Thursday, 28 January 2010

Apple's iPad launched today, in Australia by April - maybe

Apple's next craze after the iPhone revolution, is a laptop consisting of only a screen called the iPad.
In the US, it will sell for between $500 - 16 GB, $700 - 32 GB, and $850 - 64 GB for the 3G and WiFi models.
It will give Amazon's Kindle, a monochrome book reader, a serious kick up the butt, as dedicated digital text readers are becoming popular.
There’s no Australian pricing or release date here, however Apple flew some Australian journalists to the US for the launch yesterday. Chances are that it will cost more than than a straight conversion of the US price tag. American customers can’t buy the iPad until March.
Here's the review in The Australian today.



Oliver Redlynch said...

Having wasted too much days on iTunes under windows working incredibly inefficiently with my home media server I'm not prepared to be locked into the Apple world any-longer and my kids iPods are the last Apple devices I will ever buy. (I hate all envangelists no matter how sexy the offering!) HP Slate anyone??

The Grateful Mac said...

No one is forcing you to use Apple products, Oliver.

Anyway, the way Windows keeps copying everything Apple invents, there soon won't be too much difference between the two !

Except for viruses and other malware of course...

Oliver Redlynch said...

You're not wrong Grateful Mac, against my better judgement I sucumbed to pressure from my kids for iPods which then locks me into iTunes. I had a choice which I shall be exercising in future! And Macs and iPhones have viruses now its just the mal-ware is written by Apple itself :-) Trouble is, you say anything against a mac evangalist, and it starts a flame war.....

The Grateful Mac said...

"Trouble is, you say anything against a mac evangalist, and it starts a flame war...'

...and vice versa, which is a shame, because both systems have merits.

Even though i am a Mac user from way back, I also have a dell running Win 7 and I am perfectly happy with it.

Both systems have their pros and cons and i find that i am getting the best of both worlds.

I agree with you that Apple applications don't work that well when you use them on a windows PC, but I am not aware of any good alternatives to iTunes. are there any ?

Carl - Carlos Computers said...

There's an alternative to iTunes that works with iPod's.

Look up Media Monkey.

The only downside is that you don't get access to the iTunes store but if you just want to manage your existing music it's leaps and bounds over iTunes.

I also agree that the PC vs. Mac war is pathetic. At the end of the day they are both computers, tools designed to do a specific job. The only difference is the underlying operating system you are running, nothing more.

Oliver Redlynch said...

I've not recovered yet from the time I've already spent with iTunes (under Windows) to evaluate any of the alternatives listed, but I will. (Too many other MP3 devices around house/cars to ditch the media server and move to "Apple")

Its a shame coz I actually like the style, interface and useability of the iPod touch!

We are in agreement, both sides of the fence have their merits - now if only they'd work together better!

Oliver Redlynch said...

Well, after working out the exact UNC incantation for Media Monkey to read my network server shared drive (it was fussy), it was able to do in 5 minutes what took iTunes 72 hours to get wrong - i.e. import my 4000+ tracks complete with all album covers and listings. I've yet to try syncing to the iPod which is the acid test (kids not back from school yet), but looks very promising - thanks Carlos!

Not a Vista Advocate said...

The Greatfull Mac, I currently have Windows Vista and am considering upgrading to Windows 7 Are there any obvious advantages. is Windows Vista and 7, like two peas in a pod?
Interested to read your views or those of others.

Carlos ComputerCrap said...

Hey Carlos,

Claiming that all computers are the same except for the operating system is the kind of bullshit argument that Micro$loth has been selling for years. It is true - you can do the same tasks essentially on either platform. But the Windoze platform is fundamentally flawed, with viruses, trojans, and continual internet attacks making it unsuitable for virtually everyone. And the junk that Windoze runs on isn't near as reliable or well supported as the Mac hardware.

You're selling buggy whips. That era has ended. All that's left is the funeral.

Nicky J said...

Ahh, so the PC vs Mac war still wages, even here on CairnsBlog.

Carl - Carlos Computers said...

Seems so Nicky J. :-(

As for the anonymous poser who won't use their real name to make a rebuttal against my short statement here's a longer explanation of what I was trying to avoid.

More and more of what we do is moving to the Internet and as long as a computer has a browser on it these days you can pretty much do just about anything.

Whether it be a PC or a Mac or even Linux, the Internet doesn't care what you run.

Windows is pretty secure these days. If you don't do anything dodgy such as use illegal file sharing programs, click links in emails, open dodgy attachments and the like you shouldn't get infected in the first place.

Keeping Windows up to date is somewhat more important these days than having an antivirus. And yes Mac's also receive regular security updates as well. Don't kid yourself on that point.

Viruses don't just jump on your computer anymore. It takes a considerable amount of effort by the end user to actually install a piece of malware these days and even then upwards of 95% of it is easily removed by free software like Malwarebytes.

Why don't virus authors attack Macs? Because they're less than 10% of the total market. The virus authors go where the users are.

At last year's Black Hat conference in the US it was shown that the Mac is actually more insecure than a Windows PC. With many of the security flaws shown off. Apple subsequently scrambled to close the holes in OS X.

So Mac's certainly aren't immune to this type of thing, it's just why would a virus author spend their time trying to infect <10% of the market?

So this brings me back to my original statement. At the end of the day they are both computers, what you're running on them doesn't matter! Get over it!

Carl - Carlos Computers said...

To Oliver Redlynch, glad I could be of assistance. I get a lot of joy out of helping people with tech questions. It's my passion.

To Not a Vista Advocate, Windows 7 is a dramatic improvement over Vista. It's basically what Vista should have been when it came out. I'd certainly recommend the upgrade, you'll find your system will run a lot better.

Smithfield Sam said...

Windows 7 is Macintosh 2001.

Oliver Redlynch said...

:-) Yes Nicky, confirms my belief that ALL evangelists are unhinged and dangerous. (Let the flame wars begin...)

With trepidation I'm installing 64bit Windows 7 next week with multiple XP VM machines. (I've bypassed Vista)

But getting back to the iPad (which is where this all started) - its straight out of Star Trek the Next Gen. Time will tell how successful it is, I reckon if the price is right the "tablet" will replace the "netbook".

earlville earl said...

I use both, and have done almost since the first little mac came out.

What a funny thing it was, but it worked fantastically well. I can't recall the tiny memory it had - perhaps the basic 700k?, and shudder to think of the processing speed. I do recall buying my first hard drive. it was a Rodime, and had all of 15mb.

I use macs for the internet and email because as a small business person I cannot afford to be constantly updating virus programs and doing security patches every other day. Anyone who uses MS software on the internet is off their tree.

Carlos is wrong in saying that OS security is related to market share: that furphy's been proven countless times. And the Mac OS security patches occur probably one-third the number of times as Windows.

I also use the macs for graphics, TV, video, music and a couple of other things, and a windows box for office administration and so on. All perform to expectations.

The macs are brilliant for interoperability of mac OS and Windows software, and always have been - since the very earliest days I've used stuff from windows boxes either directly linked or via floppies (even the original 5' floppies).

All my machines are linked by ethernet, although I am playing round with wireless. As soon as my old printers give up the ghost I'll be fully wireless.

The boxes, as Carlos says, are no different. There used to be a vast difference between operating systems, but now there isn't - so long as you weren't silly enough to buy Vista. But from the mid-eighties right through until XP came along, Windows was a nightmare.

Interestingly enough, I run Windows on the iMac i am typing this on, and I reckon it's faster with Office products than the windows box.

Apple customer service was once brilliant but now it's as bad as Microsoft, which is pretty rank - anyone tried to convert a trial copy of the latest MS Small Business into a fully licensed copy? I have, and still haven't succeeded, despite emails to MS. There was an article in the Australian about this the other day, and what it said was perfectly true. I am impressed by the speed and service of Dell.

I do think you get better value for money from Windows machines, especially if you get them built at some of the better places in Cairns. The lesson in that is, know your computer service and parts man.

Carlos is right: at the end of the day they're all boxes. It's how you use them that counts.

Not a Vista Advocate said...

Hey Carlos, thanks mate for comparing Vista and 7 for me.
One last question if I may. Who has the best deal if I want to upgrade to Windows 7? Is that the way to upgrade or should I download from Microsoft if that is at all possible?

Bryan Law said...

Hooray! Hooray! I've finally moved into personal computing of the third millenium.

I grew up with Buck Rogers, and various jetpack flying men. Then Iron man.

Now I'm getting into the interwebz vidblogging thang. Hooda Thunk?

The Grateful Mac said...

"Not a Vista Advocate" have a look around town for the cheapest update of Win 7. It is a nice operating system and getting more and more similar to the Mac OS.

I downloaded a student discount version for about $ 50 as well as a copy of MS Office Ultimate for $ 70, because I am enrolled in an on-line " open learning " TAFE course. Great value.I think this offer is available until the end of February. Check the "it's not cheating" web-site.

And Earlville Earl, I agree with much of what you say, except the bit about the Apple service. We are fortunate to have two excellent Apple resellers in town. They both have a great range of products and both deliver outstanding service.

As for Apple service in general : the logic board on my 3.5 year old iMac died (6 months out of warranty) and was replaced for free.

I have a MacBook without extended warranty (AppleCare). Its logic board died 4 months out of warranty and was replaced for free.

Both repairs were carried out by a very helpful "Talk to the Mac" and returned to me in a mater of days.

Can't complain about that.

And going wireless is a great thing. I have printers,a Dell PC, 2 MacBooks and an iMac all happily living together on a wireless network. If you get Airport Express you can even stream your iTunes music to your stereo ! Just make sure your network is secure, otherwise anyone within 20-30 metres can log into it.

earlville earl said...

grateful mac, I apologise to the two mac shops in town, especially talk to the mac, who do a great job. i was referring to customer service from apple itself, which might be better categorised as customer disservice.
The problem with aiport express, and i expect this applies to all home wireless networks, is that my walls are brick and concrete, and while with a bit of fiddling iTunes transmissions to the loungeroom work, I can't hook up to the 2 computers at the other end of the house

Not a Vista Advocate said...

Thank you Grateful Mac for the suggestions offered. I will take your advice and begin my search. Vista is making me increasingly frustrated. Cheers.

Carl - Carlos Computers said...

To Not a Vista Advocate, if you have a look around town you should be able to find an upgrade copy at a reasonable price. i.e. Harvey Norman, WOW, JB Hifi etc...

I tend to tell people to avoid eBay because you can never tell whether it's a legit copy or not.

To The Grateful Mac, that Office Ultimate deal has to be the best thing going for university students and TAFE students. I try and tell as many students about it as possible. It's still running too which is fantastic.

I also agree that the Mac shops in Cairns have fantastic service.

The Grateful Mac said...

Yes Office Ultimate for $ 70 is an absolute steal.

The Groove application alone costs hundreds of dollars when bought separately.

I also got the back up disk home delivered by courier in 2 days for only $ 14

And Earl, I'm sorry to hear you have had issues with Apple service. I seldom require assistance from them, but both my problems with dead logic boards were dealt with courteously and promptly by Apple Australia." Talk to the Mac" got the go ahead to replace the logic boards for free on the same day I rang Apple.

Not a Vista Advocate said...

Carlos thank you also for you advice and suggestions. i will begin my search next week. Cheers.

Cairns Resident said...

Looks like the Australian Apple iPad Release date has been delayed again.