With the holidays upon us and the iPad being on the top of many wish lists it’s a good time to answer all these questions at once.
Q. Which iPad should I get?
A. Well that depends on your needs. Basically you are looking at two different models and then each model has three different size capacities. Let’s start with size, there’s 16GB, 32GB and 64GB. If the recipient plans to store music, photos, movies and treat their iPad like a stand alone computer or laptop replacement you might want to think about the 64GB model. If your recipient already has a laptop then I would probably go with the 16GB. For me I wanted the 32GB model as I wanted to keep some of my music on me and have enough storage for movies and tv shows for on the go. So now the real question, to go 3G or not. If your recipient spends most of their time surrounded by WIFI networks then they may not need the 3G model. If they might need internet everywhere they go then 3G is it. This also works well if you are giving it to someone who doesn’t have internet access already (they will need a computer to initialize it, or someone to do it for them).
Q. If I get the 3G model they will be tied to AT&T for 2 years, right?
A. Not at all! They actually did something right here by not making you sign a contract. You can turn your 3G data plan on or off, on a month by month basis. You can also change how much you spend depending on how much you are going to use each month. For $14.99 you get 250MBs of data a month. This is good if your user spends the bulk of their time on a WIFI network and only occasionally needs internet on the go. For $25 a month you get 2GBs of data.
Q. If I go over my data is it really expensive?
A. Not really, the data plans expire when you reach your purchased limit or you hit the 30 day mark, whichever comes first. Another nice thing they do is give you a little pop up notification when you’re getting low. If you burn through your 250MBs like it was nothing and it expires you can then chose if you want to do an additional 250MBs or maybe go with the 2GBs for $25. It’s surprisingly flexible considering you are dealing with a phone carrier.
Q. Can this be used as a stand alone computer? It’s just like a small laptop, right?
A. OK, this is the big question I get. As much as I hate to make this comparison it helps to explain it. It’s like a big iPod Touch with better screen real estate. So no USB ports or DVD drive, you purchase items directly on device from iTunes or you transfer it from another computer. It’s not running full OS X which means you rely on the App store and you can’t put apps that run on your Mac onto it unless they make an iOS version of it. With all this said it can be all the computer a person needs. My mother-in-law had a MacBook that she disliked using as it did too much. She loves her iPad though. This is not to say it’s for low tech people as some of the savviest geeks I know love their iPad and choose to travel with it and leave their MacBook Pro behind.
Q. Can I print from the iPad? I’ve heard of Airprint but I’m confused as people are saying they still can’t print.
A. Just before Airprint enabled iOS was released there were some last minute changes made that would have enabled you to print to any printer on your network that you shared from your Mac. For whatever reason that feature was killed. So currently the only supported print method is for you to own one of eleven available printers from HP that have ePrint technology. Before you go all grumpy on me there are some third party work arounds out there. Printopia brings back the ability to share your printers from your Mac so you can print from your iPad or any iOS device that supports Airprint. It’s only $9.95, allows you to print to any existing printer and doesn’t involve hacking your Mac (yes I’m aware of the hacks, if you are too then this post may not be for you ;-)
Q. I’m giving my Grandma a 3G iPad and a HP printer with ePrint. Does she need to have internet?
A. Unfortunately she does, the HP ePrint has a set email address and gets the print jobs through the internet and not by a local connection. Assuming Grandma doesn’t have a computer (since she doesn’t have internet) there’s really no third party options or hacks that will help Grandma to be able to print from an iPad.
Q. Is there a benefit of getting an HP with ePrint?
A. One of the cool things about this printer is not only can you print from your iPad to it over WIFI/3G, you don’t even have to be on the same network as it! This means that anyone you want to be able to receive printouts from you only need to give them your HP’s email address. What if Grandma is a bit savvy and does have internet at her house, buy her an HP with ePrint and then you can send her print outs of the kids directly to her! She’ll love it. Is ePrint perfect? No it has some limitations of what it can print via that technology. You can’t ePrint a webpage at this time but apparently they are working on it. For more info and related questions about ePrint technology check out HP’s FAQ page.
Q. Should I get this iPad or wait for the next version? When is the next one coming out?
A. Apple is fairly regular when it comes to release dates. If you look at the history of any product you can get a good idea how long it will be before they release the next one. In the case of the iPad it was released in April of this year. This means we will more than likely see the next generation of iPad in the next 5 months or so. One of the big rumored features is a camera for Facetime, if that is important then wait for sure. If you are buying for a hard core geek they might want to wait for the next model, then again those people probably already own one. ;-) If the iPad is on their Christmas list I don’t think they want to wait for the next model.