First things first - this is my girlfriend's fault!

For travel, I used my old Sony TZ150 laptop. I've always liked subnotebooks, especially Sony ones, which tend to have good battery life, nice displays, good multimedia capability, and light weight; I'm especially fond of the built in cellular broadband my TZ came with, though the $80/month bill for unlimited data? Not so much. Primary uses for the Sony was typically e-mail, some work in Office, some multimedia.

The gf started with an iPhone and bought one of the first iPads, and has been raving ever since. I've always been leery of Apple fans - they have the glassy-eyed enthusiasm of cult members, and far too few of them seem to have much technical savvy - but she's got a decent head on her shoulders and I thought if she likes it that much I should give the iPad a try as a possible replacement.

Part of what convinced me is that it's a pretty low-risk trial - with the feeding frenzy over these, it should be easy to unload if I don't like it, even after the exchange period. Part of it is also the unlimited data usage for $30 and no contract, compared to Sprint charging double and requiring at least a year.

We went to the Apple store last Saturday and of course they didn't have any, so I made a reservation for a 64GB 3G version. Despite online squawking about wait times and delays and possible rationing, I got an e-mail saying it was in the store on Thursday and picked it up after work ($829 + $40 case + ~11% sales tax, if you're wondering at the title). I played with it some that night and last night.

First impressions? The display is awesome. The battery life is double my Sony's, and it's lighter and smaller. The power cord is insanely short, and I can't get my att.net e-mail account to work with it. How it goes from here, we'll see.

Glad you could join us! I think you get two weeks in which you can return it, and only pay the "restocking" fee.

The iPad seems to be a good fit for most folks, it sure is for me. I am a PC guy, but for mobile I'm Apple. Had my iPad for nearly 6 weeks now and consider it a have to have device. Hope it works out for you!

I also have one for almost 6 weeks this device is amazing & i wouldn't return to my notebook for short trip and outing

I've always been leery of Apple fans - they have the glassy-eyed enthusiasm of cult members, and far too few of them seem to have much technical savvy

Glad you like it but god I hate ignorant statements like that. I love apple and trust me I am plenty "tech savvy". Why does loving a superior product make a glassy eyed cultist?? Ever thought maybe the reason people are loyal to apple isn't because it's cool or it's what they have been brainwashed to do, maybe it's because they have the best, most reliable product and customer service available?? Trust me, if they slip an inch and bring out a crappy product or start outsourcing service to india people will be turned off in an instant!

Originally Posted by gentlefury

I've always been leery of Apple fans - they have the glassy-eyed enthusiasm of cult members, and far too few of them seem to have much technical savvy

Glad you like it but god I hate ignorant statements like that. I love apple and trust me I am plenty "tech savvy". Why does loving a superior product make a glassy eyed cultist?? Ever thought maybe the reason people are loyal to apple isn't because it's cool or it's what they have been brainwashed to do, maybe it's because they have the best, most reliable product and customer service available?? Trust me, if they slip an inch and bring out a crappy product or start outsourcing service to india people will be turned off in an instant!

Here, here...
I've always loved tech AND Apple.

Most PC people are not techy by choice BTW. If you don't learn soon to find your way around your PC, you have to dish out the bucks for someone's help or be half a user.

Apple sells a longer power cord.. with a 6' length as an accessory... $29... which is kinda high I think... I am waiting to see if I can make do without it... (I ordered the dock & I am finding that I hardly ever use that)

Originally Posted by gentlefury

I've always been leery of Apple fans - they have the glassy-eyed enthusiasm of cult members, and far too few of them seem to have much technical savvy

Glad you like it but god I hate ignorant statements like that.

What, precisely, is gentle about your fury? It was just an offhand comment based on my own experience, not an invitation to fight the same old battle all over again. I have never been drawn into a platform battle, and I am not starting today, if you don't mind. Perhaps we can discuss something less controversial like religion or lowering the age for sex with minors? Or, you know, move on...

Very nice story. I'm pretty sure, once you get everything sorted, you won't give it away anymore. I actually only take my notbook out, when I need to work on Lotus Notes and my companies CRM system, which is also Notes based. And for Photoshop. But anything else, I do with my iPad. Sure, I will use the notebook a bit more, but iPad goes with me on every occasion.

Originally Posted by epb

The power cord is insanely short, and I can't get my att.net e-mail account to work with it. How it goes from here, we'll see.

Get you one of THESE and you'll have a bit more cable to play with. AT&T not working? Web based? IMAP? POP? Should work with any of them. If I were you I'd go through set up again. Probably just erred entering some of the settings.

Originally Posted by crawdad62

Get you one of THESE and you'll have a bit more cable to play with. AT&T not working? Web based? IMAP? POP? Should work with any of them. If I were you I'd go through set up again. Probably just erred entering some of the settings.

That cord is exactly what I'm looking for - thanks! I also solved the e-mail setup problem. To clarify, we mail was working fine but I have an address that I use for people at work to contact me off-hours for sending me files and such and that wasn't working with the installed mail app. Some changes to the server names for POP and SMTP got that working.