I choose not to iPad

Forget about the State of the Union address tonight. Today the Big News is Apple's new iPad.

Yes, Apple has finally launched this much anticipated tablet.

And I could care less.

It seems like it's just a bigger version of the iTouch. The size of a hardcover novel, they're saying. An iTouch on steroids. You can buy all those iPhone apps and use them here; use it as an e-reader; go on the Internet; play music; draw with your finger (huh?); play games. Here's a link to a blog that tells all about it.

I have a little phone. It makes phone calls. I can't even figure out how to text. I don't want something fancy where I'm plugged in all the time. I don't want to be plugged in all the time. I don't want to be that accessible. 

Now, what I would like is just a smaller laptop/netbook thing that isn't as big or heavy as my laptop so I can travel with it easily and write. Everything I'm reading about this iPad seems to indicate that you can't word process on it. Then what's the point? Why not just stick with the iPhone or iTouch and a Kindle or Sony reader? 

It just doesn't seem worth the $900 to $1,000 it will cost for one of those things.

This is the first Apple product I am not coveting.

What about you?

Karen

Comments

[Ben]

it does word processing

You're a little premature given it hasn't been announced fully yet - but it actually does have a full featured word processing application - as full featured as a desktop application. It also has a powerpoint like application, and a spreadsheet application and any other application anyone wants to build for it.

[N]

I don't do Apple.
Apple = Hippie Bullshit.

[Jeff Shelby]

I just don't see how its all that different than a netbook. I know they are pushing its media capabilities, but I don't see a huge difference. Still looks cool, though.

[Karen Olson]

I'm not sure about the word processing, if you can do it. The keypad and the screen are all in one. I'm not sure I could do that. It does look cool, but I'm still uncertain about it.

[Mo]

I have a Sony Vaio P series that I use for travel. It is .75"x5"x9", weighs 1.4 pounds and fits in my purse. It does everything my full size laptop does, Microsoft OS. I wicked love it.

[David Terrenoire]

I never thought I'd own an iAnything. Then I bought a Touch. That led me to the iPhone. I'm hooked.

I doubt if I'll buy the pad. I just don't have that kind of money to spend on anything but good booze and guitar strings.

[Chris Rhatigan]

I don't even own an iPod, so I definitely have zero interest in this tablet business. (Does this tablet also include five of the ten commandments?) I still use CD players, and I don't think my life is that much worse off for it. Plus I'm lazy/cheap and don't want to learn how to use new technology/spend money when I don't have to.

[Eleanor]

It amazes me that after spending $1,200 on a new iMac, I have to buy additional software so I can write on the thing. Why do people have computers, anyway? Not for the same reasons I do, apparently.

[Wilfred Bereswill]

Karen, I believe the iPad will run iWorks which is the Mac version of an office suite. It's pretty good actually, although I still run MS Office on my MacBook Pro.

There is an almost fullsize virtual keyboard built in (albeit they take time to get used to.) And I'll bet someone will come up with a USB keyboard.

I see the iPad giving Kindle and the Sony eReader a run for their money in the future. Like others here, I was against anything i - whatever. Then I broke down an bought an iPod. Then I got Nano's for the family, then I bought a Macbook for my Journalism student for college. Then I bought a Macbook Pro for me. Then a Touch. Then touch's for my family. Then my daughter and her fiance bought Macbooks and got free touch's.

I broke the cycle by getting a Google Android phone because I don't have AT&T.

[Karen Olson]

On the Apple website, they've got all the things this little iPad can do. They do have an external keyboard and dock, but I think the point of this is more to read books, magazines, surf the web, check email, listen to music, look at pictures. I still see no need for this although blurbomat.com says it's not an issue of "need" but of "want." I suppose...

[Mary Stella]

I have a Sony Vaio notebook, an Acer netbook, and a Kindle. I'm about to upgrade from a Blackberry to an iPhone.

I think I'm about as wired as I need.

:-)

[AlisonGaylin]

I have so much Mac envy it's not even funny. But for now I'm pretty much stuck with my 2006 Dell inspiron laptop and my Verizon cell phone that is just a plain old cell phone which Jeff made ridiculous fun of when he saw it in person.

[Victor Gischler]

I have a tin can with a string. Nobody is on the other end of the string.

VG

[Buck]

Before Steve Jobs dies there will be an avatar of Jobs who will dictate a legacy, tablets if you will, from a digital $$ mountain top, commandments that are sooooo market-fused we will be paralyzed like sheep as we submit to....

Sorry. I need to stop now.

[Jeff Shelby]

Alison - I just hadn't seen one of those gigantic mobile phones attached to a suitcase in about 20 years...

[AlisonGaylin]

Hey! So, so not true, Jeff Shelby ... It's a briefcase.

[cheap computers]

I just don't see how its all that different than a netbook. I know they are pushing its media capabilities, but I don't see a huge difference. Still looks cool, though.

[used computers]

I'm not sure about the word processing, if you can do it. The keypad and the screen are all in one. I'm not sure I could do that. It does look cool, but I'm still uncertain about it.