iPad, someone please convince me

[Plazmodeus]

Comrades

Like others here, I am a tech gizmo freak. I like shiny new things and I want them. But there is a practicality threshold that a toy must cross for me to buy it. It has to allow me to do something that I couldn't do before, or do something I can currently do, better.

I want an iPad. It appeals to my gizmo freak nature. But when I go into the store to buy it and I flick around on it's screen, something stops me. I can't quite get it across that practicality threshold. I think about myself using it to: take notes in meetings, read all those old Marvel comics I used to love, play scrabble during video conferences, read books on planes. Hmmm, that's $800 for a comic book reader. I also think about cool ways I could use it in my pnp rpg sessions and I can't quite find the apps for that. Like Jobs himself was quoted as saying: 'What can you do with it other than read web pages on the john?'

There is also the limitations. No usb, no HDD. No real way to save a word doc to an external drive. Yech, iTunes. No Flash. And worst of all, the feeling that everything you do on YOUR iPad costs you money. It's like you're being sold a shopping mall for you to spend money in. I really do want a Win7 Tablet. But a good one. Not one that is a hacked together PC that would break your toe if it fell on it. One that is a real computer. But who knows when that will arrive?

Sorry, I am rambling. So I ask my fellow Gerbils with iPads to tell me some of the cool things they do with their iPads. Convince me to buy one, please!

[Fighterpilot]

You made such good points against it.....I've decided not to buy one.

[element]

Wait for Notion Ink's Adam or HP's tablet with WebOS.

[Sargent Duck]

I would wait till the other companies get their product out. You know they will have flash and a USB, and probably even a hard drive! Yes, the ipad will continue to sell like hotcakes, but there will be better alternatives out there.

[SNM]

I find myself thinking about buying a cheap one to watch Netflix on and read Time Magazine with, once they set up the subscriber thing like they did with People.
But then I remember that it's still running iOS 3.2 and barely has a higher-res display than the iPhone 4 and resolve to not touch the thing until version 2 comes out.