Editorial: Why you should like the Apple iPad

Apple's iPad has put a sour taste in your mouth, too? - Shane voices his opinion on why you should like the iPad. Is he barking up the wrong tree?

Published
Updated
Manufacturer: Apple
2 minutes & 33 seconds read time
Let's be honest here. At over 2.2 Million iPads sold worldwide, you don't have to convince a whole lot of people what's so great about the iPad. Apple seems to be doing a good enough job with that as it is. As one of those 2.2 Million, though, I'm the proud owner of a 64GB 3G + WiFi iPad.

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Did I need it? - No, but honestly, most the stuff I buy I don't need, so it's hardly a reason not to buy one. So, why did I buy one? Well, to be honest, I've never used a phone as much as my iPhone and I don't make a whole lot of calls on it. Most of my conversations with people these days are done over MSN.

I love playing games on my iPhone when I'm out and about. Most the time, however, I find I'm in places where I could easily carry something bigger with me, but don't want to quite carry something as chunky as a laptop around. There was a lot that got me excited about the iPad and that was ultimately the reason I bought it. Really, I knew about all the things I couldn't do on it, so I haven't gone and found myself thinking "Oh I can't do that, that's a pain."

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Even if you don't like the iPad, you really should. I'm not saying that you should buy one, but I'm saying that you should at least like what Apple has done. What Apple has done is brought forward the next generation of portable computing. At the moment the iPad can't replace a laptop or netbook for most. For me it can because on my laptop I only really read e-mail, respond and chat on MSN. That I can now do on my iPad, but for people who need Windows, the iPad isn't an option as a replacement device.

Because of Apple, we're seeing the next generation of computing move at light speed levels. All of a sudden we're seeing massive advancements in touch screens and touch screen orientated operating systems. We're seeing a new focus on battery life and weight. We're seeing all this because of Apple.

Apple is bringing Slate computing to us now and not years down the track. Apple has done all the hard work for companies that wanted to release an iPad device, but didn't have the marketing strength to do so. Instead, these companies who have been sitting on these plans now have a chance to shine.

The other thing is we're going to see companies like Intel offer us better chips that are going to draw less power and offer us even better battery life. We're going to see companies offer us more powerful GPUs for these Slate devices.

The bottom line is that while the iPad has many flaws for many people like lack of Flash, not enough grunt, no Windows support and more; if it wasn't for the iPad, we wouldn't see other companies working on devices that are going to offer these things.

Apple doesn't have to worry because for years we've seen MP3 players that can offer more than the iPod for less, yet the iPod continues to sell. The ease of use and interface is so fantastic that most people don't care about anything else. It's the same reason TiVo sells in Australia. While it's priced at many times the price of other devices, nothing is quite as easy. Even my Mum can season pass, delete, record, use time shift and more on the TiVo.

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If you hate the iPad because it doesn't do what you want, you have to love it for what it's doing to the next generation of portable computing. We're seeing the next generation of portable computing now and not years down the track because of Apple and its iPad.

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Shawn takes care of all of our video card reviews. From 2009, Shawn is also taking care of our memory reviews, and from May 2011, Shawn also takes care of our CPU, chipset and motherboard reviews. As of December 2011, Shawn is based out of Taipei, Taiwan.

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