Question about the iPad

[learninmypc]

I've seen one, but never tested one or checked it out.
A friend has one & might be upgrading to the newest one that will be released soon.
My question(s) are , are they basically like a laptop?
Do they need security programs?
What CAN'T I do on an Ipad that I can do on a laptop?
Thanks.

 

[SNGX1275]

Well, since there have been 38 views in 13 hours and no responses I'll take a stab at it.

The biggest difference is you don't really have file system level access on an iPad. So you won't be saving stuff 'to the desktop'. You also won't be able to download any file you want (to my knowledge) because of that, but something like a pdf would open fine.

You would most likely be using iCloud for file storage, this makes up for not having a real file system level access. This also means that your files would be accessible on any computer you have set up iCloud with. If you didn't want to use iCloud a service like Dropbox would still maintain commonality between the iPad and your PC.

Flash wouldn't work. But a lot of video sites have video in a format other than Flash. But this does mean a lot of online games won't work. There are tons of free games in the App Store though, so while you won't be able to play a Flash game online, there are still plenty of Flash like games in the App Store.

Office suites will not be as robust as a full suite on a PC, but they would be sufficient for most tasks. You can get a keyboard for an iPad so you could type normally. Apple already has their iWork suite on the iPad, its very similar in funcationalty to MS Office. MS Office though is coming to the iPad soon.

You wouldn't need a security suite. Apple has a very closed ecosystem and the apps have to be approved before they are available for download from the App Store. That isn't to say that its bulletproof, but its probably as close to that as you can get.

 

[learninmypc]

Well, since there have been 38 views in 13 hours and no responses I'll take a stab at it.

The biggest difference is you don't really have file system level access on an iPad. So you won't be saving stuff 'to the desktop'. You also won't be able to download any file you want (to my knowledge) because of that, but something like a pdf would open fine.

You would most likely be using iCloud for file storage, this makes up for not having a real file system level access. This also means that your files would be accessible on any computer you have set up iCloud with. If you didn't want to use iCloud a service like Dropbox would still maintain commonality between the iPad and your PC.

Flash wouldn't work. But a lot of video sites have video in a format other than Flash. But this does mean a lot of online games won't work. There are tons of free games in the App Store though, so while you won't be able to play a Flash game online, there are still plenty of Flash like games in the App Store.

Office suites will not be as robust as a full suite on a PC, but they would be sufficient for most tasks. You can get a keyboard for an iPad so you could type normally. Apple already has their iWork suite on the iPad, its very similar in funcationalty to MS Office. MS Office though is coming to the iPad soon.

You wouldn't need a security suite. Apple has a very closed ecosystem and the apps have to be approved before they are available for download from the App Store. That isn't to say that its bulletproof, but its probably as close to that as you can get.

Thank you. I might have my friend stop by for a visit so I can check it out.

 

[slh28]

An iPad is very different to a laptop, you don't get anywhere near the flexibility of a computer but if you're just using it to browse the web, listen to music, look at photos and play some casual games it's easy to pick up and very intuitive.

But if you're doing anything more productive e.g. MS Office, photo/video editing I would recommend a laptop.

 

[LNCPapa]

To summarize what slh is saying... the iPad is a great content consumption device, but not a terribly great content creation device.

 

[SNGX1275]

A lot of people don't regularly create content though. If you only occationally do, I'd think using a keyboard with one would suffice.

 

[slh28]

At the end of the day you need to check it out and play with it to see if it fits your needs.

Personally I have no use for an iPad because everything is on my desktop at home and on the move I find an iPhone sufficient for surfing the web, playing Angry Birds, etc. But I have friends who are casual computer users whose PCs take 2 mins to boot up and for them an iPad is perfect for quickly browsing facebook, news sites, etc.

 

[learninmypc]

Thank you all for the input.