technology

[Idolatory]

http://abcnews.go.com/watch/nightline/SH5584743/VD55173552/nightline-221-apples-chinese-factories-exclusive

[endorphinz]

i am excited about the imminent release of the new gen iPad but have begun to think about getting a tiny laptop instead. maybe a macbook air ( never owned any apple products other than iPods & iPhones) or one of these

I realize the laptops will be a little bigger/heavier/expensive but,practically speaking, not much and they are much, much more powerful and versatile. after thinking about it, it seems to me that just about anything I would use the iPad for I could really do on an iPhone? I'm posting this from my phone

your thoughts?

[lowrey]

I agree, never saw the need for one as I have both a laptop and desktop, as well as a smartphone. However, the only reason I ended up getting the Samsung tab was that its occasionally handy when your with a small kid, and both my wife and I use it. Now I don't necessarily have to bring my laptop home from work if I want to surf on the couch, but its still far from a necessity though.

[Chinorlz]

Ive been thinking about getting a macbook air for quite a while. We've worshipped at the temple of Apple for quite a few years. I think almost all of our electronics are Apple from the peripheral extra large monitor to an imac, macbook pro, 2 ipads, 2 iphones, apple tv and time machine. The Air would just be easier to carry than the pro which i keep at my desk most of the time and would allow more processing than an ipad which I carry daily to the hospital etc since it can link to the hospital's patient info/radiology/ordering system which is quite nice.

I'm interested in seeing what this buzz about an Apple television is going to result in as well.

[Urthwhyte]

Work gave me an iPad, all it gets used for is watching movies on planes, browsing the web from the couch or bed, and making sure our website works on the iPad. Would not recommend a tablet if you're not a heavy content consumer

[Faust]

i am excited about the imminent release of the new gen iPad but have begun to think about getting a tiny laptop instead. maybe a macbook air ( never owned any apple products other than iPods & iPhones) or one of these

I realize the laptops will be a little bigger/heavier/expensive but,practically speaking, not much and they are much, much more powerful and versatile. after thinking about it, it seems to me that just about anything I would use the iPad for I could really do on an iPhone? I'm posting this from my phone

your thoughts?

Definitely don't NEED n iPad. I have the Macbook Air, mostly because of writing while I travel and it's easily the best tech purchase I have ever made, especially given occasional back problems, every pound in my bag counts.

Like Lowrey, I will probably buy it because it will double as a laptop for my kid, because I don't want her to fiddle with my laptop, but she already needs to surf internet for school, and there are many fantastic apps she can use, like a dictionary, learning games, etc. And, well, yeah, it's fun and more convenient to lay on the couch/bed with it and it is twice as cheap as a (Mac) laptop (and it's give your carpal tunnel some rest). I like the fact that I will be able to get my New Yorker on a Monday morning instead of a Tuesday afternoon. Small but pleasant things.

Hell, maybe we'll even make an iPad issue of StyleZeitgeist magazine, if my designers twist my hand hard enough.

[tron]

I would love the ability to digitally buy the magazine. Even as a pdf I'd be willing to shell out a few bucks. Of course it wouldn't be as magnificent as a physical copy but it would suffice for those of us on a budget

[lowrey]

Like Lowrey, I will probably buy it because it will double as a laptop for my kid, because I don't want her to fiddle with my laptop, but she already needs to surf internet for school, and there are many fantastic apps she can use, like a dictionary, learning games, etc.

we already have an app that makes farm animal sounds

[endorphinz]

hmmm, now I'm wondering if anything I buy will get enuf use. already have a small asus laptop and have become quite adept at surfing the net on my phone. i'm not a gamer but using an iPad as an e reader would be nice. guess I'll wait till the new iPad is released and take a look at it's new features. can't forget that in a few months the iPhone 5 will be out.

eta: hope the new iPad comes with USB port(s)

[tron]

eta: hope the new iPad comes with USB port(s)

I'd be pretty surprised if apple allowed generic usb ports to touch their devices. Although I would really support it and do agree that it would be a great idea.

[endorphinz]

^
i'm confused,a pretty natural state for me

the first iPods were firewire only. you needed an adapter splitter cable only,available from apple, that fit the 30 pin connector to use a pc and usb. today the only connector,out of the box,for iPods and iPhones are usb
I am totally ignorant about apple/mac machines. don't they have native usb ports? if no, how do mac users sync iPods and iPhones?

[lowrey]

I don't follow either..? All macs have USB ports. As for the iPad and USB, Apple makes a small adapter which allows plugging USB devices into it.

[tron]

I should have explained myself a bit better because yes of course the laptops and computers have generic usbs. If not that would be ridiculous. Just for them to allow a generic usb on the ipad / iphone would be surprising to me because I know they have adapter accessories and such and I just know apple loves it's proprietary formats

[endorphinz]

can you plug an external USB hard drive to the current iPads and read the drives' files... ie: can I play music or watch movies from an external USB drive on the current gen iPads?

btw: mini usb is generic. it's not proprietary... am I missing something?

[tron]

can you plug an external USB hard drive to the current iPads and read the drives' files... ie: can I play music or watch movies from an external USB drive on the current gen iPads?

btw: mini usb is generic. it's not proprietary... am I missing something?

I don't believe so and that's basically my point is that I think they want to keep it that way. As well that would open up a lot of custom booting options via booting from a usb I'd imagine. If I'm that grossly misinformed and you in fact can do that then please disregard what I said

Wait do ipads have mini usb ports? I was under the impression it was just the 30 pin