Is the ipad just a toy?

[steadysignal]

Could the ipad be useful for students or work with the pages app?

anyone use an ipad for school or work?

this has been asked and answered many times now.

 

[toddybody]

It is what you use it for...in my case a "toy", but there are plenty of examples to tout it's professional capabilities. That said, I'd use a MB for heavy word processing/note taking...Notes is a decent app, though overpriced IMO.

 

[736dave]

What's app did you use for take a notes?

Notes Plus is very promising. Mixes text and ink.

Export to Evernote when done, in lieu of a decent file system. Evernote will index your handwriting as well as your text.

Use Goodreader if you have to markup something. It only let's you markup PDF, so use PDFprinter. Not entirely a seamless experience but it works. Again, export to Evernote when done.

Some people may prefer FastFinga over Notes Plus. The UI is not as sexy, but is available on iPhone as well as iPad and is good for handwritten notes, text, and ink. The ink happens on a different layer and is not very smart, but It is the only text and ink app I know that doesn't constrain you to page sizes. Again p, export to Evernote for indexing and storage.

 

[4DThinker]

Is an iPad a toy? Only if you bought one for your kids to play with. If you're a grown up, then an iPad is no more a toy than a DVD player, your TV set, your car, or the stove in the kitchen is. It's an appliance (Alliance between software (apps) and hardware).

 

[inkswamp]

A few days ago I used my iPad to connect to my company's network remotely using the built-in VPN and accessed one of our server's desktop via an RDC client from the App Store, and I was able to fix a problem affecting our users.

So, no, I'm thinking it's not a toy.

 

[cfs]

Depends---

When the first iPad came out I thought it was the dumbest thing I had ever seen. Then I realized that the iPad actually does all the things I was using a laptop for anyway.

Same here. I told myself I would never have one as they are not necessary. Then my father in-law bought me one. Now I can't imagine doing work without one. It has saved me so much time having one for work and it is also saving my shoulder instead of having to carry my laptop and multiple articles everywhere.
--CFS

 

[dacapo]

Not much of a toy if you ask me.

(Read: I love my iPad2, but it's mostly a content/media consumption device and an alternative content creation device a la the stylus & drawing apps. That's not quite my definition of a toy.)

 

[sumone]

While I don't own one personally I do tend to believe it tilts toward being more of a toy. To start I believe that I read that the number one use for the iPad is playing games. However, as a college student myself i'm still interested in getting one, however, considering that I will primarily use it as an entertainment device the $500+ price tag is pretty steep for me.

I don't think it will replace my laptop at all. However, I can see it replacing my netbook. I find my netbook to be really slow and the keyboard to be quite cramped. For this reason I don't use my netbook for any serious document writing, primarily surfing the net and viewing media. But I actually find my netbook to be slower than my iPhone so I see the ipad as a light weight alternative with a bigger screen than my iPhone and faster than my netbook.

JMO

 

[Mr. McMac]

For me it's definitely not a laptop replacement. So yes, for me it's an expensive toy.

 

[gkarris]

Is the ipad just a toy?

Could the ipad be useful for students or work with the pages app?

anyone use an ipad for school or work?

yes...

yes...

yes...

 

[kas23]

Like others have said. Definitely not a "toy", but certainly not a necessity or a "new device". You can actually do some light "work" on it, but this work can be completed on other convential devices (with likely more efficiently and power too).