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Why I never bought an iPad

N

NateJamesMeyers

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 10, 2010
97
0
I know the search function exists, and I know other people have said stuff like this but just stay with me here.

So obviously the iPad sells by the millions and its "revolutionary" and pretty dang sexy and honestly probably the best part about it is the tablet form factor. You can take this thing Everywhere. Well I have been in the market for a laptop or a tablet for a while now. At my high school the majority of the work we do is on the internet so I do need a device for myself. When I first started shopping for these the iPad was on my list. And as I researched the iPad started moving to the top of my list (apple does a great job on their website).

Now, being a high school student I don't exactly have buckets of cash to spend. I didn't have any money until after the iPad was on the top of my list followed closely by stuff like the galaxy tab. And as I started saving, the iPad started to seem like a bad choice. I realized I couldn't submit MS word documents through it and some parts of my school site wouldn't work. After about a month or so I completely removed it from my choices. THE COOL FACTOR WORE OFF!

So getting to my question. Have ANY of you bought an iPad for good reasons? lets be honest here. Or was it for very unimportant reasons mixed with how awesome it is? I don't think there are many people in my position that would have to save for a while for it. Most people that decide they want one just go out and get it pretty fast. Is the iPad a very thought out purchase for any of you?
 
I bought the iPad 1 original, and I regret it now. As the iPad 3 is going to be released soon, and everyone will move on to the iPad 4 :(

It's a nice device, but my iPhone can do more than the iPad
 
NateJamesMeyers said:
So getting to my question. Have ANY of you bought an iPad for good reasons?
Click to expand...

Define "good reasons."

(Good luck.)
NateJamesMeyers said:
lets be honest here. Or was it for very unimportant reasons mixed with how awesome it is?
Click to expand...

To some, that might very well be a pretty damned important reason.
NateJamesMeyers said:
I don't think there are many people in my position that would have to save for a while for it. Most people that decide they want one just go out and get it pretty fast. Is the iPad a very thought out purchase for any of you?
Click to expand...

Too subjective to call. Some people really want it or really need it and they get it asap. Others mull over it, agonize overt it, and once they pull the trigger and start using it, they couldn't believe they could have ever gotten on without one. Now reverse the situations and you'll get equally plausible scenarios.

Apple does have a knack for making products we never knew we needed (or wanted.)

Sometimes the line between a need and a want is too blurry to discern.

Sometimes we go in on the basis of a want. When we start using the product, it crosses over into needs.
 
Originally I felt the same way, but it's not about what the iPad cannot do. It's about what it can do better. You have to look at those iPad optimized apps. They are beautiful.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_10 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8E600 Safari/6533.18.5)

As a returnee to college in the last 2 years, I have found that many institutions are using the iPad. I have teachers that use them for everything, once I figured out how to get my books on them, I ordered on asap. I pick it up Tuesday morning and I can gO ahead and tell u it will be used fOr a million different things. I had am iPad one, the only reason I sold it was to recoup some mOney from my MBP purchase. Personally, I can't wait to get my new iPad 2, I will use it a Tom every day.
 
NateJamesMeyers said:
I know the search function exists, and I know other people have said stuff like this but just stay with me here.

So obviously the iPad sells by the millions and its "revolutionary" and pretty dang sexy and honestly probably the best part about it is the tablet form factor. You can take this thing Everywhere. Well I have been in the market for a laptop or a tablet for a while now. At my high school the majority of the work we do is on the internet so I do need a device for myself. When I first started shopping for these the iPad was on my list. And as I researched the iPad started moving to the top of my list (apple does a great job on their website).

Now, being a high school student I don't exactly have buckets of cash to spend. I didn't have any money until after the iPad was on the top of my list followed closely by stuff like the galaxy tab. And as I started saving, the iPad started to seem like a bad choice. I realized I couldn't submit MS word documents through it and some parts of my school site wouldn't work. After about a month or so I completely removed it from my choices. THE COOL FACTOR WORE OFF!

So getting to my question. Have ANY of you bought an iPad for good reasons? lets be honest here. Or was it for very unimportant reasons mixed with how awesome it is? I don't think there are many people in my position that would have to save for a while for it. Most people that decide they want one just go out and get it pretty fast. Is the iPad a very thought out purchase for any of you?
Click to expand...

Any large purchase like that is always thought out for me. I bought it after returning the iPod Touch, because I figured it's really what I was looking for and liked the fact that it was so portable and the screen was big enough to enjoy content. So yes, it was thought out.

I'm probably in the minority as far as product interest, though. I feel Apple's best items are their Macs, not their portable iOS devices/iPods. All of their products are great, but the Macs are the most useful and have the most depth to them.
 
Liquinn said:
I bought the iPad 1 original, and I regret it now. As the iPad 3 is going to be released soon, and everyone will move on to the iPad 4 :(

It's a nice device, but my iPhone can do more than the iPad
Click to expand...

You regret it now because new ones come out? wtf?!

I still have the iPad 1 and love it!
 
Lucky enough I'm out of university and have a stable job which makes my pocket money enough to get my annual iPad. I also keep my iToys in a decent state so the resell value is ok.

Beside the financials I use the iPad daily for email, Calendar, a mind mapper for notes taking in meetings, occasional Numbers, lots Safari. Kindle for books, some magazines for reading. And since a few days I try to understand GTD-concept and downloaded RTM (remember the milk).

So yes, iPad is not for everything: my PowerPoint slides and EXCEL monster I still have do make on my company desktop (Windows 7). In a worst case I can use Remore desktop or Citrix to connect my iPad to that world.

Back to you: maybe a refurbished MBA would fit better your needs ... or a Netbook from the "dark side"
 
I got the iPad for taking notes at university, and with iCloud coming this fall, I'll be able to view those notes on my iPhone while traveling on trains etc.

For me, the iPad has paid for itself due to the fact I have saved a lot of money buying ebook versions of set textbooks, and having them all on 1 device means I do not have to bring a shelf to uni to carry books in!

Also, I do not have folders anymore or files of work, as they are all done on my iPad, very convenient for me!
 
The iPad isn't yet meant to be a fully functional laptop. I thought when you did research about it you knew that?

The iPad is supposed to be used for consumption mainly and not creation. That doesn't mean that you can't create content, it just means you will have to find a workaround to get the work done.

At this stage the iPad is not for you based on your needs. You can get a laptop easily for $500 or less that can do all the content creation you want. Get a laptop and don't make a thread to make people convince you to buy an iPad.
 
i think the op made a good choice not to buy the ipad. it is a limited device that won't be able to meet everyone's needs and really ought to be considered more as a complement to a computer rather than a replacement. if you are in the market for a computer or an ipad and can only choose one, i recommend the computer.

that said, the ipad really shines in an academic environment. when paired with a bluetooth keyboard it gives you about twice the battery life of an mba, at a little over half the cost, with about the same amount of bulk. and, it doubles as an ereader. i've started several threads that you might be interested in if you have the money to invest in the device.
 
NateJamesMeyers said:
I know the search function exists, and I know other people have said stuff like this but just stay with me here.
Click to expand...

No. The fact that the search function exists is for the purpose of others to find similar threads to read the responses. It has little to do with what the OP actually says. The fact that this is a very similar thread to others simply means that there will be similar responses. The iPad, just like any other device, has its own limitations. What and how they matter to you is solely up to you and is nothing more than personal preference. You, like others in those similar thread, come to these forums to seek advice and a little of a "push" for others to convince you to buy the iPad, and when you do, it isn't long before you realize that you did not need it; because, if you did, you would not have needed this push in the first place.
 
NateJamesMeyers said:
So getting to my question. Have ANY of you bought an iPad for good reasons? lets be honest here. Or was it for very unimportant reasons mixed with how awesome it is? I don't think there are many people in my position that would have to save for a while for it. Most people that decide they want one just go out and get it pretty fast. Is the iPad a very thought out purchase for any of you?
Click to expand...

It was pretty much for how awesome it is/was. I didn't really have a need for it in the beginning but got one anyway. I won't go into how wonderful it is now or how it has replaced other devices, you asked my reasons for purchase and I answered.
 
I must admit, I bought the ipad 1 for my dad just because I got a really good deal (almost 50% off at that time)..

My dad rarely use it, he's not an old fashioned guy, only use it to check email and edit documents via dropbox and docs to go, that's it.

But recently I 'borrowed' it for a few days, and I must say I'm addicted, lol.

I jailbroke it, install a few cydia apss to make it easier to use. I'm using it to read manga with komik connect, browse the news with flipboard, watch tv shows and movies from my plex server with klexi, play some games..

I also got a few work done mapping some ideas I have on omnigraffle.

I didn't 'get' it the first time I bought it, but I think now I do.
 
Wow - 17 down votes for a perfectly reasonable post! People absolutely hate contrarians here. Surprise!
[ Awesome advice on keeping opinions to himself - wonder if that post would have come out of woodwork if he had just loved and bought the iPad and was stating an opinion about it!]

Anyhoo - I did not buy one because of the website compatibility (part of that is due to lack of Flash), poor multitasking experience, horrible notification system (watched a co-worker struggle due to it while using the iPad in work environment), lack of usable Wi-Fi sync and poorer integration with Google services.

Quite happy with my Galaxy Tab 10.1.
 
parapup said:
Quite happy with my Galaxy Tab 10.1.
Click to expand...

good to hear. i'm happy with my ipad. but, maybe i'll get a tab or some other android device next time. it depends on ios5 and the ipad 3. there's room out there for more than one kind of device.
 
palpatine said:
good to hear. i'm happy with my ipad. but, maybe i'll get a tab or some other android device next time. it depends on ios5 and the ipad 3. there's room out there for more than one kind of device.
Click to expand...

Likewise - iOS5 addresses some of my gripes and depending upon how much Apple leapfrogs competition with iPad 3 hardware - I might get an iPad. Good to have choices.
 
I COMPLETELY respect buying it as a toy. I know lots of people that have it for that and it keeps them entertained for years. So as a toy its great. And of course it can do your email and calendar and some serious helpful thing like that. But I can't seem to find anyone that Needed one the same way you need a laptop for school or something like that.

The 17 dislikes aren't cool for such a neutral post....
 
I bought an iPad because I'm on my feet a lot. For years I desired a tablet which I could use while carrying around. I initially looked at tablet PCs, but found them to be too heavy.
 
Oh, calling it a toy is one of those propaganda words people use against Apple. Their computers have been called toys for years. Never true.

I use my iPad for Office documents, no problem. I use it for creating documents, no problem. It's a computer, not a toy.

PCs are great gaming devices. Shall we call them toys if they are used as such? No, so let's throw out the propaganda words, please.
 
I'm sick of these posts about whether tablets are toys or not. A laptop can be purchased as a toy too if you don't really need one that bad but have money to burn. People buy things for their own reasons.

For me, the iPad filled a need and that need was to not have to deal with a laptop anymore. I hate traveling with laptops and I'm not comfortable using them anywhere but a desk or kitchen table. And reading ebooks on a laptop is dreadful.

Even as someone in the IT field, I have found my iPad to be sufficient for most of my every day personal stuff. Yes I still need a PC at work and I use one at home as a media server for all of our different devices as well as for running backups. But for everything else, I'm on my iPad. I even started doing my home movie editing in iMovie instead of on my PC and it's working beautifully. iWork serves my fine for the rare occasion that I need office functionality.

iPad is the portable computer that I've been waiting for for a really long time. Was it the first tablet to market? Hell no. But in my opinion it's still the only good one any company has ever come up with.
 
Most people probably bought it because it worked for what they needed to do it, not for the cool factor that the OP kept mentioning. And the form factor.
 
NateJamesMeyers said:
Now, being a high school student I don't exactly have buckets of cash to spend. I didn't have any money until after the iPad was on the top of my list followed closely by stuff like the galaxy tab. And as I started saving, the iPad started to seem like a bad choice. I realized I couldn't submit MS word documents through it and some parts of my school site wouldn't work.
Click to expand...

You certainly can create documents in MS Word format on an iPad using Apple's Pages.

What parts of your school site do you think you can't read on your iPad? Would you care to give us a URL or two?

If those are the reasons why you gave up, I'd say you failed on your due diligence.

After about a month or so I completely removed it from my choices. THE COOL FACTOR WORE OFF!
Click to expand...

Why?

NateJamesMeyers said:
I COMPLETELY respect buying it as a toy. I know lots of people that have it for that and it keeps them entertained for years. So as a toy its great. And of course it can do your email and calendar and some serious helpful thing like that. But I can't seem to find anyone that Needed one the same way you need a laptop for school or something like that.
Click to expand...

Here's an article where the Yale School of Medicine is giving iPads to all of its students: a very serious use by a prestigious school. How many examples would you need before you changed your opinion?

The 17 dislikes aren't cool for such a neutral post....
Click to expand...

With all due respect, your OP in this thread looked like a troll message. You came to conclusions, but failed to give any specific facts or reasoning why you came to those conclusion. You had sentences that ended with a question mark but clearly were not questions. Many here are far more knowledgable than you are about the iPad, but you seem unwilling to listen to what they have to say.

I suggest re-reading what you said and re-reading the responses. Read my response. Why exactly is it that you "couldn't submit MS word documents" from an iPad? What exact pages do you think you couldn't access from your school's website on an iPad? These "facts" are in serious doubt.

This "toy" message appears like a troll, too. Look at the messages over the past 5 days from @palpatine. He's asked some great questions here about using his iPad -- and done a lot of legwork on his own. His iPad is a serious tool for his research and writing. If he can do it, so can you.

The best part about being in school is that you never know when the learning opportunities will happen. Consider the 17 dislikes as a learning opportunity.
 
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