its pretty solid. i would put it into a sleeve for travel. i have dropped my iphone many many times and it is still fine. amazingly.

one thing this ipad is really slick i mean slippery slick. the mac airbook is similar but has a lil bit of texture to its outer surface which is MUCH better. this ipad is gonna slip outta my hands one of these days.

not sure how it will compare to my netbook. its much more intuitive of an interface. i have done ftp, ie sent files from it to an internet server. passed files between my office machines and it. really if you have any time on an iphone its pretty much the same. i was disappointed originally that it had the iphone software and not osX. but we'll see. i have 30 days to decide!

versus a netbook.... one piece, doesn't fold out. i have used tablets for years, mostly HP ones. i love them. this is NOT a data CREATION device. cannot imagine moving pics around and selecting small areas in photoshop with my fingers instead of a mouse or a pointer, but maybe. haven't tried it yet. can't get photoshop into it like i can with my netbook. lots more software for a netbook. but the made for ipad software is slickaroo. the table of the elements comes alive. rotate the molecules. see their structure, read about them.

the app for viewing the skies... hold it towards the sky. it names the stars, constellations, etc. move around so does the screen. amazing. truly. it knows what direction you are looking. rotate up and even backwards, so does the screen. never seen nothin like that.

so a different type of software that we are used to is going to be created for these types of devices. lots of folks will make them. getting the operating system out of the way so we can use the devices more easily. thats the goal. this is a step in that direction for some computing functions. the data stream INTO the brain ones.

its an amazing data viewing device. so far, not a data creation device. but maybe as we all get used to this finger thing......

i think apple is trying to make the operating system transparent. poking is fast. i am hoping to be able to answer email with it using a microphone. either with voice recognition to text or if nothing else, audio files attached to an email reply. I wanna do email with poking and voice. gotta be faster than my typing....

Last edited by Marty; 04/04/10 10:38 AM.