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I have an iPad and a Nook Color. I work for a tech company that happens to make PC hardware, so I have many computers. Basically you will find a PC or laptop in every room of my house. I work from home, so I spend a lot of time at my desk which has a workstation class PC with a 30inch lcd monitor. I still do most of my browsing there, but I have found myself picking up the iPad or Nook Color when I want to quickly check something on the web. I guess I could use the Pre, but it is nice to have the bigger screen of the tablets.
I originally bought an iPad for my Mom. For her I thought it would be a good PC replacement. About the only thing she used to do on her PC was play solitaire. She would occasionally check Facebook, but generally had some difficulty with it. She had mentioned that she wanted to get a laptop to use for when she retires, but I thought the iPad would be easier. Some benefits of the iPad are that it boots/turns on fast and is hard (near impossible) to screw up with spyware or viruses. My mom now uses the iPad continuously. She brings it almost everywhere she goes and she uses the web and email more than she ever did before. She also plays other games besides solitaire now (Angry Birds, Cut the Rope, Scrabble). Another benefit is that i devices have become somewhat ubiquitous, so if she does have problems with it she can ask friends and relatives for help. I did not necessarily want friends and relatives screwing with her PC.
At the time I purchased the iPad for my mom, I let my wife try it out and I asked her if she wanted one (she already is an iPhone user). She did like it, but said that she did not want to spend the money since she had gotten a new laptop only a few months earlier. The laptop is a small and light model that gets 8-10 hours of battery life, but still has decent horsepower. About 2 weeks after we gave my mom her iPad, my wife changed her mind and said she really wanted an iPad. Now she rarely uses her laptop and uses the iPad constantly. Yes, she can do much of what she does with the iPad on her iPhone, but the iPhone does not have the screen real estate. For web surfing the iPad kills smart phones and laptops (most of the time). The battery like on the iPad is stellar, so it is always ready to go. We have PCs or laptops in almost every room of the house, but for someone like my wife the iPad is just quicker and easier. Basically my wife uses the browser, email, chat (IM+) and watches movies (Videos, Netflix or Airplayer). She also uses the iPad to entertain our son with movies, games, books (Nook for kids) and coloring. The iPad basically goes everywhere we go.
I don't use the iPad that much, since it is usually used by my wife. However I do have an original Nook and a Nook Color. I read every day on the original Nook. It goes with me on all of my trips. I love reading from e-ink. The Nook Color is more of a toy. I wanted to root it and see what an Android tablet is like. Realistically it is almost as good as the iPad, especially considering the price. As far as I am concerned the killer app for a tablet is web browsing on a good size screen using normal websites on a device that boots/turns on immediately. I also really like the size and form factor of the Nook vs the iPad. The iPad does get heavy after a while.
You might argue that a laptop can turn on and be ready to browse as quickly as a tablet and i guess you would be correct. Even my slower laptops can strat up or return from standby pretty quickly, but they are still not as convenient or energy efficient as the Nook Color or iPad. I leave all of my laptops plugged in when they are not in use, because if I don't they generally have a dead battery when i go to use them. I could hibernate them to save energy, but then they will not be ready to go as quickly as the tablets. Lastly for simple browsing the tablet form factor is just more ergonomic.
Even though I have an iPad and Nook Color, I think I will buy a TouchPad/Palm Pad day one of it's availability. I love WebOS and think it can have even more upside than the iPad if HP handles it right.
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