The One-Pound iPad

I got mine at Best Buy this morning no problem. I showed up about 8:15 and there were 4-5 people buying but no lines and seemed like plenty of stock.

 

Thanks for the update. At work will look at it tonight after dinner. I can get $200 as a trade in of my Gen 3 or sell on craigslist for about $250. The question is do I want to part with $300

 

Thanks for the update !

 

I am coming from an iPad 4, so performance-wise there is not a lot of difference (for the time being until apps begin to take advantage of the new power). I bought it solely because I wanted a lighter full-sized iPad.

I bought the iPad 1 originally and liked it, but found it was too slow to be as useful as I'd like. I waited until the iPad 4 was out to upgrade, and that was a revelation. It felt a lot more like using a real computer, and it has become my most-used computing device at home. It was just a little bit heavy for extended use in-hand. The Air appears to be about 70% of the way there. Not so light yet that I can manage it one-handed effortlessly, but a big improvement. With what Apple is doing with new apps like iPhoto for iOS I expect my iPad to only get more and more use in the future as 'real' computers become less and less necessary.

 

I ordered 64MB wifi this morning, no problem, from Apple store website, and was able to designate local pickup at an Apple store. They quickly confirmed it is ready for pickup. Once you designate on the initial screen what you want, you can check availability at local stores (by zip code). I took advantage of the Barclay credit card offer to delay payment for 12 months (interest free).

One rumor site said availability of some high end (128 mb cell) models was tightening at some stores.

As a side note, T-mobile's website is currently only showing 16mb and 32mb models.

 

Does anyone know if the Apple store is taking in older iPads in trade

 

Short answer is yes, but only for store credit. Here's a good summary of the most well known places offering credits or cash:

How and where to trade in your old iPad for the most cash or store credit

 

Is the screen better for your eyees ? Better clarity?

 

Glad to see you got one daniel.

Just really getting to use it a bit now. The screen looks just about the same as my 4. Perhaps a little whiter but I can't really say better. They're both awesome.

The narrower bezel makes the screen feel even bigger though, which is weird because the in hand feel is much better as well. The weight, thickness and width all add up to a device that's a lot easier to hold. Good stuff.

The funny thing is I was using my Microsoft Surface Pro at work a bit today, and for so many things the ipad is just faster and smoother even though the Surface has significantly more power. Neat device but I struggle to find ways to make full use of it.

 

Just to follow up, the T-mobile website is finally showing all 4 memory options for their cellular ipads (16 mb, 32 mb, 64 mb & 128 mb). In a new wrinkle, customers who want to finance their iPad through T-Mobile and who don’t already have T-Mobile service are required to sign up for a paid plan, starting at $20 for 500 mb (plus another 200 mb "free"). If you pay cash, you get the 200 mb free without a paid plan. As I understand it, if you are a voice customer, you get a $10 monthly credit on any paid plan. I'm pretty sure tethering is included in their simple choice voice/data plans.

They lost a sale with me by not having all their ducks in a row last Friday.

 

Short answer - Yes, there are backup settings on the summary tab/screen in itunes (when the device is plugged in) that control whether to open itunes automatically when the device is plugged in, whether to sync, whether to back up to icloud or to your computer, and whether to only backup manually.

Long answer - There's really no need to plug into your computer anymore. You can buy apps directly from your ipad, and all apps on your ipad can be set to update automatically over wifi. The operating system can also be updated over wifi. If you set up an icloud account (not to be confused with your itunes account), you can backup to, and restore from, icloud. You can also choose to occasionally manually backup to your computer, just for a bit of redundancy, and because restores are said to be faster that way (in case someone doesn't know, you can do a restore to a new ipad from a backup of an old ipad).

 

I read about the Target trade-in program in the paper last Thursday, so I moved my iPad upgrade up about a month. I traded in my late wife's original iPad (16GB, wifi) at the Target near work last Friday. They had no wait, but didn't have any iPad Airs in stock. I asked if I could also trade in my own original iPad and they said "Sure, at another store." I went home, did a full sync to my iMac, and took my original iPad (32GB, 3G) to my local Target. Again, there was no line, but also no iPad Airs. BTW, the regular Target trade-in values for my iPads were about $65 & $75, so $200 each was awesome.

Armed with $400 in Target gift cards, I started calling area Target stores on Saturday morning which target.com claimed had an iPad Air, 64GB, wifi in stock. One store had a returned unit, hmmm, and another had one in stock that they would hold if I came right away. So, for $299 plus tax (on $699), I bought the upgraded iPad Air I wanted. While I was buying the unit, the sales clerk was on the phone telling another customer that he would hold their only 32GB Air if they came right away.

It took a couple hours Saturday evening to let the new iPad get restored from my iMac, install the rest of the software over the net, and then update all the old apps because my old iPad couldn't run IOS 6 or 7.

On Sunday after church, I made a run to the Apple store to pick up a Apple case (it was funny how the Air flopped around in my Saddleback Leather iPad 1 case) and spare lightning power cord for work (thank you Apple for having yet another connector).

 

I also took advantage of the Target offer to exchange my wife's iPad2 to an iPad Air. The improved screen is a treat for old eyes. Oddly enough my wife did not think the Air's screen was better than a non-retina screen when we checked them out at the Apple store; in fact, she preferred the low rez! We both thought she was paying attention to the higher brightness level in the old device rather than the clarity. At home we do not have the bright lights of a store, and then she saw the marked improvement.

I hate to say it since I just bought a MacBook Air, but when Apple upgrades the notebook to Retina I'm buying.

 

Yup, we had been keeping an iPad1 for the kids, but the Target offer was too good to pass up. Probably keeping the iPad4 instead now unless I get someone willing to pay a good price from Craigslist. If that happens, we'll add a new Mini to the stable.

 

"Web pages sometimes have text that does not wrap as you enlarge it..."

Badly designed web pages. /rant