What's good and what's bad with the new iPad? I'm thinking of getting one, but is it worth my money?

What exactly are you going to use it for ?

Personally i see very little reason to buy any tablet, portable movieplayers are cheaper, e-book readers are easier to read on, and a netbook/laptop is far better for doing real work.

If you do have something you need/want to do that a tablet would be really good for ask yourself this:
is the Ipad2 better for this than equally priced or cheaper competing products ? (and if it is better, do you really need it to be better ?)
is this thing i need/want to do important enough to motivate the cost ?

What exactly are you going to use it for ?

Good question! I honestly don't know... I like the look and features that it come with. But other than that, I hearing so much hype about it and I don't understand how or why... o_O

Pros: you can use it to watch movies while lying face down in bed.
Cons: it's far worse than a device you either already own or can obtain for a fraction of the price of an iPad for any other task.

Every single iPad I've seen has been used either as a digital photo frame or as an unwieldy way to play games everyone else got bored with in the early 1990s. (Seriously, Angry Birds is the biggest name on the platform, for crying out loud!)

There are a lot of cheaper (arguably better) tablets released since CES. The Asus EEE ep121 is an AWESOME one, and comes with a wireless keyboard so you can, in theory, use it like a normal laptop. Not sure how well their stand dealie guy would work on an airplane, but it looks like it would work fine at home.

[quote name='SimonForsman' timestamp='1301911981' post='4794133']
What exactly are you going to use it for ?

Good question! I honestly don't know...
[/quote]
This means you shouldn't get one.

Does the IPad 2 have proper support for multitasking, so I can keep something actually running in the back ground while I flip to another program to read while I wait for the first to finish?

If not, it is an overly expensive paperweight that likely doesn't even do a great job at that.

Cons: it's far worse than a device you either already own or can obtain for a fraction of the price of an iPad for any other task.

Quite a large fraction, like 80% here in the UK. Far worse is also a difficult position to support since it depends what you think is important. For portability, battery life and weight, it beats even netbooks. But since you are talking about "a device you already own" you probably mean a laptop, which totally sucks on those metrics. Comparing a laptop with an iPad is like comparing a laptop with a desktop.

or

[quote name='valderman' timestamp='1301918940' post='4794169']
Cons: it's far worse than a device you either already own or can obtain for a fraction of the price of an iPad for any other task.

Quite a large fraction, like 80% here in the UK. Far worse is also a difficult position to support since it depends what you think is important. For portability, battery life and weight, it beats even netbooks. But since you are talking about "a device you already own" you probably mean a laptop, which totally sucks on those metrics. Comparing a laptop with an iPad is like comparing a laptop with a desktop.
[/quote]

laptops are more powerful than I think you think they are now. Many laptops get better battery life than an ipad if used in a battery conducive way also (edit: this is a pretty recent development with new processors. 2 years ago this was certainly not the case). Comparing a laptop with an iPad these days is like comparing a desktop with an iPad more than a desktop with a laptop.

[quote name='valderman' timestamp='1301918940' post='4794169']
Cons: it's far worse than a device you either already own or can obtain for a fraction of the price of an iPad for any other task.

Quite a large fraction, like 80% here in the UK. Far worse is also a difficult position to support since it depends what you think is important. For portability, battery life and weight, it beats even netbooks. But since you are talking about "a device you already own" you probably mean a laptop, which totally sucks on those metrics. Comparing a laptop with an iPad is like comparing a laptop with a desktop.
[/quote]That's great, you can carry it around. However, most people likely already own an object that's great for carrying around, be it a cell phone, a teddy bear or a nicely shaped rock of just the right size. The question is, why would you want to carry it around?

Does the IPad 2 have proper support for multitasking, so I can keep something actually running in the back ground while I flip to another program to read while I wait for the first to finish?[/quote]Nope.