if some folks are saying; "I own an SUV, and it has everything I need so everyone needs an SUV"

Curses, car analogies. Is the iPad the SUV or the minivan? Also, in b4, "No, it's the tricycle."

 

[JediZenMaster]

I mentioned similar examples of software you won't run on on iPad, such as Adobe Suite or CAD programs.

Guess you didn't get the memo about Autodesk making it's CAD software available for the iPad and iPhone.

 

[Mainsail]

Curses, car analogies. Is the iPad the SUV or the minivan? Also, in b4, "No, it's the tricycle."

Well, I see this attitude from folks justifying any electronic purchase or lack thereof. But, more recently, it seems like the ipads are the minivans, and the SUV owners are folks who can't see why anyone would want a minivan, since they do not.

Maybe I should have used an economy car vs SUV.......or maybe, I shouldn't use a car analogy at all.

I just get tired of the my needs = your needs mentality.