I Bought An iPad

>When the iPad was released in the USA, I spent weeks explaining anyone who asked that no, I would not be purchasing Apple's new tablet. I already own an iPhone 3G and have a Macbook Pro, there was no need for an in-between device that duplicated the functionality of either/both machines.

Of course, less than a week after it was released in Canada, I found myself buying a 16GB WiFi iPad.

I'll happily give everyone their moment to mock me for my complete lack of self control and my Apple fanboy-ism (I deserve both). After you've had your laughs, however, here's why I changed my mind...

I work eight hours a day on my laptop. I do so sitting in an office chair, laptop on a desk in front of me, working on my web development tasks. These tasks can involve a lot of problem solving, as anyone who does programming can tell you; your mind is always whirring about, figuring how to accomplish specs requested, figuring how to most efficiently achieve a requested result. There is a lot of thinking that goes on. A lot of problem solving. Eight hours. All day.

I love the work I do, and given some leisure time, it's the sort of work I like to do as a hobby. I come home in the evening and would love to do some side projects. Or just surf the net for a bit, catching up on some social media sites and skim my RSS feeds. Or read my email. Or just chat online with friends. The problem is all those activities involve coming home to the laptop that I worked on all day. Sitting in an office chair in my apartment, with that laptop on a desk in front of me.

I'm mentally exhausted, and even though I want to do these things, it isn't very relaxing.

This is where the iPad is perfect for me. Outside of doing work or playing video games, there is nothing I regularly do on my laptop that I cannot do on my iPad. And, unlike the laptop, I can do it comfortably lying on my couch, holding the iPad as I would a book (yes, I could lie on the couch with my laptop, but it's seventeen inches, making it unwieldy on my lap, and it gets really hot). Or I can sit on my balcony with it, relaxing in the sun with a beer.

Certainly, it'll find other uses. Already, I'm itching to make some iOS apps and web apps for it. It has a few simple games on it that I enjoy. It's been to a meeting or two, a much lighter alternative to lugging my laptop to a boardroom table. But that's the key right there... it's not that the iPad lets me do different things, it allows me to do these things in a different manner. I am not sitting as I would at work, using my work computer.

I am accessing the internet, not on my computer accessing the internet. I am reading my email, not on my computer reading my email. I'm going through my Twitter feed, not on my computer going through my Twitter feed. I am doing things I would do on my work computer, just without the all of the computer. 

I am relaxing. It gives me access to what I want to do in a much more casual way.

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