Ronny Gabriels Photography

I decided to write this post because I actually have gotten this question quite a few times lately.  It’s always dangerous to write something about an Apple product especially if you try to compare it to other products.  Apple lovers and haters come out of the woodworks and starting pointing everything you missed in your argument.  So before I even begin, I want to stress that what I will write here is my own personal opinion and is by no means a definitive answer to the question.  I just try to compare the products in ways that those people asking might not have thought of to give those people a comprehensive answer which allows them to answer the question for themselves.  I don’t believe it’s my place to make a decision, but rather to inform the best I can.  So here it goes. If you ask me “What should I get, an Apple iPad or a small (10” to 13”) laptop?” this is what I would answer.

 The Comparison
Actually comparing a small laptop (and I’m not talking about a netbook here) to the iPad is not really fare.  If, for instance, you want to choose between those two to replace your current computer, the best answer might just be: “Get both.” The fact is that the iPad is not a computer as you and I know it.  It should be seen more like a big format smartphone (without the phone) or a big format iPod Touch.  I know this is not really a good analogy, but the fact remains that you will not be able to replace your computer (PC or Mac) by an iPad. The iPad is a peripheral device, meaning that you will need a computer to put things like music on it (via iTunes).  Sure you can download stuff from the web immediately, but you will always need a computer to sync, upload or configure it.  So comparing that to a laptop computer is not fair unless you have a computer at home and want to buy an extra device to carry around.  Let’s take that as a vantage point for the rest of the comparison since this evens the playing field a bit.

What purpose does it need to serve?
Probably the most important question you need to ask yourself is: “What do I want this extra device for?” If the answer is “surf the web (and everything that comes with it today), check my email, watch videos, read some digital books and listen to some music” than I think the iPad might be the best fit for you.  It’s probably great at all these things but be ware if you want to do much more. This is were Apple fanatics will start to attack me but bare with me.  In the end, the iPad doesn’t run software, but apps (via the AppStore) like the iPhone or iPod Touch does. There’s probably an app for everything, but you can’t expect them to behave like complete software products.  For instance, as an amateur photographer, I like to watch and edit my photos. Sure there’s an app for viewing and editing, but those are no way near what I expect photo editing software to be.  So if you have a hobby that requires some serious software, the laptop is the only option. If however you don’t, it’s best to read on ;-)

User experience
This is the point were the iPad has the clear advantage. Or has it? The touch user interface is superb, I will never deny that.  For browsing, messaging and those things it probably the absolute best experience that you will ever have.  It’s responsive, intuitive and just plain easy to use.  But what if you write a lot?  Blog, e-mails, chats, etc. tend to require a lot of typing, and for me personally, an on-screen keyboard just doesn’t cut it when you have to do a lot of typing. OK, so I haven’t used it on a device this size, but still the fact the put the keyboard in an angle to the screen (like a laptop of separate physical keyboard) is a big drawback for me. Sure there is a separate keyboard available for the iPad, but you buy these devices for portability and ease so how many times are you going to forget that separate keyboard? Right, always.  By now you probably have a feel for what MY choice of device would be. The fact remains that if you don’t do a lot of typing, the user experience on an iPad will probably blow the laptop out of the water (even the ridiculously expensive tablet-PC’s).

Multiple users?
This is were for me the laptop wins it. See if more than one person in your house wants to use the device you buy, the choice gets a lot easier. You will only have to buy one laptop, but you’ll have to buy one iPad for every person using it (given they all use it to the same extend). Let me explain. Like I said earlier, the iPad is like a big smartphone.  Which means that you configure it for your email, your contacts, your music, your books, … If anybody else wants to use it with their own settings (own email account, own music, etc.) you are out of luck. OK, if you’re the only user or other people just use it for surfing or other not personal stuff, this does not apply for you, but still it’s something to remember. With a laptop however, one person logs out and the next one logs in with his settings, his e-mail etc. So the lack of multi-user support makes that the iPad can not be used as a coffee-table computer (what I think it would be best suited for).     

So the verdict?
I’ll summarize some of the pros and cons of both systems (based on some features) so you can check the boxes you think you need to make an informed decision. 

Feature	iPad	Small laptop
easy to use	Touch interface is unbeatable for normal use	physical keyboard very handy for intensive typing
multiple user support	only one user can configure everything	as much as you like
Browsing experience	Perfect on big clear screen	no touch means having to use a mousepad
Reading books	Excellent because you can tilt the entire thing to portrait mode (if you like reading books in digital form)	No changing to portrait mode means worse experience
Music	it’s like a big iPod, enough said	MediaPlayer, … enough said
Social media, messaging, etc.	Very good (if there’s not too much typing)	Good especially when much typing is involved
Speciality software	almost none and all depends on Apple	Free as a bird
Portability	too big to replace phone	too big to replace phone
storage	max 64GB (even an iPod has more … why?)	whatever hard drive you can find (+ upgradable)
stand-alone functionality	needs computer for sync	100% standalone
Battery	up to a month stand-by, + 10h in use (WOW)	max 5 hours in use
Upgrades	Forget a new hard-drive or even a USB drive to connect to it, let alone swapping the battery, memory etc.	When bigger and better is available, just put new stuff in.
… the list goes on

So what’s the verdict?  I think for a lot of people who use a computer mainly to surf the web, watch the occasional video etc. the iPad will be a perfect device (with the small drawback of having to have at least one computer in the house to sync iTunes with). So for them, I would very much recommend it.  For other people, I think the iPad can be the dawn of a new age, but it’s not there yet.  Wait a year or two and there will be a device like this for you as well.  And for the tech geeks out there.  It’s certainly not for you, but you’ll buy one anyway because it’s pretty, new and shiny ;-)