i just tried one out at the apple store in midtown. immediately i hated that you cant rest your eight fingers in home position. (soon as you do, it immediately types "asdfjkl;")
yea, anyone who thinks this will replace netbooks is smoking something. On the other hand, as Raj said: "what if such devices start taking over, just as cheap rubber dome over membrane keyboards did?" The mass consumer is a curious beast for whom the regular laws of computing just dont apply.
The place was *mobbed* for a wednesday night - standing room only at the ipad demo tables. First of all the apple store looks like a freaking mormon church. The worshippers gathered around the tablet like it was something moses had just brought down.
That said, the thing is
pretty. Its not for me because i'm too much of a tweaker and i'd resent too much Apple's closed system (you dont just buy the ipad; you buy the whole locked-in system that apple controls). But was it pretty? Hell yea, it was pretty and if Android makes one i'll probably buy one. Not as a replacement for a regular laptop tho, but maybe to replace my bedside alarm clock. Thats actually the best use I can think of for ipad-like products. Replace your alarm clock.
Because it basically can turn your bedside alarm clock into an email checker, weather reporter, quick web lookup device, occasional game or movie or book -- and still be an alarm clock. Thats what i'd buy it for. Not to replace any of my main computers. Its an appliance, a gadget, not a computer, AFAI'm concerned.
I have to say tho, to criticize MS for a bit, I recently set up a netbook for an elderly couple, and by the time I did the 80 or so windows updates, got the crapware off, setup office and an antivirus program and etc, it took almost 2.5 hours, maybe longer. The elderly couple could never have done it on their own. They would probably have been better off with an i-something. There's definitely a legitimate market out there for the 'appliance model'. It just happens to not be me.
and yea, i hate touch-screen-keyboards, even on cell phones. I have to have physical buttons. Like someone else was saying, i blame apple for that too if it becomes the norm.
The book reader on it was pretty too, nice graphics, very responsive, but at 1.5 lbs, I wonder how long i'd happily hold it up before my forearms get sore. I also happen to be perfectly happy with e-ink screens (I have a sony prs-600 ereader which I really like. E-ink screen and much, much lighter, and a battery that lasts 10 days straight).