Ipad 2

[Danny McGee]

Thinking about getting one.

Anyone have an experience of them. What are peoples thoughts?

Also, any deals anyhwere that people know about?

Cheers

Danny

[MatJohnson]

Got some in work. Nice gadget to have for a quick look up on t'internet but it doesn't handle popups well.

If its just surfing check out the android ones as they are cheaper. If its mainly the apps and compatability then go for it.

[DaSloth]

Danny, if you get a chance, have a look at the motorola xoom. It uses android and in my opinion is the better option. Exactly the same price as the ipad, but you can do more on it and it has better specs

[Skye]

I maybe missing a trick but what is the current craze for iPads / tablets?

I have an ultra-portable 11.6" low voltage intel pentium dual core laptop that has windows 7 premium, microsoft office, 8 hours battery life on a single charge.

So whilst iPads, playbooks etc look very nice, what can it offer me that my laptop cant?

Dont get me wrong, this is not an attack on them, but I do not currently know (but am willing to be corrected!) what it can offer me that I cant already do on my laptop?

I get that they are a little smaller, but at 11.6" I dont actually feel like I need anything any smaller...

Is there anything that I am missing?

[Aran]

I find my iPad has taken up the role of surfing the web, playing games, checking out movies/music and chatting to friends on Skype and Facebook, perfect while chilling out.

Handy for on the move even without the 3G version.

Personally I found that the android versions we're good and better than the iPad in some areas, but having using Apple for my work I found the iPad just worked and functioned more to my liking over competitors.

You won't be disappoint with either operating systems though . Just the price for the iPad is more (but you have top quailty product) and you have the ever worrying thought Apple will release a new version in a few months.

[tomtom]

Really find my iPad 1 very useful, after a 6-7 months use, I barely use my pc.

Great for PDF, website, eBay, Paypal, mail, pictures.
I'm not an apple fan but I like the simplicity, especially for mails.

Geat screen, very clear definition. Got the 32G and it's enough for me.

One thing I like is setting up the wifi at home and at work once and not worry about it anymore.

It's nice for traveling too, very light with enough power for a whole day.

Nice for Oople too.

[Big G]

iOS products don't need the specs to do the same job as the android powered devices because apple make both the hardware and the software.

From 9-5 mac:
Since Apple controls both the operating system and hardware design of the iPad, it is able to attain design efficiencies that other tablet manufacturers cannot. These efficiencies become obvious in areas like the memory and the battery, where Apple maintains advantages in cost, space savings and performance compared with every competitor in the business.

It’s a post-PC use case. You’re not bounded by performance. You’re bounded by user interaction. I don’t think a user can distinguish a performance difference or get a sense of the speed of the hardware by using it. It’s a different metric. The iPad’s efficient memory usage stems from the fundamental difference in the architecture of the operating system Apple’s iOS handles multitasking differently than other tablet operating systems, allowing it to reduce the amount of memory required to support the microprocessor.

Plus iOS 5 is due in the next month or 2 making big leaps forward for both pads and phones

(MacBook Pro / Iphone 4 owners)