I "get" Apple stuff. I totally see the appeal of an iPad. Yes, it may be nothing more fancy than a web browser with some bells and whistles, but what a great way to surf the web. I've never managed to curl up on a sofa with a laptop…

…BUT…

£429!!!

for the cheapest one. With no 3G. You'd have to have some serious spare wonga or a serious gadget obsession to justify that. Roll on the competition…

Ahem.

Apple are making it for peasants like you 🙂
But yep, I don't quite get the rational for the iPad yet.

too heavy to be a book reader, no keyboard, no flash video, no usb – what's it for ??

the retail price is a bullshit price, whats the price with apple(don't)care added on as tyhats the units actual price, if you don't buy the applecare then you are 100% screwed when it fails ijn under a year. unless of course its a "known issue", but Apple decree what is a "known issue" and what is not, the internets are littered with common apple failures which they refuse to acknowledge the exisitance of.

fxxk apple, I've not a good word to say about them.

Definitely a Segway-alike. Solution to a problem that doesn't exist.

Don't buy one then.

Ooops, sorry for a boring dupe post 😆

I totally get the appeal of an iPad. I think the iPhone is a rubbish phone with great web surfing ability. Take out the phone and make it bigger et voila!

The appeal has wained with those prices 😕

Solution to a problem that doesn't exist.

I think surfing the web on a laptop is naff compared with the way the iPad (iPhone etc) do it. Most of my surfing is read and click and not lots of keyboard action. iPad = a good idea (but stupidly expensive)

Jeebers, it starts at $629Au, or about £382 down here.

iPad = a good idea (but stupidly expensive)

I bet they sell out though. So not too expensive.

Go on then, design and make a 10" tablet including a top-notch OS and sell it for less.

And people can't have failed to notice (from the price of bike bits) that our economy and currency are tanking, even more so in the last couple of weeks. ANYTHING that we import will be expensive, even more so if you're comparing to stuff you bought a couple of years ago.

I agree with the surfing comment. The Ipod Touch is effective to wifi surf with. And it's sub £200 for a 32GB. That's £300 cheaper than the iPad equivalent.

But I bet the iPad is very very good to surf with – Cet obscur objet du désir?

Luxury technology item in not particularly cheap shocker.

Design costs money.

Apple have sold over a million iPads in the US already. Why does everyone think they are the target market and think their opinion on the iPad is worth hearing?

there is no benefit to apple in selling these cheap.

replace apple with:

santa cruz
rapha
audi
BMW
etc, etc, etc.

on a side note, did anyone see that jake fella cooking jonathon ross's ipad on friday night? I hope it wasnt a setup…

if you want mobile internet get a sony vaio vgn-p11z from john lewis outlet for £370.00 put win7/ubuntu on it and stick a data sim card in it. Its a reet tasty bit of kit!

and the people who are getting upset about the price? you clearly want one but can't afford it.

work harder. get a better job…

MrNutt:

fxxk apple, I've not a good word to say about them.

One knackered MBP and you're a hater for life?

My mobile and laptop do all the internet stuff I need. I have this much need for an ipad.

>> . <<

But they do look nice.

It's a somewhat low res screen for something that expensive

I had an iPhone (s/h) for a couple of weeks, decided I really didn't need a toy, so sold it on and recouped my expenditure.

Nice things, and no doubt useful to some, but little more than a toy to most.

I think the technology with the touchscreen thing is great, and it's a glimpse of what's to come, for sure, but the iPad (like the iPhone) is really little more than a fashion accessory for most folk.

Of course, that doesn't stop me from wanting one! My lack of spare moolah prevents me from having one though. 🙁

Plenty of other things I 'need' before I have to get an iPad.

On the bright side, there';; probably be loads of cheap iPod touches about now, and when the 4G iPhone comes out, loads of cheap 3G ones! 😀

I "get" full sus bikes. I totally see the appeal of a Mount Vision, for example. Yes, it may be nothing more fancy than a bike with some springs at each end, but what a great way to ride. I've never managed to ride a downhill course with a hardtail…

…BUT…

£2K!!!

for the cheapest one. With no XT or XTR. You'd have to have some serious spare wonga or a serious bike obsession to justify that. Roll on the competition…

See what I did there? Horses for courses, different priorities etc. etc…

clever man

one? nope my powerbook went the same way before it, it developed a fault where it would over heat and power off randomly, all things were pointing towards the logicv board on that too but I managed to drop that down the stairs rendering it well and truely knackered before I could take it up with Apple. That said I was suprised to hear the lad in the apple store suggest i claim on my home contents for this one, apparently its a common practice to suggest defrauding your insurer rather than apple offering a fair warranty. (12mths on a £2k+ laptop is appauling!)

but I managed to drop that down the stairs rendering it well and truely knackered

Racist.

'Oh, it fell down the stairs, sarge…'

Yeah yeah. Heard it all before….

I surf, but I also IM and email, so a keyboard is nice.

Oh and a Vaio P series is indeed a great piece of kit. Way smaller than an iPad and a proper laptop with keyboard and all. Fits in a jacket pocket.

Could be worse, you could be my colleague who ordered one… from Hawaii so he could have it pretty much immediately. I think, but not sure, that it was £600

Don't buy one then.

I had an iPhone (s/h) for a couple of weeks, decided I really didn't need a toy, so sold it on and recouped my expenditure.

Nice things, and no doubt useful to some, but little more than a toy to most.

That was rubbish the first 200 times you said it. 201st is the same.

It's not rubbish, it's the truth. The iPhone is little more than a toy to most people who own them.

You're deluding yourself if you think any different.

202.

The Apple image doesn't really appeal to me and I don't think much of any of the products, but it seams that all of the rest of the world can't quite get enough of it, he could probably slap an apple logo on anything and sell it, so they are probably trying to get as many products into the market place before it becomes uncool to have them hence it doesn't really matter what the iPad is like it will still sell as it has that image associated with it.

Iain

sony vaio vgn-p11z. TechRadar says: "Not to put too fine a point on it, this eight-inch, Atom-based netbook is junk." 🙁

really? were they running vista? vista blows where as win7 runs great on them! I'd certianly not describe it as anything like junk, the screen is fantastic and reading text when you hold it up is a pleasure, also the speed over GSM is amazing, it listed close to a 7mb download speed!

Not a total Apple Fanboi – We have a windoze PC, a linux laptop and 2 macs at home plus verious iPods and phones

But – the iphone is hugely better than any other smart phone I have had in the way it does everything I want with a very easy interface and no crashing. It doesn't suit the really geeky user, but it works.

The iPad will be for travelling, and for websurfing being sat on the sofa. It will do it well – and when they are on OS 4.0 and have sorted out multi-tasking etc, I will probably get one.

Look at the amount us MTBers pay for lots of MTB things… we are suckers for pretty things. 😳

I didn't get it when it was released but I think I get it now. It's not a computer in the same sense that your laptop is, it's web media without a computer in the way. It's about making that media part of your everyday life rather than something you do on a computer.

That said, there's no getting round the fact that it's expensive and a laptop will do pretty much all the same stuff. And I don't own any Apple stuff and probably never will.

sony vaio vgn-p11z. TechRadar says: "Not to put too fine a point on it, this eight-inch, Atom-based netbook is junk

Well MolRadar review says it's a great piece of kit that fulfils a role that nothing else can. It's a full laptop that you can stick in a bag and forget you're even carrying it. It'll run full MS Office, connect you to work, remote desktop, everything.

Downsides: It's slow, but perfectly usable on Windows 7; the screen is too small to use with it on your lap (but works fine on a table, or held in one hand since it's so light), the keyboard is a bit small naturally, and it only comes with a nipple not a touchpad. I'd not want to use it all day but you can do shorter bouts of work on it. Beats the crap out of PDAs or smartphones for real portable technology.

I "get" full sus bikes. I totally see the appeal of a Mount Vision, for example. Yes, it may be nothing more fancy than a bike with some springs at each end, but what a great way to ride. I've never managed to ride a downhill course with a hardtail…

…BUT…

£2K!!!

for the cheapest one. With no XT or XTR. You'd have to have some serious spare wonga or a serious bike obsession to justify that. Roll on the competition…

See what I did there? Horses for courses, different priorities etc. etc…

Er, no. There are lots of alternatives that will do the same or pretty damn similar job to a Mount Vision for all manner of prices higher and lower. How is that an analogy to the iPad? If someone tried to sell me a suspension unicycle for £4000 and tried to convince me that it was the future of trail riding, THAT would be a better analogy 🙂

Do Apple think we're made of money???

No, but they do know many of their customers are stupid fashion victims!

Apple Corp. spends huge sums getting their products to the shelves and making sure that they are covetted by those who like to make a statement about themselves.

These product are aimed squarely at those who shop with an emotive head, rather than a practical analytical head

Apple stores must cost a fortune to set up and run, but conversely who else gives you better access to try out technology on the high street before you buy? Great marketting.

Anyone with a financial head on their shoulders balks at Apple products, even if the hardware and software is very seductive.

Apple are great at aesthetics, ergonomics, building subscription and aftersales opportunities, but that's it. They know how to market!

I'm sure there are a few applications on the Apple platform which are vital to business and not available anywhere else, so in this case, buying these overpriced mediocre performing machines is understandable.

Ok..
I have a laptop for work, and an old ipod nano
Missus has a laptop she guards, no other PC’s in house
I have a work phone, and an old personal phone on pay as you go
I want a PC to surf in the house though WiFi and run music / bit of video trhough
I am not a fashion victim, quite the opposite, and have no gadgets at all
Oh and I ride very shonky bikes
Thinking of buying an Ipad – should I or not ??
Some of the apps must be cool
Cheers
J.