Hello everyone.
My name's Rishi and I am a very recent convert to the charms of the I-pad. I have never owned an apple product but the I-pad 2 is simply put- irresistible.
I do have some basic queries and I was wondering if you guys can help a complete noob here.

I have made enough money to purchase either the I-pad 2 or a PS3( with blu-ray films). The one reason I am even swaying towards the ps3 is because I am a huge movie fan. My life revolves around films. This is where I am having an issue with Ipad. My questions are :

1.) If I pay 10 dollars to I-tunes for a movie does that movie get deposited on my hard-drive or its only when I am online can I view it?

2.) On the topic of movies, can I connect my ordinary hard-drive to the i-pad and view any films?

3.)How does one purchase from I-tunes if they have no credit cards or paypal accounts?

Thanks a ton.

1. Your movies you buy in iTunes will be download to your hard drive then you can transfer them to the iPad.
2. No.
3. Every iTunes account needs a credit or debit card associated with. But you don't have to pay with that card. You can purchase iTunes giftcards and add those to your account and pay that way.

As far as I'm aware the PS3 idea is a no go if you live in the UK. you need a credit card to make purchases here, if you're in the US you can buy PSN money cards and type in the code to add money to your wallet. Unless they become available in the UK I'll no longer be purchasing from PSN due to the whole PSN hacking disaster when they finally get their network back online. I believe the PS3 would be the better way to go for movies than the iPad,

From a newbie point of view I think the PS3 would be easier to set up and transfer files than the iPad but you wouldn't have the option of watching movies on the move. Of course the Xbox 360 would be another option for movie viewing.

2. No but if you have wifi network you could stream movies from your computer or buy NAS which support streaming movies.

3. You can buy itunes gift cards in shops - online or offline, no need for credit card, just select "none" as payment method.

Great...thanks a ton one and all. I agree that the device is not ideal for cinema lovers but oh well you can't have everything I guess.
I am obsessed with sciences - Paleontology, Astronomy and other "geek" topics and that is my main reason to buy an I-pad 2.

One more question....which size should I go for? 16 or 32 gig?
I might keep one movie, some songs(roughly 3-4 gigs) and lots and lots of apps and documents- Would 16 gig be insufficient?

Also, just out of curiosity what is the average size of an app.

I personally would go for the 32GB if funds allow, better to get it than run out of space and wish you had later. As you learn more about the iPad you will undoubtedly store more data on it, perhaps photos, PDF files, books and other files, space could become a problem quicker than you imagine on a 16 GB machine. As for app sizes I've no idea what the average size is, as with all programs I would imagine they vary, games for instance ca be as large as 1 or 2GB in size. FIFA 11 for instance is 1.24GB.

If my life "revolved around films" I would make sure I owned a Blu-ray player, something to stream Netflix with (could be the same player), a good HDTV, and a decent surround sound system before i started thinking of gaming systems or tablets. Just sayin.

Since I do already have all that stuff, the iPad is a great addition. But not as the primary viewing device for movies. It's great for watching TV shows and short videos, though.

I only keep four or five movies on my iPad for when I'm travelling and the rest of the time I stream them from a desktop, so 32 gb is more than enough storage. Since the average converted movie is between 750 mb and 125mb, you can estimate approximately what you might need.

That said streaming via zumocast or AirVideo works really well. Highly recommended.