# Ipad 3, should I or not?



## PLuKE (Mar 4, 2009)

Hi

Looking at buying an Ipad 3 fairly excited really, its going to be something new and diffrent after only ever using Windows. I am begin new training at work which is going to involve writing essays etc. I am wanting a new laptop for this, my one is fairly dated now and also wanting something more portable to take on holiday and out and about.

How are they for typing essays out, being a touch screen will be a diffrent experiance?

I do take a fair amount of picture, my dig SLR camara using Canon software, how is the Ipad for this? and can I buy a Ipad lead to mini USB?


Also, I can only stretch to a 16GB, wont really be storing movies on it maybe 2-3 if that, but with apps, saved files and pictures up to 500, how will 16GB fair?

Thanks
Luke


----------



## Nicholas (Jan 9, 2012)

First off yes get a iPad, never looked back my laptop has gone for good, I do lots of typing reports etc, find it very easy to use love the quality of Apple products, 16g for me is not enough and would really try and go for something bigger


----------



## Derekh929 (Aug 28, 2011)

32gb ipad3 great go for it


----------



## Kerr (Mar 27, 2012)

I don't see them as a laptop replacement at all. 

Nice toy though.


----------



## Grawschbags (Apr 15, 2010)

I have the Asus Transformer Prime, and its great for leaving on the end of the couch or taking to bed for a browse on the internet. At no point would i see it as a replacement for my laptop though. I think it would be horrible for writing essays, or even long posts on. 

The Prime comes with a detachable keyboard dock, and even with that I wouldn't want to type for any length of time due to it being the size of a netbook.

I wouldn't be without my tablet now for portability and convenience, but in my eyes it could never replace a conventional PC/laptop.


----------



## Autotec (Aug 3, 2007)

I bought a 64g iPad about three weeks ago and we have not used the laptop at all. But I couldn't get rid of the desktop as it is just so versatile for everything else. 


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD


----------



## nortonski (Jul 10, 2007)

I resisted the iPad 1 completely, bought the 2 & never looked back, picked up the 3 on launch day in DC.

In all honesty I don't use a laptop at all, well apart from work that is....only wished I'd got an iPad sooner, awesome bit of kit that goes everywhere with me.

Don't hesitate! :thumb:


----------



## NeilG40 (Jan 1, 2009)

I've had my iPad 3 64gb since launch day, it was my first iPad and I can honestly say it's one of the best thing I've bought.


----------



## Jonny2400 (May 14, 2011)

Def !! Not even sure were my laptop is....

I would go for the 3 due to the screen, I have an iPad 1 and iPhone 4 and I find myself using the iPhone 4 to look at photos as the screen on it's so much better !!

And apple have only gone fitted that screen to the ipad3 !!

Don't get me wrong the iPad 1&2 have a good screen, but it's like DVD vs blu ray, you don't notice the change that much the first time you watch a blu ray (well after 15mins) but you notice it once you go back to DVD all day long


----------



## Grawschbags (Apr 15, 2010)

I agree, they are great, but would they do the job that the OP is asking of them - typing essays etc?

I know I wouldn't want to use my tablet for such tasks.


----------



## slineclean (Dec 23, 2011)

Whats the going rate of a ipad3 32g?


----------



## Mick (Jan 23, 2010)

Think its between 479-499 for an ipad 3, 32Gb wifi only.


----------



## Jonny2400 (May 14, 2011)

Grawschbags said:


> I agree, they are great, but would they do the job that the OP is asking of them - typing essays etc?
> 
> I know I wouldn't want to use my tablet for such tasks.


Very fair point ! I used my iPad for working on photos from my canon 1000d and it's not great  not many good editing apps, you will spend a week trying to do something ms paint would do in 5 mins, also typing is not great.

Sorry I didn't read all your post my bad. For what you want a compact laptop is The way I would go, iPad is good for this sort of thing, ie messing about on


----------



## Danno1975 (Mar 30, 2009)

Agee with all the above, I'm on my 2nd iPad a 3G 2, 32gig. It's great goes everywhere with me, along with my trusty 4s .

Only the wife uses out Acer laptop for the accounts and storing photographs, I even use iTunes match so don't even need to sync with a pc.

Acer is nice though and I like window 7 it's just a faff to get out.


----------



## Mick (Jan 23, 2010)

I definately wouldn't want to use one for extensive typing, or photo storage or editing. The 399 for the basic model could buy you a laptop or net book which is better and more suitable for your needs IMO.

I see the ipad as just a tool to browse the web quickly, read emags/books, and play some games, but I don't think it can honestly compare to an equivalent laptop for that price, for what you need from it.


----------



## PLuKE (Mar 4, 2009)

Thanks guys.

I was hoping for a better answers lol. Will be doing essays on it but not all at once, main use is web,email, forums etc, I like how portable the Ipad and also having it as a gadget to. Would like to.view pictures and crop/size once in a while to.

Want something diffrent not just another new laptop, but the Ipad needs to still be fit for my needs.

Can you buy the Ipad connector to mini usb for my Cannon 1000D?

Luke


----------



## JenJen (Jun 30, 2010)

Not sure why people go for such large storage on the iPad due to iCloud which is your storage device.

On a plus note I love my ipad3 and since getting it I haven't even turned on my MacBook air let alone my MacBookmbut I have used my iMac as a I can transfer data back and forths.


----------



## Grommit (May 3, 2011)

Had the iPad 3 since launch day also and love it. Never had 1 or 2 so got 3 as a nice thing for the house.

You can talk to it as one of the features lets you talk the words instead of typing it, but punctuation and grammar may need to be checked and would not advise in replacing the trusty desktop or laptop with this. 

The pad is really good for carrying about and accessing websites quickly and browsing DW 

Get one, you can always sell it and probably get what you paid for it.


----------



## m1pui (Jul 24, 2009)

JenJen said:


> Not sure why people go for such large storage on the iPad due to iCloud which is your storage device.
> 
> On a plus note I love my ipad3 and since getting it I haven't even turned on my MacBook air let alone my MacBookmbut I have used my iMac as a I can transfer data back and forths.


iCloud is fine for keeping things in sync and global access to important files, but you'd soon rack up hefty data transfer and additional storage fees if you relied on online storage to hold/access your movie/music/games. You also wouldn't be able to access anything when you're sitting on most airplanes.

I'm not saying that 16gb isn't enough, but when you're stuck with the capacity of whichever you buy, you may as well buy the biggest you can afford. No one ever complains they've got too much space.


----------



## nortonski (Jul 10, 2007)

You can use the ipad to type essays etc, I use mine for reports etc within pages, however, you could pair it with the new Logitech case that has the Bluetooth keyboard built in, looks pretty good!

As for minor editing & cropping there are apps for this, I find iPhoto pretty good for that sort of thing.

As for high capacity, I fly an awful lot, if you want a decent amount of music & a few HD movies in addition to your reports/presentations & PDFs then for me 64gb was a no brainer. I also use iCloud for back ups etc...


----------



## JenJen (Jun 30, 2010)

Don't get me wrong, I have a 32gb one but there again I have mine set up to read my imac which is has a 250gb harddrive. As for data charges, it costs nadda as I use airport for the transfer.


----------



## Rob_Quads (Jul 17, 2006)

JenJen said:


> Not sure why people go for such large storage on the iPad due to iCloud which is your storage device.
> 
> On a plus note I love my ipad3 and since getting it I haven't even turned on my MacBook air let alone my MacBookmbut I have used my iMac as a I can transfer data back and forths.


iCloud is lacking in space to provide a real backup solution. If you have lots of photos etc then you will blow your 5GB limit very quickly. Add in some Navigation apps and you will start to see you again being very close to the limit. You don't want to rely on your purchase history to redownload all your apps if you have a system failure because over time the number of apps you 'buy' (including free) soon mounts up meaning its a nightmare to sort out all the apps you actually use as opposed to downloaded and then deleted very quickly. IF there was a way of deleting your download history then it would be much more useful for this scenario.

Also unless you buy all your music via iTunes, iCloud does not backup any of this, (unless you pay for MusicMatch) so again you might want more than a few gig of MP3 on tap.

iCloud is a great ideas BUT its still limited IMO. Mine fails to backup way too often due to lack of space and I am far from a heavy user.

They should offer iCloud space to match your iPad/iPhone i.e. buy a 32GB iPad you get 32GB of space.

Unfortunately drive space/$ has hit a bit of a plateau as now 95% of the research is into faster drives than larger drives. Give me a 5TB drive for a backup and I would be very happy and would also help allow the likes of Apple/Dropbox to give more free space.


----------



## greenwagon (Dec 31, 2008)

iPad gets used 6 hours a day 
Laptop was switched on maybe a month ago when I took the iPad off the misses 

We fight over it :lol:
So easy to use ,never crashes,no virus or problems


----------



## Ric (Feb 4, 2007)

Rob_Quads said:


> -snip-
> 
> iCloud is a great ideas BUT its still limited IMO. Mine fails to backup way too often due to lack of space and I am far from a heavy user.
> 
> They should offer iCloud space to match your iPad/iPhone i.e. buy a 32GB iPad you get 32GB of space.


What other provides provides you with a FREE automatic backup of your device?

What other provider syncs your stuff natively (not with apps or gmail syncs)

I've used around 50mb of mine for all my contacts, emails, settings etc and around 2gb for photos.

Perhaps you should rtfm and disable complete phone sync and maxing your space and instead just sync setttings, contacts and photos?(IMO you don't need to sync your camera roll etc with iCloud that's what photo stream is for.)

And if you really want more data, buy it?

To the OP,

If you will be doing a lot of typing perhaps look at the keyboard dock for the iPad.


----------



## m1pui (Jul 24, 2009)

carbonangel said:


> What other provides provides you with a FREE automatic backup of your device?
> 
> What other provider syncs your stuff natively (not with apps or gmail syncs)
> 
> ...


Agreed. I use iCloud to keep devices in sync and as a backup so if I broke or lost my iPhone/iPad I could quickly and easily retrieve a pretty much up to date set of contacts/emails/etc. Theres no need to backup everything to iCloud, if I want to change music, apps and movies I connect to my computer which I see as being my primary storage device, which itself should be backed up anyways.

Besides which, anything you buy through iTunes can be redownloaded for free through the iTunes app on your iOS device. There's minimal benefit from clogging up your iCloud space with everything when there's at least 2 backups readily available to you for free, just trim it down to the bare minimum and you should be left with plenty of space left over.

My iPhone backup is just under 1gb (iPad is about 600mb) and I'm sure I could trim that further if I wanted.


----------



## PLuKE (Mar 4, 2009)

Thanks guys.

I would most likely backup things to my laptop, As I will still be using it for movies played through my TV's. Most of my music is on my Ipod running on a dock to my amp.

Could I transfer files, music and etc off my Ipad to laptop? Or will i need an external HD?

Luke


----------



## m1pui (Jul 24, 2009)

It works exactly the same as your iPod really. Connect iPad to your computer and things are transferred to or from it.

If you buy stuff on the iPad it will transfer the purchases to your itunes/laptop when you sync (or you can set it up so iTunes automatically downloads any new purchases from the Internet when you load it up)

If you buy (or have already bought) anything on iTunes/laptop you can transfer it to the iPad.

External drive isn't necessary unless you are running out of space on the laptop. Even then, it's not connected to the iPad directly.


----------



## Rob_Quads (Jul 17, 2006)

carbonangel said:


> Perhaps you should rtfm and disable complete phone sync and maxing your space and instead just sync setttings, contacts and photos?(IMO you don't need to sync your camera roll etc with iCloud that's what photo stream is for.)
> .


Someone needs to rtfm as photo stream is not for that. Its just a single folder ROLLING backup/syning feature that allows you to transfer your files to your other devices to them organize them. i.e. if you take more photos eventually those photos will no longer be on your device. If you want to keep the photos you have to move them into an album...which will get lost if you loose your phone.

..and this is where it gets even more annoying. Now that you have created a folder on your iPhone with all your pics that you wanted, try syncing them back to your laptop...oh you can't, you need them in the camera roll for that!

So the workflow if you want albums on your phone is.... Take photo -> photo stream -> 'another' device -> organize into albums -> resync back manually to iPhone

You telling me thats logical and streamlined?

I already get contacts etc backed through gmail, photos through iTunes due to the limitations of above so apps etc is the main feature that iCloud backup is giving me.

I'm not saying that iCloud is not a good progression but there are a lot of things that need to be improved on it.


----------



## Jonny2400 (May 14, 2011)

PLuKE said:


> Thanks guys.
> 
> I was hoping for a better answers lol. Will be doing essays on it but not all at once, main use is web,email, forums etc, I like how portable the Ipad and also having it as a gadget to. Would like to.view pictures and crop/size once in a while to.
> 
> ...


I used a card reader, I take my sd card out of the canon and load from the reader to the iPad, but it's slow and not that reliable which is a pain as it cost £44


----------



## Alex_225 (Feb 7, 2008)

My Mrs bought me a 64gb iPad 3 for my birthday and I'd not be without one. Oh and I only got it on Friday! Lol

The thing with the iPad that I can gather is that they are what you make of them. If you want something's to do some web browsing then go dot a 3G 16gb one. If you want something make a replacement for a laptop then you want at least 32gb.

Just do your homework on good apps that make the most of its abilities and if you're typing a lot, maybe consider a Bluetooth keyboard and stand.


----------



## [email protected] (Jan 9, 2006)

I bought an ipad3 and find it ok so far, nothing amazing tbh, but it was used to replace my old phone that only got used for being on the net when im away from home. It will never replace my desktop as its too limited for what it can do. I dont have a decent laptop and couldnt get a high enough spec one for the price I was willing to spend.

I wish I knew what apps etc people were using to prevent them from putting their ipads down


----------



## should_do_more (Apr 30, 2008)

i haven't read all of this but for a keyboard you can get a 50 quid bluetooth apple one. that's what i use on my mac, but i got it to work in pc world on the ipad last weekend.


----------



## m1pui (Jul 24, 2009)

[email protected] said:


> I bought an ipad3 and find it ok so far, nothing amazing tbh, but it was used to replace my old phone that only got used for being on the net when im away from home. It will never replace my desktop as its too limited for what it can do. I dont have a decent laptop and couldnt get a high enough spec one for the price I was willing to spend.
> 
> I wish I knew what apps etc people were using to prevent them from putting their ipads down


I don't think Apple ever marketed the iPad as a desktop/laptop replacement. I see it as a media device and a supplement to a computer workspace.

The apps don't make me unable to put it down, but things like Safari, Mail, eBay & Sky Sports (plus a few more no doubt) are all apps that save me from booting up my laptop for about 80% of my online usage.


----------



## LeadFarmer (Feb 23, 2011)

Was thinking of changing my windows laptop for an imac, i need basic photo editing and camcorder video editing would be a bonus. I guess the ipad wouldnt really be suitable for this, would it?


----------



## s.bailey (Mar 2, 2012)

Don't for a second think that an iPad is going to replace your laptop or desktop as it isnt.... you won't be able to plug in your camera and start storing photo's on it, you'll need an intermediary device to move between the 2 peripherals, so a laptop or desktop.

They're OK as toys, but thats it, come in handy for watching movies on the train to work!


----------



## Rob_Quads (Jul 17, 2006)

s.bailey said:


> Don't for a second think that an iPad is going to replace your laptop or desktop as it isnt.... you won't be able to plug in your camera and start storing photo's on it, you'll need an intermediary device to move between the 2 peripherals, so a laptop or desktop.
> !


I agree it won't replace a laptop/desktop but one of the things you can do with the flash adapter is import photos directly from your cameras flash drive.


----------



## jgy6000 (May 15, 2007)

I have just bought a iPad 2 32gb wifi off eBay (prestine condition and it's 7months old) for just under £300. I had a look at the comparisons between the 2 & 3 and decided for my needs the iPad 2 was worth the cost saving


----------



## Tisgreen (May 18, 2012)

Angry Birds HD ..........Get it!!!!


----------

