The iPad

[jarandhel]

A lot of people seem disappointed with the iPad. It's very clearly not as powerful as a netbook. It doesn't even run OSX, it runs the same OS as the iPod Touch or iPhone. Considering that I tend to be critical of netbooks to begin with, and especially take issue with the MacBook Air, you're probably thinking I'm one of them.

Surprise. I love the iPad and am seriously thinking about getting one when they become commercially available. My main reservations have far more to do with Apple First-Gen hardware trends (both unexpected bugs and a quickly-lowered price point) than with any technical aspects of the iPad that I am currently aware of.

The thing that most people don't seem to be keeping in mind is that the iPad is meant to be something fundamentally different from a laptop or netbook.  A laptop is meant to be a portable computer.  A netbook is meant to be a cheap laptop that doesn't need to be quite as powerful.  The iPad, on the other hand, is not meant to be a portable computer.  It's meant to be the first of a new class of devices.  To borrow a term from fiction, let's call these "Personal Access Display Devices".  It's meant for viewing information and media (including internet, email, and chat), and some limited editing/creation/manipulation of said information and media.  It's meant as a peripheral device to a more advanced computer system, not as a replacement for the computer system itself.  As time progresses, it may even become a major input and output device for the main computer system.  It's potential is literally game-changing.

I just have one question for Steve Jobs, though.  Or, perhaps, a challenge:  when am I going to see an Apple Tricorder?

Comments

[feathertail]

I've considered trading in my current machine for an iPad! There's another computer in the house that I could use, for things where it's not enough. Still not sure, though.

[jarandhel]

I'm strongly considering getting one when they come out... my tax return should be able to cover it, and I've got another machine as a backup (technically a laptop, but it's seen some accidents over the years and at this point is really only usable as a desktop... it's screen is broken so it needs to be hooked up to an external monitor. Ditto its keyboard. But it still functions fine.) The iPad would make a very good adjunct to my system, giving me a way to browse the internet, read email, and chat with greater mobility than my current setup affords. Though I guarantee I'd also be buying the iPad case on day one to give it greater protection.

My only real reservations are that a) Apple always releases products and then brings the price down significantly later, and b) many first-gen Apple products end up having significant unanticipated flaws that are fixed in later generations. I just haven't decided if these reservations actually apply to the iPad since Apple says specifically that they tried to price it as affordably as possible and it really is just a further evolution of the already-existing iPod Touch/iPhone technology so may not truly be first-gen in the same sense.

[feathertail]

I've heard their pricing described as a "land grab" ... although I think that was mostly about the unlimited Internet thing, I suspect it'd be hard for even an Android tablet manufacturer to compete with them.

Yes, case, definitely. Protective value, plus it just looks cool. I wanted to name my iPad "Spellbook" if I got one. >.>

[jarandhel]

I believe I'll be calling mine "The Manual" in homage to Diane Duane's Young Wizards series.

[feathertail]

Do you think you'll be able to make it a primary machine for you? I have a few doubts ...

[jarandhel]

Primary machine? Gods no. But I'm not viewing it as a primary machine, or even as a true "computer". My laptop is that (even confined to my desk as it currently is), I really don't need another primary machine. What I'm looking at it as is a portable access device for some of what is on my primary machine, as well as what is available "in the cloud" (aka online), that is more convenient than your average laptop. Something that I can reasonably curl up on the couch with, with the same comfort as curling up with a good book. As such, I'm thinking of it far more in terms of a PDA than a computer.

[feathertail]

Except that it's bigger than an iPod Touch and therefore more readable, right? (Although also a lot more expensive. >.< ) And also it's better for going online than the Kindle is.

[jarandhel]

Not just more readable, but also easier to type on and more space for user-interface elements, since the whole screen is touch-sensitive.

[feathertail]

So what happens if you start to find that you're using it more and more often, and your primary machine less and less? (Which I'm wondering if that's not what will happen with me ... )

[jarandhel]

I really don't see that happening. It's not a computer. It's not going to be able to do high-end photo processing (much less storage, with a max of 64 MB), it's not going to be able to multitask (not a deal-breaker for me but there are some situations where I want to multitask and that's what I have my main computer for), it's not going to be able to run bittorrent, it's not going to be able to burn cds or dvds or read them, it's not going to be able to do most programming work, it's not going to be able to do the more sophisticated computer games (especially ones that require Crossover Games to run).... there are just way too many things it can't do for it to completely take over. At most, it may mean that I don't HAVE to spend as much time in front of my main computer to get things done that I want to do.

[solarbird]

Actually, if they can get that swipe-this-ap-over-from-your-computer-to-your-PADD thing going, then this will become a corporate MONSTER. The remote-desktop infrastructure is already there to make it work. It'd be massive.

And also all the things you talk about.

I've thought about it from the music standpoint - as a sheet music storage device, for example. Turning pages automatically or at least a lot more easily, maybe with a remote device prompter you could operate with your foot.

Oh man. If I still wrote code I'd write this in a heartbeat. Seriously.

[jarandhel]

I think people are going to be very surprised by the power the iPad represents when its actually in-use and development is ongoing with it. :)