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I thought about that as well. The iPad screen isn't much larger. But zooming and panning will be extremely simple, which will make it easier to view larger sites. Using the trackpad on my netbook is painful. I could probably deal with the smaller screen if navigating it wasn't such a chore.

Although, I only have experience with the low-end netbooks. I can't speak for the higher quality devices.
You have a point there. The only netbook I have used was an Aspire One and you are right, the trackpad was terrible. It does look like scrolling around will be so much easier on the iPad. Now if I could just get past the "no flash" thing, and I am not talking about videos. It just seems like so many sites that I have used lately have required flash to even be navigable, but perhaps those sites are few and far between and not the norm; I specifically visited bmw, vwusa, honda, and mazda when looking for a car recently, and all of these either require flash to navigate or for key features of the site, but again these are sites you would not visit on a normal basis.
 
You have a point there. The only netbook I have used was an Aspire One and you are right, the trackpad was terrible. It does look like scrolling around will be so much easier on the iPad. Now if I could just get past the "no flash" thing, and I am not talking about videos. It just seems like so many sites that I have used lately have required flash to even be navigable, but perhaps those sites are few and far between and not the norm; I specifically visited bmw, vwusa, honda, and mazda when looking for a car recently, and all of these either require flash to navigate or for key features of the site, but again these are sites you would not visit on a normal basis.

I agree. I just realized that a lot of my online resources for school use flash. I specifically wanted an iPad to use my schools online library on the go. Without Flash, I'm back where I started.
 
How can it be without printing capabilities though? Many people that use netbooks (such as my wife) are college students who type and print papers on a regular basis.

Typing on a netbook is very uncomfortable to me. Although a woman might be easier since they have smaller hands. I still think Netbooks are useless in my own opinion.
 
I agree. I just realized that a lot of my online resources for school use flash. I specifically wanted an iPad to use my schools online library on the go. Without Flash, I'm back where I started.
Yes, I think a lot of people don't realize how prevalent flash is for a lot of non video sites. Many people on this board have Click2Flash and clicking is so easy many people probably do it without even thinking; when they get the iPad and realize that they can't just click to make things work they may be surprised.
 
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Review fail!

It's not a netbook killer because:
1. No printing
2. No keyboard. Nobody is going to want to type papers using a touchscreen.
 
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Review fail!

It's not a netbook killer because:
1. No printing
2. No keyboard. Nobody is going to want to type papers using a touchscreen.

No printing YET. I don't think it'll be long before Apple adds printing. There are plenty of keyboard options for when you want to sit down and write a paper.
 
Yes, I think a lot of people don't realize how prevalent flash is for a lot of non video sites. Many people on this board have Click2Flash and clicking is so easy many people probably do it without even thinking; when they get the iPad and realize that they can't just click to make things work they may be surprised.

Well that's the thing, the more people that buy ipads, the more ipad optimized sites they'll be. I would imagine that they'll be three versions of a website (regular, ipad, mobile) in the near future. And it's true that if you buy the iPad tomorrow, you might be screwed with some of your sites..but I say after a month or two, you should be fine.
 
Well that's the thing, the more people that buy ipads, the more ipad optimized sites they'll be. I would imagine that they'll be three versions of a website (regular, ipad, mobile). It's true that if you buy the iPad tomorrow, you might be screwed with some of your sites..but I say after a month or two, you should be fine.
For the most part you are probably right, but there will be others such as Aduntu described above that will be a long time if ever before converting.
 
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Review fail!

It's not a netbook killer because:
1. No printing
2. No keyboard. Nobody is going to want to type papers using a touchscreen.


I cant imagine typing "papers" on my netbook keyboard. Come tomorrow, my netbook gets "retired".

For long reports or papers, I will use my laptop.
 
A catalyst...not a killer....

I personally don't print much at all, but my wife prints natively from her netbook all the time. I asked her if she could get by without being able to print directly and she said it would be a pain. So I'm sure the same is true for a lot of other people, if not for you. Different people have different needs.

But yeah, I agree with you: The iPad is NOT meant to be a netbook killer!

I have 3 netbooks. 2 Dells (mini 9 and mini 12) and the Asus 1010 (I think..the very first model they made). I thought they were great...at first. The Asus tends to 'lose it's mind' every few months requiring a restore. It was also tends to 'forget' how to use the wireless HP printer we have on our network. Since it's only used to access the net and watch netflix it's not a problem. The Dell mini 9 was very slick and easy to use but the screen is so-so. I purchased this with the specific intent of loading OSX on...which it did and ran very happily. I upgraded the SSD (mydellmini.com) and some other tweaks. It has had to go back twice for motherboard failures. Still it's a nice little machine and just due to it's paperback size I keep it around. The Dell Mini 12 is a brick though. My wife wanted a netbook for school and she like the 9 but wanted something bigger. The Mini 12 is a Vista machine (unless you fork over another $40 for an XP downgrade). It's horrible...plain horrible. Having said that I did and do appreciate the netbook for light use.

We, my wife and I, also have kindle 2's. We purchased them new last year for Christmas (haha...we were BOTH surprised on Christmas morning I can tell you...we didn't know we had gotten each other same gift!). I was hyped about the "e-ink" screen. To me the black on gray turned out to NOT be a big deal. I read mostly in bed and was amazed there was no backlighting. Inside the black on gray wasn't a game changer either. Now..at the beach? Wow..worked like a champ. I do like my Kindle and at the time I was amazed at what it could do. It's not 'that' small though (the mini 9 is thicker but roughly the same size and it's a netbook). The Amazon book store is pretty good, not pretty but functional. I remember thinking "...you know if Apple made an e-reader they could build it into iTunes...and call it iBook..hahaha...:" Wish I had registered a web site in that name back then :( I do like my Kindle and will keep it if for no other reason than to read outdoors. I feel this is the one area the ipad, as presented, can't match the kindle. The whispernet and limited 3g are also a nice feature. :cool:

As presented, the iPad is going to give e-readers and netbook users a choice. However the iPad has room to expand and develop in both hardware and software. Take the iPhone for example. There are all kinds of hardware dongles out there for it...from credit card machines to bar code readers. There is a lot of apps (130k plus) to do almost anything (including printing). Even if the iPad only gets half of that it will still be very useable and very adaptable for on the go users. I wouldn't call it a killer but it will threaten netbooks and e-readers. ;)

I am a fanboy...but I really think this thing will be, if not a gamechanger, then a catalyst for more e-reader and netbook development..in which case everyone wins (and I love seeing Steve sticking his tongue out and saying "nyah, nyah, nah-na, nyah") :D
 
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