It sure seems like people have EXACTLY answered your questions... you need to read them again.
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What's the point of the iPad? (honest question)
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It sure seems like people have EXACTLY answered your questions... you need to read them again.
You couldn't stop using it after you use it once. I had macbook air and iphone, and I have full of portability in computers. I can work / study anywhere.. but, I got iPad just for gaming... i know it's lame, but it's totally different playing games on iPhone. 
There are treadmills with enough space to hold a 12 inch laptop? Picture, please!
As for videos while ironing, iPad with smart cover or similar stand takes up about 2x9 square foot of surface area. A 12 inch laptop takes... I'm not sure, something like 9x11? That's a lot more surface area you need to find to place a laptop. So no, not any surface will work to set down a laptop.
You have an iPad, right? Download Zite and Flipboard and see for yourself. They are both free.
Other people have addressed this already, but I'd like to point out -- you know that outside pocket on many bags for holding magazines and newspapers? iPad fits great in those pockets. Easy in, easy out, much faster than having to open up the main compartment of your bag to get out your laptop. Maybe the 11 inch Air might fit in *some* of those pockets, but not as many as the iPad.
The main use I have for my iPad is to read -- both the web and ebooks. For years before the iPad came out, I would be reading something on my laptop and wish there were some way to detach the keyboard and just hold the screen so I could read. The keyboard would take a lot of space on my lap and there was just no way to pppsiton the screen at a comfortable distance and angle without the keyboard getting in the way. The iPad is the perfect reading device for me, and everything else it does is a bonus. But it's also my calendar and address book, todo list, game machine, video player, I use it to text people, and in a pinch I can use Pages to get some work done on the subway. And before you say an Air will work as well or better, see above about fitting in outside pockets. When the train rolls into my stop, I just sleep my iPad and slip into an outside pocket. It's just a lot more quicker move than putting away a laptop.
Of course, an iPad isn't for everyone, so it's perfectly fine if you feel it isn't for you. I hope this discussion is giving you some sense of why it is for other people.
The topic creator's avatar picture explains a load of reasons what the iPad does better than smaller portables and what you can do without the constraints of a computer laptop or desktop.
-- Music
2 The simple aspects off the top of my head.
1. As an electronic sheet reader for music stands and live performance. (No better way to take advantage over having to jumble all those papers on the stand...and you can't put any electronic but a tablet, phone, ipod, on a music stand. But you can't *read* the music on something smaller than iPad. Don't try this with a laptop or computer. They don't fit.
2. A music studio *anywhere* and even far away from a power source. Find yourself in paradise? A good camping trip? You can still make a hit song, or get started on a hit song for you to output your work and continue it on your computer. The screen-size is big enough to actually do real work and utilize multi-touch where the smaller devices do not give enough screen real-estate. You *can't* shrink your own hands. By far, my iPad is my most convenient and portable studio I have and has more use and portability than even my MB Air where I would still need to carry a separate keyboard in order to input music (both in musical note range and touch-sensitivity) as well as I can do with just the iPad. And a battery life while using the editors that's 3X as long or greater. It is my most technically diverse musical instrument that I can carry in my hands.
-- Music
2 The simple aspects off the top of my head.
1. As an electronic sheet reader for music stands and live performance. (No better way to take advantage over having to jumble all those papers on the stand...and you can't put any electronic but a tablet, phone, ipod, on a music stand. But you can't *read* the music on something smaller than iPad. Don't try this with a laptop or computer. They don't fit.
2. A music studio *anywhere* and even far away from a power source. Find yourself in paradise? A good camping trip? You can still make a hit song, or get started on a hit song for you to output your work and continue it on your computer. The screen-size is big enough to actually do real work and utilize multi-touch where the smaller devices do not give enough screen real-estate. You *can't* shrink your own hands. By far, my iPad is my most convenient and portable studio I have and has more use and portability than even my MB Air where I would still need to carry a separate keyboard in order to input music (both in musical note range and touch-sensitivity) as well as I can do with just the iPad. And a battery life while using the editors that's 3X as long or greater. It is my most technically diverse musical instrument that I can carry in my hands.
Reading them again won't help until the OP can grasp the odd fact that the world doesn't revolve around his narrow way of thinking. Just because he has no discernible use for an iPad, he can't understand why anyone else would. He seems unable to grasp the abstract concept of personal preference and choice. Just because two items can do the same thing does not mean one should not choose one over the other, nor does it make such a choice an inconceivable concept, except to the OP, that is.
The iPad is Different...
I purchased an iPad for my wife so that I would have more time on our MBP for doing "real" work, and she could do all of her Facebook and Email stuff on the iPad. But guess what? I use the iPad way more than she does. I prefer it for email, internet browsing, and video viewing, and she still prefers the MBP for email and Facebook. I have also found it very useful as a photography tool: I can use it to upload pictures off my camera without hauling around my laptop.
The main difference is the touchscreen. It just changes the way I interact with media and content in a way that is both intuitive and engaging.
I purchased an iPad for my wife so that I would have more time on our MBP for doing "real" work, and she could do all of her Facebook and Email stuff on the iPad. But guess what? I use the iPad way more than she does. I prefer it for email, internet browsing, and video viewing, and she still prefers the MBP for email and Facebook. I have also found it very useful as a photography tool: I can use it to upload pictures off my camera without hauling around my laptop.
The main difference is the touchscreen. It just changes the way I interact with media and content in a way that is both intuitive and engaging.
Numbers.
i do a lot of spreadsheets and data tracking as an IT manager. It is much more convenient to carry around a small laptop from station to station to check the productivity and maintenance of terminals. Yes it has its limitations, (no heavy pivot tables, and macros)
Its nice being able to do what i need to on my ipad with lte, and instantly its available on my Imac in my office, for more in depth formulas etc.
It seems like you are looking for a reason the ipad is made. It isnt made for a specific task, it just does things better/easier.
i can do math the long way, or with a calculator. either way i get the end results.
i do a lot of spreadsheets and data tracking as an IT manager. It is much more convenient to carry around a small laptop from station to station to check the productivity and maintenance of terminals. Yes it has its limitations, (no heavy pivot tables, and macros)
Its nice being able to do what i need to on my ipad with lte, and instantly its available on my Imac in my office, for more in depth formulas etc.
It seems like you are looking for a reason the ipad is made. It isnt made for a specific task, it just does things better/easier.
i can do math the long way, or with a calculator. either way i get the end results.
Ooookkkk, you answer this guys questions and he criques them like a college English professor. People like this will never be satisfiedl
lol judging from your responses, it sure sounds like you had specific responses in mind rather than wanting to hear why people might prefer an iPad
In your case, maybe sell it?
I use mine for taking notes in client meetings with NoteTaker HD, plus my client database is on it - much more portable to have than my macbook pro.
In your case, maybe sell it?
I use mine for taking notes in client meetings with NoteTaker HD, plus my client database is on it - much more portable to have than my macbook pro.
I find it amusing that about half of you perfectly answered my questions, while the other half of you replied with some sort of bizarre off-topic comment that tried to make some sort of attack on me personally, or made some totally inaccurate armchair psychoanalysis of me, or responders who got totally defensive about a perceived attack on their choice of device, or other weird responses like that.
Tons of people here clearly and perfectly answered the question, and they did it easily. If you don't have a good answer to a clearly stated question, then you shouldn't flip out and write weirdly off-topic responses, you should just move on to then next thread that has a question in it that you do have a good answer to.
So thanks to all the many of you who gave good on-topic clear answers to my questions.
Tons of people here clearly and perfectly answered the question, and they did it easily. If you don't have a good answer to a clearly stated question, then you shouldn't flip out and write weirdly off-topic responses, you should just move on to then next thread that has a question in it that you do have a good answer to.
So thanks to all the many of you who gave good on-topic clear answers to my questions.
And the rest of us find it amusing that you dismissed half of the answers so easily only because they didn't meet your ridiculously snobbish, intellectual expectations.
On the one hand, you do have a point. On the other hand, it's an Internet forum, what did you expect? Well, there *are* some forums that are strictly moderated and any off-topic snarking gets quickly deleted, but in the majority of forums, you've got to expect some amount of sniping and random off-topicness.
Totally. I just find it amusing that some people answered the questions perfectly and clearly, while some other people wigged out and zoomed straight out into crazy town.
So any reflections on the clearer answers? Otherwise you are just adding off-topic responses to your own thread, you know.
Well I gave most of my reflections in my comment above, but I'll go into more detail if you like. Yeah, from the people that answered my question, now I have a good picture of the types of jobs/situations/roles/uses that people feel the iPad is better at doing and exactly what it is about the iPad that makes it especially good for those uses. So again, I say thanks to the half of the people who gave clear on-topic answers to the question.
It's quite a variable question.
Some people may argue that the iPad has a lot of worth, that it's a cheaper alternative to a MacBook air, and the 'fanciness' that is the iPad's unique charm is justifiable to them. Others may consider the iPad a 'midway device' between a smartphone and a notebook/desktop, and juggling between these devices may seem cumbersome.
I do believe there is a point in owning and using an iPad! Although I am debating on whether to buy one myself (being an Android phone and custom built desktop owner), I see that the iPad could be a purely fun device, and doing any work on it would be enjoyable. The portability and battery life is phenomenal for a tablet.
The world's tablet market is still very, very young. I have played with the iPad in all 3 generations, my brother's Nook Color, and my friend's Galaxy Tab. All are unique in their own ways. And the market will continue to expand. So with the future in mind, I feel that the iPad will grow into a device well worth using.
Some people may argue that the iPad has a lot of worth, that it's a cheaper alternative to a MacBook air, and the 'fanciness' that is the iPad's unique charm is justifiable to them. Others may consider the iPad a 'midway device' between a smartphone and a notebook/desktop, and juggling between these devices may seem cumbersome.
I do believe there is a point in owning and using an iPad! Although I am debating on whether to buy one myself (being an Android phone and custom built desktop owner), I see that the iPad could be a purely fun device, and doing any work on it would be enjoyable. The portability and battery life is phenomenal for a tablet.
The world's tablet market is still very, very young. I have played with the iPad in all 3 generations, my brother's Nook Color, and my friend's Galaxy Tab. All are unique in their own ways. And the market will continue to expand. So with the future in mind, I feel that the iPad will grow into a device well worth using.
Well, if you mean the post in the first quote above, all you did was thank people who answered your question, and berate those who didn't, but I don't see anything about what you actually got from those answers.
Anyway, glad you now have a better sense of how and why people use iPads. Cheers!
And the above post, by you, proves my point. A straightforward answer which you rejected offhand. That answer was just as good as any other, and yet you rejected it and argued the points.
Please keep posting responses like that and prove my point all the more. The fact that you can't even grasp my point about the ridiculousness of your expectations is extremely entertaining.
In all fairness, the arguing should stop. The OP has been difficult, and while he does resemble a professor who keeps asking the question but making sure it is the "right" question like something out of "I Robot", let's get back on topic!
I had an Ipad... for about two weeks. I used it minimally for browsing movies and TV shows on the go. Actually utilizing it for the apps that work hand in hand with it (Watch ESPN, games, Weather etc.) worked very well in the instances I did not want to boot up my MBP or have it heat up on my lap.
I guess this can trace back to a few things;
Ease of use
Small size
Great screen
Fun to work with (unless you need to type something of significant length)
Now, that being said. I had returned it (almost for no reason, just at the time I did not feel that I had used it for justified things compared to the expense). I guess I had it in my mind that I would complete super important tasks with it other than work e-mails, but I did not. It was primarily an entertainment tool.
Now here is the catch; I am looking to get another one, at a cheaper price, to justify my use
I had an Ipad... for about two weeks. I used it minimally for browsing movies and TV shows on the go. Actually utilizing it for the apps that work hand in hand with it (Watch ESPN, games, Weather etc.) worked very well in the instances I did not want to boot up my MBP or have it heat up on my lap.
I guess this can trace back to a few things;
Ease of use
Small size
Great screen
Fun to work with (unless you need to type something of significant length)
Now, that being said. I had returned it (almost for no reason, just at the time I did not feel that I had used it for justified things compared to the expense). I guess I had it in my mind that I would complete super important tasks with it other than work e-mails, but I did not. It was primarily an entertainment tool.
Now here is the catch; I am looking to get another one, at a cheaper price, to justify my use
I bought it as a media consumer and replaced my Air with it. Love it. I wasn't expecting to use it at all at my job except as occasionally as an email machine but one niche that it has filled greatly is with math equations.
Haven't looked a program that improves things better yet but I'm on an upgrade project now that requires big meetings with math equations being discussed (loan calculation equations). Being able to draw them in the iPad then pass around is great.
Haven't looked a program that improves things better yet but I'm on an upgrade project now that requires big meetings with math equations being discussed (loan calculation equations). Being able to draw them in the iPad then pass around is great.