iCade for iPad released!

[robertsig]

What started as an April Fool's joke is now a reality.  Any takers?

http://www.ionaudio.com/products/details/icade

http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/31/ion-icade-arcade-cabinet-review/

[alfonzotan]

If I owned an iPad, I'd have already bought one of these.  But since I don't...

[robertsig]

iPad 2 was already on my shopping list for this year.  Assuming this thing is still around, I may pick one up too.  It doesn't appear to be the kind of thing that will be around for years to come, so I might need to jump on it.

[Harakiri]

For those which already own a i-pad who's wives are not willing to let them build a bartop cabinet this is a really neat and ingenious solution. Über cool indeed!

[DeLuSioNal29]

I just bought an iPad 2 and would definitely buy this.  However, I can't seem to find where to buy it.  It says it will be available in LATE Spring, so I'm guessing it's still not out.  It will retail for $99.

If anyone has any links that I didn't find in my Google search, feel free to post them here.

D

[Sir Headless VII]

I just bought an iPad 2 and would definitely buy this.  However, I can't seem to find where to buy it.  It says it will be available in LATE Spring, so I'm guessing it's still not out.  It will retail for $99.

If anyone has any links that I didn't find in my Google search, feel free to post them here.

D

It is available i think exclusively from thinkgeek.

edit: i was wrong you can also get them at gamestop

[Bender]

isn't asteroids a horizontal game?

[alfonzotan]

isn't asteroids a horizontal game?

Yes, but I think that pic is from the original April Fool's joke.  Looks like the horizontal games are "letterboxed" (or whatever you call a huge black bar on the bottom) in the real thing.

[extendedplayarcade]

for one who doesn't have an ipad it is a lot to invest but if you wanted something cool at work and somehow rig up a coin mech you could charge co-workers to play and maybe get some of your investment back.

I also wonder how the joystick is?  The buttons look ok but not sure why they have so many unless they are going to have online street fighter on it or something?

I still can't believe no one has built something like this on a andriod phone or tablet.  I have a few emulators on my original droid and they look and play well just a little hard with the d-pad on the droid and the p button to jump (sorry talking donkey kong)

but yet again what do i know.   I am not a huge fan of apple stuff.  I have to work on mac and work and still find it "not the 2nd coming of Christ"   I don't want to start the apple vs microsoft debate.  (i don't say apple vs pc seeing apple computers are personal computers)

ok i am starting to go off topic and end it. 

The only good thing is it would actually give a use to the ipad other than apps and surfing the net.  Other than that I never found much use for an ipad for me. IMO

[pointdablame]

I think the bigger issue surrounding this is the Atari app itself and the viability of the arcade with other apps.

I have the Atari app on my iPad 2 with a few games and its ok.  The selection is largely Atari 2600 games, and some of the arcade ports are ok, but not great.  I wonder how much use the machine will get for me even though I already have the iPad.  I'd still consider getting one though, but if the Atari app doesn't expand and/or other apps jump on board, it may lose its appeal pretty quickly.

[Lilwolf]

I wonder if I could put my gtablet in one of those...  And then you have some real emulators! 

Heck for 100 bucks, I wonder if you can find any 10" lcd, and maybe a cheap fanless via board or something. 

[pointdablame]

I wonder if I could put my gtablet in one of those...  And then you have some real emulators! 

Heck for 100 bucks, I wonder if you can find any 10" lcd, and maybe a cheap fanless via board or something. 

Early reviews said the bluetooth controls weren't pairing to other devices well or at all, so you wouldn't be able to use anything from it other than the wood most likely.  At that point, you should just build one yourself if you ask me.

[XtraSmiley]

It seems a good price for a pre-built, but why so many buttons? No vert game has that many buttons, and playing horizontal games like that would be terrible.

Anyone have one to post how easy it would be to mod with a new cp withy only say, 3 or 4 buttons?

[CheffoJeffo]

I think the bigger issue surrounding this is the Atari app itself and the viability of the arcade with other apps.

I have the Atari app on my iPad 2 with a few games and its ok.  The selection is largely Atari 2600 games, and some of the arcade ports are ok, but not great.  I wonder how much use the machine will get for me even though I already have the iPad.  I'd still consider getting one though, but if the Atari app doesn't expand and/or other apps jump on board, it may lose its appeal pretty quickly.

 

[XtraSmiley]

Also the mock up graphics look better IMO than the final. Wood grain? It's not a 2600 or a really bad generic cab you'd want to emulate...

[Lilwolf]

Its really too bad getting a 10" vga monitor is !@# expensive for the size (145 is best I've found... but 30 bucks for a 15")...
I've wanted a counter top cab for a bit, but to plug to my main PC.  I think it would be great for quick plug / play without keyboard.

I wonder if mame works with any of the USB monitors?  Then get a USB keyboard encoder... a small usb hub... and you have a single usb plug for an arcade machine that plugs into your computer... 

Now that would be a product worth spending a few bucks on!

[Cynicaster]

Most consumer products: 1) identify need; 2) design product to meet need

iPad: 1) identify demographic with more money than brains; 2) design "cool" product with bright screen and flashy colors; 3) look for needs to meet with product

As far as looking for needs to meet, I must admit, the iCade is a cool concept.  Unfortunately, for the price of an iPad + iCade I could almost build a full upright cabinet. 

[pointdablame]

Most consumer products: 1) identify need; 2) design product to meet need

iPad: 1) identify demographic with more money than brains; 2) design "cool" product with bright screen and flashy colors; 3) look for needs to meet with product

As far as looking for needs to meet, I must admit, the iCade is a cool concept.  Unfortunately, for the price of an iPad + iCade I could almost build a full upright cabinet. 

I'm well aware of how cool it is to hate Apple products on the internet, but this is an absolutely idiotic post.  The iPad is a tablet.... there were tablets before it, and there are now more tablets than ever with more and more use cases.

Cool product with flashy colors... give me a break.  And yes I own an iPad and love it... we actually have 2 in the house and it's replaced my netbook.  I dont' actually use it everyday for browsing, gaming, and even work though... I just stare at the pretty colors.   

[CheffoJeffo]

  , again.

I have owned a number of tablets now and have sent most back. I tend to despise Apple since they dropped the Computer, but I love my iPads. It is popular to bash, but if you haven't owned a variety of tablets, save the nonsense for your friends who don't know better.

Anybody should be able to build a full cabinet for less than the cost of an iPad and iCade. May last two cabs cost less than an iCade.

[DeLuSioNal29]

Unfortunately, for the price of an iPad + iCade I could almost build a full upright cabinet.  

Yeah, but if you're like me and use an iPad2 for work, then the additional $100 is appealing.  The app is FREE and comes with Pong arcade version.  You can purchase one game at a time for 99 cents or the whole 92 arcade and 18 Atari 2600 ones for $14.95.  I already picked up app with all the games for $14.95, only because if I have guests over I want them to be able to scroll through the whole list and play anything they choose.

For the most part, most of the games have a vertical layout, some have horizontal, but give you the option of selecting a control layout that "convert" it to a vertical orientation, since the controls are on the bottom.  That behavior may change, once the mini arcade is connected to it.  There was an option in the settings to "turn off" the label buttons.  Not sure what it's for, but it seemed to have no effect when I disabled it, but it may need the base for it to work properly.

One other note.  Looks like the bluetooth interface it will be using is proprietary.  I tried using my apple bluetooth keyboard with it and when I pressed one button at a time (I tried the whole keyboard) in Asteroids, nothing worked.  However, when I mashed the keys together, it fired and moved the ship.  So I'm guessing that certain combination of keys make the controls work:  Which is probably sorted out in their special encoder in the base.  (My Apple keyboard works fine with other apps to type and such).

I'll include some screen shots of the app when I have a sec to upload them.  It's pretty customizable.

In the meantime, here's a video someone already posted on youtube:


DeLuSioNaL29

[8BitMonk]

I just recieved my iCade on Tuesday and it's pretty much just what I expected. The packaging and instructions are all very professional. The construction and parts are decent, not great but good for the price point. The box surrounding the joystick and buttons is closed and I haven't done any dissecting yet to investigate. The joystick is average quality, the buttons are a bit hard to press and not concave. It runs off of 2 AA batteries or you can buy a power adapter separately. After pressing a 4 button combo it pairs via bluetooth with your ipad.

The selection of actual arcade games is very limited and because of the screen orientation you're typically not playing on all of the space. Many of the games are old vector games... asteroids, asteroids deluxe, red baron, battlezone etc. and the vector lines show up very well for how small it is. The other games with more colors like centipede, millipede etc. look ok, similar to how they would look run in an emulator on an lcd. There are many more 2600 games than there are actual arcade games and while they're fun from a nostalgia standpoint, I don't think I'll be spending much time playing them. One thing that peeved me a bit is that once you've paired your iPad to the iCade you lose your digital keyboard until you turn off bluetooth or break the connection. There may be a way around this I'm just not aware of yet.

I'm hoping eventually you'll be able to use the iCade controls for other iPad games, something you can't seem to currently do. I'm sure this is in the works as someone pointed out there are 6 buttons and none of the Atari games really take advantage of all of them. Seems like a no brainer that future games may involve some compatibility.

All-in-all it met my expectations and I felt like I got my money's worth. For $100 I got a pretty cool little device with mid-level materials that plays some fun classic Atari games now and hopefully more in the future.   

[Corbo]

Is it large enough to fit a mini-itx motherboard in the base?  (170x170cm)

[Cynicaster]

Most consumer products: 1) identify need; 2) design product to meet need

iPad: 1) identify demographic with more money than brains; 2) design "cool" product with bright screen and flashy colors; 3) look for needs to meet with product

As far as looking for needs to meet, I must admit, the iCade is a cool concept.  Unfortunately, for the price of an iPad + iCade I could almost build a full upright cabinet. 

I'm well aware of how cool it is to hate Apple products on the internet, but this is an absolutely idiotic post.  The iPad is a tablet.... there were tablets before it, and there are now more tablets than ever with more and more use cases.

Cool product with flashy colors... give me a break.  And yes I own an iPad and love it... we actually have 2 in the house and it's replaced my netbook.  I dont' actually use it everyday for browsing, gaming, and even work though... I just stare at the pretty colors.   

Sheesh, didn’t mean to ruffle any feathers. 

As usual, valid criticism of the infallible Apple is summarily dismissed as haterism.  Maybe I should have mentioned that I’ve owned and loved multiple iPods, including a touch, which currently gets the most use.  This is a rather strange purchase history for a knee-jerk hater of Apple products, wouldn’t you say?

Allow me to explain myself.  To me, any assessment of the iPad’s “worth” is utterly useless unless a major component of the assessment is a comparison against the well-established technologies it could potentially replace (or even supplement).  It’s fair to say that there is quite a bit of overlap in application between the iPad and laptop computer, so let’s start there. 

Storage.  Advantage: laptop
Horsepower.  Advantage: laptop
Choices of peripherals.  Advantage: laptop
Means of interfacing peripherals.  Advantage: laptop
Ergonomics/ease of data entry.  Advantage: laptop and anything with a freaking keyboard
Internet/wireless connectivity.  Advantage: neither
Portability.  Advantage: iPad—but come on, almost negligible if you buy the right laptop
Software.  Advantage: laptop (assuming, of course, you prefer truly useful and powerful software over gimmicky apps)
Upgradeability.  Advantage: laptop
Durability.  Remains to be seen, but I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say advantage: laptop

But it all depends on what you pay for things, right?  Laptops may trounce the iPad in most objective measures, but at what cost?  Oh, wait…

Price.  Advantage: laptop (here in Canada a 64 GB iPad is about $800… I could almost get 2 entry level laptops for that)

Feel free to explain what I’m missing. 

I’ve spent quite a bit of time using the iPad for one of it’s purported strong points—web surfing.  Does it work?  Sure.  Does it look nice?  Sure.  But what I’ve found is that I get sick and tired of resizing windows, pinching the screen to zoom in and out, accidentally hitting wrong links because my fingers are too fat, going to sites with content that the crappy browser won’t support, trying to send off a quick reply to a friend and having my 80 WPM typing ability reduced to about 10 WPM, having the screen rotate on me when I don’t want it to, etc. 

I just don’t see how anybody who is being completely honest with themselves could possibly NOT reach the conclusion that the iPad web surfing experience is markedly inferior to what can be had on a laptop that costs half as much.

So, if you take away the glitz—the cool animations, bright colours, “sexy” sleek appearance—what is left, and how is it worth more money than existing technologies?   

[XtraSmiley]

I can't explain it to someone who is trying to compare it to anything else. I use mine to just surf the web and I enjoy it. I don't care about the cost because I make enough money where it doesn't make a difference, and I also have a laptop that I use.

OK, you don't want or care for an iPad, yaaaawwwn.

Can we get back to talking about the iCade? Can you easily replace the CP with one with fewer buttons guy who bought one?

[CheffoJeffo]

Your criticisms are fair, BUT I happen to disagree.

I have four nice notebooks and a nice netbook. Due to my need to always have access, I would almost never leave home without at least my netbook. In a pinch, I could remote in via my Blackberry, but was a difficult thing.

Now, I never leave the house without an iPad (the Canadian price of which I am well aware of ... have 3 of them and every one saves me money) and never have to worry.

It doesn't replace my notebooks (which, admittedly, are portable desktop replacements), but now the netbook sits and collects dust.

If I had to choose between my beautiful 1080p notebook and my iPad2, the notebook wins. Every time.

If I had to choose between my beautiful 1080p notebook and my Blackberry, the notebook wins. Every time.

My last post was made from an iPad, this is made from the aforementioned beautiful 1080p notebook.

The mistake that you make is in thinking of the tablet as being a replacement for a notebook.

It isn't.

As for gimmicky apps, **ANYTHING** I can do on my notebook, I can do from my iPads. Once I remote in, the iPad is simply another interface to my existing systems.

It ain't rocket science, you should actually try it sometime.

[robertsig]

Cynicaster ,
The iPad does not replace a desktop or notebook computer.  That is obvious.  It is yet another device in our arsenal.

I'll regurgitate a quote told to me:
   PC's are for content creation.  Tablets are only for content consumption.

Is there anything a tablet does better than a laptop?  Technically, no.  It is not better.  But it is more convenient sometimes.  It's always available, always on, and its battery does beat a laptop easily.  If you have it sitting on your coffee table and want to play a quick game, or look up a TV show on IMDB, it's "faster" to use than a laptop.

Want to type, create Powerpoint presentations or code something?  Yah, It sucks.  Would I change some things about an iPad?  Yah, I wish it had USB or could take a flash card.

You need to view the iPad as a consumer electronics device, not a computer.  You're just looking at it the wrong way.  Its a step up from a phone, or a DVD player, or an iPod, or a Gameboy, or a toaster.  It's not a step down from a PC.

[Loafmeister]

Sheesh, didn’t mean to ruffle any feathers. 

As usual, valid criticism of the infallible Apple is summarily dismissed as haterism. 

But then you had said: "iPad: 1) identify demographic with more money than brains"

Here's a hint to help you out. Don't insult people and maybe they won't come back and bite you in the ass.  You had some good points but flamebaiting?  What are you, 10 years old?!?

[Mikezilla]

I think it all boils down for something for someone to buy. Everyone already has laptops. Everyone has smartphones. Buy an iPad that is essentially a big iphone.

Cheffo, did I read that right? Do you have 3 iPads? Why the hell do you need 3 of the damn things?

[CheffoJeffo]

Cheffo, did I read that right? Do you have 3 iPads? Why the hell do you need 3 of the damn things?

Yep.

Many here know that I have two kids with Autism and the iPad is a great tool for those kids.

First iPad was a gift for my daughter from my sister-in-law. Second was my first iPad. Third is my iPad2. Tablets are an important platform for my company, so I am playing with a bunch of them. All except the iPads have been sent back so far ... And they are the first Apple products I have purchased in decades.

Guess I have more money than brains...

[8BitMonk]

Sheesh, didn’t mean to ruffle any feathers. 

As usual, valid criticism of the infallible Apple is summarily dismissed as haterism. 

But then you had said: "iPad: 1) identify demographic with more money than brains"

Here's a hint to help you out. Don't insult people and maybe they won't come back and bite you in the ass.  You had some good points but flamebaiting?  What are you, 10 years old?!?

My thoughts exactly. To assume that the 3 million people that have bought iPad's are just misinformed Mac fanatics with 'more money than brains' is not only incredibly insulting it's just flat out wrong. I have multiple pc's and macs and use them all in a professional capacity on a daily basis (and have for the past 20 years or so). Surprisingly, despite my years of experience, I was somehow duped into buying one of these worthless devices by nothing more than my fanatic love of Apple and the 'bright screen and flashy colors'? Give me a break.

Anyway, back to the question from Corbo. I think you'd be hard pressed to fit even a mini-itx mobo in it. I wouldn't say impossible but damn tricky. I haven't busted open the box around the components yet (which comes pre-assembled) but it looks like the joystick and buttons would take up the majority of space. As for the rest of the mini-arcade box, it's not really a proper box. You lose some space at the back of where the ipad sits so it's not fully the depth of the sides/legs. Also there's not a bottom to the sides/legs, they just attach to the sides of the box that houses the components. Your best bet would probably be closing off the box and putting other components somewhere in that space. I'm sure it won't take long for some resourceful soul to come up with a cool mod of this thing. Of course ALL of the people who bought these have 'more money than brains' so I'm probably wrong. 

[pointdablame]

Sheesh, didn’t mean to ruffle any feathers. 

Yes you did.

As usual, valid criticism of the infallible Apple is summarily dismissed as haterism.  Maybe I should have mentioned that I’ve owned and loved multiple iPods, including a touch, which currently gets the most use.  This is a rather strange purchase history for a knee-jerk hater of Apple products, wouldn’t you say?

Ahh it only took you til the 2nd sentence to dismiss my comment as someone who is in the cult of Apple and thinks they're infallible.  Well done -- I see you've done this before.  You can own as many Apple products as you'd like and still make an assinine comment that is only meant to mock others... which you proved.  Me personally, I've only owned an iPhone and iPad from Apple.  I find their PCs a bit overpriced and have never bothered.  Not that it matters.

Allow me to explain myself. <snip>

If I might offer some advice... why not try to explain yourself in a first post instead of coming off like a tool and then trying to backtrack?  As for your assessment, you're not wrong.  I however was not at all in the market for a laptop.  I don't want one and have very little use for one.  I have a triple monitor PC set up at home that is my preferred browser when I'm home.  I had an aging 10" netbook that was rather slow and was used when I travel, to carry to work, to do quick browsing, etc.  Guess what?  The iPad PERFECTLY replaced that.  Its exactly what I needed... and not only because Steve Jobs told me I needed it!!

But it all depends on what you pay for things, right?  Laptops may trounce the iPad in most objective measures, but at what cost?  Oh, wait…
Price.  Advantage: laptop (here in Canada a 64 GB iPad is about $800… I could almost get 2 entry level laptops for that)

There's definitely a price premium there -- you got one.  Personally I sold the netbook and got the iPad for about what I was gonna spend on a new netbook, but that's just my situation.  I also had zero need for the highest price iPad.

Feel free to explain what I’m missing. 

Tact for one thing.  Otherwise, you're completely discounting that people have different use cases and desires in their electronics.  I could have gotten a laptop... but I didn't want one.  That in and of itself was enough for me.  I had no need for it, so I looked for an alternative.  Seems like you refuse to look at any other alternative simply because you are used to laptops.  Fine... no need to call people stupid for making a choice other than your own.

I’ve spent quite a bit of time using the iPad for one of it’s purported strong points—web surfing.  Does it work?  Sure.  Does it look nice?  Sure.  But what I’ve found is that I get sick and tired of resizing windows, pinching the screen to zoom in and out, accidentally hitting wrong links because my fingers are too fat, going to sites with content that the crappy browser won’t support, trying to send off a quick reply to a friend and having my 80 WPM typing ability reduced to about 10 WPM, having the screen rotate on me when I don’t want it to, etc. 

Hopefully you can understand that your experience isn't necessarily that of everyone.  I type just fine on my iPhone and iPad.  It took some getting used to for sure, but I type rather quick on it without any issues at all.  I also find its browsing capabilities to be pretty solid, though I do choose to use other browsers than Safari a lot of times for a more full rounded browsing experience.

I just don’t see how anybody who is being completely honest with themselves could possibly NOT reach the conclusion that the iPad web surfing experience is markedly inferior to what can be had on a laptop that costs half as much.

You can't see it because you apparently refuse to believe that your personal opinions are anything but written in stone.  They're not.  I can see why you'd prefer a laptop, so you won't see me saying that you're a dumbass for not choosing the shiny iPad.

So, if you take away the glitz—the cool animations, bright colours, “sexy” sleek appearance—what is left, and how is it worth more money than existing technologies?   

What is left for me is a lightweight device that almost perfectly suits my needs.  I can remote into my PC when neeeded, log into my work connection remotely, play games, browse the web, carry it around without even realizing its there, and get 12 hours of battery life.  Oh and the shiny colors!!  Man the shiny colors!!!!

[robertsig]

pointdablame- To be fair, and to play devil's advocate, I don't know anyone who types faster or better on a touchscreen vs a keyboard.  Don't go far off the other end to make a point.  Web browsing on a PC/Mac with a keyboard or mouse is indeed much easier, as is VNC/RDP.  I've never heard anyone (else) make a claim otherwise.  The point of tablets is they can be more convenient at times.

[pointdablame]

No I agree with you 100%.  To be fair though, I don't think I implied that i type FASTER on my iPad... just that I type at a very reasonable pace.  I have no problems typing at a good clip, though I'm absolutely positive that I'm a good bit slower on the iPad compared to any physical keyboard.

It's mostly about time with the device.  Give me a blackberry and I absolutely can NOT type on it... because I've never used one for more than 5 mins at a time.  I don't know how the hell people type on those things as fast as they do, but if I get one in my hands, I'm probably typing at 5wpm.

That was more my point... if you get used to it, you can type rather quickly on an iPad

EDIT:  I will partially disagree on browsing being easier on a PC though.  I find it to be a similar "difficulty" on either device, albeit different.  Tapping links is no harder for me than mousing, and typing in URLs or small bursts of text as I personally typically do when browsing isn't much different on either the iPad or PC.  It's more what I'm looking to do at the time -- if I want to browse a lot of pages at a time, and don't have to be mobile, I"m absolutely at my PC with all that screen real estate.  /shrug

[Cynicaster]

As for gimmicky apps, **ANYTHING** I can do on my notebook, I can do from my iPads. Once I remote in, the iPad is simply another interface to my existing systems.

It ain't rocket science, you should actually try it sometime.

So, if I understand you, your response to my general criticism of the iPad’s cost/benefit ratio (as compared to existing/established technologies) is that it doesn’t matter, because the iPad can be employed as a “viewer” that offloads the heavy lifting to… well, you guessed it… the existing/established technologies.  This is what I simply cannot swallow—a model where the “viewer” costs just as much as the “powerplant”.  Hey, it’s your money.

“It ain’t rocket science”… never head that one before.  I wonder if the iPad Witticism Generator App will work on my Touch…. 

PC's are for content creation.  Tablets are only for content consumption.

The creation/consumption dichotomy as applied to computers/tablets definitely seems to be the right way to look at it.  For us over here in the Faction of the Unconvinced ™, this is definitely a start down the path to possibly one day embracing the technology.  But as things stand today, I guess I’m just too damn frugal or something.  When faced with the choice of either A) a device that “consumes” for the price of $XYZ; or B) a device that both “creates” AND “consumes” for the price of $XYZ (or less), it strikes me as somewhat of a no-brainer.   

Is there anything a tablet does better than a laptop?  Technically, no.  It is not better.  But it is more convenient sometimes.  It's always available, always on, and its battery does beat a laptop easily.  If you have it sitting on your coffee table and want to play a quick game, or look up a TV show on IMDB, it's "faster" to use than a laptop.

Everybody I’ve discussed this with says these same types of things, and I don’t disagree with them at all.  I just think there is a major cost/benefit problem with the iPad as it is priced today.  Sure, it provides moments of convenience.  But are the incremental improvements in convenience under such very specific circumstances commensurate with the price premium?  I just don’t see it.  If you haven’t figured it out yet, my major beef with the iPad is that I think the price goes beyond what could rightly be called a “premium”, and verges on being outright highway robbery.  I’m 34 years old and expect to have my mortgage paid in full next August—I can afford an iPad at pretty much any ludicrous price Jobs wants to slap onto it.  But no matter how much mad money I have in my pocket, I refuse to pay frivolous premiums for things that can be had elsewhere for a reasonable price. 

I know, I know… “if you don’t want to buy one, don’t buy one”.  Well, I won’t, thanks.  But it still bothers me to see big corporations swamping the world with essentially disposable pieces of plastic and silicon—meant to be used for a year or two and then tossed into the landfill in favor of the next “gotta have it” thing.  I mean, lining up around the block for an iPad 2 when you just bought an original model 6 months prior?  It’s sad, really.  (cue tree-hugger joke—I can take it)
     

To assume that the 3 million people that have bought iPad's are just misinformed Mac fanatics with 'more money than brains' is not only incredibly insulting it's just flat out wrong.

http://www.wwnorton.com/college/phil/logic3/ch6/majority.htm

[Mikezilla]

Cheffo, did I read that right? Do you have 3 iPads? Why the hell do you need 3 of the damn things?

Yep.

Many here know that I have two kids with Autism and the iPad is a great tool for those kids.

First iPad was a gift for my daughter from my sister-in-law. Second was my first iPad. Third is my iPad2. Tablets are an important platform for my company, so I am playing with a bunch of them. All except the iPads have been sent back so far ... And they are the first Apple products I have purchased in decades.

Guess I have more money than brains...

Good deal. Glad that you are putting them to good use. I didnt know 2 of your kids have Autism, now I know!

Haha, I guess so. Does that suck? 

[pointdablame]

Frankly I WISH I had more money than brains.  I could buy far more frivolous things than iPads if I had the money haha !

And before any of you jokers chime in, yeah... I can probably use some more brains too. 

[Cynicaster]

Time to add a bit of levity.  I bet the guy at 0:29 has an iPad, an iPad 2, and a pre-order in for an iPad 3.

Language NSFW.

 

[robertsig]

<snip>

Yep, I agree with everything you say.  When faced between a decision to buy a laptop or an iPad, the former will win out.  I don't believe there are many people *needing a PC* making that decision though.  Either the person has an arsenal of computers already, and the iPad is just another device.  Or the person doesn't have any PC's (or just one), but sees it as an extension to his iPod or iPhone.  Bigger....yet runs the same apps.

If a college student has $800 to buy a laptop or an iPad, and chooses the iPad expecting it to be able write term papers for him, yes - he is an idiot.

I also forgot two more positives on the iPad side.  The apps are ridiculously cheap.  I've spent maybe $50 total and got everything I need or want, and it works on my iPhone and any future iOS device (like iPad) I buy in the future.  One major app in Windows cost more than that.  It's the low price-high sales  vs  high price-low sales formula.  You have economy of scale on your side (once you get past the initial price - yes, I agree its high).

The other benefit is the iPad works well for people who are technically challenged and have no desire or aptitude to learn a traditional computer interface, like Windows.  Take "format C:" away from them and they can do no harm. 

[CheffoJeffo]

Rather than pick nits with Cynicaster, let me just say that it is a mistake to view the tablet as a replacement for a notebook. My Blackberry doesn't replace my computers. My iPads don't replace my computers. If you don't like the price, that's fine, but say that instead of comparing the apples to the oranges.

I do find it odd to see someone here saying that an iPad is a waste of money compared to a notebook since, by the same standards, any MAME machine is a complete waste of money since you can do all of the same things, and more, on a computer without a cabinet.

 

EDIT: FWIW, I genuinely do get my money's worth out of my iPads, the kids' use (and my personal media consumption, which is not inconsiderable) aside. Last week was conference week (3 conferences in 3 cities over 4 days) ... as a vendor, normally you buy booth space, set up your booth and look for people to come talk to you. We eschewed the booths this year and wandered the halls with iPads. Way cheaper. Way easier to transport. Way more effective. WAY more impressive. Couldn't have done the same with a notebook or a netbook.

[Cynicaster]

I do find it odd to see someone here saying that an iPad is a waste of money compared to a notebook since, by the same standards, any MAME machine is a complete waste of money since you can do all of the same things, and more, on a computer without a cabinet.

 

I see where you're going with that, but it's not a very good analogy, because a MAME cabinet is essentially a big toy.  As unabashed fans of classic arcade games, we enjoy these wonders of modern creativity and ingenuity with an unequivocal acknowledgment that they are pure indulgence.  

If somebody walks up to me with their iPad and says "this iPad is my latest indulgence--an expensive toy" then pretty much every point I've tried to make in this thread would be completely irrelevant because they're saying flat out that it's not there to meet any real need other than to flesh out their collection of gadgets, make them the coolest kid in the cafeteria, provide them with a virtual pet rock, or whatever the case may be. 

But it seems the most staunch defenders of the iPad aren't comfortable with admitting it's basically an expensive toy, so they try to attribute all of this real-world utility to it.  And to be clear, I'm not saying that there is no real-world utility to it, I'm merely saying that 99% of it can be done for far less money using other products.