iPad owner's advice needed

Hi SJB.  We thought the same way.......until we bought one (wifi only) and now couldn't imagine being without it!. The user interface is so good I now keep prodding the screen on my conventional laptop expecting it to react!

My daughters school has begun a pilot where the whole class were given new iPads thank goodness as it stops her stealing this one!

I'm a big fan!  G

The n-serve app is great too!

I have an IPad and have just switched back to a laptop. It depends on how you are going to use it, if it is going to be used out and about then it is good for it's portability. I used mine mainly at home but did not get on well with the touch screen technology hence I have returned to a laptop. My wife also has one that she uses mainly for playing games. If you look at laptop prices compared to IPad prices you also get a lot more for your money with a laptop. For me the IPads light weight small size are it's only vertues so if portability is not an issue I wouldn't bother.

Ken

The best use I find is when travelling. It is great to be able to take along a whole bunch of movies and TV to keep me (and especially kids) entertained. Especially useful in the world of budget airlines where in-flight entertainment is (understandably) disappearing.

We also use ours for watching Netflix, ripped and iTunes video in other rooms of the house. It isn't much better than a laptop for this I guess, but the small form factor makes it just a little more convenient. The home sharing functionality is just great for accessing downloaded and ripped content that actually resides on the Mac Mini.

We occasionally use an iPad as a remote control for our music (on a Mac Mini). It is excellent for this, but we are actually more likely to use screen sharing on a laptop instead.

I really couldn't see the point of them. Until I bought one. A superb device indeed and I wouldn't be without one now. 

Frankly speaking, the only time I use my iPad is the time I am on the air. But having said that, I do not regret for a single moment the decision of buying one - It is a nice toy!

do consider the windows surface..

We have one but it's main use is for casual web browsing while watching TV. I also use it to answer the sort of emails that can be completed in one or two short sentences. I actually started replying to this on the iPad but gave up after too many corrections to text that didn't require any. Ho hum there is probably a setting to turn this off somewhere no doubt.

Before we went on holiday I investigated the possibility of using it to download images from my DSLR via the camera connector kit. On non Apple machines this is known as a USB port and is part of the machine but Apple expect you to pay extra if you need to pollute their precious baby with a non Apple device. As it turns out it seems that this method wouldn't have worked anyway - from the reports I could read on various forums a modification was made to the OS which results in not enough power being provided to this port to drive a USB port. So when we went on holiday it was the 3 year old netbook that came along for the ride ...and it performed the job perfectly. I can't even download some of my images to the iPad via Dropbox I just get a message telling me it can't display the image. I've never been able to find out for sure but I suspect it is because they are quite large (>10MB).

Everyone is different and although I agree with most people in saying it is a great piece of industrial design, for me it is an expensive toy. Maybe one day if I ever purchase a Naim streaming solution it can become an expensive remote control.

Cheers

Scott

(via 3 year old netbook)

I'm with Tony on this one. I was skeptical until I bought one. The only mistake I made was buying a 64GB one which is unnecessary. With ICloud you don't need the largest, 16GB is plenty. I wouldn't bother with 3G either. There are plenty of WiFi hotspots when your out and about.

ATB

Steve

SJB wants to use it with his UQ so a Windows Surface is a non-starter. 

I'm absolutely delighted with my iPad ... I use it as a radio, portable TV ... remote for Mac Mini, remote for UQ, web browser, Kindle with the kindle app, alarm clock, e-mail .... There is an App for most things. It is the personal organiser for the 21st century. I use it far more than i ever thought i would. In the business world it has supplanted the laptop ... will your system work with an iPad is the most common question i'm asked (unfortunately haven't quite cracked that yet). 

I do like the new Kindle though ... But no nServe app ... So that is a key iPad advantage. 

Get the iPad .. You know it makes sense. I use a 32GB one without 3G. There have been occasions when 3G would have been useful, i've not found the need for extra memory.  

The only app that is really disappointing is the one from hoopla for this forum. 

+1.

I was conscious of the 'gizmo desire' factor, but here I am in front of my system listening to music and typing away on the wonderful device.

It's just so damn useful to pick up and look up stuff, check emails or talk bollocks on the Naim forum. And yes; it's the world's prettiest, biggest and best remote-control too. Go man go! Get a '4'. Your wife might even let you play with it.

John.

superb device ..... I use it for everything from browsing, emails, reading books, remote control for TV and Naim, my magazine subscriptions, fotoalbum ......... recommended ! buy the iPad 3

Does that count as '4 play' after marriage?  G

I've got an adaptor that takes a memory card and plugs into the iPad, and I can retrieve the photos that way, duplicating them in case of lost/stolen camera, and even saved to the iCloud, so covered completely. I can't remember but I don't think it was more than a few quid. (You need an app to upload to Facebook, but that was cheap, or a free version with adverts)

You can (and should) disable the predictive text 'feature', worst thing about IMO. It even changed "of" to "if", but is certainly completely useless if you type in two languages.

I no longer use my laptop, the iPad is so good. I did succumb to a Zaggfolio Folio hard case/Bluetooth keyboard, which is expensive but amazingly useful for travelling with work. Being able to use proper keys and the use of 'control' and direction keys to move around, cut'n'paste etc etc. It makes the iPad into a perfectly workable notebook, with the advantage that you can remove it and get the slinkiness back when you come home.

i can't see the point of a mini iPad particularly, but then I haven't seen or touched one (and I shall try not to!).

Yes, new disp. is fantastic. I got mine for present from my wife, eh, she said that now I have the most expensive remote control in the World. 

Seriously, I am not Apple fan, but cannot imagine to listen to the music without it.

Ozren

Hi Ozren! G

My wife absolutely didn't want one, even having grabbed mine on multiple occasions to look something up on the Internet.  So I bought her one anyway.

Once she had her own, she 'got it', having calendar, email, contacts, Internet etc so well integrated on an extremely portable device has been 'revolutionary' for her.

She's conceded several times how much she loves it. I'd advise you to get one.  I wouldn't bother with 3G etc, wifi is enough. As regards memory, I have a 64 GB as I put movies etc on it for travelling, but consider your needs and get as much as you feel is necessary.

Hope this helps,

Phil

Thanks for all the replies, if Mrs Sloop complains I can at least say I did extensive market research!

SJB

My wife uses hers mainly for playing Smurf Village, or so it would seem.   

Tony

Well it's Mrs Sloops birthday tomorrow and a shiny new iPAD 64GB wi-fi will be carefully wrapped for the occasion.

Alas it's not much of a surprise as when I was setting it up to be working out of the box she got several emails saying someone was using her log in details to set up an iPAD!

Thanks for all you help.

SJB

For controlling Naim streamers and for BBC news, the iPad is fantastic.  I haven't discovered any other uses for it yet.