Originally Posted by gekkota

Thanks, twerppoet. I really appreciate the time you put into your response. It sounds a lot more involved than I was hoping it would be, especially for a techno-idiot like myself! I was hoping I could just plug my iPad into my sister's computer, check for updates, and voilą! A new OS would suddenly appear on my iPad.

I am kind of stuck on the "transfer purchases" concept. Do I HAVE to transfer the purchases? Will it let me update without doing that? I am trying to avoid the whole syncing thing. If I don't transfer the purchases, what is the worst that can happen--having to redownload all 200 apps via wifi back onto my iPad? Would it make more sense to bring my iPad to an apple store and let them put the update on it? I am really afraid I will screw it up. Unfortunately I won't have access to my own computer for several more months, and I really need the folders since I am running out of pages for all my icons!

You can't take it to the apple store to update it, I was going to do that with my iPad, but when they update it they reset it, which means erasing all content and settings, and then updating it. Then they give it to you all updated but basically brand new...