While there have been many articles and posts about the iPad I would like to add my two cents worth.  I acquired my iPad in early November and continually find ways that it makes things both easier and more productive.  I have made two trips since acquiring the iPad and in both cases the iPad eliminated the need to carry a laptop.  Now my Apple MacBook only weighs a little over 5 pounds but the iPad comes in at around a pound and one half – a substantial difference when slogging your way through the lengthy concourses at our airports.  Because Kindle software is available for the iPad another weight reduction comes from no longer having to carry my Kindle – here again not a lot of weight but never the less we are now up to a weight reduction of close to five pounds – see the above about the airport terminals.  Another iPad advantage is that at most airports it is not necessary to take it out when going through security.  By the way, I am not a big Apple user – my mainstay computer is a HP 18″ laptop.  Having  said that, I find it amazing how much of my day-to-day activity happens on the iPad!  Email, Twitter, Facebook, web browsing happen daily while sitting in the great room watching television – no need to get up and go to the office to research something on the internet that comes up on TV.

The virtually unlimited range of apps available for the iPad – something over 60,000 iPad specific apps not counting the over 300,000 for the iPhone which run on the iPad – means one can find an app to fit almost any situation. While on the subject of applications those with an iPad that do not have an Air Print printer and may have been trying to find a way to print from the iPad, there is help and it works very well – the app is Print n Share and you can find it in the app store.  Another very helpful app is LogMeIn.  This app allows me to access my main computer – the HP Laptop – or my Apple MacBook from anywhere and actually work on that computer.  I would be remiss if I did not mention Evernote.  This application helps to organize my life and keeps the entire gauntlet of different sources of information in one spot, categorized by whatever grouping I choose to establish, makes them available from anywhere  – from whatever of my devices I am using at that time – as long as there is an internet connection.   If you are looking for an alternative to Safari for web browsing take a look at Skyfire.  Walt Mossberg – the technology writer for The Wall Street Journal – wrote a very informative article titled In and Out Of Office: Putting iPads to Work this week.  You can find it at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703899704576204564046912604.html?mod=djemptech_t.

The iPad on-screen keyboard is more than adequate for most of the activities that I do on the iPad but when I think I will be doing more typing I take out my Padacs combo iPad carrying case/keyboard.  The keyboard is narrower than a standard keyboard but works well with its only shortcoming being the lack of a right shift key.  By the way, the Padacs keyboard is silicone so it is silent and I have used it to take notes in meetings without the disruptive clicking attendant to most laptop keyboards.  If I do not contemplate other than normal things on a trip my iPad travels in a wonderful leather case by Targus.  I got mine at Best Buy but I am sure there are other outlets.

Earlier I wrote about my decision to move from the Droid to an iPhone, a decision made much easier by my experience with the iPad.  Many, if not all, of the applications are the same and the operation is truly identical.  The next question I suppose is do I upgrade to the iPad 2?  For me the answer is more than likely no.  While there are certainly changes and upgrades I have not found any of them compelling enough to make the change and I will probably stay on the sideline until iPad 3.  If however I were inclined, I would look to Alltech Wholesale on eBay to sell my current iPad.  This is where I sold my Droid for more than I paid for it.  As you have probably surmised, I am a very happy iPad user and would recommend an iPad to anyone.