Not to mention the bacon donuts.
I’ve got an iPad2 with 16GB. I was worried I wouldn’t get much use out of it, but it rarely leaves my side - unless someone else in the family has grabbed it.
I find it a great writing tool.
I’ve been cramming it full of stuff since day one and I still have 4GB spare. Unless you’re planning to store a lot of photography or music on it I’d go for 16GB. Mind you I have a desktop Mac to back-up to if required.
Pete340 is right. The 16-32-64 Gig numbers you see batted about for iPads are flash storage, the equivalent of hard disk size. Apple studious avoids taking about the RAM that’s built into their chips because by modern standards it sounds so wimpy. The original iPad had 256 Meg, the iPad 2 had 512 Meg, and there seems to be strong evidence that the new iPad has 1 Gig. That matters, because that number ultimate decides if an iPhone/iPad can handle a new iOS version or a major app. It also has a major impact on how fast an app can load and run.
I ended up ordering the new iPad and, like Amber suggests, I chose to go with the 16 Gig model. $100 simply seemed to much to pay for 16 Gig more memory, particularly since mine won’t be loaded with pictures, movies, music, or data-heavy GPS apps. Instead, I promised myself to be frugal with what I install.
I’d originally thought I might go with the iPad 2 when Apple cut the price, but in the end my gut instinct–and a desire to have that luscious new screen–overrode that plan. Later, when I did some number crunching, I realized that the move also made good financial sense.
Even the $150 difference between the new iPad at full retail and a refurb iPad 2 only amounts to 50 cents a day if I keep it for a year and 25 cents a day if I keep it two years or longer–which is most likely. The screen and what’s likely to prove about twice the snappiness is easily worth that. And a one year newer model is likely to have an extra year of service life and a greater resell value. I’m already facing the fact that my aging MacBook isn’t slated to be supported by Mountain Lion. I don’t want an iPad that might be obsoleted in 2014.
The one negative of the new model is that the new display resolution meant a lot more battery drain for LCDs and graphics, which forced Apple to increase the battery capacity by 70% to keep the same battery life. I asked today at an Apple store, and the recharge time will apparently be the same, the new model will just draw more power as it charges.
What I’ve not been able to find out is if that added drain is only true for graphics-intensive applications. If it is, turning down the display brightness and using basic text editors might give a battery life closer to 12-14 hours, more that most of us could use it without a need to sleep.
What is really striking is the huge difference between the large pack I use to haul my MacBook around and the small case into which an iPad and Apple keyboard will fit. I do hope I can manage to get writing done on this new toy and I’ll be awaiting Scrivener for the iPad eagerly.
–Mike
I think you’ll be plenty happy with 16Gb. My 1st Generation iPad is 32Gb, a decision I later regretted as I have never once even come close to a quarter usage. Right now it has barely 1Gb on it. The reality is, if you use Dropbox or something similar, most of your storage is not even going to be on the device. In fact, I don’t know why anyone needs it for music of video either, but that’s just me. I have no desire to watch movies on a tiny screen with a weak audio card, and the thing is too big and clumsy to carry around as a music hub. For the same reason it makes for an extremely awkward video/still camera. Facetime makes sense for those that like the idea of video phone, but that’s not recording to flash. Basic recording and portable music is what the iPods and iPhone are for. To each their own, however. 
Music I can kinda see, especially if you like to write in loud places, but most people already have an iPod.
In my experience the estimates they quote are on basic usage. Sporadic Internet access and basic apps. Video, music and especially games and streamed services will dramatically lower the uptime. Even simple games can eat up half of the battery in a few hours. For basic usage, running dim and turning the antennas off when you don’t need them will, as with laptops, be the main thing that boost you over the published estimates.
Nobody would argue against that, but an iPad+keyboard vs. 11" MBA is truly a toss-up in terms of portability. They are roughly identical in my experience; I would use the same exact light and roughly MBA sized shoulder bag for both if I walked my iPad around (I prefer to be hands free, otherwise a simple InCase sleeve would be all I needed for the MBA). The advantage of the iPad over the MBA is that it can be used like a clipboard, so it can go places the MBA cannot as easily, like a recliner, while on your feet or in bed. Those are going to be primarily consumption though, again speaking from experience. One-finger tapping while standing up is horrifically inefficient. While it can be held like a clipboard, it can’t really be used like one (though a stylus and some freeform notebook app with palm-guard can get close, it’s still a bit heavy for that. Well, a good analogy would be a pen and notebook vs. an iPhone, actually.) For productive use, with the keyboard, it has the same constraints as a netbook sized laptop. Level surface at elbow-height + desk. But, I’m saying nothing new at this point.
If we assume it’s becoming inevitable that I will have to plunk down the money for an iPad, something I honestly never considered remotely likely back when the new “it’s like a phone…but too pick to carry in your pocket!” toy was first announced, my question is whether to go with the 4G or not. I don’t particularly think I have a need for it–I take my MBA everywhere for writing, and I can get along with that just fine (understatement). But back when I got an iPod touch as a gift, I didn’t think I had any use for that either, and of course I ended up loving it and having it around all the time (until the day it died a sad death under the car tires, and then practicality sank back in so I’ve never coughed up to replace it). Experience suggests then that if I get an iPad, I might suddenly find myself using it all the time and in scenarios I didn’t anticipate.
So my initial thought is to go for the 16 GB, wi-fi only version; if I want to pay all the extra money for a 3G or 4G service plan I might as well save it for a phone. (Yeah, I still have one of those old cell phones that doesn’t really do anything but make phone calls.) But is this going to wildly decrease the usability of the iPad? Will my inability to sync with the mystical cloud except when at the library or coffee shop cause me no end of pain when I’m at the park or sitting in the parking lot? Is it, in fact, the “internet access anywhere” that makes iPads so useful and appealing?
Ultimately–do any of you folk have an iPad model with wi-fi only and have you never felt you were missing out?
Au contraire…
I have one of the original iPads with 3G and have only used it outside the home once,when we took it on holiday in the first couple of months. Then the only reason I used it was to check emails, which I could have done on the iPhone anyway… I’'ve never bothered renewing the phone access since (I can get a daily or monthly access with O2).
So when I do get the new version I don’t think I’ll bother with the 3G part. My broadband contract is with BT, which gives you a lot of free wifi access, so if I really need a connection, it shouldn’t be too difficult to find.
OMMV, of course…
I think the times that you’d be willing to haul out the iPad will more than likely be in places where there is WiFi, especially if you live in an urban area with a lot of hotspots. Having a cellular connection might be better for those that travel a lot or live in areas that are primarily residential. Even then you have to wonder, because of the size and form factor, if you’re going to need to access it while in a dead zone. The price difference is a good point as well. The difference is such that you’d be well on your way toward an iPhone with a contract with payments that wouldn’t be too much over having a separate phone and an iPad 4G service hooked up. Depending upon the service you use, they might even let you tether to iPad to the phone in those cases where you really did want it but nothing was around. So I think it makes more sense to have the cellular on a phone sized thing where the opportunities to take it out and use it are much higher.
As for cloud stuff, most of that has a pretty good offline mode way of working. There are a few apps that are more reliant upon a connection, but a lot of them let you download stuff from your account(s) for offline editing and viewing, everything syncs back up when you get back into a WiFi zone, so that isn’t a really huge factor in my experience.
I used a first generation iPad with 3G. I activated it for two months, and then deactivated the 3G connection. I barely used it. I thought it wasn’t worth the monthly fee. I now use an ipad2 which is wifi only, and don’t regret it. Would it be nice to have the 3G (or 4G) connection? Of course, it can’t possibly hurt. But I’d rarely use it, and it’s definitely not worth the monthly fee. If the phone company would give me the cellular data network connection on the iPad for free, I’d be happy to pay the difference for an iPad with that capability. But it’s not something you MUST have. You can easily do without it.
I’d have thought if you are going for the iPad, you’d definitely want the 3G one. Anywhere with a wifi hotspot (cafes, home etc) you’ll be more likely to use your MBA (or laptop of choice), so it’s in the places where you don’t have wifi access that you are more likely to need connectivity on your iPad. That’s my experience from the iPhone, anyway.
Of course, it depends what you are going to use the iPad for. If it’s primarily as a means of passing the time (games machine / media reader) then wifi is probably fine.
A friend has an iPad; she has never regretted the lack of 3G, or felt a need for it.
Thank you all for your thoughts! You’ve made me feel quite good about the wi-fi only preference. I can imagine a few instances (e.g. waiting in the parking lot) where the 3/4G might be nice, mainly for something like wasting time on the internet and checking email, but that’d depend on me having brought the iPad solely for the purpose of doing so, in most cases, and obviously if I did have a smart phone (another probably eventually inevitable purchase) I’d be much more likely to use that instead, since it would already be with me. And let’s face it, I really don’t need more excuses to waste time goofing off on the internet. I’ve got a nice little notebook in my bag; I could be jotting a few lines of my bestseller in that, instead.
coughtestingScrivenerforiPadcough
Really at this point, my main uses would be reading PDFs, playing with new technology for the fun of it, potentially writing or writing related activities (but again, I use the MBA and like an actual keyboard, so I don’t know how this particularly will pan out–maybe it will trump the Kindle as a proofing tool, or at least supplement it) and messing around on the internet/reading email, as though I didn’t have plenty of other ways to do that already. So, 16GB wi-fi seems the way to go!
Check this out: youtube.com/watch?v=P7VgNQbZ … ata_player
Mine is wifi only, and I’ve wanted a cell connection maybe twice in the two years that I’ve owned it. My experience is that anywhere I don’t have wifi, I’m going to be more comfortable using my phone anyway.
I would suggest cramming it with as much memory as you can afford. That makes it more future-proof, and also gives you the headroom if you decide to load it up with movies for a long flight or something.
Katherine
I did think of that, but the probable reality is that I’d only bring either the iPad or the MBA on the plane, and of the two I’d rather have the MBA. If I’m ripping a DVD for watching on a tiny screen anyway, it’ll be under 1GB, so even stocking up on a few shouldn’t push me over, given that most of the rest of the time I’m not going to have a lot of media on there. I appreciate the idea of future-proofing and I know I am more than capable of expanding my junk to fill any available space, but I think 16GB is probably more than sufficient for what I will really want to use the iPad for, and 32GB would be me just sloppily and lazily downloading too much fluff. As I’m looking to get a new computer within the next couple years, I’d rather save the money to put toward that.
Regarding memory, my recently retired iPhone 3G had 16Gb and I was often deleting apps/music/video/photos from it in order to keep it functioning sweetly. I’m an app junkie, but also I have a lot of research on my phone for reading &/or referring to when out and about. Hence when my phone company had a deal with the 64Gb iPhone 4S recently (only cost about $20 more, in total, than the 32) my 3G was retired.
Anyway, suffice to say that if I can ever earn enough real money to afford an iPad (I’m currently in that post thesis-submission no-mans land, haven’t passed, haven’t started full-time work, just getting by with “bitsa” work), I will be getting at least 32Gb and possibly 64. But wifi only: if I ever need 3G access I’ll tether it to my phone.
Alternately, my recently retired iPhone 3g w/ 8GB never had less than 6GB free.
It really comes down to intended usage. For me they are supplemental or temporary solutions to problems that I only create if I plan poorly (I don’t work outside work any more and I have started to avoid technology like it is a disease). Figure out what you want to do and buy what you need to do it.
Conversely, my ATV disk is full. So is the 4TB of extra storage. The ATV was purchased to serve as a movie library and my iPhones were purchased to be … phones with calendar and email. Way over kill.
Ahh, planning. That could be it. 
It’s amazing how off we homo-sapiens are regarding planning. You would think evolution would have weeded out the non-planners. Adequate planning really is a cornerstone to success. Keep in mind I’m not talking about the “schedule” that some folks try to live by that ruins every vacation, but just the basic sit back, think about where you want to be and a few options to get there. Now move through life keeping those things in mind and let them shape what you do.
To see both sides of this in action take a trip to your local grocery. You’ll see folks wandering the isle complaining about the time and cost. Those are typically non-planners. Then you’ll have folks looking at lists and approaching each isle in turn. You’ll rarely see them flustered, rushed or upset. Those are the planners.
But I have OT’d yet another thread in less than 2 posts. Terrible. I should be reprimanded. Where’s siren?
This is an interesting discussion, particularly that on the value of different iPad configurations. I’ve now got my new 16-GB iPad set up like I want and I’m only using about 20% of its storage. There’s no way I’m going to fill up the rest with writing and on the wonderful day when Scrivener for the iPad arrives, I doubt it’ll be so large that it fills up that storage.
Here’s why, in my case, I think 16 GB is fine. If your situation varies from this, you may need more.
I won’t be using it for much photography or storing photos. If I were a pro photographer though,I’d be looking into hardware/software that’d download and display pictures just after I took them. That large and beautiful screen will give an excellent idea of a photograph’s quality.
I’m not into music and my music collection is microscopic by today’s standards.
Perhaps most important of all, with other iDevices, I can spread my apps around. I see no reason to put my huge GPS/drive-by apps on my iPad since it doesn’t have a GPS. I’ll keep those sorts of apps, as well as quite a other handy ones on my iPhone 3GS, which is always with me. I’ll reserve the iPad for apps that deserve that large screen. That’s why I bought Star Walk ($5) for it. Living in Seattle, I hardly even see a clear sky, so this lets me see what those who live in dryer and higher locales can see. I also just put Google Earth for it. I figure it’ll be great on that large screen.
With the iPad, I now feel really weird, having no less than three of Apple’s mobile devices with me at times. They’re used this way:
iPhone 3G, passed along to me by a MD-nephew. It’s jail broke, unlocked and running on T-Mobile prepay, which gets my phone bill, in conjunction with VoIP apps such as Voyage and Skype, down to about $4-5 a month. It’s stuck at iOS 4 and used only as a phone.
iPhone 3GS, purchased scratched and battered from a neighbor for $125. It’s not jail broke, so it can keep up with the latest iOS upgrades and apps. I use it as a very versatile PDA. As I tell friends, I have two iPhones because I can’t afford just one.
iPad, newly purchased. I’m starting to believe that I really can use it for writing effectively enough to delay buying an 11" MBA until the battery life gets above 10 hours or so–perhaps next year or the year after
I’m still twiddling with how to carry that iPad and keyboard about. They fit perfectly in a Targus bag I found at Goodwill, but there’s no space to spare for snacks or a book, so I may end up using one of my smaller backpacks. The latter has the advantage that it doesn’t cry out, “Steal me. Expensive digital gadget inside.”
Now I need to figure out if I want to take out Apple’s $99 protection plan. Am I that clumsy? I have less than 30 days to decide.
–Mike
P.S. One other remark. If you travel enough that you’re uncertain about whether the 3G/4G version makes sense, keep in mind that you can always get one of those MiFi hotspots. It has the advantage of working with your smartphone, your laptop, and an iPad with just one service plan.
I’m going to spring for a new iPad, my first, and I’ll get a 3G version. The reason: when I’m travelling overseas, it’s too expensive to use my iPhone on global roaming charges, but I’m a restless roamer of new cities and I love the maps and information capabilities of the iPhone/iPad. And wifi access is always hit and miss.
I figure that when I’m OS, it’s cheaper to buy a pre-paid SIM for the 3G iPad than to have the iPhone on global roaming or buying a plan for it. Carriers seem to be more open to selling limited pre-paid data for the iPad than they are for the iPhone.
So it costs me $100 more to buy the 3G version. I expect to get at least three years out of the iPad. Based on past years I’ll travel to 4-6 countries in that time. That works out to about $20 a trip to have a constantly updated travel guide in my pack. Seems worthwhile.
And because I aim for three years of use, I’ll go for the 32GB version. My 16GB iPhone already chokes on my iTunes library, and who knows what I’ll have accumulated in three years time?