iPad seems great..but what really do you use it for..

[HE15MAN]

That you cannot use your iPhone/laptop for?

I really want to buy the iPad, but just cannot pull the trigger as I only see myself using it as a reader, and to browse the internet w/o having to use the laptop. Right now, that isn't a huge amount of use for me. Is there anything I am missing that I can do with it?

 

[gdeputy]

That you cannot use your iPhone/laptop for?

I really want to buy the iPad, but just cannot pull the trigger as I only see myself using it as a reader, and to browse the internet w/o having to use the laptop. Right now, that isn't a huge amount of use for me. Is there anything I am missing that I can do with it?

Thats about it. I have a laptop but don't want it in bed with me at night or on the couch with me while I'm watching tv or playing a game. Pretty much my laptop is like a desktop to me. The ipad lets me browse at night while my girlfriend is watching tv, I use it for web browsing, e reading, and some of the apps are pretty awesome. If you don't think you want it after playing with it you probably don't

 

[gillybean]

Anything you can do with an iPad you can probably do with a laptop too, except that in many cases the laptop will be heavier, have less battery life, take more time to boot up, and possibly be more unwieldy.

Like if you're on the bus for 10 minutes and want to do some web browsing and some basic work, it's much easier to take the iPad (1.5 lbs, instant boot up, quick connection to 3g) than a laptop (5 lbs, 1-2 minutes to boot up).

Or if you're on an airplane for 5 hours, it's more convenient to carry along and stow an iPad than a laptop, and the battery will last much longer.

 

[MRU]

Any device is not always limited by hardware/software. Its often more limited by the user.

I use mine to read, listen to music, have constant access to email and web (going back to my iPhone makes the iphone seem too small now), writing bits and pieces, keeping a diary, scheduling work, planning projects, doing mockups for clients when meeting them, jotting down ideas, drawing and painting, playing few games, reading my magazine subscriptions, as a digital photo-frame|clock|weather stand, listening to digital radio, etc....... The ipad has quickly become indispensable.

 

[diabolic]

Here are some of the things I've been doing with it:

1. Email and web browsing.
2. Paid bills online.
3. Helped my son write and format a project for school in Pages, and email it in as a Word document.
4. Used the Korg app in a couple of music jobs.
5. Playing games, solo and with the kids.
6. Watching TV with the ABC app.
7. Using Air Sharing and iWork.com, I figured out moving documents onto and off of the iPad, so I can work with them easily.
8. Used it as an eReader.

With one exception, I haven't used my laptop since April 3rd.

Yesterday, I gave a lecture and was hoping to use Keynote on the iPad for the presentation. I figured out that the iPad version of Keynote doesn't play audio that is imbedded in a slide. That turns a presentation about audio into something pretty useless. I ended up using my MacBook for that. I'm sure a patch will fix that issue soon, but I needed it yesterday.

 

[gillybean]

Also, assuming your laptop is not a touch screen tablet, the iPad can let you do new things like:

+) Play touch-based multiplayer games like Scrabble, Marbles and Air Hockey where everybody gathers around it.
+) Organize photos/mock-ups via touch (like Microsoft Surface collage) using MoodBoard.
+) Serve as a touch-based notepad (bigger than phone so much more space for notes, much more convenient than taking out a laptop) using Pen Ultimate.
+) Entertain kids and pets with touch screen apps like Fish Pond and Magic Piano.

 

[OGDaniel]

Pure entertainment. One of the not amazing devices I've ever had the privilege to use. It's a work of art.

 

[ob81]

If you have a laptop and a desktop, if you are on the fence about an ipad, don't get it. You are right, you can accomplish what you need with the laptop. I have a desktop and an ipad, so the choice was easy for me. I am mobile and I have a great e-book reader, and media device.
I travel a lot, so the ipad has really helped cut down on the amount of items I carry while out.

 

[zerolight]

We have a 27" iMac, 15" MBP, an iTouch and an iPhone in our house.

Prior to the iPad, I found myself using the iTouch a heck of a lot for surfing, occasional twitter, email, book reading, gaming, and wot not. Mostly surfing and email really.

Whenever I have something meaty to do I head to the iMac though.

Now that I've got the iPad (it and the MBP arrived within days of each other) I tend to go for the iPad. In fact, it's made the iTouch far less appealing due to its small screen. So the iPad replaces most of my iTouch usage making the iTouch purely a mobile device.

Now the MBP is equally new, but I leave that for my wife. I am drawn more to the iPad. As said, it can't replace everything and I use the iMac or MBP for those, but for the bulk of what I do, it may have a significant overlap with my other devices, but it's by far the most convenient and most comfortable.

 

[xraytech]

Do you really want to know?

The extent of m iPad use.

Books
Surf the net
Play games

Happy now?

I've delegated my MBP 17" to desktop duty.

 

[HE15MAN]

The laptop is mainly used by my G/F.

I guess the main thing is I am afraid of Buyers Remorse. But I guess I could always sell it pretty easily.

I really wish I could get the 3G, but really cant afford the extra data plan

 

[PsyD4Me]

iPad is for entertainment whynthe laptop does it all....

 

[Robbadore64]

Extremely convenient

I find that I practically NEVER go upstairs to use the iMac now; only for adding content to my media library. And I've always had a work issued Dell laptop but do you think I'm going to turn that thing on when I'm not working?

I've found that I do a lot more web browsing than I used to. If I'm just sitting on the couch and there is something I have a passing interest in looking up and researching, NOW I do just that and it takes no time at at all. In the past I'd never bother stopping what I was doing to go upstairs - figured I'd check it out whatever I was thinking about the next time I was by my office and would end up always forgetting to do so.

It's just a really nice appliance to have around to do a very large portion of what a lot of us typically do with a computer. But like many say, it's hard to justify "needing" the thing when pretty much all of us already have a device that does all these things. It just does these things in a much more enjoyable way. If you want to do something nice for yourself this is a really good way to do that

 

[barkomatic]

The iPad is the best choice for travelling for most people if all you need is portable entertainment and to check your email. It's much less of a pain to get through airport security and easier to use in a crampt airline seat. The built in 3G version means you don't have to rely on wifi like you do with a laptop and you don't have to commit to contract. If you wanted 3G on a laptop, major carriers will make you sign up for a year or two of service that's up to $60 a month. If you don't travel often that service is a waste.

Outside of travelling however the usefulness begins to decline. Most people here recently got their units and are still enamored with them. One tends to find uses for expensive new gadgets even though those uses may not be practical and somewhat contrived. It's too much to have a laptop in bed with you or on your couch? Really? I think that's a little silly.

In the near future more smartphones will likely have hotspot features at no extra charge -- obviating the need to pay AT&T an *extra* fee to connect your iPad. This could also be used for a laptop however.

 

[notjustjay]

I thought the same when it first came out. Now, we're still a week away from preorders in Canada and several weeks away from the first time I'll be able to see one in person, but the more I think about this, the more I'm convinced I want one.

I see this thing perched on a dock in my kitchen, ready to give me weather updates, Facebook/Twitter updates, recipes and videos. Sure, my netbook or MacBook Pro can do the same, but this is that much more portable, and I can bring it that much closer to the kitchen prep area and not be worried about flour getting into the keyboard or whatever.

I live about 10 minutes away from my parents and I visit them a few times a week. I normally bring my netbook when I go visit, primarily to access the web and email. When I do, it takes 30 seconds to boot/wake Windows, then I do my browsing (on a slow and underpowered Atom chip, might I add), then another 30 seconds to hibernate when I'm done. Sometimes I pass the netbook along to my brother or father to show them something. When I do this, I find myself folding the screen out nearly flat and handing it to them like ... a big ol' tablet.

This last one is an unusual use that is a Big Deal for me but may not be for any of you. I volunteer at a summer camp, and one of the things we do is sing around campfires. I have a big binder full of loose-leaf papers with song lyrics and chords. These are always getting torn, dirty, stepped on, lost, so I'm always reprinting and hoping I didn't lose my only copy of something. Plus around the fire it's dark so I need a flashlight to see, and if both my hands are on a guitar, I need a second person to hold the flashlight for me. Then I found this app called OnSong in the iTunes store. If this is anywhere near as good as it looks, this is going to be my iPad "Killer App". An iPhone screen would be too small for this, and a laptop would be cumbersome to carry.

 

[HLdan]

The laptop is mainly used by my G/F.

I guess the main thing is I am afraid of Buyers Remorse. But I guess I could always sell it pretty easily.

I really wish I could get the 3G, but really cant afford the extra data plan

Don't buy it (at least right now) if you feel like you'll have buyers remorse. It sounds more like you just want one to be either the first kid on your block, for bragging rights or just to be part of the crowd and those are all wrong reasons for getting one. For me, I need it for business when I visit client's in their homes as I am an insurance agent and having access to client files in mobileme using the 3G would be great.

Now, R U serious? You can't afford the $15 monthly data plan but you can afford a 3G iPad that starts at least at $629 U.S?

 

[honda2001shadow]

my usage

So far, i have fallen in love with my iPad. I use it for:

Email
Pictures
Movies
Internet
Games
Scheduler with calendar
Notes
Banking
Music

This is just to start off

 

[brn2ski00]

I don't have a laptop - just a desktop so this device is perfect. I can be in bed surfing, consuming media, catching up on news, etc without going into the office.

Its really nice, but if I had a laptop, I wouldn't have an iPad.

 

[poloponies]

Certainly not the do-everything device and if I didn't already have a notebook I'd have opted for a 13" MBP (excellent value). However, even with my MacBook Air, reading and watching movies on a plane is challenging and it's not even workable on my daily train commute. I've abandoned my Kindle and now read, watch movies (and catch up on Lost via the ABC app) get my email, play the occasional game and more on my iPad. We have a couple of vacations coming up and I won't even bother bringing my notebook.

It makes doing many things I normally do just that much easier and more enjoyable at a pretty fair price point.

 

[Robbadore64]

The laptop is mainly used by my G/F.

I guess the main thing is I am afraid of Buyers Remorse. But I guess I could always sell it pretty easily.

I really wish I could get the 3G, but really cant afford the extra data plan

If you already have an iPhone (didn't see you mention it) I would highly recommend Jailbreaking it and using MyWi for a one time fee of $10. A lot of people have ethical reasons for not etc. I can honestly say I've paid a LOT of money for my apps on my iPhone and iPad and have never stolen a thing. Maybe I'm "stealing" my iPhone's 3G connection but I don't see it that way. Those rare occasions I'm away from WiFi I can use my iPhone's connection to browse on my iPad. I've never enjoyed browsing the web on my phone and I finally feel I'm getting what I pay $124 a month for with my AT&T plan.

I will NEVER buy a 3G model iPad now and I'll wait to upgrade my iPhone until know it can be tethered.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

That you cannot use your iPhone/laptop for?

Absolutely nothing, but although I can use a dinner knife as a screwdriver and a nail cutter as a wire stripper I opted to buy a set of tools. That's just me though.

Seriously, the iPad is not meant to replace either an iPhone or a laptop. It complements them. There are jobs that can be done on the iPad more effectively than on an iPhone if for only because the screen is bigger. There are places you can work because it's no big deal to whip out an iPad where schlepping out a laptop would be a pain or overkill, or not appropriate for the setting.

 

[kas23]

There is nothing one can do on their iPad that they can't do on their laptop. Currently, it's just an alternative to using your laptop. This is why people keep saying "I haven't touched my laptop in weeks!".

That said, I think iPad useage is revealing what people really use their laptop for. I especially love the "I haven't used my MBP in weeks" comments. This just means they never really used their MBP for anything special (mainly just net surfing and email) and probably never should have bought such a powerful (and expensive) machine in the first place.

 

[notjustjay]

I will NEVER buy a 3G model iPad now and I'll wait to upgrade my iPhone until know it can be tethered.

For me it's the exact opposite. I've been drooling over the iPhone since Day 1 but here in Canada the data plans start at $30/month for 500 megs or 1 gig of data per month depending on which provider you choose, and you have to lock into a 3-year contract. That's on top of your voice plan. Yuck! I just can't see myself locking into a contract for that long.

We're still waiting to see what our carriers do for the iPad but IF they provide something similar to the AT&T plan, I'd be all over a 3G iPad. I'd be happy to pay for only the months I actually use 3G data, and cancel for the rest of the time... it'd be perfect.

 

[MT0227]

Laptop = Creation

Digital photo/video editing; work related activities that commands larger display real estate; main wireless hub for music library to AirTunes; central sync hub for all devices below.


iPhone = Communication

Phone; Contacts, All email accounts; GPS; 3G on the go, some music


iPad = Consumption

Books, News, Movies, Internet, Games, organizer, some music


iPod (+portable amp+killer cans) = Serious high fidelity music on the go

 

[soxfanreggie]

Anything you can do with an iPad you can probably do with a laptop too, except that in many cases the laptop will be heavier, have less battery life, take more time to boot up, and possibly be more unwieldy.

Like if you're on the bus for 10 minutes and want to do some web browsing and some basic work, it's much easier to take the iPad (1.5 lbs, instant boot up, quick connection to 3g) than a laptop (5 lbs, 1-2 minutes to boot up).

Or if you're on an airplane for 5 hours, it's more convenient to carry along and stow an iPad than a laptop, and the battery will last much longer.

That's exactly why I got it. I also have a lot of long busrides for coaching and laptop batteries drain pretty early in the trip on a long busride. With the cost of extra batteries (and adding weight/space to my bags) and then having to charge those too, it wasn't worth bringing them. Having the 3G capabilities are very nice as well for Internet on the go. I also read a lot of news: WSJ, Fox News, CNN, sports news from a variety of sites, and this is perfect for that. If only iBooks were cheaper, I wouldn't have to bring a few paperbacks with me on a trip (I get a lot of books at the used bookstore and eBay for like $1 or less).