Register Log in

Gear & Gadgets / Product News & Reviews

“I was an iPad skeptic”


Aurich Lawson



Tablets have earned a place in our lives

Nate Anderson, Deputy Editor:





Eric Bangeman, Managing Editor:




I could live without it, but I would rather not.

Sean Gallagher, IT Editor:







Florence Ion, Reviews Editor:




Jon Brodkin, Senior IT Reporter:




Andrew Cunningham, Associate Writer:



Jonathan Gitlin, Contributing Writer:




Expand full story

254 Reader Comments

  1. I was skeptical of the iPad when it was first announced as well, and didn't join the party until my fiance's parents bought us an iPad 2 for Christmas. 6 months later, we bought an iPad 3 as soon as it came out because we could share with one. We both use them on a daily basis, both for very different reason.

    I love the casual gaming, the eBay app, and net browsing. She loves to read books and do all her social media. We both love the portability, and never leave home for more than a day without them. It's certainly not perfect, and for someone who's professionally tied to the Adobe Suite, it certainly couldn't replace my computing needs, but one Ars staffer said it perfectly, that regular computers start to feel like work, and the iPad starts to feel like home.

    Lastly, when I was able to nab iMame while it was still on the app store, and subsequently nab an iCade on a clearance sale steal, having a mini arcade cabinet with all my favorite arcade classics on a great screen really sealed the deal.
    261 posts | registered
  2. I bought an HP TouchPad when HP discounted them to $100. With WebOS, it wasn't that useful. After I did the mod to install a Cyanogen Android build on it, I expected it to be more useful; I use a Galaxy Nexus (before that, an HTC Thunderbolt), and am firmly entrenched in the Google ecosystem. Unfortunately, Android on TouchPad is buggy enough that I find it annoying, and thus, don't use it. The tablet is even less useful than it was with WebOS.

    As someone connected with the worlds of live and recorded sound, I can see the value in an iPad, and am thinking that I may buy one when Apple releases their next revision of the full-sized iPad. For now, though, I'm more or less content with my work desktop, home desktop, laptop, and smartphone.
    151 posts | registered
  3. I bought the iPad 4 in Dec (my first tablet) mainly because I'd seen a couple of friends use one and thought it would be a nice luxury device. It still is, in that it can't handle my work (software dev) but is really good at certain things (comic books especially). Haven't regretted the purchase one bit, even though I use it a little less than my laptop.
    176 posts | registered
  4. Not sure how you can lump in Windows devices in the still skeptics section, when a Windows device can mean something which is a dockable ultrabook, like the Samsung Ativ Pro or somewhat Surface.

    Full Core i5 power in an ultrabook sized device with optional keyboard.
    That's what all the "still skeptics" say they use (laptop/ultrabook and full OS), but also with the flexibility of a tablet (apps, touchscreen etc).

    Maybe the still skeptics should look at trying out some Windows based tablets (heresy on this site I guess) to see if they work better than the iPad for them, since it offers both worlds (even if not the best of both). That would also make an interesting article, although not neessarily for the majority of readers of Ars.
    689 posts | registered
  5. Just last night, while waiting for my friends to get to the bar, my iPad and I ran server updates and finished the deployment of anti-virus software to a mid-size office.

    I always wanted the PADD from Star Trek so I could be like Geordi. It feels like the future to me.
    2622 posts | registered
  6. sprockkets wrote:

    Exactly, instead Microsoft barely turned a profit. If only they had had your keen business sense!

    Less snarky: making computers easier to use and maintain is exactly what they did 15 years ago. It's nothing compared to the ease of use of an iPad today, sure, but that's like saying Sony would've made a killing making 4K televisions 15 years ago. Things take time.
    354 posts | registered
  7. Having played with tablets many times, often for extended periods of time, they just don't do it for me. If I need quick, appliance-like internet anywhere, I have a smartphone. If I need something larger to get things done, I have a laptop - and the laptop has a granular windowing UI, no-nonsense multitasking, a file system with diskspace a-plenty, and sufficient computing power for things like Excel. About all the mobile media consumption I find myself doing is music, which the phone does well.

    While I have felt some desire for the "more soothing" home internet/computing experience that some have mentioned, it's just not to the point that I want to pony up several hundred dollars for a specific device. The home desktop is far more necessary since I play games and need to perform a variety of tasks that would be cumbersome on a tablet to the point that it would get thrown forcefully into a wall.

    Things might change in the future, but for now things are unfavorable for a tablet of any flavor. The laptop needs refreshing at some point - was hoping that one of the win8 hybrids would fill that need while also functioning for appliance-like computing on the go, but something ultrabook-ish might be more in line with my needs... would at least boot quickly from SSD.
    560 posts | registered
  8. I don't get tablets. I won an iPad3 Retina in a raffle. it sits collecting dust in my basement.

    There's no mouse, so you can't play any strategy game deeper than tower defense. Surfing the web is painful -- without anything comparable to extensions in desktop Firefox or built-in features in desktop Opera, it feels like I'm using IE6.

    I read books on my Kindle e-reader, because it has no distractions.

    I surf the web on my Thinkpad (<3 the nub, wish they'd quit adding the vestigial touchpad) or my Galaxy S3 which has Firefox with extensions and mobile connectivity.

    I take photos with my phone, or my Panasonic point-and-shoot when I want to take a set.

    My wife is welcome to the iPad, but so far she prefers her Macbook Pro. She did talk me out of selling it, so it sits forlorn in the basement.
    57 posts | registered
  9. I don't have one and don't need one. Out I have my Ice Cream Sandwich phone and Alienware laptop for gaming. In I have a big dog with a GTX 660, SSD and 3TB drive. My wife has a Kindle Fire HD and I would recommend those to people. I tell them to wait til Christmas though when they are supposed to drop to $100.
    15893 posts | registered
  10. yildo wrote:

    I'll put some money in your pocket in exchange for it. PM me.
    3831 posts | registered
  11. Lee, I don't believe you.
    45 posts | registered
  12. yildo wrote:






    Talk about first world problems. Give it to a homeless guy on the street then, better than letting it gather dust in your 'basement'.
    6421 posts | registered
  13. yildo wrote:

    Not that I don't respect your opinion of disliking tablets, but on this point. Whaat? Granted, tablets don't have a lot of deep good strategy games yet, but I can't think of a better form factor for RTS games than touch screen. Touch and swipe to move the screen around, two finger touch to draw and select troops. On and on, it's completely intuitive.

    Just had to throw my 2 cents on that :)
    261 posts | registered
  14. The iPad didn't change my life drastically, but did fulfill the niche use of bringing information to everywhere conveniently and accessibly:

    I've always wanted to have a laptop that is truly portable, but reality has never lived up to my expectations: While content is easy to read, the form factor is clunky, the device is heavy, the battery never lasts long enough, and the rat's nest of adapters, peripherals and wires has always been enough to deter me from taking my Macbook Pro on the road, for fear of breaking or losing one of them.

    The iPhone had the opposite problem: While the form factor was compact and portable, the contortion required to maneuver through a website or book made the information itself a barrier.

    The iPad essentially killed both birds with one stone. The device is portable enough that I carry it everywhere, and large enough that I don't feel like I'm peering through a keyhole to access content.

    I still use my MacBook Pro primarily when at home or work because it's much more powerful and capable as a content creation tool, but when travelling, my iPad is the only device that comes with me.
    262 posts | registered
  15. My iPad 2 is, to me, basically a mobile Reddit platform for the 15 minutes when I'm not on a PC. Maybe some light Netflix usage in bed. I'd say it's become a laptop replacement in full, but laptops were never part of my daily computing profile anyway. I'm a slave to my PC. The games I enjoy require desktops. I like my big widescreen for media.

    The iPad is, however, basically the full Earth and sun and moon and stars to my 4-year-old. He can't legibly write his name with crayons but he can triple-star any Angry Birds level you show him, navigate multiple concurrent apps with multitouch controls, adjust brightness settings (we never showed him how, he just figured it out one day), and do pretty much anything he wants with zero parental help. He writes stories in Notes, illustrates pictures of his stories in various drawing apps, records video of our reactions to his stories, then beats iOS games. He uses it for math and word edutainment. For Spongebob. This is stuff he'd never be able to do on a laptop or desktop; he lacks the fine motor control to master mouse/touchpad movement. But with a touchscreen he's a pro.

    I do think a smaller form factor would be better for him (Nexus 7 or iPad mini) at this stage, but the iPad has been wonderful for our family.
    4180 posts | registered
  16. I use my iPad all the time. Like many of the writers, I use it on the couch, while watching TV, to check news, RSS, Twitter, or watching Netflix if my wife is watching something I don't like on TV. I check my iPad for updates obsessively.

    But it has limits.

    If I have to type an email, or anything more than a few lines, I put the iPad down and go upstairs and use the computer. I just can't get used to touch typing.

    I've kind of given up on gaming on the iPad. I bought a lot when I first got my iPad. I've barely finished any of them. I never found the iPad a comfortable platform for gaming: It is hard to hold and control for a long period of time. And now with the increasing prevalence of so-called "Free" games in the app store, I don't bother looking for games anymore. I'd rather stick with my PS3 or computer.
    114 posts | registered
  17. We have a Nexus 7. It's great for a few specific things:
    * Children's games
    * Zillow (my wife spends WAY too much time on Zillow)
    * Watching movies on airplanes

    If it weren't for my son using it as much as we would let him, it would probably collect dust as well. There's nothing wrong with it, but as many others have said, I've got my phone all the time, and my desktop or laptop for work or gaming.
    371 posts | registered
  18. Wardatrigger wrote:


    No one forced you to read it. Nor does publishing it push or pull Ars toward or away from Apples 'gravity well'.

    It was a extremely balanced article with red meat for people of any technology persuasion.
    3831 posts | registered
  19. Reading some of the stories given by the Ars staff, I can relate to a lot of them. When the first iPhone came out, I knew immediately that it was going to revolutionize the smartphone/cellular market and I jumped on that bandwagon with the original iPhone and switched from a terrible HTC Windows Mobile 5 "smartphone" that crashed, froze, and/or blue-screened on me at least three or four times a day. However, when the first iPad was released I was definitely a skeptic. I thought to myself "That's really nothing more than a giant iPhone. Why would anyone want or need something like that?" But then I tried one at an Apple store and realized that the larger screen made a world of difference when it came to doing certain things compared to the iPhone. I finally took the plunge and picked up the third-generation iPad when it launched last year since I was holding out for an iPad with a "retina" display... in hindsight, I guess I should've held out for another six months. Today, I do just about everything on the iPad when I'm at home. At this point, both my desktop and laptop machines act more like servers than productivity or consumption devices. As a web developer, when I need to work I will do it on one of those machines but other than that one scenario, I almost never use them today.

    EDIT: I will agree with others though in that touch-typing anything of significant content is a major pain and that's primarily when I will switch to a laptop/desktop machine. However, a Bluetooth keyboard might make that situation a non-starter. I've tried playing around with Siri's dictation but haven't yet felt comfortable using it that often.

    Last edited by seanhsmith on Wed Apr 03, 2013 8:01 am

    328 posts | registered
  20. convenience is a powerful motivator.
    1261 posts | registered
  21. Still a skeptic.....Though the iPad mini my patner uses is getting on me. The form factor is what I can really use. The standard iPad form factor is too heavy for my usage scenario; reading ebooks, Comics, and Twitting. I still prefer browsing on the big screen.

    I actually like the Surface RT. It suffers the same problem as the iPad as per my use case scenario.
    216 posts | registered
  22. I personally have an eee slate, playbook, iPad and surface rt.. all collecting a very think layer of dust.

    once the novelty wore off with each device my wife and I stopped using them. I can't knock anyone who does use them but I haven't been able to fit one into my daily life.
    215 posts | registered
  23. Lee Aylward>You do know there are apps available on iOS that do let you code right? One issue down.

    We bought my wife one of the first gen iPads the ctober after it was released and she fell in love instantly. I enjoyed using it here and there and it was a hit w/the kids. When her computer hard drive went belly up and her computer was down for 4 months (we couldnt' swing a new drive at the time), she used her iPad for everything. Barring a few websites she had to occasionally use my computer for, she was just fine. Pretty sure all those sites now have iPad feriendly versions too.

    I pre-ordered an iPad 3 and use it pretty frequently. Sometimes I'll have it up doing things while I'm sitting at my computer doing other stuff. The music apps are great and completely unavailable on my computer as well, so there is plenty of stuff I can only do w/my iPad. I'm happy w/my Retina iPad at the moment, but another round or 2 of new iPads and I'll probably replace it and pass my current one to the kids and pass their original to someone else. I love the original size, especially for things like having my D&D collection in digital form, but I can see a place for a Mini as well.
    2719 posts | registered
  24. I watched the reveal of the iPad with interest, only to think "Wow, that's it? And they named it the iPad?" About 6 months later I wandered into the local Best Buy and was enamored of the Calendar app (of all things) and immediately bought one. My use for it was a bit intermittent with that first model, but over the years its utility has vastly improved. I upgraded to an iPad 2 and now have an iPad 3. I'll definitely be upgrading to the iPad '5' when it comes out, no questions asked. I use my iPad daily for hours at a time. I do all my banking and bill paying, social media, Skype, reading books and magazines, taking notes, household tasks and inventory, photo galleries, video - you name it, I do it. I have an iMac but it is used only a couple times a week, and functions as the backup and major storage device/streamer to the ATV.

    I never thought I'd use the iPad as much now as I do today, as pre-iPad I owned a series of Palm PDA's but never seemed to really get into using them. If they put out a Retina screened iPad mini, I may pick one up and use it exclusively for books/comics/magazines so I have more room on the main iPad for videos etc.

    In short, it has completely changed how I interact with computers.
    137 posts | registered
  25. Hagen wrote:

    I hate typing in a forum on an iPad. I can't imagine trying to code on an iPad. Who on earth would subject themselves to such torture?
    11015 posts | registered
  26. I believe in the convertible. I just can't type on those touch keyboards. I may browse in tablet mode but when I have to write a comment on Ars I immediately convert it back to a laptop. In addition the convertible has all the software I use for work and entertainment and not just iOS apps. My machine is Dell XPS12 Duo.
    222 posts | registered
  27. Back in the day, I used to be very attracted by every new gadget or computer, even when I could not possibly afford it. It sometimes still happens, but not for the iPad. I never even felt attracted by it, while I still find myself often salivating over new MacBook pros or the like.
    220 posts | registered
  28. Mac Book Air. Almost as thin,light and small as a iPad. I can do iOS development on it why would I want an iPad? Used two hated them. Love my Nexus 7 for music and netflix.
    64 posts | registered
  29. I know the article writers match their target audience, but I'm always mildly surprised by the hyperconsumption in articles like this. Three and four tablet households in addition to smartphones and laptops and kindles and the occasional desktop? Disregarding the cost issue, it seems like wasted resources.
    558 posts | registered
  30. twilightomni wrote:
    Complaining about Flash on tablets in 2013?


    Haven't we heard "Flash is dead! Long live Flash!" for about three years now?

    Flash isn't going anywhere, folks.
    37 posts | registered
  31. I have a 10" Asus transformer tablet with the keyboard dock. It replaced my need for a laptop all together and I rarely use my desktop computer any more. I still use a company issued laptop for work but at home it's 90% tablet (with keyboard dock) now.
    76 posts | registered
  32. arcite wrote:
    yildo wrote:







    A good point regarding your empathy, but a homeless guy? So that he can recharge it by plugging it in to the diesel-powered generator he hauls around with him?

    Donate it to a lower-end public school.
    37 posts | registered
  33. My family mostly uses it in the bathroom as a replacement for magazines and books.
    511 posts | registered
  34. Contra Cyrus Farivar, you *absolutely* can do multi city searches on the Hipmunk web site on an iPad --- I just verified this myself (not sure about the app).

    Further, I'd be rather shocked if Hipmunk was ever flash-based at all, as he believes. Its reputation largely came from it being a favorite among the web design/hacker news crowd, which generally hasn't been big on flash. And even if I'm wrong on this, and it once was, certainly a site with the pedigree of Hipmunk would have learned by 2013 not to depend solely on an app for tablet customers!
    38 posts | registered
  35. I was an early believer in tablets and touch interfaces in general, and thought the idea had merit right back to the Newton. I couldn't buy a Newton, but I was a day 1 adopter of the first palm pilot, and the first color palm pilot.

    I then picked up one of the Fujitsu tablet PCs from eBay, followed by a new Toshiba convertible. They ran pen editions Windows 2000 and Windows XP, respectively. They were "ok", but had lots of flaws. The Toshiba in particular was much heavier and slower than I would have liked.

    When the first iPad came out, I was skeptical (mostly due to the Windows tablet experience). But after receiving an iPad 2 for my birthday, my perception totally changed. I'll probably always own some sort of tablet from now on. It hasn't replaced any of the 5 computers I own, and probably never will. But it's rarely far from reach.
    210 posts | registered
  36. I'm not a skeptic per se, since I recognize that for certain use cases, a tablet is unparalleled. At my workplace we've identified a few places where iPads were the best bet, and we've rolled quite a few out. (Medical and training environments)

    For me personally though, I am not impressed. For quick web work (directions, business hours, phone numbers, show times, weather, facebook, etc.) a smart phone is FAR more portable, to the extent that it's always on my person. For longer sessions, my PC is far more ergonomic, capable, compatible, open, etc. For watching video, I prefer a larger screen, so, a TV connected to a {PS3/BD Player/Roku/PC/etc}. For reading, e-ink devices or real books, please. It just doesn't justify its existence.
    46 posts | registered
  37. I haven't been at all impressed with the Apple iPad (still hate the name) which has been highlighted here. I still consider it a big iTouch which I also had but got rid of in favor of a Windows Phone.

    Instead I got myself a cheap Pandigital android tablet for ~$150 a couple years ago. Glad I didn't spend a lot because I can't remember that last time I used it.

    The tablet that has most intrigued me has been the Windows Surface Pro (no RT, please). It seems to have been designed from the ground up for tablets rather than phones or PDAs. It has true multitasking and can run desktop programs. It is not without its problems, however. It is ridiculously priced with ridiculously priced accessories (keyboard $129!). I have also not been impressed by its hardware: a hot running, battery sucking CPU, small memory, flimsy keyboard, heavy, mediocre LCD screen...

    I can see some uses for a tablet. But so far what I want has not been produced. I am hoping for a Windows 8 Pro convertible tablet that is reasonably priced with respectable hardware.

    Last edited by Machster on Wed Apr 03, 2013 8:39 am

    130 posts | registered
  38. JoepyDoe wrote:
    twilightomni wrote:
    Complaining about Flash on tablets in 2013?



    Flash isn't going anywhere, folks.

    Not to mention withholding choices from people doesn't really improve the user experience.
    One nice thing about Windows 8 tablets (not RT) is that they have Flash, if you need it, they have Java (there's one site I need to use Java for, Formula 1 live timing) if you need it, they can play any media format nice and easily (partly through comfort over knowing which video players/codecs will work), etc.

    Trying to play video on my Galaxy S3 or tab without converting can be a pain if someone's done something funny with the codecs or similar, or subtitles might not be properly supported in an mkv. That's why having something with options and lots of support is often very nice, which is one reason some people might not be super enamoured by the iPad, or other limited tablets like Android or Win RT.
    689 posts | registered
  39. My brother bought an iPad for my parents last Christmas over my objections. We're an all-PC family, and our mobile devices are 90% Android. I figured it would be a headache, and I was right. This weekend, it was application switching. Holding the home button isn't the answer. Why? Because every device out there has to be different, I guess. I'm tired of having to do a Web search every time I want to do some simple task, and the daily operation of the thing has been nothing close to intuitive for my parents.

    YMMV. If you're not trained in the habits of another OS, I'm sure it's fine.
    270 posts | registered

You must to comment.

You May Also Like

    Need to register for a new account?

    If you don't have an account yet it's free and easy.