[thorgal]

I absolutely agree with you on Flash. It should be the people's choice if they want to use it or not. If it impacts battery life or stability then people can choose not to use it. But there should be choice.

The lack of flash has nothing to do with battery life or stability though, it's Apple's way of keeping their system closed... In that way I thought Jobs "letter on flash" was hilarious. He's trying to justify Apple's greed...

The lack of flash still doesn't diminish iPad's form factor or easy of use, and the fact that it's the perfect tool to do the (limited) things that it does. More so than any netbook.

Originally Posted by thorgal

I absolutely agree with you on Flash. It should be the people's choice if they want to use it or not. If it impacts battery life or stability then people can choose not to use it. But there should be choice.

The lack of flash has nothing to do with battery life or stability though, it's Apple's way of keeping their system closed... In that way I thought Jobs "letter on flash" was hilarious. He's trying to justify Apple's greed...

The lack of flash still doesn't diminish iPad's form factor or easy of use, and the fact that it's the perfect tool to do the (limited) things that it does. More so than any netbook.

No doubt that it will impact battery life, it's not that it's the most lightweight platform, especially when it comes to playing video. You're indeed right, about the fact that the user should be able to have the option to enable flash. If I remember correctly, you can enable flash support on an iPhone, but that requires you to jailbraik it.
Still, the price is too high, but that's usualy the case with every new product. First you rip off the early adopters before making it available for the mass market .

[jmke]

Originally Posted by thorgal

Oh really, and that's for a 160Gb SSD no doubt Apples to oranges.

that write/read speed of that 2.5" laptop HDD will be higher than that low end SSD.

Mac lover... really : that's what all those PC boys say when they run out of things to bash on Apple bashing is very trendy right now, that's for sure.

no it's not. you are blinded by your apple love, claiming a tablet PC with limited options is worth $500+ , while in reality it's WAY too expensive for what you get.

[thorgal]

Originally Posted by jmke

that write/read speed of that 2.5" laptop HDD will be higher than that low end SSD.

Proof ?

Anyway, you're back to comparing a netbook to the ipad, which is no comparison at all.

Originally Posted by jmke

no it's not. you are blinded by your apple love, claiming a tablet PC with limited options is worth $500+ , while in reality it's WAY too expensive for what you get.

For me, a device with the capabilities, form factor, ease of use and way of interacting with of the ipad is worth €499, absolutely. So it is for millions of other people. Who are you to say otherwise ? Also for me, a netbook is not worth €350, or even €299 for that sake.I have no interest in a netbook in whatever form. To you this can be different.

[jmke]

Anyway, you're back to comparing a netbook to the ipad, which is no comparison at all.

a device which is compact, doesn't weigh a lot, allows to play media files, surf the web over WIFI or 3G.

yes I think that describes iPad... AS WELL AS A NETBOOK.

but hey... "iPad is not comparable to anything so must pay a premium for it", right?

NOPE.

if you you are happy paying $500+ for a 16gb media player... that's your choice, but don't start stating fact that it's worth that price, while clearly it's an overpriced picture frame... .. no wait.. a picture frame has WIFI and USB ports.

Also for me, a netbook is not worth €350, or even €299 for that sake

agreed, would love to see them come in at $250 or lower. Budget notebooks are currently in the $500 range and the netbooks are not cheap enough.


but who am I wanting more product for less money. I should be like you, wanting to pay more for less.

[piotke]

I agree with everithing Thorgal says

JMke, you're a Apple / mac hater

[jmke]

no I'm not a Apple/Mac hater. Please quote me where I say iPad is bad or sucks? i'm not discussing the product.

all I'm pointing out is that it's bad value at the suggested price point. nothing more, nothing less. IYou're just also brainwashed into thinking that an oversized iPod with only 16gb is worth $500

make it $250 and I'll consider buying one

[thorgal]

Originally Posted by jmke

a device which is compact, doesn't weigh a lot, allows to play media files, surf the web over WIFI or 3G.

yes I think that describes iPad... AS WELL AS A NETBOOK.

*Sigh* We're back at square one : netbooks are NOT comparable in size or weight. If Apple wanted to build something as bulky (all things considered) as a netbook, they would have. It would have featured a full OS then, or even better battery life instead. But they clearly chose not to build a product like that.

Originally Posted by jmke

if you you are happy paying $500+ for a 16gb media player... that's your choice, but don't start stating fact that it's worth that price, while clearly it's an overpriced picture frame... .. no wait.. a picture frame has WIFI and USB ports.

Last time I looked every iPad had wifi, but surely not every picture frame And it's exactly this kind of sloganesk speech that gives people the name "Apple haters". If you write that iPad is not a bad product per se (not talking price then), why rate it as a picture frame then ? You can find some for €25 at your local kruidvat if you like

[jmke]

why rate it as a picture frame then ?

because that's basically what it is, a souped up picture frame. It's not a bad product, it has it limits, it would be nice to have USB, but no worries, WIFI is good enough. but don't price it up this much, $500 is too much for what this device can do.

if you look at what this device can do, and look up a product which has the same/more features, you'll find that such a device is <$400. So PRICE WISE, IPAD as a product, is priced too high;

FOR ME, two things should change;
- EITHER decrease the price to match the feature set
- OR increase the feature set to match the price



if HP Slate was released at same price point with same feature set, I would use the exact same arguments. So this is no "mac hate".

Originally Posted by thorgal

I just see them as an effort to make notebooks cheaper.

That is basically all that they are. Netbook = ultracheap notebook. Very many people can't afford a full notebook but need one for mobile document work or taking notes.

Before netbooks came about, the cheapest notebooks had hardware so stripped down that they offered almost no battery life whatsoever. Tiny batteries, power hogging processors (using last gen parts and process nodes), and large screens all didn't help. But not many people realized that back then mobile Celerons have Speedstep disabled and often lacked power management.

Take a full size laptop, cut the battery capacity in half, use a slow Celeron processor, and remember that Speedstep is disabled by Intel so the CPU runs at full speed/voltage, and you should see why netbooks became such a hit. At the time Netbooks offered as good or better performance, much better battery life and all at cheaper prices.


As far as the iPad price goes... it is well known that Apple targets a 50% gross margin on all their products. So yes, I'm sure the iPad is overpriced. Why even argue a netbook would be better... you can buy a full 12-13.3" CULV notebook for the same price as an iPad. That says it all right there.