You know it’s a hard life being an Apple Whore, to many shiny products but with to many what ifs?
So the latest quandary:
iPad vs Macbook Air or put another way £429 (£529 3g version) vs £850
Why gimped, well certainly in the MacBook Air’s case it’s because it comes with 2gb of Ram. I know I can get it built to order from Apple with 4gb, but this adds £80 and means I have to purchase from apple (no 12% discount nor decent warranty). Discount from them is around 6%. Also with regards to the MBA is the Elephant in the room, yep my old Core 2 Duo 2Ghz Macbook – which is still perfectly usable after 4 years.
As for the iPad, well we all know it’s superb but there’s two things: 256mb and iPad2. I could hold off, but there’s no certainty that iPad2 will be out soon (well within the next 4 months).
So my current line of thinking is a refurb 16gb iPad for £389 or new iPad (£429) with a store discount of 12% so pretty much the same price. Then if the iPad 2 is a reality then it’s no big deal to sell the 16gb for possibly £300 and upgrade then.
In terms of cash I have at least £100 spare at present and I’m owed 80 hours overtime (for 2 months) – which I should get end of January providing someone doesn’t cock it up again.
So after a bit of indecision I made my mind up. I do want an iPad. After playing around with the iPad in the Apple store in Touchwood it made my decision for me. So I want a 32gb iPad, not too sure if I want the 3G version though. I’ve had a look at the 3G model and it seems to work well. Only issue I have is the stock. It’s not available at present, though I can join an iQue at the Apple store. But I think I’ll wait until John Lewis get them in. However this may be 2 months away as DSGi (Currys/PCShed) appear to have a 60 day exclusive deal and I will not spend money there.
So I want, but I have to wait. I might even save up!
So it seems Steve (Jobs) has a nice new product (iPad) and other Steve (Fry) met him talked a bit and seems to really like it. I’m not disagreeing with either. I’m sure it’s a great product at a great price, but this Steve isn’t sure where it fits in.
The iPhone and Macbook have their pluses and minuses. Whilst the iPhone is great, the web side can be a pain (mind you O2’s network doesn’t help). Other than that it fits the bill. The Macbook on the other hand is a superb bit of kit, but it’s heavy and less portable. So the iPad should fit in between these two devices. O.k. it’s not a phone, but the phone part of the iPhone is almost secondary to me. It’s used more as a non voice communications tool than a phone, it just happens to have a good phone built it. So it seems apart from the phone element the iPad is a clear winner. Maybe, maybe not. The other advantage of the iPhone is it’s pocket-able, which for me a major consideration.
So at this point it’s not winning.
Looking over at the Macbook it’s hard to see where the iPad wins, other than cost and weight. For me the Macbook is essential for working/input etc whereas the iPad isn’t an input tool. It has the ability to input, but really at this moment in time it’s not a viable solution for working.
A dead duck then?
Probably for me it is, it seems whilst the ability to create on iPad is not lost, it’s certainly no Laptop. It’s miles ahead for creativity compared to the iPhone, but still lacks multitasking that laptop users have relied on for years. Maybe the iPad/iPhone v.4 software will address this. If so then productivity would be increased on both devices.
It’s still missing something important from the MacBook: OS X. Underneath the iPad/iPhone is a mobile version of OS X, which is superb. Unfortunately it’s a closed system, you can’t change it too much and the freedom to buy applications off the shelf isn’t there. Apple don’t want to go down the netbook route, which I can understand. Netbooks are pretty much just a small laptop, not much cheaper than a normal laptop but with a smaller screen and low spec CPU/Ram combination. For portable mobile computing Apple have the MacBook Air, which does come with a very large price tag (which in turn isn’t too far away from the pricing of Dell/HP etc and their MBA style laptops).
So the real reason for the iPad: Content
Apple haven’t hid away from this, in fact it’s probably the biggest win for the device. As a pure content delivery device I don’t think there’s anything to match it for style, price and usability.
Problem I have is I’m not a content person. I do use the iPhone on the bus/train for music, but that’s it. Trying to use an iPhone for the web on the 17 bus is a nightmare, it’s not an easy task (really the roads were bad before the winter and the potholes). Maybe with the iPad it’ll be easier. I suppose it would, after all it’s a bigger device so navigation may be less problematic.
With regards to video content my Bus/Train journeys are too short for anything but a 30 minute video, so nothing again for me here. Maybe the eBooks will be a winner, again not for me as I don’t read (sadly, never got the bug – wouldn’t know where to start now – probably try War and Peace or some other mammoth tome – just to clarify I can read, but don’t read apart from Technical manuals).
Video treat: Stephen Fry unboxes an iPad and accessories
So to conclude:
It’s a great product, but it probably doesn’t fit me.
As sure as eggs are eggs, Apple release products in January (or announce). This January is no exception. So today’s epic product?
The iPad, no not an Apple designed feminine hygiene product, but a big iPod Touch/Tablet hybrid with 3G capability.
Picture Credit:Apple
Sure it looks, luuuuurvly but I can’t see the point. It’s a big iPod Touch, but with the advantage of having a subsidised data plan on 3G (on AT&T in the us, now doubt it’ll be a crap data plan tied to 02 in the UK). Released in a few different capacity sizes, with an escalating price to match.
16gb $499
32gb $599
64gb $699
Oh, add $130 if you want 3G functionality.
So what does it do? Well pretty much everything the iPod Touch does, but bigger. I’m not being too dismissive about the iPad yet, afterall I couldn’t see the point of the iPod Touch until I tried one.
If they manage to get Magazines on board and offer subscriptions to a eMagazine then I think it could take off. But at present it seems too much for a media player (o.k. it’s got email/web etc – but that’s going to cost $130 + $15-$30 for a data plan to make it mobile).
It’s not available for a few months, so I’ll have to reserve judgement about the products. For my Photography though I think it’s a worthwhile method to showcase images, however it’s utterly pointless as a mobile LightRoom/Photoshop device (as it won’t run).
Steve Jobs is indicating it’ll change the way we Read and Surf. I’m not sure, but Steve Jobs’ company is worth oh around $50 Billion, my media corporation is currently worth around £2000 so I guess he has form on being right.
