I for one was looking forward to the iPad and had high hopes. I was ready to stand in line for hours, like I did to get the iPhone, to get my hands on one of these “new” tablet computers (I use the word computer lightly). After watching Apple’s Tablet Announcement a few minutes ago I don’t think it’s worth it.

Can it really be called a computer?

I guess in the general basic sense of what a computer is, yes, but when it comes to what a computer has become and what we have grownt to expect from a computer, no. Boasting a 1ghz processor, minimal memory, minimal dard drive space, no flash support (surprise), no multitasking, no wide screen videos, no camera this is far from a mainstream “computer” or maybe even a useful device.

Geoffl:“A tablet is most likely. The future of desktop computers and possibly laptops, lies in mobility and portability such as a tablet will offer.”

Me: Come on really, I dont think it will happen in the next 20 years.

Sarah: While I think it’s cool, is it really one gadget too far? If you have a smartphone and a laptop why do you need a tablet. Initially it might do okay because it’s shiny and new but long term is there really demand?

Me: Finally someone with some sense based in reality and not in “mac world”.

McGraw-Hill CEO: confirmed the Apple Tablet on CNBC, calling it “terrific”.

Me: Yeh it’s only terrific because it is going to help you sell more ebooks, but to the general mac or PC user it’s a step back in time to when computers could only be used for emails, Microsoft word, or creating spreadsheets (isn’t this what the PC guy in the Mac commercials says PC’s do?)

10 reasons not to buy the newton, I mean iPad.

1. The first version of any Apple product will be outdated soon. It’s the First Commandment of Apple consumers: Thou shalt not buy the rookie products. “I’d like all the other ‘beta testers’ to work out the kinks first,” one staffer here says. Sometimes, the launch is completely half-baked. Remember the iPhone’s debut? Just months after it hit the market, the 4GB version was scuttled and the 8GB version’s price dropped.

2. You don’t need a giant thousand-dollar smart phone. You’ve got an iPhone. You’ve got a laptop. You just received a Kindle for Christmas. Why do you need a tablet? You’re probably not sure. Unlike the iPod and the iPhone, this is a product without a clear need. Unless you deliver FedEx packages, you probably don’t need a giant mobile touch-screen device.

3. You’re just going to break it, anyway. Picture yourself with your steaming coffee in one hand, your squirming toddler in the other and suddenly your precious Apple Tablet escapes and plummets to the floor, shattering into a million little pieces.

4. Multifunction devices can do a lot, just not well. Other than your couch, where might your tablet be more useful than what you’re using now? Will you use your tablet instead of the PC at your office desk? Will you watch videos on it instead of your flat-screen monitor? Will you use it instead of your smartphone when you’re out? No, no, and no.

5. Buy one, and you might as well wear a “Rob Me!” sign. Carrying a tablet around on public transit, on the street, or in a bar is a needless risk, yet that’s precisely where you’re expected to use them.

6. The tablet never caught on, and there’s a reason for that. You do not need to buy a new gadget every time Steve Jobs tells you to.

7. No keyboard, no mouse, no dice. Typing (or “typing”) on touchscreens is annoying. How many Tablet buyers will wind up connecting peripheral keyboards and mice?

8. Netbooks are cheaper. With a glut of Netbooks on the market, with keyboards, offering a full Web experience with significantly less sticker shock than the tablet, there’s no reason to go there.

9. Something better’s coming. With advances in speech recognition, data input will be changing radically over the next few years. Perhaps more importantly, advances in mobile display technology suggest we’ll eventually be projecting images and videos on blank walls, or even into space. Or we’ll be wearing headsets that project tiny images of the screen into our eyes at close range. In any event, the tablet is an innovation that will surely be obsolete within a few years.

10.Beware — Apple also built the world’s most infamous paperweight. One word: Newton.

I guess my question is what can you do on the iPad that you cant do on your iPhone and why would I pay 500-900 dollars for basically a low grade computer/iPhone?

Granted maybe its better in person, and maybe once I start playing with it I will fall in love with it (like I did with the iPhone), but I really think Apple missed the ball with this product as being anything more than a kindle killer.

What do you think?