Is it Apple you hate (can't argue with that), or is it the slate device form factor? The form factor clearly has a LOT of advantages for mobile computing over a device you have to set on a desk to use. If there were other viable alternatives in the device market, I'm sure people would love an alternative to Apple's closed platform ipad...but so far there isn't. This continued drum beating about "just buy a netbook" is head in the sand nonsense. First of all, a well appointed netbook costs about the same as an ipad, and is far less practical for everything I use the ipad for. Mostly because I also have a netbook, so I use each for what it's best for...that wasnt' rocket science to figure out.

I have a netbook, it's fantastically useful for traveling. Trying to use a "laptop" format device sitting on a couch, walking around, or lying in bed is a joke...which anyone who has tried it already knows. As to the iphone, if you can't see the advantage of a 10" screen over a 3.5" one, then you're not really interested in a conversation about "legitimate uses".

You're not paying attention, I said "streaming" netflix movies. But yes, if I wanted to put media onto it to watch, I'd have to convert it...just like I would with a netbook. They don't have DVD drives you know.

But anyway, here we are. You asked for "legitimate reasons", declined to respond to why you get to decide if peoples reasons are legitimate or not, then suggested using a netbook for all the things I use the iPad for, even though a netbook is less practical in every use I listed. That's not even getting into limitations like battery life, not being instant on, smaller screen, weighs more, etc.

So look, if you're as broke as you sound, and have to shoehorn every possible use case into a single device, then go ahead and use a netbook. But for the rest of us who can afford to buy devices that are more specific use, the ipad fits a rather large niche and does so nicely until something better comes along.

Anti-fanboy-ism is a game I can definitely get in on. But frankly you sound like an idiot.

Since when do you get to decide what's "legitimate" and what isn't? If some people have a use for it that you don't, is that less legitimate than if you have a use for it that they don't?

The only Apple product I own is an iPad and I use it every day. So often that I need a second one because my girlfriend is constantly bogarting it. It's hands down the most useful format for couch computing of anything out there. and if you suggest using a laptop while sitting on a couch or walking around, then I suggest you beat yourself with your own wiffle bat.

So I use it for Web browsing mostly, some games, and I have a pretty good RDP client on it for remote controlling my media PC when the remote interface goes wonky, or if I don't want to stop what it's doing on the main screen. It's also a damned useful Sonos remote, and the movie collection app that I have my DVD's cataloged in is MUCH more useful in a portable iPad than on a PC. Then there's things like watching Netflix streaming movies in bed while girlfriend sleeps, and yes...even the iPad kindle app is good. Not as good as the hardware kindle for use in bright sunlight...but it excels in the DARK, where the kindle is useless.

Any of those strike you as "legitimate"? Because I'll let you define that word for yourself, for me however, I find those things "useful".

and that's the part that makes you sound like an idiot.

How long are we going to beat that horse? Does that many people really care? Granted, an iPhone on a non-ATT network is automatically a better iphone, but the bloom is kind of off the iphone rose these days anyway.

And white? jesus christ...if it's black, we want a white one...if it's white, we want a black one.

Yes. Otherwise the list of things to anticipate in 2011 would be much shorter.

only problem is that for very good reasons blocking cell phone signals is illegal. Not to mention a fantastic monetary liability.

Zero is a percent.

So it's only ok to ask someone to proofread your work if they're incompetent?

As long as there is an OBJECTIVE metric, then I have no problem with this idea at all...I might even support it. The problem though is when you say "ban SUV's because they produce more CO2", instead of saying "ban VEHICLES that produce x amount of C02". This kind of feel good nonsense gives us laws like allowing Hybrids to use the HOV lanes, without regard to anything beyond the word "hybrid" on the bumper. So Hybrid SUV's that get 15 MPG get to cruise in the HOV lane, while traditional gas vehicles that get 40+ mpg get to idle in the slow lanes.

Example: When I did my MCSE ceritification everyone said the TCP/IP exam was the worst and to expect to take it multiple times. As a result I studied the material MUCH more than any other tests, and combined with my academic background in computer science which had a LOT of binary arithmatic, I scored 100% on the "toughest" exam.

Statistical analysis of my other cert test scores would have flagged an anomaly. Analysis of typical expected test scores for this exam would also have been an anomaly. By the logic of this company, I should have been subjected to "further analysis", interrogation, assumption of cheating, etc. All because I actually did WELL on a hard test?

I can only assume that you didn't go to college. Asking someone to proofread your paper and/or offer suggestions is hardly an unusual or even prohibited act.

You just made that up, didn't you?

Not true, anomalies are 100% certain proof of whatever it is you've decided ahead of time that you're looking for. Just ask: 9/11 Truthers, Anti-Obama Birthers, Ghost hunters, Anti-evolutionists, anti-vaccinationists, etc etc etc.

People doing statistical analysis who don't understand that a standard distribution GUARANTEES a percentage of anomalous results, frankly don't have any business having a job in their field. The fact that they'll label people as cheaters when they should know that x% will be labeled that way falsely is grounds for a pretty awesome lawsuit.

It seems kind of obvious that people who have a need for notebooks are not the target market for VDI. A portable computer is likely intended to be carried outside the VDI workspace where it rapidly becomes an unworkable model.

Am I missing something, or is this a really poor point to try to bring into this discussion?

I didn't imply that it did, I was quoting you. Hypertension is high blood pressure...you told me I was wrong because of an example of ... wait for it...high blood pressure, which I had already said.

In your haste to point fail fingers at people, I don't think you're following this conversation very well.