How Apple Carved a Pound of Flesh from the iPad 2

[siddif]

I've heard people complain that netbooks are slow at 1.66 GHz. But the iPad is fast at 1 GHz. Now it's dual core that may be true. But I just realized how stupid it is.

Its all down to software, the iOS needs less resources to run than Win7 but can also do much less too. Personally Im not a fan of the iPad (i have an iPhone and a laptop with no need for an inbetween) but I can see why people would want one.

On a side note this (in my opinion) is not an upgrade but a little something extra to entice people who held out on the original (the upgrade to the 1st gen will be the 3rd gen much like with iPhones)

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Just putting that out there.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

one thing does slightly concern me though, that metal sheet between the screen and the batteries. I gather it was put there for a reason to begin with.

It was designed deadweight, so in a year they could release a new version thats "lighter" and be able to charge $800 for it.

Apple products are, after all, for people with more money than brains.

 

[gabe12301]

Why...do people buy this stuff, I've had a shot of one, it was a bit crap.

I dont know. I have one and it sucks. Its just an iphone that wont fit in your pocket...or take pictures.....or call someone....or text....and makes you buy more expensive HD Apps.

 

[dex-dex]

yeah I would rather try and boy a gameboy colour off ebay than get an Ipad 2
even though I know it does not cost that much BUT none the less I still want a gameboy colour
I want to play pokemon yellow on the go!

 

[SenseOfTumour]

Hah, I was mocking it earlier for being an overpriced shiny thing purely marketed to utter Nathan Barleys, and wondered who's spending £200 or more to get one, turns out they're EIGHT hundred dollars?

LOL

That is all.

Ok it's not. Can someone tell me what an ipad does that a $400 laptop doesn't do, apart from attract muggers, scratch easily, and make you look like a smug punchable git?

Oh yes, it's white.

 

[emeraldrafael]

When I first read the title, I thought of Hugo's 99 Problems
<spoiler=Particularly this part>Its a pound of flesh but its really a ton

And that could accurately define this, because I have a feeling we're gonna be reading a about a lot of problems with the iPad2

 

[Waaghpowa]

And I thought the original Ipad wasn't worth buying, these minor changes are not worth 800 dollars.

 

[Jorwell]

800 Dollars? iPad 2 is $499. Preceding model starts at $379.

 

[DonTsetsi]

To be fair, iPads have their use. And they are pretty cheap for it, too. A sport car is much more expensive and can't compensate for people's inferiority complexes indoors.

 

[rembrandtqeinstein]

So what is an alternative

What device can I get that will let me use a gps navigation system, film movies/take pictures, and watch movies using any arbitrary encoding?

The only drawback of the ipad is their stupid insistence on not having an SD/micro slot or a usb port. Other than that it is the best alternative for these functions. The SD can usb issue can be fixed with some 3rd party connectors.

 

[ZombieGenesis]

The sad fact is most of the people who bought the iPad 2 are the same people who bought the iPad. Sad truth, you just paid almost a grand for something you already owned and cannot be readily distinguished by appearance.

That's like buying the same car twice because the axis underneath it looks nicer.

 

[Destal]

The cheap model is only $500...not $800. Going from a single core to a dual core and doubling the ram is a decent upgrade I would say. They are also claiming that the new gpu is 9x more powerful. I'm no apple fanboy by any stretch, but there is no legitimate competitor that has come close to the $500 price point. The Xoom wifi only is the closest at $600 and it's not even released yet.

 

[DaxStrife]

I can see the usefulness and potential of the iPad, or more specifically tablet PCs, but I never ever buy in to Apple when they release an annual product "update" like this. It's as bad as the minor roster updates in every Madden game: you're getting the same thing you got last time, only slightly, slightly better and it costs you the same price (or more!). Now if they put these out every 3 years instead and actually had some big significant hardware upgrades (besides being slightly faster and slightly lighter), then it wouldn't be such a big waste of money.

 

[FogHornG36]

Thank god im not the only person that thinks this thing is a worthless monster that just floats around eating up money from the hipster d-bags.

 

[DTWolfwood]

i am in shocked at the price. $800? really? where the hell is the outrage that its overpriced? Its twice the amount of android tablets....

holy shit man this poster [http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/images/iProduct.gif] is true after all.

Spoiler: Apple iProduct

 

[duchaked]

that's pretty beast haha the title and description made me laugh

 

[HBaskerville]

Funniest comments are those that say "I'll never buy X because they keep making new models". Is this your first day buying anything technology? As if any company just makes one product version, then stops innovating or improving for 3 years. Guess you're still using that TRS-80, huh?

It's also classic that whenever people want to rip the iPad, they quote the highest price points. Sure they know the iPad starts at 499$, but that doesn't sound as good when trying to be snarky and condescending. But, haters gonna hate. And, apparently, have a bad day at journalism.

 

[Sovereignty]

I've heard people complain that netbooks are slow at 1.66 GHz. But the iPad is fast at 1 GHz. Now it's dual core that may be true. But I just realized how stupid it is.

Yeah, but being trendy has to be justified some how. Why not do it by saying less is more?