New iPad while waiting for 2012 iMac/MBP?

[Daylife]

Hey guys, I have a fried that has no computer right now except his iPhone 4s. He asked me if he should buy a new iPad while he waits for the new ivy bridge iMacs/MBP which ever comes first. Would an iPad be a good alternative?

 

[AQ_OC]

It depends on what he needs to do with his computer. If it is web surfing, reading emails, doing social things, editing files, building keynote talks or working with spreadsheets in pages, or reading/editing PDFs, youtube, magic piano, drawing, playing games, watching movies, editing home movies, listening to music, creating tunes in Garageband, use the cloud...then he can do those things on an iPad. If he needs to do cad, or run matlab, or advanced programming stuff, or use some programs that don't run on iOS or have equvilants, then he will need a real laptop. There is a good bit of overlap, but in some cases he may have to learn how to get things done.

 

[Daylife]

It depends on what he needs to do with his computer. If it is web surfing, reading emails, doing social things, editing files, building keynote talks or working with spreadsheets in pages, or reading/editing PDFs, youtube, magic piano, drawing, playing games, watching movies, editing home movies, listening to music, creating tunes in Garageband, use the cloud...then he can do those things on an iPad. If he needs to do cad, or run matlab, or advanced programming stuff, or use some programs that don't run on iOS or have equvilants, then he will need a real laptop. There is a good bit of overlap, but in some cases he may have to learn how to get things done.

Good point. I'll make sure to show him what you wrote lol. Thanks.