Do people expect too much?

[Milliebert]

As I understand it, the iPad 2 is a mobile device, with some really cool features. It is not a replacement for a laptop, desktop, whatever. It is however, becoming my primary computing device thanks to apps like Pages and Storyist.

But do some people expect it to replace computers? Are people disappointed that it can't do everything their computers do? I don't do photo editing, or movies and stuff, I write, so for me it is perfect, and I also get to listen to all my music whilst I write. But like I said, I see it as a mobile device.

I just wondered. Reasoned responses please!

 

[NYHorsewoman]

I never use my laptop anymore. I love this thing. I use my desktop for work because it's Windows and I've got 20 years of work on it but I use my iPad whenever I'm not using my desktop. I can do everything on it faster and easier than my laptop. I use Splashtop so that I can access my desktop from my laptop and it's awesome, I can work from anywhere if I want to. And Splashtop saved me over $150 because I was using GoToMyPc on both my laptop and my iPad before this, but Splashtop is awesome and was $3 or $4.00! I find this a timesaver, a light weight business tool that I bring to all meetings, take notes, check email on the fly, Skype on, read books, newspapers, write on, surf on, even make regular phone calls on. I think it is awesome and I have been a pretty die hard Windows user for 25 years. I do think that some people expect it to be more somehow. But for me it's fast, light weight, user friendly and infinitely useful. I LOVE IT! My 2 cents.

 

[SweetPoison]

I don't expect too much. Research Research = less whining!

I love mine!

Just a friendly reminder to all who post in this very cool thread. This is not a bash all iPad thread. Discuss and discuss with respect.

Carry on!

 

[Arcsylver]

I definitely understand where you are coming from. I recently got an iPad 2 to use for my general needs since my partner and I have been sharing his laptop for the past 6 months with some grumbling.

I can do everything I normally use the laptop for on the iPad with the exception of Second Life. Everything else is exactly the same except for the occasional flash driven web page. Which I hate anyways due to buggy flash implementation out there on some pages.

I have even found myself trying to use touch on the laptop especially when switching between it and the iPad . I often will use the pc while the iPad is playing a favorite podcast of music when I am at home and partner is at work. When he gets home I am on the iPad and he is on the laptop and I am happy as I can be with the arrangement.

 

[s2mikey]

As Sweet Poison said - Research is your friend

I did a lot of that prior to buying my iPad2 and so far(just a few days) its been everything I expected. As for replacing laptops or desktop systems in the house - its darned close but I cant see going totally "tablet" anytime soon. There are still some tasks that require the "beef" of a good laptop. Plus, Im nt ready to go and buy 2 more iPads which is what we would need in the household to truly replace all of the other systems. Im sure my kids would like that though. Sometimes I want that bigger screen or better sound system that you get with a regulr PC/Mac. I might need full-blown Word or Excel. There a few games I simply cant play on the iPad2. We are all "laptop" at this point with one iPad2.

To me, the iPad 2 "Is what we thought it was" (to quote ex-Arizona Cardinals coach Dennis Green ). It does everything I expected, it feels great in-hand, and since the family is fighting over it and I have to ration usage.... it MUST be a nice product!

 

[Milliebert]

Just a friendly reminder to all who post in this very cool thread. This is not a bash all iPad thread. Discuss and discuss with respect.

Carry on!

I did ask for reasoned responses

I love mine too. But my daughter loves her HTC Wildfire phone and won't even consider an iPhone (good for me, I get to keep my purse shut!) and she also won't upgrade to an iPod touch, from her Nano because she loves it so much. I keep telling her all the cool stuff she could do on a Touch, and she just says " but this plays all my music, that's all I want"... So she expects nothing more from it.

I just find it interesting how our expectations change with the development of technology. Most of us own computers more powerful than those which sent a man to the moon, yet we complain about pedantics like not being able to move an app icon to a new place! If someone had said to me twenty years ago, "hey Chrissie, I have this great little device you can carry with you and it can store thousands of your favourite songs" I would have bitten their hand off to get it! And as long as it did that, I wouldn't complain. It seems to me, the more developers do, the more we want them to do. And we want it personal too... Far more so than with any other consumables we buy.

I love my iPad.

 

[oberkc]

I think folks expect A LOT from apple devices. I know I was disappointed with the iPad...not because it is a bad device, but because I had such lofty expectations. Did I expect too much? Apparently, yes. The iPad was my first apple device. Part of the reason I wanted to try an apple device was because of all the apple product users kept telling me that apple products are near perfect.

My perception from forums such as this is that many apple users don't take kindly to suggestions that their devices have shortcomings. Doing so often brings criticism of one being unreasonable or having failed to do their research. This tends to leave the forums populated with folks more likely to praise the iPad, leading to unrealistically high expectations.

I ask your forgiveness if this is not a "reasoned response".

 

[Kaykaykay]

I read up before buying gadgets, so I generally know what to expect. Sometimes a device ends up not being a good fit anyway, but no biggie; that's what returns and exchanges are for.

iPad 1 and 2 have delivered as promised for me. I bought them knowing that I would still rely on PCs and laptops to do my heavy lifting. I've just spent $2,000 on a new laptop and portable hard drive. I upgrade every three or four years.

My expectations rise as tech develops. They're based on today's reality and tomorrow's possibilities, not yesterday's past. I appreciate how far we've come, but I'm not one to settle.

I buy what works best for me now, but I expect to upgrade. And I don't have brand loyalty; I'll switch if something better comes along.

 

[Kaykaykay]

I think folks expect A LOT from apple devices. I know I was disappointed with the iPad...not because it is a bad device, but because I had such lofty expectations. Did I expect too much? Apparently, yes. The iPad was my first apple device. Part of the reason I wanted to try an apple device was because of all the apple product users kept telling me that apple products are near perfect.

My perception from forums such as this is that many apple users don't take kindly to suggestions that their devices have shortcomings. Doing so often brings criticism of one being unreasonable or having failed to do their research. This tends to leave the forums populated with folks more likely to praise the iPad, leading to unrealistically high expectations.

I ask your forgiveness if this is not a "reasoned response".

It's a mixed bag. Some people clearly do little or no research and their expectations are removed from reality, so they're doomed to be disappointed. But even people who do research and like their devices, whether iPad or not, might have legitimate complaints about shortcomings.

Technology always involves tradeoffs, beginning with the design and manufacturing process. Developers have to make choices that they think will best serve the majority of their target market. There's no way every feature will serve everyone. But companies, including Apple, can make boneheaded decisions and mistakes, too. Perfection exists only in the minds of the egomaniacal or the deluded, lol.

 

[jwt873]

I bought my iPad knowing it was nothing more than an over sized iPod with a nice big easy to see screen. I'm happy with it. Had I wanted more ability in a thin, light, portable package, I would have picked up a MacBook Air instead.

 

[jsh1120]

My iPad couldn't replace my laptop or my desktop systems. It can and did replace the small 11" netbook+ that I used when I was squeezed into a middle seat in coach for the last couple of years. And while it hasn't replaced my smartphone, the "smarts" of the phone go largely unused since I purchased my iPad.

Happened to read an article a few weeks ago when the Amazon Fire was introduced that captured my attitude. The author noted that the Fire promised to fill his personal technology "gap" well. By that he meant that his lightweight but powerful laptop covered many of his needs for content creation for work and pleasure. His smartphone was his "go to" portable device for communication and quick access to the internet. His personal "gap" consisted of functionality the Fire promised to fill very well with relatively little redundancy.

My own situation is a bit different but the author's point was valid. There is no "universal" device equally capable of meeting everyone's requirements. The trick is to identify one's own "gap" and fill it with as little redundancy (i.e. expense) as possible. The requirements laid out by the OP suggest that his/her "gap" is more than adequately filled with an iPad. That's true of millions of consumers who were forced to "overbuy" technology until the iPad came along.

On the other hand, I think those who experience disappointment with the iPad don't adequately consider their needs in the first place. It's easy to be seduced by the shiny iPad and sometimes easy to forget the features (sometimes subtle) that one depends upon with other devices. (I cannot get along without multiple resizable windows and dual monitors for much of my work but I have to admit that if I were to list my computing requirements, I might not put that at the top of my list until I thought about how I do my work.)

For me, at least, the iPad is a largely redundant device that I could have have foregone. What it does well can be done nearly as well or better by other systems I already had. But it does have one extraordinary feature that no other device can match. It enables me to share valuable time with my seven year old daughter as we explore the world together. And that makes it priceless despite its redundancy. In other words, that was the true "gap" it filled for me.

 

[oberkc]

On the other hand, I think those who experience disappointment with the iPad don't adequately consider their needs in the first place. It's easy to be seduced by the shiny iPad and sometimes easy to forget the features (sometimes subtle) that one depends upon with other devices. (I cannot get along without multiple resizable windows and dual monitors for much of my work but I have to admit that if I were to list my computing requirements, I might not put that at the top of my list until I thought about how I do my work.)

I find it a little more subtle than this. I don't think it reasonable or even possible to sufficiently research technology devices sufficiently that there are no surprises after purchase. I cannot recall any such purchase (iPad included) that did not come with a surprise (wow! that is nice!) or a disappointment (wow, I am surprised how cumbersome that is). Some things are simply not knowable without experience. Most of the disappointments can be worked around, however, in my experience.

For me, at least, the iPad is a largely redundant device that I could have have foregone.

This is definitely true in my mind. Were I more budget constrained, I would not have an iPad. Within the world of computing devices, I would have first a laptop, second a smart phone, third a desktop, and then (if I still have money) a tablet/reader. A tablet is a mere convenience item at this point.

I still percieve the word on the apple-community street as having extremely high praise for their devices, leading to overly high expectations in those who are just joining. It is hard to avoid disappointment when expectations are so high.

 

[Bluesjam]

I'm not going to say that it's more than just a mobile device, but isn't it just the best thing that's very been invented? It's up there with the TV. Not as good as the Auto, that's because I own a Corvette Z06. That's a tough one to beat.

 

[GoPackGo]

My iPad 2 far exceeded my expectations!

I use my laptop to transfer things to my external (and my iPad when necessary) and that's about it. I use it if I need to use Word or make a PDF - money is too tight to buy the apps for that. If I had job, I would however.

 

[RAC]

I purchased my iPad over a year ago knowing most of the shortcomings but that doesn't mean that I wouldn't like to see them fixed. The only reliable research, in my opinion, is to actually use the device for a few weeks. It would be nice to be able to borrow one for that long but in reality most of us discover some disappointments after buying the device concerned.

For the record, these are the things that disappoint me:-

No general purpose USB and SD card slots.
No access to the file system.
No Flash, only because it means some web sites won't work properly.
No Java Plug Ins, for tha same reason.
No general video out (known as video mirroring on the iPad).

Does the iPad replace my computer? It comes close but probably never will even if the above are fixed. Possibly a MacBook Air would do that that altough I do have one important application that only runs on Windows.