Folks,

I have a 4 year old iMac, and I'm thinking about replacement and whether an iPad will cut it. Biggest issue in my case is my iTunes & iPhoto libraries (the only apps I really use are Firefox, iTunes & iPhoto).

Is there such a thing as an Apple Media server (which could store all the media, and then the iPad could 'browse' to it over an internal network)? Any creative ways to do this on an iPad? I'm assuming there's no iPhoto 'applet' which you could use on an iPad which could attach to an external USB drive...

All thoughts/comments welcome.

Cheers.

Do not think of the iPad as a replacement, but as a supplement. It is not meant to replace a computer, but to allow you to move around without hassle. The closest thing to a media storage unit is the Time Capsule and it is not going to save you much money for the effort. There are several ways you go. If it is still in good shape, just stick with the iMac. If you need something better, look at a Mini or MacBook. Both can be be had for well under $1000 and won't take up a lot of space.

For external harddrive support, you need a jailbreak and a second powersource, because the iPad can't power the harddrive.

And for your iTunes library and service issues, you will need some sort of pc or mac to connect and associate the iPad with. QNAP SAN will serve you as an iTunes server, but will not allow you to sync the iPad with it. Althou you could use the SAN drive to put you itunes library on it and associate and access it from a computer, which then would allow you to sync your iPad with it.

Still you need a "master" computer. (mac or pc).

Hang on to that old Mac. You'll need it to Sync stuff to your iPad with iTunes!

The file browsing/copying/handling is the dirty secret of the iPad - I hope they'll fix it.

You can access the file system of the iPad if you Jailbreak it, which I fully plan on doing... it is my device after all. You may also want to look into DropBox application for the iPad, which just came out. Here's a review I Googled on on it.

DropBox is a fantastic service that I use to keep files on my Android Phone, netbook, work and home PCs up to date... so I can't wait to use it with the iPad! If you sign up for DropBox please use my referral link so I get a free 250MB, THANKS! =)

If you refer your friends, family and coworkers you can get up to 10GB of storage for free, they recently raised it from 3GB.

As long as you have leopard os x all is fine.