iPad or iPass?

I spent part of last weekend reading iPad reviews and a review of iPad reviews.  I particularly liked the Engadget review.  Long, well organized, thorough, thought provoking.  For the first time ever I’m really thinking about trying first generation technology — I can always upgrade, right?  I received a number of comments and some feedback about my tiny tweet and the Engadget review.

Alex – who if memory serves camped out for first generation iPhone – forwarded me his one-word “iPass” response (which I’ve shamelessly borrowed for the title of this post).  Steve asks:  “If I’m in the market to buy a new laptop (mine is 8 years old), should I consider the iPad? I only use my laptop for Email, Internet browsing, and programs like Word/Excel…”

Here’s what Engadget says: 

[W]e don’t think the iPad is a laptop replacement. Not yet. What that means is that if you need a laptop to work in something like Excel, Word, or countless other PC or Mac applications, you shouldn’t expect the iPad to take its place. But, if you’re like a lot of computer users, you don’t really do much on your system except for listen to music, casually browse the web and read news sites, watch some online video, play games, and keep in touch with friends via Twitter, IM, and Facebook. If you fit that description, you might just fall in love with Apple’s $499 bundle of joy — because it does the majority of those things much better than its laptop counterparts (granted, one at a time, and, er… not online video).

So the verdict? The buyer of an iPad is one of two people, the first is someone who sees not just the present, but the potential of a product like the iPad… and believes in and is excited about that potential. This is also a person who can afford what amounts to a luxury item. The second is an individual who simply doesn’t need to get that much work done, and would prefer their computing experience to be easier, faster, and simpler. Does that sound like anyone you know?

That’s probably right.  Here are a couple of things that come to mind:

1)  How much do you use your machine? My laptop is on 12 to 18 hours a day five or six days a week.  A good sign that I’m not ready to move to an iPad as a one-and-only.

2)  How mobile are you? An alternative to a laptop might be a desktop and iPad combination.  I’m very mobile — in and out of client offices, working from home, working from our office.  I need to carry laptop power with me.  If I was at my desk more often (he says partially wistfully) I’d very seriously consider a desktop/iPad one-two punch.

3)  What’s your content creation vs. consumption balance? I’m looking to the iPad for content consumption (surfing, reading, listening, watching, etc.) and not for content creation (writing, developing, designing, etc).  I anticipate that the iPad will bring more magazines and books back into my life just as the iPhone/iPod brought more music back into my life.  The iPad will cannibalize my iPhone more than my laptop.    As an interesting side note, thanks to @schnitzelboy I did manage to demo SalesLink on the iPad last week and it was pretty sweet — a few things to work out but it gave me a small taste for what the future might be.  But there’s no way it knocks my laptop off its pedestal.

What I will say for sure is that Apple continues to demonstrate its mastery in developing great products.  My Macbook Pro is going on 18-months and it just works.  Every day.  No problems.  No headaches.  It’s lovely.  This is the way you want machines to work and it’s totally worth the premium you pay.  I’ve totally drunk the Apple Kool-Aid.

As always – keen to hear people’s opinions (here or directly).  I’m especially interested in your thoughts about first generation vs. waiting for subsequent generations.

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