Apple Fanboi

I don't think you can truly
appreciate the size of this
thing from the pic.

In college I decided I wanted to buy my first mp3 player. I of course knew lots of people with iPods. I even did a class project for human factors and ergonomics on the usability and learning curve associated with the (then revolutionary) click-wheel iPod.  However, the one thing I knew about my first mp3 player is that it would not be made by Apple. For some reason I loathed the thought of using Apple products. They were over-priced ways that people could buy a little piece of "cool" they could carry around and show everybody. I refused to use iTunes. I used Winamp, and loved it.  I ended up buying a Creative Jukebox Zen Xtra mp3 player that a friend nicknamed the largePod. I struggled to sync my music over to it for years. It was literally a giant pain, but I endured it with my head held high.


Eventually I graduated college and entered the working world. Everybody had nice little sexy iPods and I had a massive brick of plastic and metal knows as the Creative Zen Xtra.  It served me well, though it never got easier to manage my music library or be sure that my songs got synced over to the device.  It did sound pretty amazing, and it had a user-replaceable battery (which never got changed). It had a massive 40gb of storage. I still have it today, though I can't find the power cord. I want to dig it up someday and listen to some of my old music.  One of my co-workers finally talked me in to using iTunes, and I have been using it to manage my music library ever since.  Once I had everything organized with the album art in iTunes the next logical step was to get an iPod. Now that I had a bit more disposable income that was actually in the cards. When the 5.5 gen iPods were announced I finally bit the bullet and got a 80gb. I was finally "cool", and now was officially inducted into the brotherhood of Apple product ownership.  I still use that iPod today. It works great.

Fast forward a couple years to when the 2nd gen iPod touch came out. I found an awesome deal and couldn't resist.  Since I bought that iPod touch I have used it every single day. When the new 4th gen came out this past fall I upgraded and my wife got that other one.  The 1st gen iPod touch that I had picked up used in the interim got handed down to my niece, thereby creating another loyal member of the Apple cult. My wife has since got an iPhone 4 and she loves that. I am holding out for the iPhone 5.

Last year when the iPad was announced it seemed like an iPod touch that was too big to fit in your pocket.  I didn't see the point at all.  It was strictly a novelty device for the rich.  In the past year my tune has changed a bit.  I have been thinking about buying an ultra-portable thin-and-light laptop as I have never owned a laptop.  I have been writing a lot over the last couple years, and a laptop seems like it would be really convenient.  I decided to hold off and see what the iPad 2 had to offer.  It goes on sale next week and I have a bit of a quandary.

I want to use my mobile computer for reading articles/blogs, twitter, email, and all that jazz. However, the main purpose will always be writing... aka text entry.  I would love to get a Macbook Air, but I don't want to spend that much money.  The iPad is in my price range, but I am concerned about the keyboard situation.  I know the on-screen keyboard isn't ideal for lots of typing, but I think it would be usable for shorter stuff.  I would definitely buy one of those little Apple bluetooth keyboards to use with it when I want to write a lot.  Those stand-alone keyboards tend to be larger and more comfortable than the keyboards on ultra-portable laptops anyway.

I think I have convinced myself that buying an iPad 2 is the way to go.  Sure it barely counts as a real computer, but I think it will do at least 90% of what I need it to. I am sure there will be some major limitations that I'm not thinking of.  I just hope I realize what those are before it is too late to take it back.  I'm probably only going to get the 16gb version, which is pretty lame.  It will be super-thin which will be nice, but the pixel density on the screen will be much lower than even my iPod has. I'm worried it won't look nearly as crisp for reading text.  It also only has a mono speaker... lame.  No SD card slot, though you can get an adapter. Not sure how that works integrating the expansion memory into the device. It probably just allows you visibility to media that is on the card.

The more I think about it the more I lean towards getting an actual laptop or maybe the 10.1" Motorola Xoom tablet when it comes out.  I haven't owned an Android device, and I'm interested in that.  Still, I already am in the Apple ecosystem and own a lot of apps, so the iPad would take advantage of that.  I think iOS on the iPad has a lot of room for improvement. I am interested in seeing what they bring in the new version of the operating system they will announce this summer.  They need to improve notifications for both the iPhone and iPad. I would like to see them fundamentally change the look on the iPad so it doesn't merely look like a blown up version of the iPhone interface... but that might be asking a bit much.

There are tough decisions to be made when you have money burning a hole in your pocket.  Granted, it has taken me over 3 years to pull the trigger on a laptop/ultra-portable writing device. I love researching and agonizing over buying a piece of tech. It is one of my true pleasures in life. It makes actually getting something and holding it in your hands that much more exciting.  The good thing is the longer you sit on your hands trying to decide, the cheaper stuff is getting, all the while becoming better/faster/thinner. By the time next weekend rolls around we might be the proud owners of a new iPad 2.