Ipad and compatibility

[sportdan31]

Long story short, a couple months ago I upgraded my IMac G5 Power PC to Snow Leapord and purchased a 32 gb Ipad. The computer chugged and was absolutely a bear to use. It seriously ran like a netbook where the fan would run constantly. I was beyond annoyed with the spinning rainbow circle. Well, I recently sold my Ipad and downgraded the IMac to it's original OS. It flies now and runs like it's brand new.

I'm having major sellers remorse regarding my Ipad. I'm thinking of repurchasing one soon, however am wondering do I necessarily need a compatible IMac or PC if I don't intend to load music or photos? When I owned my Ipad, I used it mainly for email, web browsing, Netflix, etc. I can simply have an Apple store rep connect me and I'd be off and running, correct? I guess the only thing I'd be missing is if I wanted to update the OS. Am I missing anything else?

 

[skate71290]

i'm assuming you cannot get the latest version of iTunes, which does suck, but i'm pretty sure you can get an Apple Geek (sorry, meant Genius...) to set you up, just explain your situation, but you will be asked to set up an iTunes account if you do not already have one, as to Syncing Photos/Videos and what not will not be possible unless you purchase an Intel Mac

 

[skubish]

Are you sure about this? Snow Leopard requires a intel processor and won't run on a G5.

Were you running Leopard? Since iPad is compatible with Leopard I would do a clean of that on your Mac.

 

[SteveAbootman]

I think the only thing you risk going this route (aside from inability to upgrade) is the inability to do backups of your iPad. If you are not big into apps this shouldn't be a problem, but if 1 year down the line you have downloaded 6 pages of apps and your iPad dies, you will be SOL since you have no backup on iTunes.

 

[MadeTheSwitch]

if 1 year down the line you have downloaded 6 pages of apps and your iPad dies, you will be SOL since you have no backup on iTunes.

Can't you just re-download them if that happens? I know you can't for songs and stuff, but I thought that they let you re-download the apps you bought at no charge.

 

[SnowLeopard2008]

Can't you just re-download them if that happens? I know you can't for songs and stuff, but I thought that they let you re-download the apps you bought at no charge.

Very tedious to do and it's hard to know whether you bought that app or a similarly named one. If you make a mistake, you get charged.

 

[sportdan31]

Are you sure about this? Snow Leopard requires a intel processor and won't run on a G5.

Were you running Leopard? Since iPad is compatible with Leopard I would do a clean of that on your Mac.

I must have been mistaken. It had to have been Leopard that I was running. Either way, the IMac really struggled to run, and since I've downgraded, the system much much better. I suppose I could always upgrade to the latest OS update via my parents computer or through work. I haven't decided if I should just wait for the second gen Ipad too.

Thanks everyone.