The iPad: Convenience or Clutter?

I've always been wary of the necessity of an iPad in our culture. Or, the necessity of tablet computers at all for that matter. Seeing the progress of Apple devices, however, I fully understand why Jobs felt it necessary to end his triumphant streak of ever-simplifying products with such a sleek device. I've never had one, but from what I can tell they're basically a laptop with no keyboard and less storage, which leaves me wondering why I, personally, would ever want one.

Pondering the necessity of tablet computers brings to mind the uncluttered and simple beginners mind that was spoken of by Shunryu Suzuki. At first glance, it may appear as though this device is a reflection of this philosophy, uncluttered with no keyboard and simple with only the necessary storage. However, given the need for a computer to sync and dock the iPad, this tablet changes from an all-in-one personal device to an extra-large iPhone that can't really make phone calls. (And it if can make phone calls, it probably shouldn't.) I feel as though this device is superfluous for the same reasons that the MacBook Air is obsolete. It has the price and allure of a small laptop computer, while lacking some of the basic necessities of such a device; namely, a CD drive and hard disk storage. Something about storing an entire personal device's information database on a flash storage device seems extremely risky to me.

Call me old fashioned, but I like my devices small and my computers powerful, whereas we seem to be witnessing a convergence of the two in certain Apple products. Henceforth, an iPad will probably not be on my list of future purchases; at least as long as my MacBook Pro is in working condition.

As I stated earlier, however, the iPad's place in Steve Jobs' life, as well as in Apple's product history, is impressive. One can only fathom the idea of presenting such small and innovative personal computer devices in the same lifetime as inventing some of the first personal computers. I sometimes forget how young the computer industry really is, and thinking about the range of Steve Jobs' Apple products puts that timeline into perspective.