Apple Tablet

[Burns76]

If you want one around to do email, document creation, or other tasks that require significant typing I'd recommend that you look at a MacBook Air or a MacBook Pro instead. If you want a larger display for mostly simple app experiences then it might be the best fit.

To me the iPad (regardless of version) is truly intended for easing ones consumption of digital content (primarily, entertainment) via the larger size and unique interface.

My father in law has one (iPad 1 with 3G) and he watches movies, and reads some books on it. Mostly he lets his grandkids look at photos and play games on it while he uses his MacBook Pro.

Let us know what you ultimately decide.

[Guy]

Originally Posted by craigepo

Anybody have any reviews on this? I have seen a few, and am thinking seriously about getting one.

Put all my medical books/apps on it.

Use it with a: Bluetooth® Keyboard Portfolio

Stay safe.

[craigepo]

I have talked to some appellate court judges, who have been issued the Ipads. They download entire briefs, to include all transcribed testimony from a trial. When documents hyperlink a case/statute, the judge can tap the link and go directly to the law.

I am wanting one to calendar/schedule, limited e-mail and browsing, limited research while in court, and also to download books to. Calendaring is very important. Browsing/e-mail will be used, but nothing too serious.

I saw that Verizon is offering an Ipad, which would be very helpful in this area. I am really curious about the speed of the different apps, as well as how it does with memory. Also, syncing is pretty important.

[bravo22b]

Originally Posted by craigepo

I have talked to some appellate court judges, who have been issued the Ipads. They download entire briefs, to include all transcribed testimony from a trial. When documents hyperlink a case/statute, the judge can tap the link and go directly to the law.

I am wanting one to calendar/schedule, limited e-mail and browsing, limited research while in court, and also to download books to. Calendaring is very important. Browsing/e-mail will be used, but nothing too serious.

I saw that Verizon is offering an Ipad, which would be very helpful in this area. I am really curious about the speed of the different apps, as well as how it does with memory. Also, syncing is pretty important.

My wife has a 1st generation 3G Ipad, which she absolutely loves. What we found out when going to buy it was that Verizon does not (or didn't at the time) offer a true 3G model. What they offer is the Wifi only model, and then their accompanying Mifi 3G hotspot. That, in combination with the sheer stupidity of the Verizon salespeople, drove us to buy the Ipad at an Apple store. Although the Mifi hotspot has the bonus of being able to be used with up to 5 laptops or Ipads, why carry around an extra device that needs to be kept charged? Most smartphones these days can act as hotspots anyway. For my wife, the simplicity of just having one device that works anywhere there is AT&T or Wifi was worth it. You can also subscribe/unsubscribe to the AT&T 3G service directly from the IPad, so if you think you won't need it for a month, just turn it off.

As far as syncing, she signed up for Apple's Mobile Me, which was about $100/year. This pretty seamlessly syncs her email and calendar across her phone, laptop, and Ipad. It also has a location and wiping feature if your Iphone/Pad gets lost or stolen.

Honestly, from what it sounds like you will be doing, an Ipad sounds perfect. You can get apps that will allow you to work with and edit Microsoft Office files if need be. Most apps seem to work very well, pretty fast, the only thing that can hold you up is the quality of the connection. For me, getting to use the Apple interface has been a little frustrating, but overall the features and convenience of the IPad make it worthwhile.

[JJ_BPK]

Originally Posted by Guy

Put all my medical books/apps on it.

Use it with a: Bluetooth® Keyboard Portfolio

Stay safe.

Guy,

With your combo, do you feel the Ipad can replace a small laptop for the non-work related, email, FB surfer??

My wife's TP is on it's last leg and I'm looking for a replacement. I am looking at the I-family, as she is neither net-work nor web concentric.

Neighbor's have flooded the AO with MacBook Pro's. I think the count is 5-6.

Why,, because they can.. Actually I pushed somewhat because I was getting tired of fixing "operator assisted" problems on their MS based contraptions...

Thanks

[Guy]

Originally Posted by JJ_BPK

Guy,

With your combo, do you feel the Ipad can replace a small laptop for the non-work related, email, FB surfer??

Stanford medical school even started issuing the Ipad.

Stay safe.

[Sacamuelas]

Originally Posted by bravo22b

As far as syncing, she signed up for Apple's Mobile Me, which was about $100/year. This pretty seamlessly syncs her email and calendar across her phone, laptop, and Ipad. It also has a location and wiping feature if your Iphone/Pad gets lost or stolen.

Mobile me works for my wife. SHe loves it.

[perdurabo]

Originally Posted by bravo22b

... phone, laptop, and Ipad. It also has a location and wiping feature if your Iphone/Pad gets lost or stolen.

The Find Your iPhone/iPod/iPad functionality is now free from Apple and doesn't require a paid MobileMe account. I only mention this, because I used to pay $99/year just so I could have this feature. I found the calendar/email/idisk stuff to be crummy, but I'm used to using Google Mail/Calendar, and Dropbox. MobileMe is probably ok for low usage users, and to be honest, they can only get better from this point on.

Some sort of big changes & pricing changes are in store for MobileMe. You'll notice that you can't buy a year of MobileMe with new hardware anymore, or even buy a MobileMe account outright. At this point, you can only sign up for a 60-day trial. This seems to indicate the change is imminent.

Honestly, from what it sounds like you will be doing, an Ipad sounds perfect. You can get apps that will allow you to work with and edit Microsoft Office files if need be.

Again, be advised you'll need a computer with iTunes to sync all these documents back and forth. There is some limited file autonomy on the iPads, but for the most part you need to tether it to a computer for file syncing. If you're going to be doing a lot of digital camera downloads & whatnot, the iPad might not be the best choice. There are of course a lot of tricks & tips & hacks around this.

If you're worried about hardware/software quality, don't. It's top notch.

[greenberetTFS]

Anyone that would like a "FREE Amiga emulation" for your PC,MAC or Linux?.......... PM me if your interested in a download,it's really a cool system,comes with very many games and programs that can be great for office use...........I have 9 down loads left for anyone available who would want to try it............

Big Teddy

[perdurabo]

Originally Posted by greenberetTFS

Anyone that would like a "FREE Amiga emulation" for your PC,MAC or Linux?.......... PM me if your interested in a download,it's really a cool system,comes with very many games and programs that can be great for office use...........I have 9 down loads left for anyone available who would want to try it............

Big Teddy

Amiga. What an era in computing. I very much enjoyed AREXX, assembler code, and reverse engineering the plethora of viruses available! The games were great, too. Still wish I could play Speedball, and other Psygnosis games, or Gauntlet 3 again.

I was also pretty adapt at using shaded plastic to reduce hi-res flicker on RGB monitors

Many fond memories, unlike my time with TRS-80s.

[Papa Zero Three]

Here's my take on the ipad2. As others have said, there are some features that some people may use more than others but if you want it to do several things but not have to use a laptop/computer(or lug one around), it might be a good choice. Ultimately, you will need a dedicated laptop/computer to do any serious typing and or document work. Not that it cannot be done on the ipad, it's just not as fast or convenient. Kinda like writing a message on a DMDG/KL43 compared to a normal keyboard.


From a work/business standpoint where some people might have issues is the ability to synch up with work mail and or calendars that are MS based. There might be an app for that but I am not aware of one and or the system admin may not know how or want to allow your Ipad/Mac to interface with the network.

There is also no MS office package for ipad, there are apps that handle MS documents though. These apps can be purchased from free to around $40 bucks. The ones you pay for tend to work better but again, they are not like full blown MS applications. Meaning you may not be able to do something in an Excel sheet that you could do on your PC with MS office on it. However, you will be able to open, look at, make changes (no major muscle movements should be expected) and save documents that were generated in the MS format. You may have to search and play with a few of the apps to find out which one works best for you and your needs. The reviews of the apps usually give you a clue about the app but don't be surprised to see people give a negative or low score to an app because they couldn't lock a field in excel and do other major muscle movements like one would on a laptop computer. There is one that I would recommend but it's name escapes me at the moment, it costs a few more dollars but it seems to work the best out of all that I have encountered.


Where some people encounter a bottle neck be it pictures or documents is with the ability to send them back to someone or to themselves (mac/PC). The free and easy work around is to use Dropbox on all of your platforms ( phone, ipad,home computer and work computer if allowed) and place the important or most used documents in your dropbox.

For pictures, there is an app called photosynch that allows you to wirelessly send photos from your phone to an ipad and or computer and it works in either direction. I used it to send around 30 plus camera photos to the ipad and it took less time than it does when I transfer photos from the phone into my Mac with the cable. It's a pretty good app if you want to share pictures or move them quickly from one platform to another.

For web browsing, I would recommend Atomic web browser. I believe it is free and it allows you to have multiple tabs open, much like you can do in Safari on a Mac, something you can't do in the ipad version of Safari.


Like anything else, it's a tool that if you use it and become familiar with it, it will seem worthwhile and you'll find yourself using it more and more. If you expect it to work exactly like a laptop/desktop you will be disappointed in some areas.


For those looking for a good knuckle dragger proof cover for their ipad, you should check this one out, it's probably the equivalent of an Otter Box for your ipad.
G-Form ipad cover

[Trip_Wire (RIP)]

Originally Posted by Sacamuelas

Mobile me works for my wife. SHe loves it.

I also use Mobile me and it keeps all my devices synced, stores BU's, Pictures and many other things. Worth the $$.