Just a heads-up, Mafoo. Not all USB ports are created equal, and apparently some will not provide enough juice to charge the iPad. You might want to test it on any device you plan to charge it with before you find yourself low on power in the wilderness of New Zealand or something.

Thanks for the heads up. I have heard this. Her laptop is a year old 13" Mac Book. If that doesn't charge it, we will have words with Apple ;)

But for New Zealand, I have the travel kit from Apple (so we can charge her laptop), and it comes with a wall jack for USB, so we should be good. Thanks again for bringing it up :)

I have.  Both in a work environment and school environment.  Especially for a college student perspective.  You can't get an iPad and NOT a laptop/netbook because most college classes require software to be installed that would simply not be available on an iPad.  That right there means there isn't any iPad vs Netbook issue for them, its just whether or not they get an iPad on top of their Netbook purchase.

Also, I only paid $450 for my 15" laptop and it has a 2.2GHz dual core, 3GB ram, even Windows Vista, and it runs way faster than the iPad at any of the examples shown (other than the cold boot, obviously).  So while my laptop is slightly heavier it is still very easy to transport.  You already have 30 lbs of books to take around on class days so really the difference between 2 and 5 pounds isn't going to be noticeable.

So basically you are an Apple product user.  That right there explains this thread.  Apple followers are really... odd.  I don't want to call them sheep because that just sounds mean, but I don't know of much better word to describe their actions either.  They buy in to some illusion that Apple products are better, safer, more reliable, etc and pay exhorbitantly more than the same spec PC.  The experience is definitely different with these products, but not necessarily better.  The iPhone/iPod were truly great Apple devices, but MacBooks, and now the iPad, are just pointless.  Contrary to Apple belief, Macs aren't better for art/multimedia.  And from personal work experience, I have had more issues with failing Apple products than with PCs.  Oh and that brings up another gripe which is the $300 warranty for MacBooks when PC warranties are about half that for the same coverage.

But of those that need programs for class, how many have netbooks? I would bet not a lot. Most of them have laptops.

I have every gadget in the book. 30" 2560x1600 display on a powerful Windows 7 gaming rig, 17" MacBook Pro Laptop, MacMini media center on my 50" 1080p TV, 13" macbook, Sony eBook, iPhones, PS3, 360, Wii, PSP, and soon to be iPad.

There will be times, that I think of something I want to do, and I pickup the iPad to do it. I won't be doing it because I accept the limitation. I will be doing it because it's the best tool in my house for the task at hand.

If I got a netbook, I it would sit in a drawer and collect dust. There is nothing I would want to do on it, that I would not chose another tool in my house first. It's why i don't own one.

This is a problem that I hope Apple's incredible ability to persuade content owners into being reasonable will solve. But it seems that the iBook store hasn't quite hit full stride, yet. The textbook publishers are hooked, but Apple needs to land them and provide iBook service to more platforms.

Just so you know, I am a Microsoft .NET Developer. I have a VS Ultimate MSDN account. This means anything Microsoft makes, I get. I have no issue with them. I look at tools objectively, and buy what's best.

I do not care about companies. Only products.

Just an FYI. The Macbook Pro 17" I have, I got almost 4 years ago. I got it to run Windows. The reason I bought it:

• it's mettle
• it's 1 inch thick
• It runs 4 hours on battery
• It has a 1680x1050 screen
• It has a backlight keyboard
• It has a webcam
• It has a 256Meg video card
• it was rated the fastest Windows laptop on the market by PC Magazine.

Name a laptop 4 years ago that even comes close to this thing. From someone who looked at everything on the market, I can tell you one did not exist.

Yeah, sorry, ignore that last post by me.  It was a quick judgement and I assumed you were the type that only used Apple related products.  That was my bad.

As for the iPad, I guess I have the same same reason not to get one as you have for not getting a Netbook.  I already have a laptop, a gaming desktop, a TV with widgets that can access internet stuff, a 360, PS3, and a Motorola Droid that I can use to do some quick internet search, note jotting, app browsing, or just some quick task.  So for me I have a device that would cover anything an iPad could do (other than Apple exclusive apps), and it would just collect dust if I owned one.

Oddly, this is the area where iPad is the most "open" device.

You can read Kindle books on it, PDF's, iBooks content, open ePub, and Barns and Noble books. I think Borders has an app for it as well. The only book store left out, is Sony.