I write a lot in this blog about ways to save money and live frugally. However, I do have to admit that I have a weakness for technological gadgets (this is one area where analysis paralysis actually works in my favor by stopping me from buying a lot of things I’m tempted to buy). Yet despite this, I’ve never bought an iPad or one of its many would-be competitors. Frankly, I just don’t get it.
Like everyone else, I thought the iPad seemed “magical” when it first came out. In fact, I still do. I like the idea of it in theory, but I just can’t see where it would fit into my actual life.
First, I agree with Mark Zuckerberg that the iPad is not “mobile.” I’m sorry but the iPad and even the smaller 7” Kindle Fire and Nexus 7 are still too big for me to carry around everywhere I go the way I do with my smart phone. And since I’ll have my smart phone, I don’t really need one of these extra devices to check email, see the latest headlines on Google Reader, get directions, or take a photo or video while I’m on the go. (Many tablets, including the Amazon Fire and the Google Nexus 7, don’t even have 3G connectivity so their “mobility” is fairly limited. Of course, for those that do, you’d have to pay for the extra data plan.)
Granted, there are times when I’m on a longer trip and have a bag that I could fit a tablet into. The problem is that since none of these devices seem capable of fully replacing my laptop for work purposes (that might change with the professional version of Microsoft’s Surface tablet), I would need to pack (and unpack at the airport) both computers. All of a sudden, even the smallest one seems too big since it’s additional weight and space for something that I don’t really need. I’d rather just have a lighter, thinner laptop with a longer battery life like a Macbook Air or one of its ultrabook wannabes.
Many iPad fans say that while they’re not the best for content production (I’d hate to be typing this blog post on a touch screen for example), they’re supposed to be great for content consumption like watching movies and surfing the web, both of which I spend enough time doing to perhaps make it worthwhile if that were true. But I still like having a keyboard when I’m typing a URL , search terms, or an email or Facebook comment and I would argue that it takes less effort to move your finger across a touch pad then to move your whole hand across a touch screen. Even when passively watching a movie, I prefer how a laptop keeps the screen in place instead of having me having to hold a tablet with one or more hands. Yes, these are small things but I still haven’t found any benefits big enough to outweigh them.
Finally, while the iPad’s starting price of about $500 would be a bargain as a laptop replacement, unfortunately this expense is generally on top of whatever else you spend on computers. It also tends to be a recurring one since the constant advances in technology and features make your old iPad look obsolete after a couple of years. To give you an idea of the true cost, if you invested that $500 every couple of years (not including whatever you spend on accessories or a data plan), at a conservative 6% rate of return, you’d have over $20k after 30 years.
Having said all this, I’m sure there are people who use and love their Kindles and iPads (my boss is one of them). I can certainly imagine situations where they could come in handy, especially for anyone needing a computer while on their feet. Examples would be a doctor using one to look up patient records or a political campaign staffer collecting voter contact info at a rally. There are valid uses for them.
My point is to ignore the hype and don’t buy one just “because everyone else is.” (This goes for any purchase.) Instead, make sure that it will really serve a function for you that your smart phone and laptop don’t. Otherwise, as magical as it may be, it’s just an expensive toy.
Disagree? Have at it in the comments below…
I don’t disagree, but had to comment. My hero! I don’t get it either. When working on spreadsheets, a mouse and keyboard is paramount. We have the iPad and PC Tablets and the touch technology vs using an attached stylus pen is much more user friendly, but it still doesn’t live up to the versatility of a true PC/laptop. Most use phones for email access when on the go. As I’m getting older, I’m also wondering how ergonomically proactive these tools are. What kind of issues are people going to have with their hands working constantly with such a small medium; 10-15 years from now, how crippled will their hands/fingers be?
Hi Erik, I have found many uses of ipad in my areas of work – financial literacy at workplace, financial life planning and wealth management. I have used ipad for presentations to corporations for one to one meetings as well as up to 8 people [ H.R. staff in an organization] to pitch for financial literacy at workplace as part of the employee benefits program. With individual clients I present the financial plans, portfolio updates, mutual fund analytics etc and most important making clients fill data sheets [ which normally they will take 3weeks to 1 month to send it] for financial life planning. I have also worked on client engagement letters using the word document. I have also created a wonderful output template for the financial plan that I have standardized for my financial planning software. Now you might wonder, when the financial planning software has the ability to produce an output why would I need to do it all over again. I was not happy with the output of the software which was complex to understand for clients and the presentation was sloppy. I must admit the software’s calculations were fine as I reconciled the workings on the excel sheet as well. And when I travel I carry the ipad with all the important data and presentations for my meetings uploaded in my drop box. Pretty light to carry compared to a laptop while you are traveling. More over, no need to pull out for security scans at the airports! Time saver during the rush hours at the security gate! Last but not the least, use it for news, social media etc. on a regular basis.
I would actually love to use the iPad on business travel for the same reasons you mentioned as long as it could fully replace our laptops. Specifically, we’d have to make sure it was fully compatible with MS Office and Siebel’s Contact on Demand.
Erik..the documents are fully compatible. I mean you can view all office documents – word, excel, power point. But if you will like to edit it you will need to buy an app called docs to go. As for presentation goes, key note app is a powerful app compared to power point and one create presentations extremely fast with 3 dimensional graphics and rich colors. I am not too sure about siebel’s contact on demand. May be the best person to check with will be Bill Winterberg who writes on technology for financial planners. You can check out his blog fppad.com and write to him as well.. One of the best things about ipad is the virtual keyboard is cool and easy to work with. It has large touch characters and you will find it a breeze to type pretty fast on it.. the ipad accessory cover is extremely flexible for any purpose – be it for writing or reading or presentations or run it as a kiosk.. Another important aspect you can use it for is doing video interviews and editing it. They have an app called imovies and you can professionally edit the videos pretty fast. The new ipad with its powerful camera and high definition video capability will be a wonderful one to go for. Try it out and you might want to go for it..
Thanks for the info! We may look into it.
I am on an iPad two right now and I say AMAZING it’s the best and I agree not very portable but great to watch movies and play apps on a big screen …..I reccomend