Mini laptop or Ipad?

[monkeybug]

My husband is trying to decide between the Ipad (the $630 one so he could get a data plan) or a mini laptop (like the acer kind they sell at Costco) and having a hard time.
Which would you buy?
I'm no help because I am biased towards apple.

 

[design_mom]

What does he want to do with it? I have an iPad and I love it for browsing the web, playing games, reading e-books, sending short e-mail, etc. Videos and movies on the thing look great! I'm very happy with mine.

However, I would definitely consider it an "entertainment device." It doesn't run Microsoft Office, etc. The on-screen keyboard works way better than I expected, but a real keyboard is still nicer if you're going to be typing a lot.

If he just wants something fun for entertainment, I love the iPad. If he wants to do work on it, the netbook might be better.

(Note: My iPad is the wi-fi version.)

 

[monkeybug]

What does he want to do with it? I have an iPad and I love it for browsing the web, playing games, reading e-books, sending short e-mail, etc. Videos and movies on the thing look great! I'm very happy with mine.

However, I would definitely consider it an "entertainment device." It doesn't run Microsoft Office, etc. The on-screen keyboard works way better than I expected, but a real keyboard is still nicer if you're going to be typing a lot.

If he just wants something fun for entertainment, I love the iPad. If he wants to do work on it, the netbook might be better.

(Note: My iPad is the wi-fi version.)

He wants it for entertainment purposes! He wants to read sports articles, play games, watch netflix, things like that.
We were at Costco last night and he almost bought one of those little laptops and a DSI. I said "Why don't you look at the ipad, with all the game apps it's kind of like a DSI and a laptop combined"
So he was all set to get the ipad last night, but then this morning is unsure again.
I don't know enough about the mini laptops or the DSI to help him decide, I just know I love my Iphone and all those glorious apps!

 

[corgi_monster]

I want an ipad but I need a netbook. When I travel, I can shoot 10BG worth of pics, so I need the netbook as a mini HD to load pics on.

 

[Shutterbug]

Just keep in mind, Flash is not supported on the Ipad.

 

[bicker]

That means no FarmVille!

 

[browneyes106]

My sister has an iPad that she uses for entertainment. The way design_mom described how she uses her iPad is pretty much how my sister uses her. My sister has said they are some things she can't do well on the iPad and she uses her laptop for those things. I have an HP netbook which 2 years old and works pretty good it is pretty convinent for traveling. But the small keyboard can be tiring after awhile. There are some pros and cons to both iPads and netbooks.

 

[mrsv98]

Well, I am responding to this from my Asus Netbook so that probably answers your question! That being said, there are negatives, here are pros and cons:

Pros:
small size and weight. Mine weighs less than 3lbs and has a clam shell design so I don't have to worry about the screen.

Full keyboard

nice big hard drive for storage

card reader so I can upload pics easily

plenty of processor speed to run apps. I have Kindle for PC, Open Office, Picasa and Firefox all loaded and they run fine.

Cons:
the newer ones come with Windows 7 starter which does not have the files needed to run dvd from the external drive. I went back to the store and they were able to find and load the program I needed so DD can watch dvds.

The 1gb memory (on my machine) was not adequate so I upgraded to 2gb, nice but an added cost

Watching videos and playing Farmville can be choppy. We have watched iTunes movies on an airplane and it was fine tho a but jumpy in spots.

I have not used the iPad but for the cost, my opinion is the net book is the way to go. Once DH saw mine, he HAD to have one! He loves his as much as I love mine. Takes it on the train to read. If he wanted, we could get a card and he could use the internet too.

HTH!

 

[mickilee]

on the ipad you cant multi task, keep that in mind. I just sold mine on craiglist. To me it was just a huge itouch. Waste a money for me.

i am on my 2nd netbook and love it. If you go this way, look for one with a bigger battery you will be happier.

 

[momrek06]

DH bought me an IPAD in June and I love it ... he has a laptop I have a desk top and he said use the IPAD at night while you are watching tv. Well, he now has decided he LOVES my IPAD more than his laptop and is constantly asking ... "can I use that now" ... I think we need another IPAD in this house!!!

 

[SueM in MN]

That means no FarmVille!

There actually is a Farmville app that works pretty well. It doesn’t use Flash.

What does he want to do with it? I have an iPad and I love it for browsing the web, playing games, reading e-books, sending short e-mail, etc. Videos and movies on the thing look great! I'm very happy with mine.

However, I would definitely consider it an "entertainment device." It doesn't run Microsoft Office, etc. The on-screen keyboard works way better than I expected, but a real keyboard is still nicer if you're going to be typing a lot.

If he just wants something fun for entertainment, I love the iPad. If he wants to do work on it, the netbook might be better.

(Note: My iPad is the wi-fi version.)

There are iPad apps from Apple that include Pages (the Apple program similar to Word), Numbers (the Apple program similar to Excel) and Keynote (similar to PowerPoint). I don’t know how the iPad apps compare to the ‘regular’ Apple programs, but anything I compose on my Macbook at home works fine on my Windows version at work.

I’d suggest he try out the keyboard on both if he thinks he might do any typing. I just came back from a conference where I did a couple of surveys on both iPads and notebooks. The landscape keyboard on the iPads were very easy for me to type on, the portrait version was not so good, but word prediction helped.
The keyboards on the notebooks just did not feel right to me - even the ones that say they have a full sized keyboard - and I could not type without a lot of errors.

 

[FireDancer]

A good rule of thumb for deciding the iPad vs. netbook/notebook question is whether you will be creating content or consuming it. If you will be primarily consuming (non-Flash) content the iPad may work best. If you will be creating content the form factor of a netbook/notebook will work best.