I have been holding out on getting an iPad because I am a little worried about the eyestrain issues. I currently have a 13" Macbook Pro and while the screen is rather nice, my eyes get quite tired after reading longer texts. Is the screen on an iPad any different and easier on the eyes?
I have a 15" MacBook Pro and a iPad 3G 64GB. The screen on the iPad is better, but as far as eyestrain, I can't comment as I don't get it from either. I can read fine.
However, you can set the iPad for white text on black background setting, which should help to prevent eyestrain if you plan on reading for a long period of time.
http://www.tothepc.com/archives/invert-ipad-display-colors-make-it-white-on-black/
Incidentally, your MacBook (Mac OS) has the similar accessibility setting, too. Just press Ctrl-Option-Cmd-8 to switch the colors.
I used to use a similar function on my monochrome Palm devices when reading as white text on dark background made it easier to read my ebooks. (BTW, it's odd how long ebook readers have taken to become mainstream -- I was reading ebooks 8 to 10 years ago on Palm devices. At the time, I would have bet that it would have takes less than a decade for e-readers to become mainstream.)