Hmmmm..... iPad or Netbook? Thoughts Please.

[LOLGEOFF]

Wifey's birthday comming up (been married 28 years now) and she wants a small computer of her own. She has a work laptop but it blocks most web sites that are not government approved. She doesn't want a large heavy laptop, she really only wants it for e-mails, storing and sharing a few photos and surfing the web both at home and on the move. She has seen her mates ipad and likes the size. Would she be better off with a netbook or such like or is the ipad the way to go?

 

[andysdad]

Netbook

IPad has no USB, no keyboard and is a (beautiful) pain; like being married to a supermodel who can't f*ck.

Just go SWMBO a Packard Bell Dot S2 from PC World; £230 but they give £50 trade in for your old working (must boot up) laptop. I had a 10 year old Compaq doorstop; so £180 it was (i.e. 1/3 IPad price).

Brilliant bit of kit the netbook; I bought a 2GB memory for it (£31 from Crucial) to help it along, so it runs Office 2003 fine. Webcam for Skype, 3 USB and very light.

LED screen is great; bright and uses little power (can do upto 7 hours). Netbook screens are much smaller (10") so you cannot work on it for hours. Surfing/movies is fine.

No DVD drive but I loaded software onto an 8GB USB stick on another PC to load the netbook. You need a DVD drive for disaster recovery - looking to get a Liteon USB powered DVD-RW for £30 from eBuyer.

No Bluetooth on that model but may be a consideration for you.

Hope this helps; must get back to work now

A

 

[longdog]

Wifey's birthday comming up (been married 28 years now) and she wants a small computer of her own. She has a work laptop but it blocks most web sites that are not government approved. She doesn't want a large heavy laptop, she really only wants it for e-mails, storing and sharing a few photos and surfing the web both at home and on the move. She has seen her mates ipad and likes the size. Would she be better off with a netbook or such like or is the ipad the way to go?

For me, the iPad is a beautiful piece of computerized technology. The screen quality is outstanding, the touch screen is genius and it's an Apple too. But............ I can't help feeling it needs a lid or cover for the screen. The other thing is I hear that Apple computer software doesn't run on it, it has it's own set of software/apps, but it does seem to have everything covered.

For the above reasons and the use I would put it through, I guess I would probably go for a (probably technically inferior, but much cheaper) netbook. Of course, your wife probably wouldn't keep it in a top-box and lug it around Europe!!!!

In a perfect world, Apple would build a netbook!

 

[Loiq]

do you already have any mac on your married bliss?

if you do a Mac Air (it's their netbook thing) is nice it learns the software you already have in your current mac... it's proper money....

if no then

then buy a 13 inch Mac Book Pro, small comes with all the docking stuff you ever want and are nicely built

Ipad are nice but odd also does this learning things off your other MAC. you can get a case for it that protects the screen, they seem to be aimed at the OAP market or people with bad eyesight who can't use an Iphone or Itouch....

I also like the HP net book if your set up for PC's

 

[cookie]

IPad has no USB, no keyboard and is a (beautiful) pain; like being married to a supermodel who can't f*ck.



A

er, the ipad has a dedicated dock with a keyboard available. it will also pair with the apple bluetooth keyboard.

there is also a camera adaptor dongle that adds, at least some, not sure if total, usb connection.

edit: new MacBook Air out any time soon too. old ones my be cheaper?

 

[Buz]

SWMBO has a Samsung Netbook and an iPad, the netbook is sat in our office to surf/listen to radio when working. The iPad is her weapon of choice of an evening when sat in the livingroom. She surfs on it mainly but does send emails as well. Lots of Apps now being released for it. She alos has it synched to my itunes library so the music can be 'shared' on my iPhone and her iPad. She can also load pics on it and take it to friends/relatives for them to view.
Its good for the fact there is no seperate keyboard to the screen. She has a leather case that protects it and also doubles up as a kind of stand so you can also use it as a picture frame/slide show.
OK I know it is expensive for what she uses it for and could have purchased something different and cheaper. I have a BMW, yeah i could have got something cheaper that does the same job but I wanted the BM so was willing to pay that bit extra.

Oh yeh, she has an o2 sim to go in it, never registered, this is good as it charges 2 quid a day when used, if not used you dont pay so as near to PAYG as you can get.

 

[(RIP) Kaister]

its the path to divorce.

she'll be wanting to watch tv and drive next,

i wouldn't let her out the kitchen personally, but its up to you.

 

[gwigglesworth]

How about the Android Pad from Dixons from next week?

If you want to surf the web and do nothing clever the iPad is great..

If she wants to MSN you need Mickysoft really
If she wants to Skype you need a front facing camera..

 

[turbine_2]

For the purposes you describe (occasional personal e-mail, web surfing, photos) I'd reccomend an iPad. She'll still have her laptop for 'heavy lifting' work like spreadsheets, word documents, powerpoint presentations, etc. but the "instant on" of the iPad and the fact that with its own internet connection (assuming you get a 3G version, don't bother with the WiFi only one) means she won't be restricted on her internet in the iPad and will be able to sutf / e-mail instantly. It's also a better size / format for consuming media which is what you're describing and what it's designed for.

 

[Trevtuck]

go for the ipad great bit of kit I am for ever having to wrestle it off my kids and wife.

 

[LOLGEOFF]

Thanks everyone it looks like the main opinion is the iPad is the one to go for. We do not have any other Apple products in our house and probably won't be going out of our way to aim for brand domination so it will probably be 'stand alone'. I'm a bit worried about having to sign up to "i" this and that to get the full benifit of the iPad. If we were to go this route what are the main differences between one iPad and another apart from price? why do they sell so many versions of the same product?

 

[Andy B]

Worth checking out is the new Playbook from Blackberry. Not on the shelves yet, but I think it's going to be everything the Ipad should have been. Two camera's, USB connections, but perhaps most important (to me!) can be linked to my ordinary Blackberry so I've got pretty much universal portability.

Check it out here.

If the manufacturers that have come out with nice leather covers for Ipads do the same for the Blackberry it will give you the protection you need.

 

[Dahoum]

I'm a bit worried about having to sign up to "i" this and that to get the full benifit of the iPad. If we were to go this route what are the main differences between one iPad and another apart from price? why do they sell so many versions of the same product?

All is revealed

oh and...
.
.

 

[Deleted account 190920001]

Ipad's are just bling sold to the brain washed. Personally I probably wouldnt go for a netbook either but rather a small screen laptop. Netbooks are still quite limited unless the have a full OS but if thats windows they tend to grind to a halt. Some of the higher end ones are quite good but a 10"-12" laptop is still a more versatile machine.

 

[karlp]

Wifey's birthday comming up (been married 28 years now) and she wants a small computer of her own. She has a work laptop but it blocks most web sites that are not government approved. She doesn't want a large heavy laptop, she really only wants it for e-mails, storing and sharing a few photos and surfing the web both at home and on the move. She has seen her mates ipad and likes the size. Would she be better off with a netbook or such like or is the ipad the way to go?

I have them all

Mackbook
Mac Air
IPad
Netbook

all for different reasons.

For what your wife wants to do the iPad is the best option.

emails
storing a few photos
web surfing.

No problems with viruses
no problem with slow Windows
no problems with slow loading.

it has a long battery life
can attach to WiFi or 3G

on and on and on


if she was doing heavy spredsheets then a different story.

 

[judge]

She has seen her mates ipad and likes the size. Would she be better off with a netbook or such like or is the ipad the way to go?

She liked the size but did she like the concept? Quite a departure from a desktop or even a laptop user, more a natural progression from an iPod Touch than anything else.

I think you're probably better off with a Netbook as it is more an extension from a desktop user to want a lighter more portable solution to that what they're used to.

As this isn't a surprise get she and thee down to PC woe and test drive a few different ones plus the iPad but I think a netbook will win the day.

Oh and buy it from someone other than PC Woe, think of them as an expo, go look play then buy from someone worthy of your business

 

[muppix]

I've a high-end Sony Vaio TZ which I used to use for mobile email and web. Solid state disk, dual core, webcam, fingerprint reader, 8 hour battery, yet it's the size of a netbook. Then I got an iPad because my new iPhone was just so much better than my HTC WinMo phone, and wouldn't you know it, the iPad runs rings round the Sony. I'm no longer squinting at the keyboard when trying to type in the dark, it's always on, the UI is fluid and responsive, and it just works. I really can't stress that last point enough - you can't compare it to a Microsoft powered machine twice the price, so how do you think it's goof to stack up against a 250 quid netbook?

Mup.
PS: or you can make me an offer for my Sony - as soon as I can justify a MacBook Pro it's not leaving the shelf again.

 

[(RIP) Kaister]

I've a high-end Sony Vaio TZ which I used to use for mobile email and web. Solid state disk, dual core, webcam, fingerprint reader, 8 hour battery, yet it's the size of a netbook. Then I got an iPad because my new iPhone was just so much better than my HTC WinMo phone, and wouldn't you know it, the iPad runs rings round the Sony. I'm no longer squinting at the keyboard when trying to type in the dark, it's always on, the UI is fluid and responsive, and it just works. I really can't stress that last point enough - you can't compare it to a Microsoft powered machine twice the price, so how do you think it's goof to stack up against a 250 quid netbook?

Mup.
PS: or you can make me an offer for my Sony - as soon as I can justify a MacBook Pro it's not leaving the shelf again.

+1 with my HTC phone / iphone comparison


ipad all the way

 

[bowser]

I've a high-end Sony Vaio TZ which I used to use for mobile email and web. Solid state disk, dual core, webcam, fingerprint reader, 8 hour battery, yet it's the size of a netbook. Then I got an iPad because my new iPhone was just so much better than my HTC WinMo phone, and wouldn't you know it, the iPad runs rings round the Sony. I'm no longer squinting at the keyboard when trying to type in the dark, it's always on, the UI is fluid and responsive, and it just works. I really can't stress that last point enough - you can't compare it to a Microsoft powered machine twice the price, so how do you think it's goof to stack up against a 250 quid netbook?

Mup.
PS: or you can make me an offer for my Sony - as soon as I can justify a MacBook Pro it's not leaving the shelf again.

your comparing chalk and cheese, your sony has a cd drive, it will run proper progarms not just apps, now if all you want is e mail and a browsing then the Ipad is great but it is not intended to be a replacement computer.
Now I have a net book and wouldnt be without it, I would chuck it in a heartbeat for somthing like the sony, but as I have a need for somting with memory card slots and usb, and somthing that will run real software then the Ipad would for my use be a waste of time.

 

[STUBBS]

have a look at the samsung galaxy its getting some great reviews