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The iPad Advantage

A common question I get from people seeking my “tech recommendation” if they need an iPad – as if it were a difficult choice to make between a touch device or laptop. That is to say if they have an iPhone/iPod touch, the iPad seems redundant. If they have a laptop, the iPad will also seem redundant. It looks like they feel that if they get an iPad, they’d have to let go of one or the other.

But everyone who has talked to me about the iPad knows that I don’t believe this to be the case – far from it. They know I’m a fan of the iPad, and that I would even recommend it over a laptop – which is partly true.

The truth is that whenever a person asks “what would be a better buy: an iPad or a laptop,” my first question would always be if they already have a primary machine (desktop or laptop). If they do [have a primary machine], unless they’ve got special needs, I’d easily recommend an iPad over a laptop any day.

Why is that you ask? Read on. Read More

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MacBook Air vs MacBook Pro

One thing I wasn’t able to to when I got the MacBook Air (Air) was to make a video of it going head to head with my old 2.4GHz 15″ MacBook Pro (MBP) w/ 4GB RAM and 250GB HDD. The reason I got the Air was precisely because I had already sold [and given away] the MBP – so it was good as gone. Another reason was because the MBP was a 1st Generation unit. While it did have the comparable specs to compare the Air with, I also didn’t want to leave “room for doubt” because of its age.

Luckily, I was able to help a friend out in sourcing a brand new MBP. What’s better is that the MBP had the exact same specs as my old MBP – the only difference was the 13″ native resolution [was smaller than the 15″]. But other than that, it’s exactly the same… and it’s from the newest line of MBPs Apple released.

My previous post just showed a video of the general impression I had of the Air on it’s own, but now I present to you a legitimate head-to-head comparison video of how the Air stacks up against what’s supposed to be a more powerful MBP of the same “generation.”

Read More

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It’s all about the interface

I’ve already explained why I personally think the iPad is a solid/useful gadget for my tastes. But of course there will always be people in the “other camp” that disagree; people who think that the tablet is utterly useless because of how “limited” it is compared to a laptop, or comparing it to the competition which “does more.”

To all those who think that way, and are trying to understand why people like me think otherwise, I present to you three articles below. I believe that all the points/concepts in these articles give a good overall picture of what people from “our side of the fence” are seeing.

Bottomline is, that you can have all the bells and whistles in hardware, but your device will always be as weak as its interface. And historically speaking, choosing the best “interface metaphor” to use for different devices has always been Apple’s forte.

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Lemme at that overgrown iPhone!

Is anyone surprised that I 1 Or anyone else for that matter have a post on the iPad? Thought so.

A good articulation of the concern I’ve always had since rumors of the tablet started, would be from an article at GDGT:

Will people buy it in droves? Is there actually room for a device between smartphones and laptops? That I don’t know — I’ve always been skeptical there’s room for a third category in there. But if there is a contender for this space, the iPad is it.

My knee-jerk answer would be “no” as far as how much people would actually prefer using this over laptops and phones. But then again, Apple has been known to be such a great “game changer” in any industry that they might just successfully create a new “perceived need” in the minds of the people.

However, having said all that, I still am getting one 😉 Not only because of the hype; but I really feel this is exactly the type of “large factor” mobile device I would like to be lugging around instead of a laptop. Read More

Notes

Notes
⇡1 Or anyone else for that matter
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iPhone jailbroken apps worth paying for

It’s been a while since I blogged, the past few weeks have been extremely hectic with the storm, work, etc. that I had been neglecting my blog. Anyways, there are a bunch of stuff I could discuss from the past few weeks, but lets focus on one right now. I’m starting from the most recent “happening” – which is how I had just updated my iPhone OS to v3.1.2 1 since the tools for jailbreaking my 3GS was made available only recently.

Now why is this worthy for a blog entry? Maybe it isn’t. Perhaps if you knew the context, it would make more sense. 2 And help you decide if it’s worth taking note of Sufficed to say that this only applies to iPhone users (and those who are planning to get iPhones, I guess) Read More

Notes

Notes
⇡1 since the tools for jailbreaking my 3GS was made available only recently.
⇡2 And help you decide if it’s worth taking note of