<p>We can afford to get something and both our kids HAVE netbooks (of different brands) as well as desktops. We already have desktops in our home. Am thinking of possibly getting SOMETHING that I could use for meetings & “on the go,” that is light and portable. Have sibs who love their ipads so much that they were disappointed the the ipad2s were sold out before they could purchase. Our home is traditionally PC and have never owned any apple products. Have had difficulty helping SIL with her Mac computers & laptops because we are all PC types.</p>
<p>The laptops we have on longterm loan run hot & always need to be on something to protect body/surface from overheating.</p>
<p>Anyone with suggestions? We are leaning against ipad & ipad 2 because they don’t have usb ports or media slots (plus H & S unable to fix/support), but would appreciate thoughts on the subject. We can easily afford to spend somewhere under $1000 and am thinking of using it for travel & meetings around town.</p>
<p>Thanks for all suggestions. Have tried reading reviews & my eyes glaze over. Don’t envision doing much gaming on whatever device I get.</p>
<p>It really depends on whether you need a lot of business usage- i.e. editing documents, spreadsheets, printing.</p>
<p>I love my iPad2 and have done fine with it on a few business trips, but I haven’t needed to do much “work” other than email. It isn’t something you want to type long memos on, either, unless you get an extra keyboard.</p>
<p>That said, iPad2 is clearly the class of the tablet field and the apps are awesome. I love the thing. It is comfortable to use on planes, while watching TV, in meetings, etc. None of the others are going to be as much fun.</p>
<p>Thanks for those thoughts. Do you miss the USB & media card slots? What do you do instead? I may go to the apple store to play around & think some more. Perhaps will buy something as an early “Happy Mother’s Day to me.”</p>
<p>For whatever I buy, can do more of the heavy business usage on desktop or a laptop–just need something for on-the-road and travel.</p>
<p>I have never really “needed” the slots. Frankly, I don’t understand the hand-wringing over having media slots on every device. </p>
<p>If worse comes to worse, the adapters for that purpose are readily available anyway. </p>
<p>I love my iPad2, loved my iPad, and will continue to use it for the foreseeable future. I regularly use it at a “real” job on an almost daily basis.</p>
<p>I haven’t missed the slots at all. I have a laptop at work (and can travel with it if needed) and a desktop at home. I’m covered.<br>
I did get in a little bit of a jam and didn’t have all my old work email on the iPad and needed something, but I had it sent to me.</p>
<p>What adapter is available for USBs/media cards for ipads? My understanding is that you need to store whatever it is on a cloud & then download it if you want it rather than being able to save it to a flashdrive & then put it where you want via the flashdrive. Is that correct?</p>
<p>Also, how hard/easy is it to transfer contacts between a PC & an ipad? I have all my contacts stored via outlook on my yahoo account. For my SIL, we had a very hard time getting her contacts transferred from her old MacBook to her newer MacBook, even with AppleCare.</p>
<p>One easy trick there, if you have an exchange server at work, is to keep copies in the cloud. I just download all emails to all of my work-connected devices pretty much at all times. It works out beautifully.</p>
<p>What about security concerns for clouds? H is a security freak & concerned about clouds being hacked & mined for data. I know that cloud computing is very convenient & popular, but this is a big concern for him & therefore for me as well.</p>
<p>Also, some of our devices require a USB to operate, such as the NeatReceipts scanner I have & use often.</p>
<p>I have a netbook that we use to travel (have had it for about over 4 years). I am getting ready to buy an iPad2. Though they perform pretty much the same function (a netbook is really too small to do a lot of document creation just like the iPad), and are about the same size, the iPad is lighter and, of course, has all those cool apps. I would go for the iPad but if you plan to store many movies on it get the 32g. I still can’t decide between the white and the black one. :)</p>
<p>I sorta take the, “outside of my CC info, who cares about me?” approach, but I understand that to a degree. </p>
<p>I only move data on secure sites, and I tend to password protect most files to whatever degree possible. After a while, though, you have to ask, “what if I lose my computer anyway?”</p>
<p>Data security is a concern with the cloud, but it’s probably no more severe than having your data local and worrying about having someone intercept your WiFi or steal your computer physically. </p>
<p>My work is security obsessed as well, and there are some workarounds. Mainly, have everything on an Exchange server or encrypted. It can be done.</p>
<p>Also, how do you decide whether to buy the ipad that is capable of having a data plan or not? We are currently on Verizon but am not sure what I want to do when our plan ends this summer about our cell needs as most of us may end up with pre-paid instead.</p>
<p>Personally, I would buy black as well, tho it shows fingerprints, I think it resists showing grunge, which is more important to me. :)</p>
<p>I don’t know much about the various clouds available as it is a whole new area for me.</p>
<p>That depends on what you want to do with the device.</p>
<p>Do you want to use it a lot online while in cafes, or on trains, or while traveling? In that case, data is great to have. </p>
<p>The nice thing about the 3G iPad is that the data plan is pre-paid monthly. You don’t need to contract at all-- you pay for a month’s data, get your 2 GB, and you’re off. That simple.</p>
<p>I personally prefer the AT&T plan myself, because where I’m at the HSPA is screamin’ fast compared to the EV-DO from Verizon.</p>
<p>I actually played around with both the black and white one for a long time at the Apple store. Couldn’t perceive any difference, even when on the same web page. My netbook is white but has a black frame around it. The white case doesn’t seem to show anymore fingerprints than my black lap top. It’s really just a matter of personal preference.</p>
<p>I’m getting the 3G. I’ve talked to several people who did not get it with the ipad originally and now wished they had. Again, it depends on what you are going to do with it. I have plaster walls in my home and wifi can be iffy sometimes. I often switch to my droid mobile hotspot when the dsl is slow. We also travel quite a bit and many nicer hotels now charge $15 a day and up for internet. I figure it will pay for itself.</p>
<p>I have a netbook which is my “computer” now. And I have an IPad which I love. I use the IPad at my work a lot. Many of the applications are very good for my young students. I like the ease of use of the IPad. </p>
<p>We somehow switched from Macs to PCs a number of years ago. I’m ready to switch back. The new Mac desktop is really great…just looks like a nice 17 inch flat screen monitor. I think that will be my next “tech” purchase.</p>
<p>I worry about the same thing, especially after that mailing list breach a few weeks ago. I’m not sure things are as ‘secure’ as they are often made out to be.</p>
<p>Yes, the Sony hack is one $trillion$ + example of what happens when hackers decide to target something, in this case Sony Playstation. With the ipad zooming in popularity, can concerted hack attacks be far behind?</p>
<p>I have the whit. It shows no grunge. It’s almost a glassy finish.</p>
<p>I didn’t get the 3G because I have an iPhone. I didn’t want to pay for anything else. I also have a work Blackberry so if I don’t have wifi access I can still survive. </p>
<p>I’m not sure we are allowed to do cloud at this point. I do get my work email on both iPhone and iPad now, so except for the phone part, I could ditch the pathetic Blackberry.</p>
<p>It is very easy to sync contacts, as well as calendars and notes for that matter, between a PC and an IPad/ITouch/IPhone if you use Outlook on your PC. Just download ITunes to the PC, plug in your usb sync cable for the “I” device, click on the device in ITunes and go to “Info”. Once there, you can configure the cable sync to connect with Outlook data (as well as other programs, but I use Outlook on my PC). This will work for Outlook 2003 and above and avoids any use of the cloud (MobileMe). I just set this up today for my wife’s ITouch and it was surprisingly easy.</p>
<p>Himom, I don’t think this is exactly what you are looking for (a small laptop as opposed to a netbook or a tablet) but I’d like to show it to you anyway because I am in love with it. If my laptop wouldn’t only be a year and a half old and totally awesome, i’d buy this one in a heartbeat. 13.3 inches, less then 4 lbs, and a 9 hr battery life. (this one is basically a newer version of what i have)</p>