I have to say that my first impressions about it being to small, (for me that is) hasn't changed. Example, using this forum, although I can read the posts in standard iPad size I find the text too small and I quickly end up with headache. I also struggle with doing searches or selecting news items etc. i.e. simply hitting the right area of the screen, my fingers are just to large for accuracy. I end up having to zoom in for almost everything. Using Safari in landscape I enlarge the forum replies so that a five or six line post fills most of the screen, so that is one post at a time. Now some may find that excessive but for me it is the most comfortable reading size without inducing a banging headache. I am used to FF set at 120% on a 21.5" screen. Yes I do wear spectacles but only a light prescription so no sarcastic replies about the opticians please.
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I find little comfort in squinting and hunching myself over such a small screen whilst sitting on the sofa, far better to sit in my comfortable leather office chair relaxed in front of my iMac in our purpose built home/office. Why would I want to read and answer emails in my own home on an iPad when I could do so on my iMac?
I totally agree about the small font in Safari. Wish Apple would implement an option to resize and reflow the font like in Android.
But as for your office chair being more comfortable than your sofa, well, for most people that's not the case -- my office chair, for instance, is nowhere near as comfortable as my sofa!
But again, I do agree that sometimes, it's easier to use the Mac than the iPad. For instance, I'm typing this post now on my iMac, because typing a post this long is easier on a regular keyboard.
I do agree the iPad isn't for everyone, and there's nothing wrong with people who don't "get" it. I have a friend with two children, but only the son likes the iPad -- mom and daughter think it's nice, but they don't really use it. The son, however, was ectastic when we gifted him with a used iPad 1, and reportedly hasn't put it down since. So it's something that just "clicks" with some people, while others are just puzzled by it, and some might see uses for it, but it isn't for them personaly.
Me, I use the iPad mostly to read -- I don't think I'll ever read a printed book again if I can find a ebooks version, all ebooks apps on the iPad allow font resizing, so I don't ever have to squint again.
😀 I also send most web articles to Instapaper -- again, font resizing, as well as no ads!
😛 The only thing I haven't found a good solution for is forum reading -- I've tried some forum apps, but found them confusing and hard to navigate. So for now, I just zoom in when I need to, and anyway, MacRumors is the only forum I visit regularly nowadays.
I also take the iPad with me wherever I go. I find that I can get a little work done on it while on the bus or subway, or I can read MacRumors while sitting at a coffee shop (I have the 3G iPad). Above are all examples where taking out a laptop, even the smallest MacBook Air, would be a big fuss, but the iPad can be snapped out and I can be reading or tapping away before I even think about it. I've read a lot of statistics saying iPads are mostly used at home, but to me the value of the iPad is being able to take it out, and it's so thin and light that most times, it's a no-brainer to take it with me, while with a leptop, I wouldn't take it unless I was sure I'd need it.
So if you ask me if things are easier to do on the iPad than an iMac or a laptop, I have to say no. The only thing I find better on the iPad is reading a novel. And if my office chair were more comfortable than my sofa, then who knows, maybe even reading a novel would be better on the iMac! But being able to read things while on the go, and even type out a draft of my work papers from time to time, is why I have the iPad. And also reading on my sofa, since the iPad is cheaper than a super-comfortable office chair would cost me.
😉
