iPad - some questions before I buy one

[Zah1]

Hi guys, I have a Sony Viao netbook which I use for typing documents and storing most of my data etc.

Looking for a portable tablet, mostly just to browse the internet. Is the iPad 2 a good investment? Bearing in mind I'm a bit clueless about all Apple products, which one should I get, as I hear they range from 16gigs upwards.

Also, what price should I pay, and are there any good deals out there at the moment? All your help would be much appreciated.

[Speedster]

Well, how much data are you looking to store?

[jasweb]

Hi. Most iPads are priced the same in SA. Best bet (if you are an FNB customer) is to get it from FNB over 24 months (interest free).

The iPad 16GB wifi is the one I will get (with a huawei 586 mifi wireless router). Why not 3G ipad? Well it is R1300 more expensive, it only takes microsim (so you cannot easilly take it out and put in a phone / USB stick if you want to "share" the Internet), it does not do wifi tethering (where you can use your iPad to share its connection - maybe if you jailbreak it).

Else if you have wifi at home, wifi at work and an android phone (or iPhone) which you can wifi tether with you will "always" be connected..

I have the 16GB wifi one and really happy with it (and since it is a mission to load / convert movies to iPad format) I mainly use it for surfing and some nice apps.

[Cassady]

I watch all my movies on the iPad. It's only a mission to convert and view them, if you don't have the right app

AVPlayerHD converts most formats, and works a treat. Very simple and quick to drag movies "into" the app, under the applications tab of my iPad when it's synching through iTunes .

I went for the 3G & wifi option, and am glad I did. Have ADSL at home, and connected at work - but there have been plenty of times when I have needed connectivity in the absence of wifi, and have been relieved to have the 3G option. Not essential by any means, but nice to have. I guess if you start off with the wifi model, then you might not miss 3G at all - but now that I've had it - there's no way I would go back to wifi only.

[Zah1]

Its not to store much data, mainly for browsing.

I am an FNB customer, so that sounds like a good idea Jasweb, thanks. I have a Cell C package, 2gig a month. So was thinking of connecting via that. Will I be able to?

[bwana]

I wouldnt even consider a wifi only model again, esp since the new iPad can also act as a hotspot for other devices.

[Hamster]

I've never used the 3G on my iPad, only the WiFi. Just saying.

[vinodh]

Thankfully, just about all downloaded TV shows these days are MP4 and are fully compatible with iTunes and the iPad. No converting needed. Movies are a whole different problem. Handbrake (free) is a good app for converting as well as iFlicks (paid).

[eehellfire]

Its not to store much data, mainly for browsing.

I am an FNB customer, so that sounds like a good idea Jasweb, thanks. I have a Cell C package, 2gig a month. So was thinking of connecting via that. Will I be able to?

Yes. You can ask cell c to activate a second data simcard for you, and you can then share your data package

[eehellfire]

Thankfully, just about all downloaded TV shows these days are MP4 and are fully compatible with iTunes and the iPad. No converting needed. Movies are a whole different problem. Handbrake (free) is a good app for converting as well as iFlicks (paid).

Why do you convert when you can just get a media app that plays all formats?

[vinodh]

Some people like having all their media through iTunes, and since iTunes doesn't support mkv's, divx etc. converting is the only option. I don't watch movies on my iPad and use Plex to stream tv series to it. I installed a media player on my wifes iPad and it plays all formats perfectly fine.

[bwana]

I've never used the 3G on my iPad, only the WiFi. Just saying.

Apart from GSM I use GPS, a lot.

[MickeyD]

I wouldnt even consider a wifi only model again, esp since the new iPad can also act as a hotspot for other devices.

Same here.

[mercurial]

I watch all my movies on the iPad. It's only a mission to convert and view them, if you don't have the right app

AVPlayerHD converts most formats, and works a treat. Very simple and quick to drag movies "into" the app, under the applications tab of my iPad when it's synching through iTunes .

.

AVPlayerHD does not do any converting. It just plays any format.

[Synaesthesia]

The iPad 16GB wifi is the one I will get (with a huawei 586 mifi wireless router). Why not 3G ipad? Well it is R1300 more expensive, it only takes microsim (so you cannot easilly take it out and put in a phone / USB stick if you want to "share" the Internet), it does not do wifi tethering (where you can use your iPad to share its connection - maybe if you jailbreak it).
.

You can share internet with the new iPad 3, works great. You can use the microsim in most phones too, it works. Just position it correctly. The only phones that you really can't use a microsim in is the iPhone 3G/3GS because of the sim tray.

If you have an iPhone or android phone, wifi can work. The reason I got a 3G iPad is I found I need it a lot, to just randomly google something or connect to the Internet at some random point in time. The gps too.