Depends totally on usage If you web browse and write emails and that's about it your better of with the iPad instead of some Poor desktop in that price range, Once I got my own I know the electric bill dropped no more sli graphics cards sat at idle whilst I read web pages, now it's just pc gaming and video work. Id imagine I've saved the iPad 2 cost in electric in the year or so that I've had it ( pc was on 24/7 now on 3-4 hrs a day )
Just to let you know. Google released an actually good tablet, and it's only 200$, it's 7inch IPS panel, good touch screen. It's hard to say no. Microsoft will release what it looks like a really promising ARM and x86 tablets, called Surface. -> Surface Pro will have Win8 Pro with x86 Intel Core i7 -> Surface will have Windows RT (8 for ARM, with Office included), Tegra 3 chip. Looks really awesome, and Microsoft product quality have been above Apple's. Example: people that got the first Zune ever made. Still works today perfectly, still have decent battery life, even though it's been used for over 6 years and their isn't a single scratch on the screen even after being dropped a few times, and works under any weather. 40 degree C all the way down to -40C, still works. Of course, don't expect it to be, as a consequence, as cheap as the Nexus 7 Tablet. But if you want a serious tablet. It looks awesome. In your situation, as you really don't know if a tablet would be a good choice or not. I would get the Google Android Nexus 7 at 200$. The price is very low that you can't really go wrong, and you don't lose any features form those more expensive tablet, including quality. I think Google subsidize the tablet, like Microsoft and Sony does for their consoles.
seeing OP already has an iphone, it's much much easier to stay in that ecosystem by getting another icloud/appstore compatible device. most of his apps will be ipad compatible, icloud will sync everything natively, so don't have to hunt around for fixes like Evernote. (if only eye-fi can upload DSLR photos to my icloud photostream.....) i don't get Microsoft Surface to be honest, x86 version will have terrible battery life. the ARM version will be just like every other mobile devices, only difference is the lack of apps.
As an iPhone user it could be beneficial to have an iPad to share apps and things between devices etc or so you’d think but if you have ever tried bluetoothing a photo from you iPhone to iPad you will find its no that handy I recently dropped my HP DM1 and broke the screen, I decided I would try a tablet as an alternative as its a bit more robust than cheap lappys for a similar price, I couldn't decide what to go for iPad or android so in the end bought both ( a TF300 and ipad3 16Gb) with the intention of selling/returning one I didn't get on with etc. Missus latched on to the iPad and loves it, plays with it with the little ones, mostly games and educational stuff ( a Leappad is much cheap BTW and very good ) but she won't give up her laptop for it as there is a lot of things that don't work or aren't very good on it, conversely I have the transformer and have no need for another machine, I just wish it had the iPad3 screen, that is the only good thing about the iPad. I have over 100Gb storage on transformer so great for photos and video no need for cloud apps, it will read 128Gb cards plus it'll read large HDDs via USB, well handy, in fact it was on holiday was when we became apparent how useless the Ipad was when we were camping and wanted to review holiday snaps from the day on that awesome screen, just try getting photos on to it without another machine my transformer was being stolen a lot by the missus then as it could just take the camera cards. Much nicer tapping away on its keyboard than an onscreen thing too. Transformer has not been perfect, took it away on another holiday and rented a few films on Google Play only to find DRM rearing its ugly head and it will not play them back on a nice 40" TV through HDMI, bit rubbish there from ASUS/Google I have to say, also won't playback at 1080p on bigscreen TV for the stuff it does work well with Like Netflix another black mark for it seeing as Tegra smartphones can do it. Both are robust though and I think will last longer than my laptops ( I have killed 5 in 2 years ) have already bounced the ASUS a few times as had my 4 yr old with the iPad and they just knock it up, though they always seem to land screen down and I can never pick them up without a bit of a slide and subsequent light scratch (on the ASUS at least, iPad has fared better, higher quality glass perhaps?) From an OS perspectibe they both do there job, iOS feels a little old compared to Android, its like Win95 vs Win7. To answer OPs question of is iPad worth it, it depends what you want, for me its a firm NO, it needs a little more utility to it without having to buy expensive bolt on bits and pieces, the Transformer is a little better in this regard but reckon the perfect device is yet to come and most likely from Microsoft/Asus pairing. Or buy an Ultrabook. £800 gets you a nice Ultrabook, that is not a lot more than an ipad3 with big storage.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/iPad-5-in...aphy_MemoryCardReaders_RL&hash=item43ae096895 not expensive, all your photo transfer problems solved. use Photostream for iphone to ipad. i've got the earlier 2 in 1 version, and it's brilliant. transfer my photos to it every time without fail, including RAW files. however, it introduces a new problem on my 16GB ipad: storage space.
This is the problem, really need a memory card slot on the ipad, try using the cloud when camped in a field in the middle of the countryside with no coverage. nice a cheap that though i will order one, cheers
As you've obviously been extensively testing both forms of Windows RT on ARM and x86 tablets, do you have any information/data to back this up? Given the x86 phones have decent battery life (not great, not ARM equaling, but decent enough) I don't see why they'll be terrible in a tablet where the processor uses less of the total energy anyway. As for the OP, it very much depends what you're doing with said tablet. Content consumption: great - iPad it is. Content creation: get a laptop/ultrabook (BTW Ultrabooks don't have to cost £1200, <£1000 would be fine...), or maybe a W8/WRT tablet. If it's a mix of both, I'd go for at least a tablet with a docking keyboard - like the Asus Tranformer Infinity or Prime. They're right up there with Apple's build quality, get fast updates and are clean. Then you have the best of both - a tablet for consumption, a keyboard for creation. You do lose any apps you had on the App store though, but it's not much of a loss for most people as many only get free apps anyway.
I like how people are recommending Surface tablets, despite the fact they're not even out until Christmas at the earliest, and we've had a single media briefing on them. If you're buying right now, the choice is iPad or bust in my opinion. The Nexus 7 when it lands in a few weeks is interesting in its own right, but limited in storage capacity. I've found the iPad + camera adapter works fine for moving images, not sure why others are having problems in this regard.
no usage information, only my knowledge of x86 instruction set and its massive amount of useless instructions in name of "backwards compatibility". also i don't buy this "content creation only requires keyboard". let's see: photo, touch is great; video, need processing power; music, processing power and good ADC; word processing, any odd bluetooth keyboard if you must?
Well said, I wanted this topic to be about whether the iPad 3 was worth the money compared to an ultra book. As it stands the consensus suggests that it is, due to ultra books lacking graphics power, rendering the new i7 CPU pretty pointless. I may be wrong. It's always good to get the views of ppl that have bought what your after already. As I've heard not many ppl have regrets about buying one, and have found extra benifits from having one. The thing that gets me every time is that other companies are always comparing the products to apple's, so apple must be doing something right for them to be leading the market in touch screen gadgetry.
I regret buying an iPad as I have to now pay for both the transformer and the iPad due to the missus' love for that toy I'd have to pry the iPad from her cold dead hands, sounds like a win/win scenario but who'd do the cooking and cleaning hehe: I'd seriously re-consider the ultrabook, it is faster for most things, web browsing, video all fly plus oodles o storage They may not have serious grunt but still faster than an ipad for the general tasks you will use it for.
You can by a decent acer laptop for £300, I'd rather have one of those lol. Apple products are brilliant but they are definitely overpriced imo.
Apple products are overpriced, but quality and service also cost a lot, and Apple delivers. Something that most people forget when purchasing a product. This is why we have OEM that releases crappier and crappier machine in terms of quality and even specs that most people don't look, like display panel technology, and super low resolution even on large laptops, and pack more and more junk into them, to reduce the price. Not to mention a brick of PSU, even for a 90 or even 65W model, and the lack of any OS disk. The way I see it, except for Dell Ultrabook, there is hope that consumers will change their mind with the offering available due to the higher build quality (higher price tag), and less to no junk. Screen is still an issue, but it's a start. I hope they sell a lot, so that OEM's start to put a greater effort and pride in their product, and start seeing 2, or even 3 year warranty laptop, better service, junk free systems, nice good quality panel and higher resolution. Anyway I am going off topic here. Just wanted to mention this.
iPads are absolutely brilliant for consuming content be that web, news, video, audio etc. They are also very good at 'medium' level content creation, eg updating a blog, a bit of writing, domestic photo / video editing etc. They are completely terrible at 'hardcore' content creation, eg writing software, editing motion pictures and mixing multiple streams of 1080p / 4k video, rendering CGI special effects or managing a professional / pro-am grade photo library. If you're looking at a laptop (ultrabook, air - whatever) because you NEED the apps that only run on this class of machine (IE desktop apps) then an iPad won't cut it. At the end of the day it comes down to whether you want the laptop formfactor + apps or a handy tablet you can just pick up and use and for it to be a really slick experience. Android devices continue to improve, but you can't beat an iPad when it comes to the magic equation: Apps + Integration + Reliability + Support + Responsiveness + Security + Display + Battery + Appearance + Speed + Price + Resale value + Features + Accessories + Games There is a reason why the iPad is selling so very well, and it's not because the buyers are all zombies brainwashed by a reality distortion field. It's because the iPad is very good at what it's designed to do and Apple are very good at supporting it. Also, if you're already considering abandoning windows to get an iPad, why look at ultrabooks over an Air?
That's not how I've experienced it. When it works great it's wonderfully convenient but I've had more failures than I've had successes. Just tried it again now setting it all up again on my new RMBP, working fine on my 4S but can't get the shared library to load on any iPad. Maybe my iTunes library is too big? 31k tracks? Either way it's too much trouble to be of use to me. I'm running RMBP > Airport Extreme > iOS devices. It should 'just work'!
I'm assuming you're using the same account across the board? I've got it set up on my WHS2011 box with itunes and it plays over standard wifi to an iPad2 just fine for me.
Good consumption device. But if you want a good production device, try a Macbook or something that has a proper keyboard. That said, it's better to get an iPad 2 due to the glacial depreciation and the fact that the iPad 3 outside of the higher res screen isn't that compelling.
i whent from a alienware m11x lappy which i loved to bits to a ipad. initially onlsed the m11x for blender and pshop while i was at work but eventually found my self playing games like company of heroes etc. mrs noticed it and got me a the ipad 3. not gamed on it much apart from playing upliink but ive been taken in by Procreate and the wacom bamboo stylus.. but i do wish i had kept my m11x at time tho, i could be playing diablo 3 or some rts. instead ive found my self buying books on ibooks. which is not the same:/
