sazeracjeff

To answer someone's question below, YouTube videos ARE Flash video format. The iPhone/iPad do support Flash video (in the form of youTube streams) - but that's the only kind of flash content they support.

I was hoping the iPad would be more like a full-blown laptop with a tablet style interface. Even If it were, I'd have to wait for my current machine to fail before I purchased an iPad.

Since that's not what it is, I have to judge iPad on what functions it performs and compare it to similar products, to the extent possible. As an owner of an iPhone, the key benefit of an iPad is the large format - so it only makes sense in my mind to compare it to a e-book reader or a net book. Mainly, an e-book reader. I've been considering a Kindle recently, so it's worth considering the comparison.

Given it's price (relative to the Kindle) and functionality, I think the iPad is a much better value. The kindle web browsing is very limited. The iPad is good for more than purchasing e-Books. Apps aren't coming for the kindle any time soon, and certainly not iPhone style apps. Given the 100's of thousands of iPhone apps that just need to be adjusted with higher resolution graphics in order to be upgraded for the iPad, I estimate those will come fast and furious.

So, viewing the iPad against other functions and forms that are currently desirable to me (as opposed to what the iPad could have been) I'd say it's a great product.

Re: would I like FWW on iPad? Yes. Throwing the iPad on the dock and having it on the bench, viewable from places other than standing above it, appeals to me. On the dock, it also would require a smaller footprint on a bench than a magazine, even if it was folded. Plus there's the opportunity to zoom smaller images.

Having scanned the comments quickly, I can see that there are Apple haters, and lovers. I'm definitely more towards the latter, but here are my responses to a few of the comments.

Re: Dropping the iPad, or dropping a chisel on it and it's toast.
I've dropped my iPhone dozens of times without problem. The worst damage I've seen happen to an iPhone (not water related) was my wife dropped her iPhone and the face landed on the corner of a brick. The face cracked, but the functionality remained 100% intact. The face of iPhones, and presumably iPads, is Lexan, ie bullet-proof glass. Just this week I heard of a friend dropping his iPhone from a 2nd story balcony. The face popped off, but he just popped it back in place and it was fine.

Re: Think of the tools you could buy with the money.
That's an excellent point, but you can't use a band saw or a new set of chisels in a meaningful way OUTSIDE of the workshop. You can't organize your life with it, you can't BUY a set of chisels with it, you can't email a manufacturer with a question with it, you can't do a million other things with it. I don't view the iPad as a workshop tool, it's a tool that is also useful in the workshop.

There's my 2 cents.

Jeff