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IPAD 2: buying one?
 

[Closed] IPAD 2: buying one?

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Nothing particularly Windows specific about any of those

True though Windows is the number 1 target for viruses, mainly because it is the most common.

most of the security risk these days seems to come from Adobe and Java

Java? Really? Can't remember the last time I saw client-side Java on a website. I guess maybe some game sites might use it?


 
Posted : 03/03/2011 3:21 pm
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You can buy a 1st Gen 16GB new from Apple for £329

This is much more like it.

Now all they need is some kind of replaceable cover to make it look like something else, and we're sorted.

Something like this perhaps:

[img] [/img]


 
Posted : 03/03/2011 3:22 pm
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One of the reasons windows was more prone to virus attacks in the past is because the user ran with super user privileges. This meant a user could click on somthing and have permission to do nasty things.

This is generaly not the case in a unix/linux based system, which I believe OSX is based on.


 
Posted : 03/03/2011 4:13 pm
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It's also not the case anymore in Windows with UAC, I believe bazzer. It's also always been possible to set up Windows with a separate admin account, just no-one bothered to.


 
Posted : 03/03/2011 4:15 pm
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It's also not the case anymore in Windows with UAC, I believe bazzer. It's also always been possible to set up Windows with a separate admin account, just no-one bothered to

Yep you are correct and I expect virus infections would go down if people didnt just blindly press yes when a UAC box popped up 🙂

Edited to add
One of the reasons for this is because it pops up so often under windows for various reasons.


 
Posted : 03/03/2011 5:16 pm
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Yep you are correct and I expect virus infections would go down if people didnt just blindly press yes when a UAC box popped up

Yes.. pops up all the time in Vista, less so under W7.


 
Posted : 03/03/2011 5:20 pm
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point is that the "my laptop does all that" crowd don't seem to get that the tablet market is different and offers different things

+1

Where I have seen them used (to good effect) are by non-computery types who have it in the living room as a sort of portable Google. Used as a 'ooh, I'll just look that up' instant-on machine it seems fine

I'd love one for just this purpose (and the occasional travel entertainment), a coffee table device so I don't need a laptop downstairs, and I have a complete/profound (unjustifiable) dislike of mac computer's.
It's a pity there so damned expensive.

Quick edit: The iphone to me proved why I'd love the ipad, though the iphone does reduce my needs for a pc use at home by 75%, some browsing on it is a mare. I hate mobile site's and the screen just isn't big enough for some browsing I want to do, hense why I'd love an ipad.


 
Posted : 03/03/2011 5:52 pm
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[i]True though Windows is the number 1 target for viruses, mainly because it is the most common. [/i]

Indeed. And as has been speculated a number of times, as the apple/IOS/android market increases, we'll see more and more malicious code writers targetting and compromising these systems. There's still quite some way to go through before any of these are even getting close to the staggering majority that windows currently operates under.

It's an almost beautiful irony that the constant fanboi bleating about apples will no doubt have increased market share and simultaneously increased their attractiveness to attackers while in the background MS have been working their way up to what is currently in windows 7, a fairly robust product.


 
Posted : 03/03/2011 6:37 pm
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[i]It's a pity there so damned expensive.[/i]

I know I said I would never have one but the 270 quid refurbs on the apple site are very tempting. It's like my ipod touch but with a bigger screen.


 
Posted : 03/03/2011 6:38 pm
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the screen just isn't big enough for some browsing I want to do

Heh! 'Browsing', eh? I get yer. Ok. 😉

Bigger screen is better for fapping, then?


 
Posted : 03/03/2011 6:42 pm
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admittedly had to look up fapping, but yes Elf you know me far too well 😳


 
Posted : 03/03/2011 6:48 pm
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Only because I know myself... 😳


 
Posted : 03/03/2011 6:56 pm
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Of course the biggest issue with an IPad now is that by association, [url= http://www.****/news/article-1361457/Camerons-new-press-chief-Craig-Oliver-arrives-work-hip-hop-headphones.html?ito=feeds-newsxml ]desperately sad and uncool people[/url] are using them, and as they are, so too will their wretched desperateness rub off on you.

[img] [/img]

That helmet in the pic - yes or no?


 
Posted : 03/03/2011 9:27 pm
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Does the 'i' in iPad stand for Irritant?

Frankly any gadget that can be associated with the word metrosexual should be avoided at all costs.

Buy a cheap novel, a notepad and a biro and spend the rest of the money you've saved on beer FFS.


 
Posted : 03/03/2011 9:53 pm
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simple answer from me: "no"


 
Posted : 03/03/2011 9:54 pm
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Buy a cheap novel, a notepad and a biro and spend the rest of the money you've saved on beer FFS.

I take it you wrote this reply on your notepad with your biro then sent it in by post then Big Dave? 🙄


 
Posted : 04/03/2011 9:16 am
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being honest I'd ****ing love one for when we go on hols, sitting on the shitter and the living room for the wife/kids to use instead of them using my macbook pro. thing is most of the kids sites use flash which would probably annoy the hell out of them.

Shame really, as I know the kids (5 and 2) would get the hang of it in no time (they've used my iphone before with no real bother) and they could offer tech support to the wife when she had a problem 🙂

I'm not prepared to pay over £200 for something that fits the above scenarios


 
Posted : 04/03/2011 9:34 am
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It's not an ipad and it's B-grade but it is android, which isn't bad at all.

[i] http://www.maplin.co.uk/slate-8-inch-android-touch-tablet-506982?utm_source=Maplin&utm_medium=TopProducts&utm_content=506982&utm_campaign=Frontpage [/i]


 
Posted : 04/03/2011 9:39 am
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chomp: take a look at that Binatone HomeSurf. It is £120.
Absolute guff but may suit your needs and not too heartbreaking when the kids use it to dig in the sandpit.


 
Posted : 04/03/2011 10:11 am
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I take it you wrote this reply on your notepad with your biro then sent it in by post then Big Dave?

A hundred quid laptop I bought from my last employer actually. Its tougher, more powerful and more versatile than a light up plastic tray with no keyboard.

What I hate is the way the ipad and iphone are touted as being the saviours of the common man and the way it is creeping into every aspect of modern media and even becoming a source of stories all by itself. Its not a miracle tool, its not even that advanced or useful; its just a triumph of manipulative marketing. Some people almost have a fetish about the ipad and iphone and its just a bit sad.

I just think for the money you can buy a decent and more versatile laptop that doesn't look like it has had the keyboard snapped off. I also fail to see why everybody gets all excited about touch screens. I use them all the time at work and find them annoying.


 
Posted : 04/03/2011 10:37 am
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i use expensive cameras for work and sometimes find them annoying but plenty of people fetishise and obsess over them just to take pics of sunsets and cats. i don't let it get to me though.
just remember dave, 'hate' is a very strong word.

posted from my iphone.


 
Posted : 04/03/2011 10:43 am
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obsess over them just to take pics of sunsets and cats

+1.

The number of people lugging them around Munich city centre is ridiculous. All they are doing is taking tourist snaps, it's silly to spend 400 quid and have all the hassle.

But, gadgets are gadgets to some people.


 
Posted : 04/03/2011 10:45 am
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Hate may be a strong word but I'm afraid to say I do, just as I hate the Ipod and the way that the move towards downloading music has lead people to think that poorer quality music files are the way forward and acceptable; whatever happened to high def CDs and the richer sound that they promised? Instead most people prefer to be spoon fed poor quality, stripped down overpriced crap.

Why do I use the word hate? Well its because the sheep like trendsetters buy into this sort of shiny 'me too' crap so completely that the choice for the rest of us is reduced as all the other manufacturers jump onto the bandwagon.

I'll stick to my battered old IBM and free software thanks, and my CDs, and my 35mm SLR, and my cheap Nokia which has lasted 6 years with no problems.

Right, I'm going to flounce back to the 1990's


 
Posted : 04/03/2011 10:57 am
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What I hate is .... its just a triumph of manipulative marketing

What I hate is people who assume I am a naive, gullible sheep that knows no better and has purely been drawn in by the shiny happy advertising and charismatic people in black rollneck sweaters. 🙄

Is it not conceivable that some people are being drawn to iPhones/iPads and the Android equivalents, not because of fashion, but because they are actually really rather good and offer things that a dumbphone and laptop do not?


 
Posted : 04/03/2011 11:02 am
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they are actually really rather good and offer things that a dumbphone and laptop do not?

Really? Or do they just offer you things that you had never considered important until the marketing hype told you how great they were? Come one seriously, since when was a portable computer with no USB or proper keyboard ever thought of as a good idea?

I have a dumbphone and a laptop and I've never felt hindered by them. I do dislike the way some content is being cut down and adapted to meet the new formats that are emerging however as it cheapens the way some information is delivered and reduces its value and the quality of the messages being delivered.


 
Posted : 04/03/2011 11:18 am
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Ok look.

Hype is annoying.

The iPad can be a handy bit of kit.

You are at liberty to choose or reject any technology you like.

Now can we have less ranting please?


 
Posted : 04/03/2011 11:26 am
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Right, I'm going to flounce back to the 1990's

Byeee!

Tend to use my iPad with a mindmapping programme for wandering about doing my 'creative thinking' - I could do it with a laptop (and did in the past), but the touch screen works really well for creating mind maps and moving stuff around. Of course it's entirely possible to do it with a pen and paper, but then I have to set aside time to transfer that onto a computer so that I can build on the basic structure I've put together.

Using the iPad/laptop combo, I tend to literally walk about putting ideas into an app called iThoughtsHD, then when I'm finished I can transfer it as an OPML file to Omnioutliner, which I find helpful for adding more detail, developing a timeline and workplan, setting outcomes, priorities and developing a critical path.

It also gets used for reading PDFs - I have to be able to reference lots of government policy documents, so I can keep them on hand, make notes on them and so on, without having to create physical copies of them.

I also use it as a kindle reader - I tend to read for a while before I go to sleep, whereas my wife tends to like to get the light out and go straight off to sleep. I wouldn't buy an iPad solely for this obviously, but as additional functionality it works well.

Downsides of the iPad - biggest pain in the butt is the lack of drag and drop file transfer. Can't understand why Apple haven't made it much easier to see it on a network in the same way as any other computer. If I had fully appreciated how much faffing around would be involved in moving a file from the iPad to the computer and back again I suspect it might have been a deal breaker for me. It's a setup that seems to run counter to Apple's usual philosophy of making things easy and intuitive for people.


 
Posted : 04/03/2011 11:33 am
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iPads are great.

The hype around them and pretty much all gadgety stuff is pretty annoying though. Just need to separate one from the other. if you think it can do a something useful or fun for you then get one if it can't do that for you then don't.

We've got one. It gets used for streaming radio to the amp, controlling the digital music library (all CD quality), browsing, emailing, games, pretty much everything other than work. It's the instant on-ness and form factor of the iPad that make it a worthwhile device for me.

My 80 year old mother also has one because she felt she wanted to dip a toe into the internet but found a fully fledged computer too difficult to use. She mostly uses hers for browsing, emails and as a photo library. She had complained that since she got a digital camera it was difficult to show friends photos that she had taken. now she'll take the iPad round to the neighbours and still be able to bore them silly just like the old days.

I won't be buying a new one though. I was open to the idea of upgrading but there is nothing in the new one that I find desperately lacking from the current model. When they eventually launch version 3 I'll take a look at that and weigh up whether or not to get that. No pressure.


 
Posted : 04/03/2011 11:34 am
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Right, I'm going to flounce back to the 1990's

Did you moan about the internet and mobile phones in the 90s, out of interest?


 
Posted : 04/03/2011 11:36 am
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Really? Or do they just offer you things that you had never considered important until the marketing hype told you how great they were?

🙄

I'm replying to you from my phone at the moment. I'm in a single office on my own. So I'm not doing it to impress anyone or be fashionable. I'm doing it because it suits me.

Later I will go home and probably sit on the couch and likewise use my phone to browse on here, check email, read Facebook, maybe play a few games. There is no one there to see me except my wife. No one I'm trying to impress. I have a perfectly good netbook, a laptop and a fairly powerful desktop that I could use. I'll use the phone, not because of fashion or marketing, but because it suits me.

Come one seriously, since when was a portable computer with no USB or proper keyboard ever thought of as a good idea?

[url= http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/08/how-star-trek-artists-imagined-the-ipad-23-years-ago.ars ]Around 23 years ago. [/url]

When was a portable computer that you can't use standing up considered a good idea? 🙂

Nowt much wrong with the touchscreen keyboard for typing short Internet missives btw. In some ways it is more flexible (does your keyboard spot when you are typing a URL and offer a .com/.co.uk key? Can you easily type âcçented characters? Smilies? Chinese?) - also you can always pair a Bluetooth keyboard if you really want to bash out a novel.


 
Posted : 04/03/2011 11:50 am
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When was a portable computer that you can't use standing up considered a good idea?

Not been a massive issue for me to be fair 🙂 Don't knock laptops, they are far more successful and useful all round than iPads! Not to denigrate iPads but they are not as catholic a product, be fair.


 
Posted : 04/03/2011 11:57 am
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Did you moan about the internet and mobile phones in the 90s, out of interest?

No, I in fact I can't do my job without access to the internet and a mobile phone. I just think the Ipad is a case of the 'emperors new clothes'. It is also nice to wind up ipad owners which this thread has proved is incredibly easy 😉

Call me a cynic but Apple have also engineered a blatant upgrade path into the Ipad and Iphone. Why else would they have missed 3g off the original version?

Truly cannot see the point, not just with things like the ipad and iphone but smartphones in general. I think I'm just a bit of a purist with technology. I prefer bits of kit that do one thing well not a mutitude of things in an fairly OK but not exceptional way.

And ditch-jockey:

an app called iThoughtsHD
Dear me...


 
Posted : 04/03/2011 11:57 am
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I'm replying to you from my phone at the moment. I'm in a single office on my own. So I'm not doing it to impress anyone or be fashionable. I'm doing it because it suits me.

Maybe, but you still had to let us all know you were doing though...


 
Posted : 04/03/2011 11:59 am
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Truly cannot see the point

Well take off your blinkers and have a better look - you will see that it is a nice bit of kit for certain situations. I don't care for it, the main issue I have I think is that it runs a specialized OS.

If it ran Windows (or even MacOs for that matter) I'd perhaps be interested - perhaps.

Maybe, but you still had to let us all know you were doing though.

Yeah because it's very relevant to the discussion. Stop trying to score points, you're as bad as the fanbois!


 
Posted : 04/03/2011 12:20 pm
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give it up, he's just trolling for the sake of it & adding nothing useful to the thread... It ain't worth replying.


 
Posted : 04/03/2011 12:22 pm
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Call me a cynic but Apple have also engineered a blatant upgrade path into the Ipad and Iphone.

Oh noes, you mean as per every other tech company ever? The bastards.

Or is your IBM laptop still state of the art? latest processor? Latest graphics card? SSD? Blueray? 802.11n? USB3? DisplayPort? HDMI?

Presumably it was at least engineered to allow all these parts to be added later then and never require a new laptop?

I prefer bits of kit that do one thing well not a mutitude of things in an fairly OK but not exceptional way.

Right... Does that not rather go against your previous argument that laptops are superior because they are more flexible, have USB, a keyboard, and can do a wide variety of things that you can't do on a tablet?


 
Posted : 04/03/2011 12:26 pm
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I'm certainly no Apple fanboi, but would quite like one - instant on is perfect for reading the headlines/STW/twitter while having breakfast during the week, and the form factor is ideal for lounging around on the sofa. Both are definite advantages over a normal laptop.

A laptop is also severely compromised on the ergonomic front, given the choice between a laptop and a tower+proper keyboard+well situated screen I know which one I'd choose. For work they're fine, necessary even, but for home use? 99% of the time I'm not convinced.

Still, I won't be getting an iPad (probably): too expensive, and no flash support.


 
Posted : 04/03/2011 12:28 pm
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I just think the Ipad is a case of the 'emperors new clothes'. It is also nice to wind up ipad owners which this thread has proved is incredibly easy

getting wound up? oh i dunno the haters are getting quite agitated 🙄


 
Posted : 04/03/2011 12:37 pm
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..the main issue I have I think is that it runs a specialized OS.
If it ran Windows (or even MacOs for that matter) I'd perhaps be interested - perhaps.

The trouble is that you couldn't really just stick Windows 7 on it and have a usable environment for a touchscreen interface. The Windows and MacOS interfaces were designed to be used with mice (menus, right clicks, scroll bars, drag-and-drop, hovering etc) so you do really need an interface that is properly designed with a touchscreen in mind.

Plus the internals of the OS need to be tailored for these platforms (e.g. focus on low power consumption, limited storage space etc)

Which doesn't mean it can't be [i]compatible[/i] with Windows to some degree though - take a look at the Windows Phone for example.


 
Posted : 04/03/2011 12:42 pm
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What's very interesting from my perspective is that when iphones/ipads were first brought out there was no obvious effort to capture the enterprise market. Now it could be insanely clever marketing but it doesn't feel like it is, it feels like even apple didn't expect these devices to be used in enterprise environments and got caught on the back foot.

Now, every board member and his dog has got one for christmas and wants it to integrate into the corporate environment and a thousand IT teams around the world are telling them it's just not built to do it properly. They're insecure, it's hard to control them once they're lost, they don't integrate into corporate systems very well.

We've just had ten delivered for our board who are all clamouring like mad to have a play with them. Now being board members at least one of them will leave it on a plane or a brothel within five minutes, no doubt still logged onto our network because they complained of having to keep logging in. The risk these things present is immense and the effort required to place controls around the access, remote kill functionality, file transfers, email etc etc is just huge and totally disproportionate to the function they provide over a laptop and blackberry.

Apple and various third parties are fighting to gain control over what is clearly an extremely rich and profitable market, it's going to be interesting to see who comes out on top.


 
Posted : 04/03/2011 12:43 pm
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We've just had ten delivered for our board who are all clamouring like mad to have a play with them. Now being board members at least one of them will leave it on a plane or a brothel within five minutes, no doubt still logged onto our network because they complained of having to keep logging in. The risk these things present is immense and the effort required to place controls around the access, remote kill functionality, file transfers, email etc etc is just huge and totally disproportionate to the function they provide over a laptop and blackberry.

does the 'find my iphone/mac' thingy not work with ipads then?
you can wipe the user data remotely as long as the device is connected to the intrnet/3g


 
Posted : 04/03/2011 12:55 pm
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Oh noes, you mean as per every other tech company ever? The bastards.

Technology is improving all the time but lets face facts; the original iphone was released without a lot of things, like 3g and a decent camera, things that were available at the time and well established. Like I say, I'm a cynic but the original iphone was compromised through the lack of cetain industry standard features. This did however did give Apple the chance to relaunch the new and improved 3g version after building up demand and hype for it only a short time after the original model was released. Every technology provider plans for future upgrades but Apple are so much more blatant in the way they do it that I'm left cold by their products.

My battered old IBM isn't top spec although it was once. Why does everything need to be the latest spec to do its job well? It was well specced for its day when new which means it is still more than capable today. In three years time the original ipad will probably seem like quite an inferior product by comparison.

Right... Does that not rather go against your previous argument that laptops are superior because they are more flexible, have USB, a keyboard, and can do a wide variety of things that you can't do on a tablet?

Not at all, the ipad and its ilk are being touted as portable multimedia hubs which should mean they are technically superior but in reality they aren't. The design limitations placed on them by the tablet format mean that they aren't too great at a lot of things because there are too many compromises involved (not being able to run flash seems like a bit weakness in the product). A laptop, as a portable computer, is by its nature a versatile piece of kit. Its just my view is that a mid range laptop will always be far superior to a ipad or android enabled tablet.


 
Posted : 04/03/2011 12:58 pm
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Does your keyboard spot when you are typing a URL and offer a .com/.co.uk key? Can you easily type âcçented characters? Smilies? Chinese?

No my browser does the .com/.co.uk bit.
Yes to accented chars (on my Linux PC - dunno how on this windoze comp)
Yes to smilies.
No to Chinese, but mine has Japanese I think. Certainly cuts/pastes Chinese and Japanese too.
If it ran Windows (or even MacOs for that matter) I'd perhaps be interested - perhaps.

Something I said for iPad1. If it ran full OSX, with touchscreen overlay, and allowed me to run all my proper Mac apps (and had SD, USB, proper filesystem access), then I'd be down the store right away to buy one at its current price level. With smartphone dumbed down shiny software, it's a £250 device with a shiny apple logo price premium, and a clever way of monetising what might otherwise have been free software.
Next MacOS look like it may get some level of convergence. I hope that's to add touchscreen type features to MacBook, rathter than dummbing down MacBook towards iPad/iTunes, enforcing all s/w to be vetted by a non independent team.


 
Posted : 04/03/2011 1:03 pm
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Its just my view is that a mid range laptop will always be far superior to a ipad or android enabled tablet.

yes that's obvious if you want a laptop not a tablet. it's also apparent that a laptop is no substitute for a mid priced tablet, if you want a tablet.


 
Posted : 04/03/2011 1:08 pm
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Why does everything need to be the latest spec to do its job well?

Straw man ^^^ Most people don't think that of course.


 
Posted : 04/03/2011 1:09 pm
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