All user reviews of 4/5 for the Apple iPad

When I was a little kid I remember when Apple came out with the Newton. It was not very well received and died off pretty quickly. When the Ipad was announced many people thought it would be another Newton. There had been tablets on the market already but most of them were laptop based with reverseable screens. Apple decided to make its own tablet that is just a tablet. They put out a lightweight device with a large screen that doubled as the keyboard. This device is more like a large ipod touch than a normal laptop based tablets. The device is much easier to carry around than a laptop so it is more portable. For the simple things it does it does them very well on a base level it is more reliable than a laptop. Many people were critical of this device when it came out because it didnt really have any purpose. Since it is a closed device you have less control over the operating system than you do with a real laptop. All the applications have to come through the Apple system and Apple has strong restrictions on what applications can do. But it seems Apple has created an industry for it when it came out. There are millions of applications and games for the device and it can be used for many different things. Recently some music and guitar applications have come out and you can use it with your guitar rig. There are applications and special cables that let you plug your guitar into the device and use the device as a simple amp modeler. There are many different versions of the Ipad out nowadays and the prices vary widely. Think about what you will use it for and what features you need. If you dont need 3g than you can save hundreds of dollars.

The Apple iPad is Apple’s first jump into the tablet world, and they took an interesting twist on it. Instead of having a laptop that doubles as a touch screen tablet, they ditched the keyboard all together in favor of a lightweight touch screen with some flash memory built-in, along with a special smart phone processor.

Since this device came out, I’ve been critical of it. For one, I have no real use for it, but it seems to have created one huge hype machine that has left everyone else struggling to compete with Apple in the new touch pad tablet market. The first thing you notice when you pick the device up is that it’s light. That’s probably its biggest advantage compared to laptops more than anything else. Besides its iOS geared for lightweight browser work, the device itself isn’t cumbersome to use every day. It’s easier and faster than booting up a laptop or netbook, and it can do the features that many of those lower end laptops can do.

You don’t have total free reign over the OS like you do with a normal laptop, and that’s part of its appeal. You have specific apps you use, just like with Apple’s very own iPhone. This allows people to not have to worry about figuring out file paths for different files, finding out what’s compatible, etc. One of the coolest features I’ve found is that you can use this as its own mixing device in conjunction with Logic Pro. That app alone almost makes it worth it.

If you’re going to get the iPad, you might be better off with the first generation version as it’s cheaper and has somewhat similar performance. I also don’t think the 3G is worth it, but it depends on if you need to always be downloading your ebooks wherever you may be.