Wow, guess I angered the fanboys for a downmod on such a informative, well thought out, and detailed post. Then again, I'm knocking the holy iPad, so I should figure as such.

Le sigh.

But you just proved my point. You're doing the X number of casual things the iPad (tablets in general though) are used for. You said it yourself. You use a calendar, read books, and take notes.

Nowhere in your post did you say you actually write papers, make bibliographies, use SPSS for your calculus class (which *everyone* takes), use a spreadsheet for any courses, use and interact with Blackboard which pretty much every school uses.

See my point?

Once you attempt the above, where do you turn? Not to an iPad.

I laughed so hard I almost was crying. You are right. I've been in that station. It truly is the portal to hell. Best description of it I've ever heard.

The problem is there are no instances where it does anything more than bullshit. So no. They most likely won't buy another. More on this later.

Tom, with your UID, c'mon I expected more.

You must come from the old-school like me. Are you serious when you say you can type out real emails, like the ones for work, from an iPad keyboard? It doesn't even have haptic response. I can't even imagine doing it with haptic, but I could buy your argument. But a normal iPad on-screen keyboard? No. And you can't use the argument of using a BT Keyboard. Because then you have... tada--a laptop!

And if you're using it on the road, then why not just use the cellphone? You admit it's for in a pinch. So you're not doing anything real with it. And the apps are the same. And short of browsing the web, apps don't display more content. They display a longer list of news in say a newsreader, but that's it. So in your situation, again, the tablet is irrelevant. The smartphone satisfies it. So again, no need for a iPad/Tablet. Hence no need to buy another.

I'm curious as to the specific examples you actually do more than watch movies or play Pandora on it. Office work? No. DataViz Office can't get any Word or Excel formatting correct, is missing a ton of features, you have to use their proprietary storage to simply get files onto your iPad. Hell, it can't even do headers or footers! And like u said, u can't code or do any sort of web dev on it. Say you are in sales--Salesforce mobile doesn't even work past a search of clients. You can't even browse your full list of contacts, leads, or opportunities. It just doesn't even have the option beyond recent. So good luck with that.

So you're spending $500 on something just to read e-mail?

I'm serious about this--what do u do on the road that is anything more than bullshit?

I can't tell if your post is serious. It certainly made me chuckle.

As for shooting and editing movies? You mean with the shitty VGA camera on the back of the iPad? Or the extent of their editing movies is removing red-eye or adding music? Oh wait, it's transferring that home movie of 4 GB via *dropbox* because Apple won't let you transfer anything to your iPad any other way short of *emailing* yourself? Wait wait! I know! Once you edit it, you can then transfer it to another app on the iPad! Wait, you can't do that. You must email it back to yourself, then take that, and email that 4GB movie file to ANOTHER app. Bravo!

But hey, go ahead and call me gramps. Buy an iPad. I hope you do. Everyone will win. Apple will get your money, get it every other year because they deprecate a 3 year old iPad by having the software force-obselete you, you get your new Shiny all the time, competing technologies will be forced to offer us consumers more and a cheaper price, and finally:

Idiots like you will get punished by having their money seperated from them. It's a win all around!

I'm serious. Please buy another iPad. Do it. For me. It benefits me.

I laughed out loud when I read your post. Amen to that. I used to go to Philly a lot. You are so right. It's hard to believe, but Philly is so damn dirty it really does make NYC look clean. And yea, you can live in Center City (the Park Ave of Philly) in a 1 bedroom for 800/mo LESS than a dumpy area studio. Philly rocks. Even though it's so dirty, I'm surprised u left. Short of the dirt, I think it's a superior city.

Well maybe the walk. But when you're going to work, do u want to arrive looking like u just worked out from a 45 minute walk? Though then again, after taking the subway, with how hot it is down there and basically everyone being homeless rubbing up again you, it ain't that bad!

Really? Wow. I forgot to check my grammer.

Asshole.

Ha yes that's true. A pool does cost a bit more than a grand. :) Bikes aren't bad though. And look into used Nautilus's. I picked one up used for $700. And I admit that I even overpaid for that.

Not sure what your level/knowledge of working out is, but you should include weight lifting and free weights into your workout. In term's of effectiveness, I'd argue you should spend more of your time in that then the other. Like 60/40 in favor of weightlifting. So many more benefits (strength, reduced injuries, increase at rest calorie burning, higher weight loss from circuit training). But anyway, as for a spotter, you don't need it. Unless you're working out past failure or doing negatives, you don't need one. I haven't used a spotter in 10 years. And you can still make gains. I can gain easy 20 lbs of muscle in 8 months without a spotter or doing negatives or forced reps (and yes that is the max u can pretty much put on without the use of steroids in that time frame).

Look, please don't take offense to this. I'm not trying to be mean. But there is no way that exists. You're telling me you live in Central Park East and you're only paying $3225 for a 1 bedroom? I'd want to see the lease documents on that. That's quite frankly even more rare than seeing a unicorn. And to see 10 of them? Hogwash. And the excuse about the economy can't be used. NYC is the only one that was exempt on the housing market values.

That's very true. It's actually a nice, fun area. Though for me it kinda stinks. No interest in dating a 18 year old who is out drinking until 4 am at the local lounge every night. But yes it does have character. But the point still stands. If you're actually living and *working* in the city (students with mommy and daddy paying the rent don't count), no one wants to live in the E. village because it negates any conveniences living and working in the city offers.

Yes.

But I really do wonder. Do all these plant articles and thinly-veiled advertisement "news articles" actually translate to sales? Apple probably because Apple-lovers are morons at this point. But aren't Android tablets dying sales-wise, regardless of the media push? I truly wonder.

True. For other companies. So normally I would agree with you.

But this is Apple. They don't care about developers. They don't care about users. It's their way, or the highway.

But of course the media will always put, at the end of the article, "but Apple will have it in the next version!" as they always do. Even though they don't. Yet they never do this for any other company

Seriously. Just no. Journalists--stop it. Stop it already.

I wonder what will happen when all the hype dies down and people actually use their tablet for more than casual BS. Right now it's The New Shiny (TM). But when the world over finally realizes it's collecting dust, will they buy another?

My guess--only the $200 tablets like the Nexus 7 will survive. Though the only thing that has peaked my interest would be *laptops* or convertible tablets (like that new Sony one with a slide out KB) with Win 8. Because as it stands now, unless you attach a mouse or use the nipple on the Thinkpads, Trackpads are quite possibly the worst thing ever to use.*

With Win 8 on a touch-screen laptop, I could for serious work use the mouse--but for casual stuff, using the touch-screen on a laptop would be a god-send. And no, I don't want iOS or even my preference--Android. I want a REAL computer to do REAL things. Like the simple act of being able to load SouthParkStudios.com or browse a company's job board.

* And no, don't listen to what the world's most biased site, the Verge says--the Mac's trackpads are not worth switching entire computers, ecosystems, or preferences for.

Haha, maybe. :) I'm just going by what she told me. 45 minutes, with a train ride. Don't forget Wall St is pretty big. Walking 45 min to the beginning of Wall *area* by the Seaport *maybe*. But I gotta call you out on walking from the Upper West to the East village. No way, train or walk, did you make it in 45 minutes.

I'm sure you can find places that cheap, but I doubt that they're no less than super-rare. All my friends live in the city for years, and I've never even heard of rent that cheap unless it was for a shitty walk-up studio. And it's the East Village. Who wants to live there? It's not close to anything. Part of why people live in NYC to live within walking distance to work. It would take 45 minute commute to get anywhere from the E. Village. And no, it's $3,200 for a place with no amenities like you mentioned. And a walk-up. And no doorman. I don't know how you get the places you do, but to all reading this, let me assure you it's not the norm.

Well, you're wrong and right. You can buy all the equipment you need for $1-2k*. BUT, working out at home is the most un-motivating, depressing thing ever. So if one starts, they'll never stick to it for more than a few months. It's nice to have a social scene and people to talk to at the gym. But then again, in most gyms, 50% of the people who go are either scumbags or are very superficial. So maybe it's not a bad idea to work out at home and skip that part!

As engineering students are always taught, there are trade-offs to everything!

* Treadmill: $800
multi-use Bench for bench presses, dumbell presses, etc.: $150
Dumbells (that mult-weight one): $100
Stand for barbell excercises (like bench, squats, etc): $150.

Sorry gotta call you out on this one. NY is quite possible the worse place ever. I've lived in the NY/NJ area for all my life pretty much, so I can vouch from experience. You mention:

Staten Island: yea, if you want to live in "The Jersey Shore." Every single person in SI is a ultra-tanned lip-smooching-in-pictures guido/guidette. Watch the "Jersey Shore." This *really* is how Staten Island is.

NJ: Shitty people, superficial, nothing to do (only exists as a resting place for those who commute into NYC), a place where everyone wants to get out but doesn't because "all my family lives here", no woman wants to talk/date you unless you are on steroids or look like you are on "the Jersey Shore" (see above). Commute takes 1.5 hours each way into NYC, and a 2 hour drive into the city on a fri/sat night. And to do anything around the area, it's a minimum 30 minute drive in soul-crushing traffic. NJ, short of southern NJ, is the worst place in the world to live. AVOID.

Bronx and Queens: really? No really? Quite possibly the dumpiest places ever, and you're saying they're great? And there are "suburbs" in these places. And they're even more dumpy. At least the urban areas of queen and bronx have things to do. The dumpy queens suburbs are just dirty and shitty with NOTHING to offer