iPad or not to iPad.....that is the question...:)

[woodrat]

On the weekend I was away down on the central coast (NSW) visiting friends and had a go for the first time on an iPad. I was impressed at the ease of use and refinement of the thing and thought that it would be a great traveling device. I am no computer expert so I thought that I would ask the folk of the anzlf lutherie world for their opinions on it...pros and cons as to whether it is a worthwhile purchase and why its either a yay or a nay....
My friends wife had just got it the day before....they have a Macbook and both have iPhones so they are familiar with the Apple world....I am not but was impressed with this....So I have no bias one way or the other but would love to know what you all think....

Thanks

John

[charangohabsburg]

I am also interested in getting more info about this tool. I think I'll get one if you can use it as a flattening stone after sprinkling a bit of silicone carbide powder on its screen. Or maybe it is possible to electronically adjust screen roughness?

Sorry John if this was not great help.

[Nick]

Never been an Apple man John & never owned an iPad but I know people who have. My impression of them is that they are great communication tools & good for running smaller applications (iTunes, garageband e.t.c) but they don't have anywhere near the the storage capacity of a laptop or the ability to run any peripheral devices due to there being no USB ports. To me & I could be wrong (& probably am ) but they seem like they are just a bigger (physically) version of an iPhone.

[kiwigeo]

IPads are handy but like Nick says don't look to them as a laptop replacement.

[Graham Long]

Hi All,
I bought an ipad 2 for my wife last year and it hasn't left her side since. as has been mentioned its a great communications tool, very quick and easy to use. My wife went from being computer shy to a Facebook junky in a matter of weeks. I downloaded Garage band and bought a docking station (alesis i/o dock) but I think I'll have to buy another ipad.

The Pros are: Fast, easy to use,
very portable especially if you get g3/g4 version.
Applications are cheap.
and they aren't as susceptible to viruses as PCs.

Cons: had trouble watching high Res You Tube clips.
As has been stated not as much storage as a PC

In summary I don't use it that much but my wife thinks its great
Hope this little rant is of some use.
Cheers
Graham

[MBP]

I dont own an iPad but am a bit of an apple fan and have a few of their products. iphone, macbook, ipod, time machine and airport extreme. All work great and you dont have to be a computer programmer to get them to work. I wouldnt buy a laptop or desktop that was apple.

The reason i don't have an iPad is that if I'm travelling I would tether my iPhone to my macbook if I needed the internet.
You can also get a program that allows your iPad to have remote access to your desktop (either microsoft or apple). You can then go on microsoft word or any program you want that is on your desktop. Plus have access to all the files etc. You can even turn the webcam and stuff like that on.

For sitting in front of the tv and browsing during the adds I couldnt think of anything better. Or if you wanted to check ANZLF before work having a cuppa etc. So much quicker then turning on your PC and waiting for everything to start up.

If you have a phone that can tether you could look at a macbook air or the 13 mac book pro. 13 inch is plenty, ask any girl

[Nick]

You can also get a program that allows your iPad to have remote access to your desktop (either microsoft or apple). You can then go on microsoft word or any program you want that is on your desktop. Plus have access to all the files etc. You can even turn the webcam and stuff like that on.

For sitting in front of the tv and browsing during the adds I couldnt think of anything better. Or if you wanted to check ANZLF before work having a cuppa etc. So much quicker then turning on your PC and waiting for everything to start up.

Not quashing your enthusiasm Ro but this is where the people at Apple are extremely good at what they do, they convince people that they need Apple products (the smaller 'hand held' devices that is) despite any short comings or limitations it might have. Sure you can have remote access to your desktop (although this can already be done with any format) to access Word & all your files....great stuff! Hang on!? If I have a laptop I don't need to have the desktop on as well, all the programs I could possibly want to access are right there on the laptop, I have all the storage I could want without transfering files and it sits right there on my lap in front of the tele also (remote access is possible from a lappy too with the right software). If a laptop takes a few minutes more to fire up than the iPad, what percentage of my day was that?
As I say I'm not getting at you Ro it's just that I can't get over how the Apple people have done the job of convincing joe public that they need things instantaneously (does your life really come to a standstill if your device takes two minutes to boot up as compared to the ten seconds an iPad does?), lack of storage....no problem, just iCloud it to your other devices, they paint the world in vibrant colours making people forget this is already available with other formats. I'm not anti Apple either, as I say I reckon they market things very cleverly, they set the trend when it came to making people cue up all night in freezing cold, wet weather just to get their hands on a new device & plus.... I like to build with my iPod nano plugged into my lugholes!

[kiwigeo]

If I have a laptop I don't need to have the desktop on as well, all the programs I could possibly want to access are right there on the laptop, I have all the storage I could want without transfering files and it sits right there on my lap in front of the tele also (remote access is possible from a lappy too with the right software). If a laptop takes a few minutes more to fire up than the iPad, what percentage of my day was that?

The last windows laptop I had sat nicely on my lap....problem was the fan air inlet was on the underside of the machine and unless the machine was sitting on a perfectly flat surface on its rubber lugs the mother board would cook after about 10 minutes. Apple tend to think about important things like this when they design their machines...

Even if you take away the bling factor you still have a huge amount of people who love Apple products simply because they're well designed and you don't have to f***k around with them to make them work.

I often wonder what would happen if Microsoft made guitars

[Nick]

If I have a laptop I don't need to have the desktop on as well, all the programs I could possibly want to access are right there on the laptop, I have all the storage I could want without transfering files and it sits right there on my lap in front of the tele also (remote access is possible from a lappy too with the right software). If a laptop takes a few minutes more to fire up than the iPad, what percentage of my day was that?

The last windows laptop I had sat nicely on my lap....problem was the fan air inlet was on the underside of the machine and unless the machine was sitting on a perfectly flat surface on its rubber lugs the mother board would cook after about 10 minutes. Apple tend to think about important things like this when they design their machines...

Even if you take away the bling factor you still have a huge amount of people who love Apple products simply because they're well designed and you don't have to f***k around with them to make them work.

I often wonder what would happen if Microsoft made guitars

Apple do think alot about their products & make some nice gear (I still fancy an iMac! and the iPad is a nice portable bit of kit, just has limited uses), when I refered to laptops I wasn't specifically meaning Windows/Microsoft stuff, it could refer to an Apple or could be windows type running Linux(for the more adventurous ) and I agree, Microsoft aren't the most streamlined products, the fan problem you mention is one case in point ( I have a Logitech product that the lappy sits on & insulates the user from cooking the crown jewels ) , they do tend to think "Well we've done it like that for years & we have the biggest market share with what we've done, why should we change?" where as Apple are more forward thinking (I just wonder how much longer this will last now Steve Jobs isn't guiding the ship, but I did hear that on realising he wouldn't be around, laid out a ten year plan for the company, how true this is I don't know & if it is, will it be followed by the new CEO?).

[jeffhigh]

My wife loves her ipad, only had it for a few months, she took it travelling with her though britain a month ago,and she just rang me using it on skype from Mitchell in central QLD (copter tour with her brother) when she couldnt use her regular phone.

[woodrat]

Thanks everyone for your opinions....I think it would be a great traveling companion as most have mentioned....my laptop is over 3kg and with bag and charger is quite a chunk of gear. I have traveled a lot with it so an iPad would be good for this I think....

Cheers

John

[auscab]

Hi John.
I have an I phone which I have been using at home to keep up with whats going on here. Its convenient ,I can keep up with whats going on any where , any time. I did play with the I pad at a shop once and like what Nick said above, Its the same as the phone, and for me that made it easy to get the hang of quickly, being a slow learner at computers.
What I don't like about the phone, and it may be the same as the Ipad, is its not possible to load pictures from my phone to a post , the Upload attachment section that I can see below as I'm typing this at work is different on the phone. So I can reply but not add pictures. If I was looking at a I pad I would be checking that.

[kiwigeo]

Hi John.
I have an I phone which I have been using at home to keep up with whats going on here. Its convenient ,I can keep up with whats going on any where , any time. I did play with the I pad at a shop once and like what Nick said above, Its the same as the phone, and for me that made it easy to get the hang of quickly, being a slow learner at computers.
What I don't like about the phone, and it may be the same as the Ipad, is its not possible to load pictures from my phone to a post , the Upload attachment section that I can see below as I'm typing this at work is different on the phone. So I can reply but not add pictures. If I was looking at a I pad I would be checking that.

Yeah the inability to upload straight from an iPhone to the net is a pain in the arse. I email my photos to myself and upload from the laptop.

[woodrat]

Martin....do you know if it is the same with the iPad? That would be crud indeed as to upload pics to the anzlf is pretty important when you are traveling!...

John

[kiwigeo]

Martin....do you know if it is the same with the iPad? That would be crud indeed as to upload pics to the anzlf is pretty important when you are traveling!...

John

Not sure about the iPad......I dont have one.

[MBP]

From my iPhone

[MBP]

This was with the photobucket app on iphone. It is free to download and use. Its quick as well. Took 1 minute.

Go into photobucket on iphone or ipad and choose take photo (or you can choose to use and existing photo on your iphone) and upload then get the link.

You can not upload using safari but if you get an app called iCabMobile ($2 to download) (it is another internet browser you can do it through that). I just tried to do it but the photos had too many pixels. There would be apps to adjust photos pixel count but with the photobucket you dont have to.

[kiwigeo]

It should be easier.....Apple do a few annoying things like this. On the portables Ive never gotten used to the file viewer (Finder)...compared to windows explorer its clunky and it annoys the shit out of me.

[auscab]

Thanks Ro,
I just got the photobucket app and will see if I can get it to work for me.

[MBP]

It should be easier.....Apple do a few annoying things like this. On the portables Ive never gotten used to the file viewer (Finder)...compared to windows explorer its clunky and it annoys the shit out of me.

I fully agree. Not allowing that is pretty poor. I am not sure why they dont. I have read that if you dont allow javascript (in phone settings under safari ) that you can do it but I have found that isnt the case. Maybe it is with iPads though.

Finder is one of my favourite things about the mac. I love how I can just type a calculation into it and the answer comes up without having to go into calculator. Or a word and the meaning comes up. My files are a bit of a mess so I can type a song or movie title and it comes up. You can probably do all this with windows I just dont know how to.

Auscab,

If you need a hand with it let me know.

[Nick]

It should be easier.....Apple do a few annoying things like this. On the portables Ive never gotten used to the file viewer (Finder)...compared to windows explorer its clunky and it annoys the shit out of me.

I was asked once to do something on my ex trouble & stife's MacBook as she knew how to turn it on, get iTunes up & running & that was about it! Being raised on Windows OS since version 3.1 & prior to that Dos 6.0 ( Yes......DOS! 20mb hard drive & 560k of ram, 5 1/4" & 3 1/2" floppy drives....what a system! ) , finding the files I was looking for confused the hell out of me for a good half hour, I would have given my left testicle for explorer to be on that puter about then.

Finder is one of my favourite things about the mac. I love how I can just type a calculation into it and the answer comes up without having to go into calculator. Or a word and the meaning comes up. My files are a bit of a mess so I can type a song or movie title and it comes up. You can probably do all this with windows I just dont know how to.

Ro, if you ever find yourself "on the darkside" & using an MS product , the 'quick' windows version (in 7 at least) is a text entry search box pinned right to the start menu so it's always there, no opening another program. I seem to remember in XP it was called search and was a seperate entry in the menu so meant opening up the program first. Explorer is more for digging deeper into whats on the hard drive or swapping files about the place, opening files, editing e.t.c.

[MBP]

Nick,

Unfortunately I am on a toshiba laptop with ms at the moment.

You can not close finder on a mac, the 'program' is always on and in the top right hand corner. The finder for me seems to be a lot more human like then the search on a MS machine. In that it always displays the thing you are looking for at the top. It may not work for all but I can not see how come macs are not more popular. I would find it hard to believe anyone would use a ms machine after having a mac for normal duties.

After about a week of using a mac things start to fall into place and you realise that they are extremely easy to use. To scroll down you put two fingers on the pad and pull down. To go back or forward on a page 3 fingers going across. 4 fingers and you have all the programs that are running to chose from. The lit up keyboard is another great thing. - do all laptops have this and I dont know how to turn it on??

[kiwigeo]

After about a week of using a mac things start to fall into place and you realise that they are extremely easy to use. To scroll down you put two fingers on the pad and pull down. To go back or forward on a page 3 fingers going across. 4 fingers and you have all the programs that are running to chose from. The lit up keyboard is another great thing. - do all laptops have this and I dont know how to turn it on??

Latest version of OSX has changed the scroll direction on the magic mouse. Dont know why they did this but it annoys the f**k out of me.

[MBP]

That's a shame. It was one of the small things that made life easier on the computer.

[Bob Connor]

The Ipad is fine if you want it for really simple tasks such as surfing the net or getting emails. It's fine for reading documents or ebooks. So it's essentially for consuming not creating.

I'm personally waiting for the Microsoft Surface to appear in October. Similar pricing to an Ipad, has USB input, HDMI outputs, fold out keyboard, MS Office, Bluetooth for keyboard and a 128GB Hard drive (well flash memory actually) plus the ability to directly address and manipulate the file system.

So it's much for useful for creating content than an Ipad.

In our house there is one Ipad, 3 iphones, a Macbook Pro, an Imac (which I run windows on), a variety of Windows PC's and a couple of Linux boxes and I like all of 'em. Some do some things better than others.

It depends what your priorities are but the Surface will definitely be worth closer scrutiny.

Regards