I have to admit when they first announced this, I was a little disappointed. It just looked like an oversized iPod Touch/iPhone. However, as I've seen some examples of what might be developed for it, I'm getting really excited. This could become a necessary cruise companion.

Take a look at this example of what Sports Illustrated is developing for the iPad:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntyXvLnxyXk

Print media is really in need of moving into the next generation of content delivery, and this could be their future.

Any thoughts?

Hi John:

Like you, I'm getting excited and am anticipating buying one for Penny who could care less about having one but I really think she'll like it, especially with TUT and Normandy cruises coming up. She can download a book to read when traveling, view her favorite photos and movies that I have made of our past travels and she can check/send mail,etc.

I'll probably get one after the first revision.

In the meantime, I'm looking for a revision of the I-Phone possibly this June as we have the first generation and it would be nice to have 3g capability. Plus, I'm hearing that we can sell our old phone on Ebay at a good price.

Cheers! Ray

Ray,

Whenever people have asked me if it's worth the extra $$ to buy a Mac or any Apple product, I always point out that Macs/iPhones/iPods etc actually have a "gently used" resell value. I know people who buy a new MacBook and sell their old ones every couple of years and get a decent value back on the used ones; it makes the total cost of ownership much less. I don' think I could pay anyone to take my 3 year old Sony laptop!!

Steve Jobs will be getting some good business from me this year. Will definitely be getting an iPad and will also be updating my iPhone when the new ones come out this summer.

John:

Good point about resale value.

I just ordered Apple's new photo version of Aperature 3 and while I have Apple's Final Cut Express 4 movie making version, I have yet to learn it.

I've gone Apple all the way and love the fact that I have a convenient Apple Store to trouble shoot my problems away. I love it!

Cheers! Ray

John - any inside info on when they will announce the new MBP with the i5 chip? Waiting, and not very patiently with NILE just around the corner!

Andrea,

All I have are what the rumor sites are saying which is that a MacBook Pro update is due any day now. In fact, it was reported this morning that BestBuy has some dummy Apple SKUs loaded on their internal ordering system. I check my distributor every day and haven't seen anything.

It should be worth the wait. I have the i7 27" iMac and it's really fast. In fact, it's faster than a 1 year old MacPro I have in the office.

I was hoping the iPad would be available for NILE, but it won't be, so I'll probably wait for ROAR3. My grandkids have some little internet thingys that Sony put out for a while, called MYLO's; they have laptops now so had laid the Mylos to one side. I have them and am trying to figure them out for NILE, because it's going to be such a busy trip that I don't see the need for my MBP. EXCEPT I don't know about picture uploading. Of course, the instructions are long gone, and I'm reading downloaded instructions as I go. I do still have the small picture storage device that I bought for ROAR1, but it is limited on what kinds of memory cards it accepts.

Decisions, decisions.

You'd be surprised - Mark & I usually have Sony laptops that I switch out every 2 years (so always in warranty - 1 yr from Sony & 1 yr from the credit card) - I sell the old ones on Ebay. So average cost of a new one is $700 and the old one sells for $300-400 on Ebay - net cost for the new one is $300-400. Mark's new computer was a total "home run" - got the Best Buy black friday mistake for $400 and sold the old one for $340.

Back on topic, I see the iPad as a good alternative for my iPodTouch and Netbook which would reduce my traveling electronic "stuff" by one piece.

Agree w/ Peter, Sony has good resale value...you can pay me to take your Sony :)

Thanks John! I'm hoping for next Tuesday.

This is a cute photo!

Anyone purchase one yet, and tried to use on ship?
Been reading about some WiFi issues, so a bit concerned about whether it will work on ship.

Read about people using it to upload photos from camera, but not sure how. Is there some sort of connection to use with a camera?

Hi Gil:

Yes, I bought one for Penny and she likes it just fine. I believe you can directly upload from a camera but Penny sync'd everything from her computer.

Starting in August, she'll have MobilMe so her computer, I-Phone, & I-Pad will automatically sync with one-another.

The I-Pad will really get a workout on TUT & our Normandy River Cruise.

Am now hoping a 4-G phone will be birthed soon.

Cheers! Ray

Thanks Ray. Gil was asking for me as I don't have the IPhone or a laptop. I like the drawing program the IPad has and for my purposes think it's the ideal toy. I went to the store today to buy one but they're out of them within our area. I'm hoping to have one before I go on BEAR.

As for 4G I was told today that it would be out for the IPhone this summer and for the IPad in Sept.

To upload pictures directly, you need an iPad Camera Connection kit, which is supposed to be available in the next couple of weeks for $29. You can then either use a USB cable from the camera to the iPad via the connector--or even easier--just plug in the SD card into the connector to upload.

I thought that photos looked amazing on the iPad when I looked at my S. American Blog at the Apple store, though I did discover a glitch when I attempted to view them as a Slideshow. I'm sure Apple will "fix" it.

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Eugene

One good thing about the new iPad is that TSA says you don't have to remove it from your bag in the security checkpoint screening. See TSA's blog at: http://www.tsa.gov/blog/2010/04/traveling-with-e-readers-netbooks-and.html

Rumor is the iPhone 4G will be announced on June 22nd.

And here are some pictures that are supposed to be the new model. I am not sure if they are fakes or not!

There's an article in todays' NYT about this. It sounds like it wasn't a fake. See iPhone article .

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Eugene

The guy in the Apple Store was quick to point that out to us. Reason is there's no hard drive.

It's been residing in our apartment about an hour now - working on our WiFi network just fine.

I have an Apple iPad with the wireless and 3G on order along with the camera connection kit. I hope it all arrives in time to try out on our upcoming May 28 Mariner cruise. I thought it would be more convenient than taking a lap top and I can also use it for reading on the plane.

I wondered about the "memory" capacity - I'm not a geek, how many photos can we add and carry around? Anyone know?

I'm on the iPad now. good is the book reader is terrific. suduko app is great. keyboard is fine for what I need it for except having to switch screens to put in numbers. Bad is that I can't send emails from my hotmail or arlenesteinberg.com accounts. I can read the emails but not reply to them. That's major for me. I can't wait until they get even more apps. OVerall Im happy with it

Wondering how to carry your new iPad? Check out these iPad compatible jackets/vests:

http://www.scottevest.com/

Neat but not inexpensive.

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Eugene

NYT article on IPAD's trip worthiness:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/25/travel/25prac.html

Wes, thanks for the link. I didn't see that article in the print version today. I guess they make Sunday's NYT articles available in advance. Or maybe we're all in a time machine. ;)

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Eugene

Eugene, your welcome..tho many folks do not like
Twitter, I find by following NYT, WSJ, Travel Weekly, et.al; I get news before printe or web sites publish...in terms of Ipad, will enjoy my kindle for another year and plan to buy the second generation Ipad (hopefully the 3G version)
at a lower price.

I have a 16GB iPod Touch and have 10000+ pictures on it along with music and a few applications. I think the most "memory" usage are videos (which I don't have any) - I believe a movie runs about 2GB. Hope this helps.

We are finally going to break down and buy an iPad. Decided to just go with WiFi version but still unsure about size. We were wondering whether are fellow LCTers would recommend 32 or 64 GB.

thanks,

This might help-
My i pad shows 26.7 available from a capacity of 58.1 this is the 64 gb model
I have
123 songs i use it to liston to music on the air plane at times
30 videos The tv show PANAM was free and I have 8 or 9 of those shows did this a month or so ago and have yet to watch could save some memory if deleted
1309 photos saved from ROAR 3 and ZODIAC plus a few grand kids photos
37 applications
I also have a few books saved but they do not show up on the general screen so do not know how much they take up not much i suspect
I would opt for the 64 gb model

I rarely use the 3g access. most of use is from wifi.

Get a pink one for Arlene.

Definitely the 64 gb so you don't have to worry about running out of space for shows/movies.

Are you planning on getting one right away? You may want to wait as I believe the iPad 3 announcement will take place next week.

Thanks for the suggestion Ralph That would sure guarantee Marc wouldn't be using it much!

I would definitely wait until after March 7 when they are supposed to announce the iPad 3. When the iPad 2 was released you could pick up an iPad 1 for huge discounts.

John, that's the plan. Rumour has it that iPad 3s started shipping from Chengdu today.

Marc, I guess I'm in the minority. I have a 64GB iPad 1 with 3G. I use 3G when I'm out shopping and when I'm at work and cut off from the Internet for security reasons. I also was grandfathered in with unlimited downloads from ATT.

Regarding size, I have about 1,000, some photos, and some books. On a few trips I downloaded photos from the camera to the iPad, but then transferred them to my MacBook Pro, which has a separate hard drive just for photos. Since I seldom have more than a few videos on my iPad nor keep a large number of photos on it, I don't use even a quarter of my storage capability.

I would definitely not consider an iPad 1, because of the lack of a camera (e.g., Skyping), but I infer you were thinking of obtaining an iPad 2 at a discount.

--------------

Eugene

No need for 3G in my opinion. My iPad 1 had it and I only used it once. Absolutely get the 64GB. You'll never complain about having too much memory.

Marc/Arlene, I have a 32GB wifi iPad 2 and love it and have had no space issues. However, I usually just rent movies, so they don't stay on to take up space indefinitely. The 32GB model has worked great for me, but depending on how you will use it, the 64GB could be good.

I just heard that Best Buy is reducing the price of the iPad2 by $50 to clear out inventory space for the next generation.

Doug

I have the 32G and I have 10K photos and 1K songs and it's only half full. But I don't have any videos on it. If you plan on storing a lot of videos you'll need the extra space.

I would also advise against the 3G because it's still only 3G. I have a 4G MiFi wireless hotspot card that works great. Most of the time I get 4G connection which is about 10 times faster than 3G. Tom.