The iPad

I\’ve been considering an iPad post ever since it was announced, but one thing kept stopping me – I couldn\’t answer the question of why it exists. \”What\’s it for?\” \”What does it do?\”

I get the feeling that this blog post is going to come as close as anything to summing up the answers to these questions. Note in particular:

I don\’t think I\’ll be buying any more desktops going forward. I don\’t think I\’ll even be buying any more laptops going forward.

They\’ve all been largely obsoleted (at least at my home) by a sleek $499 device that doesn\’t really have any right to be called a \”computer\” in the traditional sense.

Sure, there\’s a handful of tasks that I still would prefer a real computer, but — amazingly — that list has now shrunk dramatically. In less than a week.

What does it do? Almost everything you\’d want it to, in a package that goes everywhere pretty easily. It\’s a consumer device that does most of what a computer does, at a reasonable price, and with a streamlined user interface that won\’t confuse your parents or grandparents. It\’s not gonna be your primary computer if you can\’t get past the notion of what you can\’t do with it, and if you\’re a computer programmer, or a graphic designer, or for some reason your computer is the only thing you use for DVD playback, it shouldn\’t be. For the rest of us, however . . .