Alternative to the iPad

[Puddle Jumper]

Technically faster, but its unlikely it'll respond faster. Seeing as my quad doesn't respond as quick as an iPad on windows 7

Inbuilt Apple A4 chip = super leet efficiency on apple OS

The A4 is pretty much just a 1ghz Cortex A8 which is slower clock for clock than Atom. Yeah the iphone os will likely be more responsive on equal hardware but that's primarily because it's stripped down to the point of uselessness (in comparison to a desktop os).

Responsiveness on a pc has less to do with processing power and more to do with storage. I wouldn't be surprised if my desktop is nearly as responsive running 7 as the iPad is thanks to my OCZ Agility

 

[Oreo]

The A4 is pretty much just a 1ghz Cortex A8 which is slower clock for clock than Atom. Yeah the iphone os will likely be more responsive on equal hardware but that's primarily because it's stripped down to the point of uselessness (in comparison to a desktop os).

Responsiveness on a pc has less to do with processing power and more to do with storage. I wouldn't be surprised if my desktop is nearly as responsive running 7 as the iPad is thanks to my OCZ Agility

Yah, but the graphics/cpu and memory units are all in one and apple modified.

And i wouldn't call it useless, this is where so many people are not thinking straight. When i (just like alot of people) am sat in the lounge watching TV, and on my laptop, or sat in starbucks on my laptop, or at school on my laptop.. you get the picture, thing is, all i am doing is browsing the internet. The iPad does this much better than my netbook and laptop could dream of, it's so much nicer to use the touch screen to browse - and the lack of Flash really doesn't bother me so much. I do not need my iPad to be some very capable worse processor or excel document editor, or to run photoshop and that kinda thing. I have my PC for that, thats why im sat on my PC when i want to do stuff. When im just browsing i would much rather be sat on a comfy couch infront of the big screen TV browsing on my netbook, and the iPad is undoubtedly a better experience than a notebook.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

Yah, but the graphics/cpu and memory units are all in one and apple modified.

And i wouldn't call it useless, this is where so many people are not thinking straight. When i (just like alot of people) am sat in the lounge watching TV, and on my laptop, or sat in starbucks on my laptop, or at school on my laptop.. you get the picture, thing is, all i am doing is browsing the internet. The iPad does this much better than my netbook and laptop could dream of, it's so much nicer to use the touch screen to browse - and the lack of Flash really doesn't bother me so much. I do not need my iPad to be some very capable worse processor or excel document editor, or to run photoshop and that kinda thing. I have my PC for that, thats why im sat on my PC when i want to do stuff. When im just browsing i would much rather be sat on a comfy couch infront of the big screen TV browsing on my netbook, and the iPad is undoubtedly a better experience than a notebook.

Nearly all Cortex, and ARM systems in general for that matter, are SOC (system on chip) so that's nothing new. I'd also be willing to bet they did little more than pick the components used like most ARM licensees do. A few companies like Qualcomm and Marvel do take it a step farther and design their own cpu's using the ARM architecture but they have considerably more engineering experience than Apple.

I do use my netbook for quite a bit of browsing but often that's generally done alongside other tasks like coding or word processing, two things the iPad can't really do. Besides for the price of an iPad you can get a nice CULV laptop or Slate that is completely capable of web browsing (including flash and HD video playback) as well as anything else you could do on a normal pc.

If you just want to browse from the couch you can build a nice HTPC for the price of an iPad too.

 

[wafflehammer]

well I can't justify $500+ for a web surfer..especially when another device (your phone) can do it....(then take into account the rumored horrifying wifi). So yea, not being able to do a lot of the stuff is a big deal. There's nothing important enough on the web that would make me want to spend that much money..and if I want to see it that bad I'll take the extra effort and use my phone lol

also with a laptop you can set it on your lap...an ipad you're stuck holding it with one hand and typing with a finger lol

 

[Harper]

also with a laptop you can set it on your lap...an ipad you're stuck holding it with one hand and typing with a finger lol

That is what make the iPad so different. It's falling into that niche market along with PDF readers.

 

[Oreo]

Nearly all Cortex, and ARM systems in general for that matter, are SOC (system on chip) so that's nothing new. I'd also be willing to bet they did little more than pick the components used like most ARM licensees do. A few companies like Qualcomm and Marvel do take it a step farther and design their own cpu's using the ARM architecture but they have considerably more engineering experience than Apple.

I do use my netbook for quite a bit of browsing but often that's generally done alongside other tasks like coding or word processing, two things the iPad can't really do. Besides for the price of an iPad you can get a nice CULV laptop or Slate that is completely capable of web browsing (including flash and HD video playback) as well as anything else you could do on a normal pc.

If you just want to browse from the couch you can build a nice HTPC for the price of an iPad too.

The Works suite which you can get for the iPad has a pretty decent word processor, so i've heard. And hey, what you chatting about ? the iPad can display HD content. At least 720p, on it's not-quite-but-close 720p screen.