iPad advice please.

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

MOODS: I posted a similar thread in sci/tech. I am hoping here I might get more responces faster. You can delete either or both later.

I got an iPad a few months ago for my birthday, and I love it and want to use it more. Bottom line: I want a keyboard.

I am budget conscious, and seeing that at Target and such places, these things cost upwards of $70.
I hear that Apple designs products to only be used with their accessories.

However I saw this on Amazon, but I'm not sure if I should go for it. Something tells me I'm missing something.

Do you think I should get it, or should I just invest in the Apple brand.
Thanks!

 

[Sean Aaron]

I think it all depends on how picky you are about your keyboards. I use the Apple bluetooth keyboard with my Mac Mini. It only uses two AA batteries (I can go for weeks of daily usage with 2500MaH rechargeables), it's small and lightweight and has a nice tactile response.

Looking at that keyboard it just looks like any other generic plastic PC keyboard to me. It's also a lot wider than the Apple one. If you're not planning on carrying it around and don't care about style/build then it's probably fine. I'd still want to get my hands on it to have a play before buying though.

 

[That Weirdo In The Corner]

Any Bluetooth keyboard will work with the iPad.
You could get a combined case and keyboard, iPad 2 version, never used one so cannot say if they are any good.

 

[Sean Aaron]

If I can tether my keyboard to more than one computer then I'll just use that - you can pair a bluetooth device to more than one computer, right?

Crap, according to research no I can't. I'd have to unpair it from my Mac Mini to use it with an iPad. That is really annoying. Well, I suppose I'd have to see how much I'd actually be typing on it first before getting too annoyed about that. And I'd have to have an iPad!

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Thanks for all the advice, I considered much of it very carefully. It turns out that today was the last day Targus bluetooth keyboards were sale at Radio Shack.. it is a little black thing that works fine, is not rubber and fits into the case I am using for my iPad.

Thanks.

 

[{ Emilia }]

Sell your iPad and get a netbook or a real laptop tbh.

The iPad is probably the most useless, inconvenient, overrated and overpriced device ever.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Sell your iPad and get a netbook or a real laptop tbh.

The iPad is probably the most useless, inconvenient, overrated and overpriced device ever.

I have a netbook, and in many ways its better, but something about the ipad that I love.. maybe the fact that the batteries last 8 hours, as opposed to an hour and a half if I'm lucky. Also the screen is bigger, it's just handy dandy. I also didn't pay for mine.

 

[EnsignAmy]

Sell your iPad and get a netbook or a real laptop tbh.

The iPad is probably the most useless, inconvenient, overrated and overpriced device ever.

Comes down to how you use it. I have an iPad and two laptops (one personal and one for work). In my experience, the iPad is brilliant for consuming information, but not very good for creating it. I've found that any task that really
requires a keyboard and mouse is probably something I'm doing with my laptop, not my iPad.

But I still use my iPad constantly, for both work and entertainment. Its portability gives me the ability to do things like review documents or presentations while in a meeting or on the go or pretty much anywhere, unlike my laptop, which still pretty much needs me to be sitting at a desk or table. It certainly seems to be getting more popular in the workplace - I see people using them constantly as business tools.

The netbook is the device that seems to be getting obsolete - not powerful enough to do significant tasks like a full-sized laptop but not nearly as portable and mobile as a tablet.

 

[Sean Aaron]

I could never use a netbook. Tiny-ass screen and an awful trackpad with the buttons at the side. Terrible; it just feels like a compromise. If I had a computer that small all I really need it for is web browsing which I can largely do without a keyboard, the iPad works well for that; plus it makes a good electronic book which a netbook does not. I do agree it's non-essential and a luxury, but then so is a computer.

 

[JarodRussell]

Is there no RLM review of the iPad yet?

 

[Jetfire]

I wouldn't mind having a Samsung Galaxy Tab...it is smaller than an iPad...but is it better?

[edit] I should note there is a 7" tab and then there is a new 10.1 tab?

 

[Arrqh]

The 7" Tab is old and runs some pretty out of date software which was designed for phones, not tablets. The 10.1 (and the 8.9) will be a much better tablet experience.

 

[marillion]

Sell your iPad and get a netbook or a real laptop tbh.

The iPad is probably the most useless, inconvenient, overrated and overpriced device ever.

I have a netbook, and in many ways its better, but something about the ipad that I love.. maybe the fact that the batteries last 8 hours, as opposed to an hour and a half if I'm lucky. Also the screen is bigger, it's just handy dandy. I also didn't pay for mine.

This is why I've been wanting a netbook.. There's more I can do with it..

My wife won an Ipad on a radio contest a couple of weeks ago.. Since then, it's mostly been a Netflix player/Angry Birds gaming unit the kids have enjoyed emmensly.. She just doesn't have a practical application for it... I could use it to take notes at meetings, but I just don't see a need for it..