Matthew on 15/6/2010 at 10:42
I've read quite a few books on my iPhone without too many problems, so I'm not worried about that. As for battery life, I'm usually close enough to a recharge point that it's not really an issue for me.
The Alchemist on 15/6/2010 at 12:53
Quote Posted by Koki
I've never seen someone so happy about proving how much of a sad junkie he is, and I deal crystal meth
Maybe because I'm an ex addict (not meth) so
this is just hilarious nerd-rage to me. Also the battery on the iPad lasted me through a weekend (forgot my charging cable), and I used it pretty much all the time.
Schechter on 15/6/2010 at 13:11
Quote Posted by Koki
I put on my pipe and detective hat
Do... your kids play with your Macbook?
Funny story about that. I traded my PC for it with someone on craigslist, and was downloading something huge, which was the only reason I left it open. I went to take a nap and when I woke up, I was informed that our two year old had been at it... with a Sharpie and an exacto knife that she'd found from *somewhere*. The marker came off, but I have four decent scratches on the screen. It was blemish-free in my possession for less than 24 hours. Thank you Zipporah. Actually, the other two kids do use it, and my son, at 4 years old, has the whole touchpad thing *down*. He knows how to use it better than my wife. But yes, the kids do get on it and it still doesn't crash.
As far as the iPad, it's surprisingly versatile. You can use it as an audio mixer, MIDI controller, Live controller, KAOSS pad emulator, etc. all about as quick as you like, *and* you can use it to check your mail, surf, read back issues of Marvel comics, and take it with you on nature hikes to help identify birds, plants, animal tracks, whatever.
ilweran on 15/6/2010 at 15:14
Quote Posted by Matthew
I've read quite a few books on my iPhone without too many problems, so I'm not worried about that. As for battery life, I'm usually close enough to a recharge point that it's not really an issue for me.
I just find in sunlight I have turn the brightness up and that makes for an unpleasant reading experience. I do read for many hours at a time though. I'm in no way an Apple hater - wouldn't want to be without my iPod Touch - but the iPad just doesn't appeal to me
For ebooks I'm waiting for eink technology to improve and for the hopeless DRM situation to be sorted out. Oh, and for prices to come down.
Matthew on 15/6/2010 at 16:00
DRM is why I currently rate the iPad as a better buy for me than Kindle actually, as I can run Kindle, eReader and Stanza on it to cover myself for pretty much all eventualities.
Except for that bullshit Adobe DRM that Amazon used to use. You can't read those books any more as Adobe turned off the goddamn servers.
ilweran on 16/6/2010 at 10:26
Guy in front of me on the train this morning was reading on his iPad and from the way he was peering at it seemed to be having some difficulty with the bright sunlight, so that seems to confirm my fears.
On the other hand it attracted some female attention which could be considered a bonus.
Tenkahubu on 16/6/2010 at 13:57
Is it true that the ipad has no usb port?
Matthew on 16/6/2010 at 14:20
But of course!
CCCToad on 17/6/2010 at 01:44
Quote Posted by ilweran
Guy in front of me on the train this morning was reading on his iPad and from the way he was peering at it seemed to be having some difficulty with the bright sunlight, so that seems to confirm my fears.
On the other hand it attracted some female attention which could be considered a bonus.
Which backs up my opinion: Apple sells based on brand name and image, not product quality.
For the 800 bucks a top Ipad costs, you could buy yourself a makeover that would have a much more substantial effect in that area.
Schechter on 17/6/2010 at 05:01
Quote Posted by CCCToad
Which backs up my opinion: Apple sells based on brand name and image, not product quality.
Apple does have product quality, but it's not as consistent as they'd have you believe, and it's a an odd duck. Six years ago I bought a used original iMac for my mother-in-law, which has since become a kids computer. The thing is 12 years old and it still works. The monitor is clear, vibrant, and sharp. The tray loading CD-ROM still works. Which is more than I can say for our PC parts - we've been through a handful of monitors, and our CRTs of this vintage died years ago. Also anything with moving parts- CD-ROMs, hard drives, etc. The biggest issue with this though is its irrelevance - it can't run anything past OS X 10.3 and even that doesn't run well. Flash is out of the question, so no PBS Kids on this computer. And everything these days wants OS X 10.5 or later, so right now its on OS 9 running whatever games are still readable these days. But it works.
I also have a 3rd gen iPod, which is 6 years old. It too works perfectly fine, and the original battery can still play 4-5 hours continuously depending on how much poking around you do. By comparison, the battery on any cell phone or camera generally lasts 2 years before it loses any ability to hold a charge. But then there's charging. Apple decided that charging by USB would have to wait, so the thing can only charge by firewire. Which I have, fortunately enough.
Then there's the Macbook. There's a lot of great design and execution here. Someone deserves a medal for the Magsafe adapter, I'll tell you that. The magnets that hold it closed are also grand. I love the gesture use on the touchpad, and the keyboard is the most solid I've ever used on a laptop. The display is crisp and beautiful. The layout for the DIMMs and the hard drive are such that upgrading them almost couldn't be easier. 99% of it is wonderful and everything I could ask for in a laptop. But then, there's the power inverter for the display. I've replaced the thing once (unfortunately with a generic replacement, which is going again), and the pisser is that Apple *knew* this was a faulty part, but never issued any recall or offered replacement. If it started flickering while under warranty (or under AppleCare) you were fine. Otherwise, you're screwed as I am.
And we all know that Apple has released crap products that it still touted as being absolutely grand (Performa 5230, anyone?), and even better, released a product and then a few months later, release the *good* version (you know, the iPod touch with Wifi, the Macbook Pro with card reader and Firewire, the iPad with Wifi). I'm not saying that they're saints or that they have always released perfect products. But the right products work very well, and (generally speaking) are more dependable and have a greater longevity than similar products from other brands.
