ipad2

[lucyloopy]

My OH has just offered to buy one for my upcoming birthday, but not sure I want one. It looks good but is it just a gimic? I do have a laptop which basically gets used for surfing the internet.

I could do with something to help me process photos and ideally do some work stuff on, main job is a driving instructor so things like leaflets and cards, graphics for work would be good - I dont have anything but basic word on my computer so really dont do any of the technical stuff. Oh and how do you get the pictures from a camera onto the ipad as I seem to think they dont have the same fittings as the camera/normal computer.

How does it connect to the internet? Do I need wifi? 3g? Feeling very old and very much a technophobe - do have an iphone which I find easy to use but realistically use very little of it's features - do you detect a theme here :shrug:

Thank you in advance for any advice good or bad.

 

[CT]

I don't think the iPad is a gimmick Lucy. I love mine (first version) It's great for surfing the web, reading ibooks, showing a large number of pics to someone - lots of really handy uses in fact, but I'm not sure serious image editing is it's best feature. The battery life is tremendous too.

You get pics from your camera onto the iPad with dedicated connector which is different to normal computer connections, but it's very inexpensive - around a tenner I think. It connects wirelessly to the internet via your normal home router connection.

My gut feeling is that your laptop is probably a better bet for serious image editing, so if that's your prime consideration the iPad may not be for you.

 

[viper_campbell]

I was in the same boat as you... In two minds whether to get an iPad2 or not, as was worried it was just going to be a gadget i wanted and would get bored of very very quickly... BUT to my surprise after buying my iPad2 I have only turned my personal laptop on 6 or so times in the last 3 months, a few times to convert DVD's to watch on the iPad and then a few times recently to edit a few pictures!!

I have the Wifi version which works off your normal home/work router... but when i am out and about i tether from my Smartphone which works brilliantly, which meant i could get the 32gb Wifi instead of the 16gb 3G

 

[joescrivens]

as CT says - if you want to use it for doing proper work and lots of it on then it's not really something to consider. That's not it's niche. It would be like buying a point and shoot to do wedding photographer - yes it CAN be done, but the results are not great.

Where the iPad comes into it's own is with consumption of media - surfing, watching, browsing, social media, commenting etc etc

All my wife ever does is these kinds of things and she now has literally no need for a computer - she has touched my computer about 5 times in 14 months now that we have an ipad

 

[neil_g]

im planning on replacing my laptop with one (i use my work laptop, its not ideal).

so for the following on the move and on the sofa - photography work email, browsing, social networking (work and personal), portfolio presenting, basic photo edits out on the road, some gaming (angry birds ftw).

etc etc

 

[lucyloopy]

Thanks for the comments guys, think I've decided to get one, this was after chatting to a pupil about it yesterday who has one and reckons I could use it in lessons for drawing my (bad) pics rather than using pen and paper, and could even get background picks like straight roads, bends and junctions and then draw cars and other traffic situations over. Now all I have to do is decide on white or black, oh and tell the OH where to buy one.