this morning at the coffee shop i sitting there reading my emails and enjoying my morning tea and this person stops by my table and and tells me that my ipad is not really a computer type system and he went on to tell me about all the faults of the ipad and why i should use a netbook to get all the advantage of a real computer os .then he went on to tell that is a bigger ipod touch with a large screen with internet from the iphone along with how apple controls everything from start to finish and we should not buy apple products ..

i look up at the guy like thank you for messing with my morning me time before work ..then i tell the guy yes i know it not a really a computer for i do not really use a computer system i use as it design for as basic device that fits between the phone and computer ..he goes ok and walks off ..

as the guy is walking off i sitting there going one of this days it not going to be a good day for someone

why do people think they are doing you a flavor by telling you all the faults of a ipad

I would've have just told him to f off.

Jeez, Henry, ask him to define "computer." That'll stump him, fast.

Folks who make an effort to define others' experiences, esp. unasked, are only revealing their unhappiness. If you let it bother you, you're giving him what he hoped for. It's the same as saying "You're right! Now I feel terrible about my [choice/object/whatever]!"

Any working definition of "computer" will include devices he hasn't considered (see the power-steering in his car). But he's not really interested in definitions. He's just trying to climb on your back. That means he thinks you're stronger & more secure than he is.

My iPhone was my favorite computer ('til I got my iPad) because it had so much utility. It's still arguably more useful than my iPad, because the phone fits in my pocket & thus is with me more often.

But does it matter to what category a tool belongs? If you ever see the guy again, stop by his table and volunteer that the pen he's using isn't really a pencil, or that the book he's reading isn't really a newspaper.

If that doesn't clarify things for him, you could insinuate that his kids aren't really his, but a guy like him will probably get scared and take a swing at you …

Tell him that as a student you are too poor to afford a computer and ask him if he would contribute to your purchasing fund.......

Ask him why he feels the innate desire to be such a prick. That question should really throw him for a loop.

On reflection just have a sticker on the back which reads
"My other computer is a quad core"

Then you don't say anything, just tilt your pad in a dismissive gesture.....

With a casual "meh" thrown at him at the same time

He probably didn't like the fact you had one and he didn't. It's jealousy half the time.

the whole time i looking at the guy like did you mother have any childern that live look ..it just gets me that people have to stop and tell you that the ipad is not a computer when i sitting there reading my emails along basic websurfing on my ipad along with i should be useing a real computer instead of the ipad ..i have my desktop at home and my work laptop to use for the heavy duty computering task that i need to do ..

the coffee shop is next to the local college and it seams that every hardcore gamer type has to make a comment about the ipad and how it not a real computer

There is a freak, ugh yeah 40 plus yr old dude that lives with his 22 yr old girl friend ( said a lot there did i not). He always has bashed my kindle and now my iphone AND ipad. She is the only one with the J.O.B. but he is all about his Ausus...my last pc that I used as my own personal computer I put 2 hard drives in then it had a dead line in the screen. It needed a new battery and I don't even want to thing about chargers. I spent almost as much on fixing it as I bought it for and i am not that heavy computer user!

I just don't get it, i don't like what the pc offers as "net light" as I like to think of my ipad as. I do not play WOW, I only go Facebook Games if my daughter wants me to gift and item. This will have a few apps that I will use often, and I think its way cool and will do everything I want plus a good bit more.

I had put the link up on the tablet some on posted in a diffrent thread about the XXXL DS looking thing and he just raved and raved and yeah you get it and how better that think was then my Ipad How PC/Windows was so much better.

I dread going to my knitting night and listing to him go on and on about my ipad/phones, but I know will have a stable PDF reader for my patterns and the Ispin tool box ( I spin my own yarn) then get to keep up with anything from my Biz on the fly with out looking at a little bitty screen from the pocket pc's I have been using on the last 4 years.

The only thing it will not so is show up my embroidery files for my clients, but hey thats fine I know that and knew it before I bought it and that why I have a cheap o laptop.

So dude, get a life and stay out of mine. Dh does not care how I see fit to spend *MY* money and you really don't have the right too.

I am to a point with him I would almost stop going to my girls night out, but have to remember he is so sad that he has to tag along

The rudeness of people is amazing to me. Why someone would feel it is their business what you check your email on is a mystery to me. It's like here when someone who does not even own an iPad has this compulsion to jump in and start bashing our device of choice.

The more I interact with such people, the more they all seem to have controlling little minds. They are often ignorant, just spouting what they heard somewhere. No real knowledge of the subject at hand, just ignorance, with an inflated ego....

I like small cars. I own a Toyota Yaris (Vitz in Europe). I have people come up to me in parking lots and basically attack me with "why would you want to drive something like that?". Or "you couldn't catch me dead in a car like that"...... I used to try to be nice, but now I just get rude right back....

Bremen, the more posts I read from you, the more we seem to have in common! I drive a Yaris too! I too prefer a small car. Used to get many comments when I first got it, ranging from "cute" to "ugly". Now there are so many of them on the road that I don't get the comments any more.

Typical response to that guy where I live: "You ain't from around here. Now get back ta where ya came from before you get in trouble."

My thoughts exactly. Except that I remain cool in any discussion.
This kind of person becomes rude when insecurity and jealousy threaten to take control of them. If they haven't already...

I like Habry's first response and I'll keep it near me:

"Oh! And what is a real computer? What does it do?"

I got the same reaction from my family. Yeah my family! At first my husband was trying to put me off from buying it. Some were saying why i have to buy one when i have a deskstop and a laptop.Then when my brother heard I bought one he told me I was wasting my money . And my answer to them was simple. " I like it! " it's my money I spent anyway.

Yeah people are fools I get this toys a lot before Ipad came out i was prob one of them and then that faithful day of launch day... Love at first sight/site! I have had a couple come up to me. They expect someone that knows nothing about "computers" to own one. I've ripped a couple if them a new one. The come with the same b.s. Big iPod touch, o yeah well this app don't work on the iPhone, it docent have flash, whip out my nexus one, "that's what's this for" I throw them a few question half of them don't know what ram is. I ask them whats the specs in there computer at home. Most of them have know idea. And I tell them why did you buy that computer then cause it said Dell on it?

Most of them just want to justify there reasoning for their thinking of it bring useless.

At the end I tell them and everyone I talk to about it. The best part is it convenience, 20 seconds to boot, no hot lap, and then you find an app you
love. After you found your killer app it's game over you have found love!

I think all I could have said to the guy would be "so?". Really, what does any of that matter? You can answer back about why you think th iPad is better than X or Y, but that doesn't really matter either. As long as you have something that fits your budget and your lifestyle and you are happy with it, that's all that matters.

To be fair to the PC people, I have had many similar run-ins with mac users who try to evangelize for macs, telling me how I'm going to get spyware and how unstable and non-user-friendly my horrible PC is.

I would leave him with the same discomfort he gave you ... by simply lifting my arm and speaking directly into my wrist-watch ... "We have a Code Three Non-Believer at the Starbucks on 5th and Main. Initiate a technology alert. Track and report."

The world gets out of the way of crazy people.