Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Do you have to own a computer to use this?

If you buy it at an Apple store and explain the situation, they should be able to active it for you, so you don't need a computer.

If you want to upgrade the OS at some point in the future, you'll need a computer running iTunes for that... When Apple releases a new OS, newer apps might not be able to run on a non-upgraded iPad... but that only matters if the user plans to download/use some new app.

I'm in a similar situation. I plan to buy the iPad, set it up, and hand it off to the person in question. Every now & then when I visit, I can sync it to my laptop for upgrade/backup.
 
vini-vidi-vici said:
I'm in a similar situation. I plan to buy the iPad, set it up, and hand it off to the person in question. Every now & then when I visit, I can sync it to my laptop for upgrade/backup.
Click to expand...

yeah, just do this. I hardly ever connect my ipod touch to my computer, so if I was giving it to a tech-resistant relative, they'd do fine inbetween my occasional visits to backup/update the iPad.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7E18 Safari/528.16)

I can't believe there's not wireless syncing. Having to use a connector for a large device like this is crazy. They've had it in the apple tv since it came out so why not the ipad??
 
NeuralControl said:
It's not a computer. Apple is not marketing it as a computer, either. The device needs to be connected to iTunes for initial set up. All software updates will be done through iTunes on your Mac/PC. Installing music, photos, and videos will be done through your computer, as well as downloading directly from the iTunes store.
However, it WILL replace the typical computer for many users. Just realize a primary computer is occasionally necessary for this device.
Click to expand...

Actually S Jobs is marketing it towards potential netbook customers. So therefore he does think it's in the computer bracket. This I believe was a mistake and we will never hear the term iPad and netbook being used in the same sentence again. :apple:
 
-Ryan- said:
To use an iPod Touch it does not have to be connected to a computer first. It can be turned on and used straight out of the box (much like a factory unlocked iPhone). Apple just want you to connect to register but you don't *have* to.
Click to expand...

Ok, so how do you get past the screen that says it must be plugged into a computer before use?

Also, Apple and ATT plug the iPhone into a computer at the store to activate them before giving them to you, or did everyone forget that step?
 
jman240 said:
Ok, so how do you get past the screen that says it must be plugged into a computer before use?

Also, Apple and ATT plug the iPhone into a computer at the store to activate them before giving them to you, or did everyone forget that step?
Click to expand...

I think you answered your own question... Whatever store you buy it from can active / set it up for you.
 
redgaz26 said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7E18 Safari/528.16)

I can't believe there's not wireless syncing. Having to use a connector for a large device like this is crazy. They've had it in the apple tv since it came out so why not the ipad??
Click to expand...

excellent question.
 
redgaz26 said:
I can't believe there's not wireless syncing. Having to use a connector for a large device like this is crazy. They've had it in the apple tv since it came out so why not the ipad??
Click to expand...
Microsoft may have a patent on wireless syncing. Their Zune devices have been capable of that for 3 years now.
 
4DThinker said:
Microsoft may have a patent on wireless syncing. Their Zune devices have been capable of that for 3 years now.
Click to expand...


so has the :apple:tv??
and the reason behind it is that because it sits with your tv it's a hassle to directly connect with you mac/pc but the same could be said of the ipad due to it's size.
I'm sitting at my mac just now and i have room for my mouse and my iphone and my drink and absolutely no room for a giant ipad:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
where are you meant to sit this thing when syncing?? makes no sense at all:confused:
 
Any confirmation on this yet?

Looks like people are still recommending this product as a laptop replacement.
 
Host vs Client. A PC you can install iTunes on to sync your ipods/iPhones with serves as a host. All those iPods are computers, but they act as clients. The iPad appears to also be a client computer. You won't be able to sync your other iPods with it. You will be able to sync it with your main PC. My guess is that like the three Touch and two iPhones I've set up it will need to be connected to a host PC as soon as you get it out of the box.

Anyone who was able to skip that step most likely bought it over ebay and has a used one in fact.
 
I don't think you'll need a computer because apple is offering free set up in stores, and if they connected it to a computer there it would only be sync-able to that computer
 
harry*333 said:
I don't think you'll need a computer because apple is offering free set up in stores, and if they connected it to a computer there it would only be sync-able to that computer
Click to expand...

Activation doesn't equal syncing. They'll hook it up to a computer in store to activate it, then you can take it home and sync it with your own computer.
 
I suppose you can have it activated in the store if you ask. If there is an internet connection in the home where the iPad is in use, you'll be able to buy music, movies, tv shows, books, browse the web etc... but if there isn't (which I'd bet if there is no computer) the iPad can't do much.
 
Why is this a concern? Most households have computers.

Also, an iPad is most definitely a computer. The only difference is that it has a closed OS.
 
drjsway said:
Why is this a concern? Most households have computers.
Click to expand...

Uh... I think you'd be amazed at how many households don't have a computer... and how many "do have one", but don't know how to do anything much with it except e-mail and surf the web (i.e. iPad tasks).

Anyway, there are a lot of people dealing this very issue: Want to get an iPad for a relative, as it looks like a computer they could actually learn and use. so, I think this is indeed a huge issue.

As I mentioned upthread... I plan to get one for an older, computerless relative (for e-mail & web surfing). I'll set it up, and when I visit, do various upgrades and such with my laptop.

I'm not sure how iTunes manages syncing multiple devices owned by multiple people, as I haven't had multiple devices (for example, how does purchased content show-up on these devices?), but I guess I'll figure that out... I'm assuming it's been worked-out.
 
This is turning out to be a bigger issue than I originally thought. It was my intention to give an iPad as a gift to my parents so they could easily surf the web/check email and not have to worry about their aging XP PC. The iPad does absolutely everything they would ever need in a computer. However, my mom is very attached to her iPod and every now and then likes to purchase new (oldies) from iTunes and just learned how to put them on her said iPod. The iPad would never be able to replace her Windows pc since anything she buys on the iPad or in iTunes can't be transferred to her iPod without it.

The iPad and the iPod should be complements to each other and live together without the need for a medium. Seems to me like the market is there for Apple to offer the iPad as a personal computer replacement but things like this need to be overcome. Obviously, wireless/bluetooth syncing would do the trick.
 
-Ryan- said:
To use an iPod Touch it does not have to be connected to a computer first. It can be turned on and used straight out of the box (much like a factory unlocked iPhone). Apple just want you to connect to register but you don't *have* to.
Click to expand...

Every iPod I have ever bought has required me to connect to iTunes before any features are available. (This includes two iPod touches, a 2nd and 3rd Gen.)

You turn it on after opening and you get a picture of a USB cable to the iTunes logo. On an iPhone, you get the same message, but you can coerce it into allowing you to make emergency calls if you fiddle with it enough

Seeing as how Apple is marketing the iPad, I would assume that you would need to plug in the iPad once to, for lack of a better word, activate it. This also gives you a chance to update firmware, set-up users accounts, and sync music and files.


I think you could easily set it up and put it back in the box for your older relative to open. :)
 
If the iPad is a computer, then the PS3 is a computer. My PS3 can play games, movies, pictures, browse the web and run linux. Is it a computer? I wouldn't say it is. It's a media appliance.

As for needing a separate machine, I somehow doubt you would. They even say in one of the videos on the Apple site that when it arrives in the box you can turn it on immediately. The iTunes on the iPad is close enough to a full-scale iTunes that I'm almost positive they would let you register it with that app. If you are concerned get it from an Apple store. When I left the Apple store with my iphone 3GS it was fully functional. Aside from the initial music collection sync, which honestly I don't even know I'm going to waste space on the iPad with, I almost never sync my iPhone with my computer and I get along fine with it.

I don't even care about backups. Unless you physically damage it, you can't screw up the software part of it. It's not like you can get spyware and viruses on it. You can download all the apps again, only thing you would lose would be music and video probably. And I'm actually wondering if Apple isn't going to move to more cloud-based storage anyhow with that stuff.
 
Yr Blues said:
So I keep hearing in podcasts and radioshows where the host suggests an iPad as a computer. C'mon....even Leo Laporte said it. Gets on me nerves :mad:

it's not a computer!
Click to expand...

Then show me a definition of a computer that the iPad doesn't fall under?

Not that it matters either way, people who don't like the iPad or feel it fell short of their OWN expectation will always be upset over something silly like this. In the end it really doesn't matter.

I could argue all day lone it's more of a computer than not, and I have a few thousand websites with definitions that will back me up. The debate that it's not a computer is just people's opinion. Period. Don't let it upset you, it's ok really. ;)

Just as the computer that sent the Apollo space program to the moon, modern day calculators are more powerful, but doesn't make it any less of a computer. Semantics are fun to debate but the facts are facts, it is a computer.
 
And I already forgot, on the iPhone you can already create a new iTunes account right on the phone. So why would they go backwards with the iPad? I think they would be stupid not to make it a standalone device.
 
bossxii said:
Then show me a definition of a computer that the iPad doesn't fall under?
Click to expand...

+1. Amen.

More importantly, why do some continue to insist on getting bogged down in this semantic nonsense? The thing either does what you want it to do or it does not. If not, get over it, move on, and buy/use something else.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back