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Explaining the iPad

P

PCClone

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Feb 26, 2010
718
0
Had this conversation with someone last night...

He: What do you know about this iPad thing? Do you have one?

Me: Not yet. May wait for Gen 2.

He: I heard it is a big flop. Do you think they will sell any?

Me: 1M in 28 days and close to 2M total. Can't make them fast enough.

He: Really? Why would anyone buy one?

I then proceeded to educate him and he is sold now.
 
My favorite explanation comes from Brian Lam's review at Gizmodo

"Should I get an iPad?" asks a friend.

"That depends," I say, "It doesn't do anything you can't do with you phone or laptop, and it's not really great at work or outside the home."

"So I shouldn't? Should I get something else?" she asks.

I interrupt, "But there is nothing else quite like it. And it does a few things, in a few places, better than anything."
Click to expand...
 
I tell people something like this...

"It's like a big iPod Touch"

"Really...then why would you get one?"

"Well, why would you get a big screen TV when you could watch a 25" TV?"
 
If someone I knew asked me that I'd do the same thing that sold me on it - I'd hand it over to him to play with.
 
I'm confused when people say "it's not great outside the home" or "I haven't left home with it" or "I got the wifi model because I plan to only use it around the house."

To me, its main value is use on the go. I spent 80% of my time with it when I'm not at home.
 
HXGuy said:
I tell people something like this...

"It's like a big iPod Touch"

"Really...then why would you get one?"

"Well, why would you get a big screen TV when you could watch a 25" TV?"
Click to expand...

Why would you want this "bigger screen TV" when you already own an even bigger screen TV (your laptop or desktop). This would be like buying a 40 inch TV when you already own a 25 and a 55 incher at home. This TV analogy of yours is pretty flimsy.
 
kas23 said:
Why would you want this "bigger screen TV" when you already own an even bigger screen TV (your laptop or desktop). This would be like buying a 40 inch TV when you already own a 25 and a 55 incher at home. This TV analogy of yours is pretty flimsy.
Click to expand...

Except, your laptop isn't the same thing and you interact with it in a completely different way. Comparing an iPad with a laptop is a horrible comparison at best.
 
kas23 said:
Why would you want this "bigger screen TV" when you already own an even bigger screen TV (your laptop or desktop). This would be like buying a 40 inch TV when you already own a 25 and a 55 incher at home. This TV analogy of yours is pretty flimsy.
Click to expand...

Your argument is flimsy, since I have 52,40,23 inch tvs and we just bought a 36 inch for another room.
 
wombat888 said:
I'm confused when people say "it's not great outside the home" or "I haven't left home with it" or "I got the wifi model because I plan to only use it around the house."

To me, its main value is use on the go. I spent 80% of my time with it when I'm not at home.
Click to expand...

I've highlighted the important bit there..

The great thing about the iPad is it's versatility. There's no one defined way on how to use it.
 
kas23 said:
Why would you want this "bigger screen TV" when you already own an even bigger screen TV (your laptop or desktop). This would be like buying a 40 inch TV when you already own a 25 and a 55 incher at home. This TV analogy of yours is pretty flimsy.
Click to expand...

Sure...but which of those TV's is BATTERY OPERATED, streams your content wirelessly AND can be held in almost any position comfortably for extended periods of use? For the money, I'd rather have a 16g iPad WiFi on a flip mount under my kitchen cabinets as the primary media device in there. Right now we've got a small LCD display in there that costs almost the same and its not interactive...just a TV.

I think the TV analogy is actually pretty good. You've got a laptop/desktop with a bigger screen, but they really need to be stationary and tethered to power sources to work their best. The iPad is portable and good tradeoff for viewing size/quality versus an iPhone/iPod Touch.
 
iPad? It's an amazing job of product design with the guts of an iPod Touch inside. It won't do anything the Touch can't do, but everything it does do it does bigger. Of course that makes it heavier, far less portable, more expensive, and more frustrating to use when you realize it can't do many things a less-expensive netbook can do. So get one! You'll love it!

That's what I tell my friends. I own Apple stock. :D
 
Why wait for 2nd gen iPad? It's a toy, who cares. It's only money.

I bring mine to work everyday and people talk sh*t about it and say there waiting for a price drop in 6 months... lol

That 6 months I'm enjoying something that you can't have or afford. Jealous much? :D
 
4DThinker said:
iPad? It's an amazing job of product design with the guts of an iPod Touch inside. It won't do anything the Touch can't do, but everything it does do it does bigger. Of course that makes it heavier, far less portable, more expensive, and more frustrating to use when you realize it can't do many things a less-expensive netbook can do. So get one! You'll love it!
Click to expand...
Except that "bigger is way better." I really don't like the internet experience on the Iphone/Touch. That's a great size for small games like Bejeweled, Trism, etc., and it will remain that way for those types of games. But for internet use, the Ipad beats the Iphone and Touch hands down, and completely blows away those piece-o-craps netbooks. Why not ask your friends "What do you want to do on a computer most of the time?" My guess is that the majority of their answers will be "email, Facebook, YouTube, movies" etc. And THAT is where the Ipad blows all of those other options away. I still love my Iphone but it is now relegated to out-of-house use only.

And while I'm here, why are you so focused on what's inside? So what if it's "the guts of an Ipod Touch inside"? What does it matter? What if it had rows of ants on treadmills and a packet of ketchup? Doesn't it matter what it actually does? When I see someone so hung up on the specs and actual contents inside the device, and not the actual performance, it's pretty certain that they're more concerned with gear specs than actually using the gear.
 
4DThinker said:
iPad? It's an amazing job of product design with the guts of an iPod Touch inside. It won't do anything the Touch can't do, but everything it does do it does bigger. Of course that makes it heavier, far less portable, more expensive, and more frustrating to use when you realize it can't do many things a less-expensive netbook can do. So get one! You'll love it!

That's what I tell my friends. I own Apple stock. :D
Click to expand...

I just let my friends try it for about 5 minutes. So far, they've all ended up ordering one after using mine. At least 3 have said "oh, now I see why...", and then ordered within the next week.
 
One Love 1867 said:
I've highlighted the important bit there..

The great thing about the iPad is it's versatility. There's no one defined way on how to use it.
Click to expand...

Sure - if you want to use it only at home, no one's stopping you. But making statements predicated upon the notion that it isn't designed for mobility is weird given that it is more mobile than a laptop.
 
1) Set said friend on your couch

2) Put your MBP in his lap

3) Wait for the smell of burning flesh

4) Exchange the MBP with an iPad

5) Watch him run off to the Apple store to buy an iPad
 
I think there was a "No Fear" shirt that read - "Those Who Know Cannot Explain. Those Who Don't Cannot Understand".
 
Perhaps we could start an "Official Macrumors iPad Support Group" mega-thread where people can reassure each other about their ipad purchase and/or empower each other with witty one-liners to fight off criticism from third parties?
 
.Andy said:
Perhaps we could start an "Official Macrumors iPad Support Group" mega-thread where people can reassure each other about their ipad purchase and/or empower each other with witty one-liners to fight off criticism from third parties?
Click to expand...

Or maybe an "Official Macrumors iPad Haters Group" mega-thread where all the trolls who have no intention of ever buying the device, or have likely never even touched one, can empower each other with witty one-liners like "it's just a big iPod touch" or "netbooks are better" or "no Flash = sucks" to fight off the envy of not having an iPad (or the means to acquire one).
 
I just tell them they have to actually use one to get the full affect. Before I had ever used an iPad, I always thought it wasn't anything very special. When I actually used it myself, I realized it's pretty amazing.
 
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