IPad - worth buying one or not?

[tyroneman]

Was sceptical about the iPhone when it came out. Gave in, bought one and now love it.

Can't see what the big deal about iPad is though? Beyond looking pretty good what are the big selling points?

[David McKeown]

I've had one since launch and am using it now it's great but may be pointless if you have a laptop or don't plan on taking it out of the house. I would use mine for work quite a lot as a laptop would be impractical and if I didn't I'd say it was a waste of money

[thewobbler]

The convenience of being online immediately makes them brilliant. To be honest, I don't use it for anything else.

[Bogball XV]

Was sceptical about the iPhone when it came out. Gave in, bought one and now love it.

Can't see what the big deal about iPad is though? Beyond looking pretty good what are the big selling points?

good for kids, especially on long journey's when most dvd players' batteries give out (of course given the price you could maybe buy 5 portable dvd players and they'd have the same battery life ).  Other than, they're a fancy web browser.
The problem with using them for playing the kids' movies though is that it's a complicated process to start and convert non-purchased itunes material for them.  Can be done of course, but with apple and their software restrictions it's a pain.

[Denn Forever]

Are the new androids ones e.g. from Acer that you see on TV ads any good?

http://www.acerdirect.co.uk/Acer_Iconia/prod.asp

[mylestheslasher]

As a rule I buy nothing from Apple. Too greedy for my liking. Give it a while and others will come up with a better tablet

[Main Street]

Use your imagination folks. You can download all versions of VLC from the horses mouth.
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

[Main Street]

What made a phone which doesn't work very well. They sell mostly to people who want image over substance whether its their phones, mp3 players or macs. Their phone has now been bettered by HTC and Samsung. Their operating system and greedy way the filter apps will be destroyed by Android. Don't like their business model one bit.

I have not tried the iPhone or the iPad.
When I went to buy a mp3 player, the iPod was in a different class, 160gb V something very tiny from everyone else,
plus enough oomph to drive a pair of high impedance headphones, without the need for a headphone amp.
Complete viewer/user compatibility with the Smart Playlists from iTunes.

Computer components are mostly all similar. Apple have always been streets ahead with their laptops.
What we look for on a laptop is quality of  graphics, processor, screen, battery life and weight, as well as the usual user friendly features like  keyboard/touchpad/ports/sound.
Finally a similarly specced Samsung Series 9  has come on the market, some 3 years after the Mac Book air hit the scene.
The humble Macbook 13" still has not met a decent comparative competitor.
I like the MacOs,  well nothing to complain about anyway.
I don't care for the consumer market of purchasing music, mp3 formats, apple store, apps etc. Apple as a corporation/religion/fashion, doesn't interest me in the least.

[Bogball XV]

The VLC app for the iPhone is great. You just go to the app through iTunes, browse to the files you want to add and you can play them without the hassle of converting etc. Didn't realise that app was pulled though. Ah well, im glad I got it when I did 

VLC is great isn't it, i'm shocked that apple allowed something through that might impact on their total control over content and therefore profit.

[thebigfella]

The VLC app for the iPhone is great. You just go to the app through iTunes, browse to the files you want to add and you can play them without the hassle of converting etc. Didn't realise that app was pulled though. Ah well, im glad I got it when I did 

VLC is great isn't it, i'm shocked that apple allowed something through that might impact on their total control over content and therefore profit.

It's under a GNU open source license which conflicted with the App Store licensing. There was bit of a bitching match by the open source crowd and demanding the app store license be changed. Apple decided to pull it instead but if you look there are plenty of other media players in the store (as long as they don't use code under the GNU license). Nothing to do with their want to control everything this time.

[thebigfella]

Use your imagination folks. You can download all versions of VLC from the horses mouth.
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

You have to jailbreak and download from cidia

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

As a recent convert to Apple, with both a MacBook and an iPad 2, I'd wholeheartedly recommend the latter - imperceptible in the luggage and blissfully functional on the move (as is f&ir¥y obv€&@s I'd imag&@e).

[stephenite]

Just purchased my Ipad2, most impressive.

[Minder]

As a recent convert to Apple, with both a MacBook and an iPad 2, I'd wholeheartedly recommend the latter - imperceptible in the luggage and blissfully functional on the move (as is f&ir¥y obv€&@s I'd imag&@e).

I have a Mac Book Pro and wondering if you would need both. A 13" MBP is pretty light and also has the "online immediately" benefit.

[Bogball XV]

As a recent convert to Apple, with both a MacBook and an iPad 2, I'd wholeheartedly recommend the latter - imperceptible in the luggage and blissfully functional on the move (as is f&ir¥y obv€&@s I'd imag&@e).

I have a Mac Book Pro and wondering if you would need both. A 13" MBP is pretty light and also has the "online immediately" benefit.

what is the 'immediately online' benefit?