I thought the ipad would charge when plugged into a computer via the usb cable, but mine does not. In fact it says "not charging"
Is this normal? Do I need to always use the plug that came with it to charge?

It is charging but real slow because. The USB port you are using is for low powered devices
Either get a powered hub that offers hi power support or charge iPod from wall socket

Col.bris is right the iPad is real picky about the amount of power that the USB ports put out.

Agreed ... I have one media pc that is devoted to our iPods ... My wife's iPod touch charges fine but with same cable my iPad doesn't charge

Kinda sucks but I go to a wall for charging ... But I get a good 10 hours with basic surfing, video, podcast listening

I tested mine out and the charging time is not significantly different when charging from my mac vs the wall charger

If the iPad is in sleep mode, it will charge. If the screen is on, it will not. Test it out!

Originally Posted by Takenover83

If the iPad is in sleep mode, it will charge. If the screen is on, it will not. Test it out!

I will have to check that out.....

I really don't care though, as I sync to a little gateway netbook and it's on it maybe 5 minutes. I am lucky that I do in fact have two wall chargers. I have an old one from the 3 gen iPod, last one they included a wall charger with.... And it works great.

In general I don't trust USB charging anyway. Some products won't care if the compute goes to sleep....etc.

EDIT;
This is incorrect

Originally Posted by Caps

The iPad doesn't charge via USB if it's a pc.

This is incorrect. It will charge just fine, if the voltage is right, regardless if apple or mac.

Originally Posted by Takenover83

Originally Posted by Caps

The iPad doesn't charge via USB if it's a pc.

This is incorrect. It will charge just fine, if the voltage is right, regardless if apple or mac.

Ah, I could have sworn I read that somewhere, but i don't have any way to test it. My bad!