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Is the iPad really just an unneeded luxury item?

That thread is ridiculous. "Netbooks are better *crying* much more practical *crying* Apple is overpriced *crying*"

Don't even bother with tools like that.

Anyone who's ever used a netbook before knows how incredibly mediocre and underwhelming it is, even moreso when you compare it to an iPad.
 
But wount it be awesome if you could do web design on an ipad like use google sites or dreamweaver? It would be so practical if Jobs had a greater vision for it than just to make money but to really spring computing forward (at least in the tablet department). Dont you think?
 
Discussions like that go nowhere because almost everything can be deemed a luxury. Does any one really need an MP3 player? Why do you need a cellphone? Do you really need a TV? Why does one need a game console? Why do you need anything more than a cheap netbook? The list is endless.

Yet how many people do you see in a MP3 discussion or a home theatre or an XBox thread that claim "you guys are all wasting your money in a luxury good?" not often. Yet that is what's happening to tablets. I think a big part of it is simply because it's an Apple-created category and there's a lot of hatred towards Apple. If it wasn't dominated so much by Apple, there would've been less animosity towards tablets. Also a "media tablet" is a new thing that hasn't beed used fully by many and they don't see the needs for themselves.
 
It is of course a luxury just like most gadgets. Probably even mores than many...I don't do anything on it personally that I couldn't do on my laptop or another gadget I already owned,

The iPad form factor is just nicer than a laptop or desktop for some tasks like surfing on the couch, reading etc. But buying a gadget for that kind of convenience is definitely a luxury.

But that's why we work hard to make decent money...so we cann afford luxuries, be it non-essential gadget, nice vacations or whatever.

But tablets are a luxury device in any case. I'm still unsure I really need one after having one for a couple weeks as I still use my pcs more. But I enjoy it nevertheless.
 
Stirolak26 said:
Why do so many ppl think these like take these guys for example:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/946850-iphone-ipod/58669788

Do consumers still believe netbooks are more useful or practical with movable parts and specs almost just as low?
Click to expand...

As someone who routinely uses a computer to:

edit web pages
write lots of Word documents
do photo editing and graphic design
transfer data to/from flash cards and external HDDs
do video conversion

Then yes the iPad still under performs compared to a netbook. It's much easier to type on a real keyboard. (The iPad's virtual keyboard still gets sluggish at times and can't keep up with fast typing. Plus no tactile feedback. And the always having to switch to the alternate screen for common punctuation characters: ? & % as well as numbers becomes tedious with lots of typing.) Not being able to transfer images from my digicam and do any real sort of photo correction and compression before uploading to the web is a problem. Not to mention I've yet to find a decent WYSIWIG web editor/FTP upload solution like my netbook's Expression Web/Filezille/PaintShop triple combo.

But the biggest killer for me is that the iPad lacks the ability to do split screen multitasking. On my netbook I can play a video in one corner of the screen while working in MS Word. I can have my WYSIWIG editor open on one side of the screen and my browser in another with Filezilla running in the background uploading files.

The one thing tablets excel at is they make much nicer portable devices for consuming data. I prefer to read books on them, play games with the touch screen and it's always a hoot to use it as a portable TV set. Surfing the web is a more enjoyable experience than a tiny phone screen, but even that has limitations. (Atomic Web does make it better with the tabbed browsing but the lack of Flash does pop up at the most annoying times. Not to mention anytime you hit a web form where you have to input data you run afoul of the virtual keyboard's quirks.)

So when I travel I still bring my netbook along for content creation sessions at a desk/table, but I have my iPad for when I want to get away from the desk.

I guess if I were a student, I'd carry the iPad to class with me (like I would a phone or PDA/Touch). I could look something up real quick and jot down some notes. Keep up with my e-mail and social networking. But then I'd go back to the dorm for my real computer. And when I intended to do a lot of content creation I'd take my netbook out with me. Like for long sessions in the library working on that thesis paper.

Maybe when tablets get more powerful and we have a better keyboard/external data input the tablet will supplant the netbook. If anything I think what will supplant the netbook are very affordable ultraportable laptops. The 11-13" screens.
 
fertilized-egg said:
Discussions like that go nowhere because almost everything can be deemed a luxury. Does any one really need an MP3 player? Why do you need a cellphone? Do you really need a TV? Why does one need a game console? Why do you need anything more than a cheap netbook? The list is endless.

Yet how many people do you see in a MP3 discussion or a home theatre or an XBox thread that claim "you guys are all wasting your money in a luxury good?" not often. Yet that is what's happening to tablets. I think a big part of it is simply because it's an Apple-created category and there's a lot of hatred towards Apple. If it wasn't dominated so much by Apple, there would've been less animosity towards tablets. Also a "media tablet" is a new thing that hasn't beed used fully by many and they don't see the needs for themselves.
Click to expand...

But that thread is in the apple section of gamefags, meaning its in the iphone section so why would they have so much animosity toward it?

ravenas said:
As someone who routinely uses a computer to:

edit web pages
write lots of Word documents
do photo editing and graphic design
transfer data to/from flash cards and external HDDs
do video conversion

Then yes the iPad still under performs compared to a netbook. It's much easier to type on a real keyboard. (The iPad's virtual keyboard still gets sluggish at times and can't keep up with fast typing. Plus no tactile feedback. And the always having to switch to the alternate screen for common punctuation characters: ? & % as well as numbers becomes tedious with lots of typing.) Not being able to transfer images from my digicam and do any real sort of photo correction and compression before uploading to the web is a problem. Not to mention I've yet to find a decent WYSIWIG web editor/FTP upload solution like my netbook's Expression Web/Filezille/PaintShop triple combo.

But the biggest killer for me is that the iPad lacks the ability to do split screen multitasking. On my netbook I can play a video in one corner of the screen while working in MS Word. I can have my WYSIWIG editor open on one side of the screen and my browser in another with Filezilla running in the background uploading files.

The one thing tablets excel at is they make much nicer portable devices for consuming data. I prefer to read books on them, play games with the touch screen and it's always a hoot to use it as a portable TV set. Surfing the web is a more enjoyable experience than a tiny phone screen, but even that has limitations. (Atomic Web does make it better with the tabbed browsing but the lack of Flash does pop up at the most annoying times. Not to mention anytime you hit a web form where you have to input data you run afoul of the virtual keyboard's quirks.)

So when I travel I still bring my netbook along for content creation sessions at a desk/table, but I have my iPad for when I want to get away from the desk.

I guess if I were a student, I'd carry the iPad to class with me (like I would a phone or PDA/Touch). I could look something up real quick and jot down some notes. Keep up with my e-mail and social networking. But then I'd go back to the dorm for my real computer. And when I intended to do a lot of content creation I'd take my netbook out with me. Like for long sessions in the library working on that thesis paper.

Maybe when tablets get more powerful and we have a better keyboard/external data input the tablet will supplant the netbook. If anything I think what will supplant the netbook are very affordable ultraportable laptops. The 11-13" screens.
Click to expand...

But do you think Jobs has larger vision for the iPad than the other iDevixes and these things will eventually come or is he just a money maker who wants to make the most profits with the least R&D (work)? And will justblet the market play out and let the iPad just continue being a big iPhone?
 
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Luxury is in the eye of the beholder. A toilet is a luxury item in Some third world countries. Water is a luxury Item in the desert. Cars were a luxury item in soviet Russia.

If you have a House with wooden beams and Concrete floor, a cell phone and a car, then You are chock full of luxury items. Owning an iPad pales in comparison.

Sent from my iPad2
 
edit web pages
write lots of Word documents
do photo editing and graphic design
transfer data to/from flash cards and external HDDs
do video conversion
Click to expand...

But many of those can (or could) be done now. Some need more power and/or hardware upgrades to accomplish, others just need the software (apps) to do it.
 
Stirolak26 said:
But that thread is in the apple section of gamefags, meaning its in the iphone section so why would they have so much animosity toward it?
Click to expand...

I do see a lot of animosity towards Apple in Macrumors too ;) but I just think many aare too much of an expert in computing to see the tablets as a legitimate device and for them that's probably right but not for others.

To give you an example My wife loves using the iPad for transferring, cropping, making adjustments and uploading pictures to Flickr. She hates doing that on our PC or even Mac but she finds the iPad to be a perfect tool for that because the iPad makes the job easier and faster for her. So for her the iPad is a great content creation tool, better than a PC. However for those who love to dabble in Photoshop and need all the capabilities it's not enough.
 
Stirolak26 said:
But wount it be awesome if you could do web design on an ipad like use google sites or dreamweaver? It would be so practical if Jobs had a greater vision for it than just to make money but to really spring computing forward (at least in the tablet department). Dont you think?
Click to expand...

Well I think they have been trying to push the content creation side of things more with iPad2. We have Photoshop coming out for iPad this summer and we already had GarageBand and iMovie released.

The problem is what are the inherent limits of a small 9" screen for data input as well as consumption. I mean the keyboard takes up have the screen in landscape mode and it isn't even a full keyboard.

I have some of the same size issues when I go from my 10" Asus netbook to my 12" MSI ultralight. The 10" screen is just so bloody small for real work. 12" feels just big enough to see all the things I want. But who wants to carry around a 12" screen?

Honestly if we're talking about the future of tablet development, I can see a time when we have large smartphones and smaller tablets collide. Instead of 3.5/4" smartphones or 8-10" tablets, we'll have 5-7" datapads useful for content consumption (ebook reading, mobile games, portable video, etc.) and providing our communications hubs (mobile voice, videoconferencing and mobile hotspots, GPS, social networking). The datapads will live in our pockets, we all use bluetooth earwigs/headsets. Then when we get to our desks we plug the datapad in and it syncs with our work machines. Our info is synced to the cloud. This would be in 5-10 years time.
 
Mac.World said:
Luxury is in the eye of the beholder. A toilet is a luxury item in Some third world countries. Water is a luxury Item in the desert. Cars were a luxury item in soviet Russia.

If you have a House with wooden beams and Concrete floor, a cell phone and a car, then You are chock full of luxury items. Owning an iPad pales in comparison.

Sent from my iPad2
Click to expand...

Ditto...:)
 
TheWheelMan said:
But many of those can (or could) be done now. Some need more power and/or hardware upgrades to accomplish, others just need the software (apps) to do it.
Click to expand...

Have you tried editing/writing Word documents for a significant amount of time on an iPad? I mean an hour or more with over a 1000 words and inserted tables and graphics?

One of the first things I did when I bought my iPad1 was to trial various Office products. I own Pages (poor for integration with Windows Word users), OfficeHD and DocsToGo. None have proven to be as intuitive and useful for a lengthy editing session than good ol' MS Word on my netbook.

Not to mention getting the edited version off the iPad to a PC has proven to be a nightmare. I've synced to Dropbox, edited the same file in each of these programs and ended up with three different versions of the same file uploaded again to Dropbox. That's when I gave up and just decided to bring my netbook to work meetings.

The lack of an integrated file system has become a big problem for me of late.

Don't get me wrong. I love my iPad, but when I discovered a nice new and more powerful HP netbook for sale with coupon for $200 less than what I paid for my shiny new iPad2 I almost cried. Fortunately my work affords me the ability to own a few geek luxuries. And most definitely the iPad is a MUCH better option than a Kindle or other ebook reader (sans Color Nook). One reason I avoided the Kindle is because I thought it was too underpowered for that expensive a device. I don't see how people can surf the web on e-ink. But the iPad was the first ebook reader option that seemed worth the expense. It does ebooks beautifully (I do not read outside much to be bothered by glare and have never had an issue with screen brightness/eye strain) and sooooo much more.
 
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Funkymonk said:
yes. anyone that says no is a liar.


so what though? luxuries are nice to have
Click to expand...

Exactly. The only difference is that many are making a big point of the iPad being a luxury when they are perfectly willing to accept other luxury items - game consoles, expensive cell phones, TVs, MP3 players, fast computers, non-essential cars, etc.
 
CristobalHuet said:
That thread is ridiculous. "Netbooks are better *crying* much more practical *crying* Apple is overpriced *crying*"

Don't even bother with tools like that.

Anyone who's ever used a netbook before knows how incredibly mediocre and underwhelming it is, even moreso when you compare it to an iPad.
Click to expand...
But aren't you crying equally as loud by dismissing a product purely based on how much YOU don't like it?

I've owned Netbooks, other tablets, MacBook Air and standard win/Mac laptops. ALL of them excel in certain functions and are lacking in others. So at this point NONE of them are perfect but all of them are useful.

And as far as the iPad being a luxury device, then what's wrong with admitting that? If someone can't afford an iPad (in this country) they can get by just fine with a computer. But if someone can't afford a computer then they'll have a pretty tough time getting certain tasks done.
 
For me it is a toy. I had some extra money, I wanted one, I bought one. Simple as that.
 
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