Apple iPad

[Shock]

Really? Looks like any tablet PC? Does it function like any tablet PC?

Pretty much does.

If you're looking for real innovation, then check out Microsoft Courier. I like some apple products I really do, it's just that most of their products are more flash than substance. I would never own an iMac because I would spend 99% of my time on the windows partition anyways.

Apple really did a great job with Mp3 technology, iPod's are very easy to navigate and their prices are somewhat competitive. Other than that though I don't really see the attraction. Their OS is nothing special although someone might call it easier to use, I just call it less powerful. It's ability to run a windows partition was the smartest thing Apple has done with their PC line. One of my old roommates spent 4000 bucks on a tip top of the line macbook only to boot up windows vista anytime he wanted to do anything other than your most basic of tasks.

"Well Apple is really good for editing and such."
Well the cold hard fact is that anything you can do on a Mac you can do on a PC and the PC version is usually cheaper and easier to find.

But the absolute worst thing about iMac's:
one......button......mouse. Sorry Apple I don't live in 1970 I need at least 5 buttons on my mouse or it's a piece of crap. Which is ironic because the mouse that comes with them looks like a oddly shaped white turd.

Pay no attention to that multi-coloured window behind the curtain!

 

[jonnythan]

It does not look like or function like any traditional tablet PC.

I think Apple missed big time here. Big screen, but no windowing. Can only run one app at a time. That's right, a modern "tablet" that doesn't let you listen to Pandora while browsing, or chat on IRC while working on a document. Oh, and no Flash support. No web cam.

It has a fraction of the functionality of a standard netbook. It serves virtually no purpose whatsoever. It would be fun to keep on a coffee table for occasional browsing, but not much more.

It's a large iPod Touch that you can't put in a pocket or use in a car. It's neat, and it's svelte, and it's sexy, but it doesn't replace any device most of us have. We're OK with the limitations of smartphones and PMPs like the iPhone and iPod Touch because they're small and portable. This has all the same limitations but is as big as a netbook. No full-fledged OS, no windowing, no multiple apps, no video conferencing. Meh and more meh.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Can't wait till ifixit cost break down on this one

 

[just listening]

I look for a quick software update to multitasking, probably by summer.

The iPad comes with a cable and converter to USB, that works with the data port.

Look for a built-in camera with the second generation.

The key to all of this is two-fold: The development of apps, and whether the education textbook community (especially collegiately) joins in. If that happens, it will be a grand slam.

 

[jamie2112]

No flash its just a big Itouch.......lame

 

[Ito]

I wouldn't even consider it a laptop. Why? Am I going to be able to through my CS4 master collection on it? Store a good chunk of videos and all of my music on it (come on, my iPod has more memory than it!)? Handle flash? Multitask (Ok, seriously, how can you NOT have it multitask)?
No, to me this is no laptop, my 4 year old laptop can do all of those things. This is merely an over-sized iphone and I seriously don't see how this could replace a laptop. This product falls awkwardly in between the smartphone and the laptop/netbook market. I mean most people who have iphones have laptops as well because the iphone doesn't have the functionality that a laptop does. And this really doesn't have any increased functionality, so what, are people suppose to bring this AND their laptop when they go out? I want to know what the team over at apple was thinking. And there is the name. Someone on the marketing team needs to be fired.

If this had OSX, as much as I dislike the operating system, it would have been FAR superior.

 

[jeffsg4mac]

Pretty much does.

If you're looking for real innovation, then check out Microsoft Courier. I like some apple products I really do, it's just that most of their products are more flash than substance. I would never own an iMac because I would spend 99% of my time on the windows partition anyways.

Apple really did a great job with Mp3 technology, iPod's are very easy to navigate and their prices are somewhat competitive. Other than that though I don't really see the attraction. Their OS is nothing special although someone might call it easier to use, I just call it less powerful. It's ability to run a windows partition was the smartest thing Apple has done with their PC line. One of my old roommates spent 4000 bucks on a tip top of the line macbook only to boot up windows vista anytime he wanted to do anything other than your most basic of tasks. And the one that show how little you know about mac, is the one button mouse thing. I have been using a multi-button mice for as long, long time now, and so have millions of others.

"Well Apple is really good for editing and such."
Well the cold hard fact is that anything you can do on a Mac you can do on a PC and the PC version is usually cheaper and easier to find.

But the absolute worst thing about iMac's:
one......button......mouse. Sorry Apple I don't live in 1970 I need at least 5 buttons on my mouse or it's a piece of crap. Which is ironic because the mouse that comes with them looks like a oddly shaped white turd.

Pay no attention to that multi-coloured window behind the curtain!

So many things here wrong I don't know where to start. Lets start with the most obvious glaring wrong. Care how to explain that OS X is less powerful than windows? You are kidding correct? UNIX less powerful than windows? Ahh yes it has to be a joke. Best audio and video software runs on mac, best version of office is mac, huge amounts of linux and Unix apps have been brought over to mac, OS X Unix 64bit, so on and so on. There is nothing LESS Powerful about OS X in any way. and iMacs are only one model of mac too.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

So many things here wrong I don't know where to start. Lets start with the most obvious glaring wrong. Care how to explain that OS X is less powerful than windows? You are kidding correct? UNIX less powerful than windows? Ahh yes it has to be a joke. Best audio and video software runs on mac, best version of office is mac, huge amounts of linux and Unix apps have been brought over to mac, OS X Unix 64bit, so on and so on. There is nothing LESS Powerful about OS X in any way. and iMacs are only one model of mac too.

OS-X is built on BSD. BSD =! Unix
Care to explain this "best version of office is mac" ?? Since I 100% disagree..

You know, there are QUARK, ProTools and bunch of others - all have windows versions...
I can see as apple fans can call, Windows7 an attempt to mimic os-x, none - the less Win7 is a great OS

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Apple IDud Alternative from MSI (Nvidia Tegra based)

By the looks of it, it looks like it's running anderoid OS which means flash and multitasking support, battery life

potentially far longer than the 10hrs runtime the iPad can muster.

http://www.slashgear.com/msi-tegra-tablet-coming-2h-2010-for-500-2871776/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+slashgear+(SlashGear)&utm_content=Google+Reader

 

[jeffsg4mac]

OS-X is built on BSD. BSD =! Unix
Care to explain this "best version of office is mac" ?? Since I 100% disagree..

You know, there are QUARK, ProTools and bunch of others - all have windows versions...
I can see as apple fans can call, Windows7 an attempt to mimic os-x, none - the less Win7 is a great OS

http://www.microsoft.com/mac/products/office2008/trial-download.mspx

It is nicer than the 2007 counter part in my opinion, and it has some features not found on 2007 for windows.

BSD from wiki "Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD, sometimes called Berkeley Unix) is the UNIX operating system derivative developed and distributed by the Computer Systems Research Group (CSRG) of the University of California, Berkeley."

Apple has refined it of course.

The statement that Shock made is that somehow OS X is less powerful than windows, however he did not elaborate on how that was other than it was easy to use. That is a bad and often repeated analagy that PC heads that have never used a mac like to spout. It is as dumb as saying that because an F105 Starfighter is harder to fly than A YF-22 raptor the raptor is somehow less powerful.

OS X can be as easy or as hard to use as you want it to be. You want it hard then open up a terminal and go to town.

 

[JohnA]

One thing that I think that we are all missing in this is the application to the AV world. The iPad uses all the current iPhone/iTouch apps that includes all of the AV and automation control apps. So instead of controlling your system/whole house on a small screen (iPhone/iTouch), you now have a low cost affordable LARGE touch screen...It seems (to me at least) that the iPad could open up a lot of new options for the installer.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

a low cost affordable LARGE touch screen

$500 rather seems a lot for large remote control

but otherwise, like said above - available software will make or break it

 

[krzywica]

http://www.microsoft.com/mac/products/office2008/trial-download.mspx

It is nicer than the 2007 counter part in my opinion, and it has some features not found on 2007 for windows.

BSD from wiki "Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD, sometimes called Berkeley Unix) is the UNIX operating system derivative developed and distributed by the Computer Systems Research Group (CSRG) of the University of California, Berkeley."

Apple has refined it of course.

The statement that Shock made is that somehow OS X is less powerful than windows, however he did not elaborate on how that was other than it was easy to use. That is a bad and often repeated analagy that PC heads that have never used a mac like to spout. It is as dumb as saying that because an F105 Starfighter is harder to fly than A YF-22 raptor the raptor is somehow less powerful.

OS X can be as easy or as hard to use as you want it to be. You want it hard then open up a terminal and go to town.

The point to be made is that out of the box OSX is not as powerful as Windows. If you dig in and actually know some bash then your golden.....but at that point why not just go with Linux which is free and has a billion free apps?

I can take screenshots too.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

With few plugins (Compiz, Avant) Ubuntu can look and feel 99% like OS-X

 

[krzywica]

With few plugins (Compiz, Avant) Ubuntu can look and feel 99% like OS-X

I actually like Beryl/Compiz much better than the OSX front end.

 

[j_garcia]

i like it! but the price is kinda steep for me.

i'd rather get another laptop for my wife..

Exactly. For $500, I can put together a basic laptop that has more capability than this thing.

 

[Stereodude]

Really? Looks like any tablet PC? Does it function like any tablet PC?

No, it's actually far less functional.

 

[Halon451]

I think the iPad is going to find a rather niche market when all the hype settles down over it. For one, I agree that this is basically a larger iPod touch, which makes it impractical to carry around with you at all times, yet, misses the boat on the functionality you would expect in a larger device. Yeah, the apps and software may make or break it, I guess we all shall see, but as far as I can see it (and one poster here illustrated one such niche market), the thing is going to end up in the hands of:

1. Apple fanboys who would drink a pint of Steve Jobs' b**lsweat if they could
2. Rich, well to do urban professionals who always feel the need to have the latest and greatest gadget on the market, so as not to lessen their chic status.
3. Medical professionals who will recognize the potential of this device to offer a much more integrated charting system for their patients, one that can be synced with a central server to allow for real-time updates, doctor's notes, and other things. A far cry from the traditional trendy "Apple-head" macbook toting urban artist type, but in this case it's more of a product driven market, than a market driven product.

As for me, I have an iPhone 3G, and an iPod touch, two laptops and a desktop computer (all Windows PC's). I have ZERO interest in this thing.

 

[Stereodude]

Re: #3... The last time I went to my doctor he had a Fujitsu tablet and did everything electronicly already. I'm not sure the iPad is really going to suceed wildly in that market.

 

[Halon451]

Re: #3... The last time I went to my doctor he had a Fujitsu tablet and did everything electronicly already. I'm not sure the iPad is really going to suceed wildly in that market.

I was thinking more of a hospital environment than a doctor's office. Last time I went to a hospital they were still utilizing the old paper chart system. Maybe some of them have gone digital now, who knows - not even remotely something I follow, but then again I'm just speculating as to potential areas of interest for something like this.