iPad 2

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Though I suspect it is pointless to argue with you, you are obviously wrong, and plenty of millions of users could easily point that out by demonstration.

The tablet computer market was a joke before Apple introduced the iPad. Now there are slews of imitators lined up to jump into the market with comparable products. If you don't grasp how a tablet computer like an iPad can be useful, fine. However that doesn't have any bearing on their actual utility.

Pfft, if it lets me read hundreds of comics on the move, I'm all for it

I can do that now on my phone, true, but it's a much smaller screen, iPad sizes look a lot better for comics.

Now that would be all kinds of awesome

Would you care to explain how it can be useful for us then, cos I'm at a loss to see what benifit it has over say... a laptop or a smartphone.

Over those? Probably not much. It's lighter and more portable than the average laptop, and has a bigger screen than all smartphones, but for functionality, it's not that much better.

Calling it an overpriced e-reader is somewhat ridiculous though

Show me an ereader that can do all the things the ipad 2 can, for a normal ereader price, and I'll be more inclined to agree.

A tablet computer isn't a substitute for either a laptop or a smartphone - the devices complement each other. The iPad + desktop on a home wireless network, particularly with a tunnelling app, is a great combination.

(I don't understand the defensiveness that many computer users retreat into whenever there's an Apple announcement. It's predictable, though.)

Reading the forums (or any webpage) from the couch it's brilliant.

As others have said, as a complement to other devices you have set up it works wonderfully well.

Plus World of Goo is stunning on it.

Mind you in terms of true cross-device interoperability and integration I'd go for an Android based system with quaint things like USB ports over an iPad or iPhone. iTunes is a piece of rubbish when it comes to controlling your music library.

I must try tunneling on ours when I get home.

I have no idea how it might be useful to you. I have plenty of knowledge on how it is useful to me.

I use it for:
A) an e-reader which it is quite nice for
B) I watch videos on it (commonly at the gym while on an exercise machine, which won't work on a laptop or e-reader. A smart phone might do it, but the screen would be too small). The fact that it does videos, music, newspapers, and books all well means it is a wonderful media device for traveling. It is small and lightweight and ends up being the only thing you have to fetch out of your carry-on (well except snacks).
C) A web browser of convenience. I can use it comfortable in my recliner while watching TV, or lying in bed. The easy switch over from reading a book (or my newspaper) to looking up something on the web if I'm curious is very handy.
D) It is a great pen and paper gaming tool. I store all the Pathfinder books I use in it, and I also have access to the online Pathfinder Reference Document, which makes searching the rules even easier. I can output PC Gen character sheets into html format, and use the iPad as my character sheet. On top of that I can run spreadsheets to do in game calculations. The other day I wrote up a damage per round calculator in Excel for Pathfinder and will likely import it onto my iPad before my next Pathfinder Society game so I have that tool handy. I have a nice dice roller on the machine as well. While I do prefer my physical dice, I do have the option of letting it take care of that. For a gaming session, it could very well be all I ever would have to lug around.
E) A nice email reading tool. The bigger screen makes the reading easier than a smart phone as well as the bigger virtual keyboard is easier for typing.

This is all I use it for, and I find that to be quite enough for me to be satisfied with the purchase. Other people find a lot of other uses (the horde of available apps is a testament to that).

Now you can ask how many of the above things are exclusive to it over a laptop or smart phone? Certainly not all. However with its very long battery life, it surpasses a laptop in a lot of the applications purely on endurance. The much larger screen makes it much more pleasant for most any data interaction than any smart phone. While you could cover what it does with a laptop and smart phone, you wouldn't be able to do it as well (of course those other two devices can do things the iPad can't, which is why I have all three).

Erm, good?

The thing about pads and their ability to use the screen as the input device is that it gives developers the ability to design applications without the need to stick with the boring old desktop / pointer / keyboard set-up of yore. The single biggest mistake Microsoft made with Tablets was trying to force a Windows style interface / desktop onto it. It simply doesn't work.

Unless it can run CoH it's JUNK!

Well, not quite. Betting it could back-stop a bullet just fine!

Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.

Yeah, I'm not sold on touch screens. I have a HTC desire and still miss a physical keypad.

Having used one and not just lusted after it, yes i can say that.

what "all the things" it does less than a frigging iPhone and you pay more.

That wasn't the debate though, you stated it was an overpriced ereader, I asked you to show me an e-reader that can the same things as an iPad 2 for less money.

I get you don't like it, fair play to you, but at least be consistent in your arguments, dude, makes it all the better for an intelligent conversation

Having owned most models of iPhones since they were available, this isn't quite true. With the iPad 2, the only thing you can't do on an iPad that you can do on an iPhone is make phone calls, and with Skype even that isn't completely true. The original iPad lacked the cameras, which really was the main difference.

If I'm reading it right, both cameras are HD, so it should at least be a decent resolution for HD.

For a start the $199 Nook colour

the reason for the iphone comparison is that the only advantage it has over an iphone is the larger screen, and if that is what you are interested in, an electronic device with a big screen to read comics on, then getting a ipad would be a spectacular waste of money.

so I come full circle, it's an over priced e reader.

You really wanting one doesn't change that.

If you're going to set up skewed parallels, at least compare the iPad to the Kindle, which has a Web Kit-based browser (experimental). Meanwhile, the iPad's range of full-fledged applications seems to have escaped your awareness.