iPad review, one year later: I Still Love My iPad

I’m Truly, Madly, Deeply in love with my iPad.  Over one year after its purchase and pretty heavy use, it still looks as good as new.  

A year ago, I spent countless hours at Best Buy stores trying to convince myself that I could do with an Android tablet (which started off at half the price of an iPad) but despite all the Samesungs, Kindles, Asuses and Acers, everything led me back to the iPad.  I must also mention my sincerest thanks to the Best Buy employees for not throwing me out after days and days of me just fiddling around with the tablets and not buying anything....before I finally bought the iPad from them, that is.... :)

Here are things I really like about the iPad 2...

1. The build quality - Unmatched, it just feels sturdy and the overall design is gorgeous.  It’s undergone really heavy use in my house but still looks like new.  Part of the credit goes to the Snugg case which provides very good protection all around the tablet....
2. The screen is excellent!  Great viewing angles, good brightness and colours.  I just wish they could turn down the reflections a bit.
3. It’s simple to use, even my kids use it without any problems.  It’s also got a lot of good software for kids like drawing, painting, storybooks, movies and also games.
4. It doesn’t hang.  I have never had to reset the iPad due to some misbehaving program, only close the app.  (On my Android phone, I have to reset it once in a while because it just doesn’t respond)
5. Multitouch gestures - I especially love the four finger swipe to change between apps!  It’s just like turning pages, except you are actually “turning" apps..
6. I can use it for work as well thanks to iWork, Dropbox and also read my PDFs.
7. My wife has stopped using our desktop and uses the iPad exclusively...
8. The battery supposedly can be charged about 1000 times.  On the average, I charge every 3 days, so that means 3000 days of use (That’s over 8 years of usage provided that other components don’t fail!!!)
9. Great for looking at photos (from iCloud and Dropbox) and movies and videos.
10. Instant on! Easy to pick up, so the laptop gets used only when heavy typing or multitasking needs to be done.
11. It downloads programs and updates even when when it’s screen is turned off and it is asleep.  So you can download a game or updates overnight and have it ready in the morning, without much battery loss...This has been incorporated into newer Macs as Power Nap...
12. Stable and secure.  I feel very unsafe with some Android apps and wonder whether the Google Play store regulates some of these apps.  Do you read the terms and conditions on some of the Android apps??  Man, it seems that they’re going to steal and use all my personal information...I’d rather have a closed system tightly regulated by Apple to make sure the apps I download won’t steal my credit card number!!!
13. Sure, it’s a giant iPhone, but that’s the beauty of it.  Try reading multiple documents and PDFs on an iPhone and you’ll end up getting a migraine.  On an iPad, it’s just fine...
14. It started off as being an unnecessary luxury but now it has become an indispensable device for all of us.  My wife says I love the iPad more than her....I say, “Better the iPad than another woman"

Retina resolution is well and good, but I really don’t need it at the distance I read and it’s kind of overkill for such a small screen which doesn’t put two windows side by side....

In the end, let me rephrase my title.  We all love the iPad!  At least, my iFamily in my iHouse...

Why I’m Using A White Unibody Macbook (2009) in 2013?

1. I just like white Apple Laptops better.  The unibody aluminum models remind me too much of PC laptops
2. It’s repairable.  If a hard drive goes Kaput, the laptop can be opened and a new one can be installed without a hitch.  Newer MacBooks seem to get harder and harder to repair and the Retina MacBook Pro, lovely as it is, has everything so glued together that I think even the Apple technicians will get nightmares trying to repair it.
3. It’s upgradable - I’ve already upgraded the memory to 4GB and plan to add another 4GB soon, for a total of 8GB, which should make the laptop scream even more.  I can just leave all my apps open for an “instant on” setup. I don’t think I’ll need to add the SSD (but I can if I want to) 
4. The Core 2 Duo 2.26gHz processor is quite adequate for the web browsing, document editing, and general day to day usage that I do.  The nVidia 9400m graphics card is also adequate for the few less demanding games I play.
5. It still runs the latest Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks pretty damn well with 4GB of RAM.
6. The battery still holds 91 to 92% charge, has reached about 170 cycles (out of 1000 recommended by Apple) so I guess it is going to last for a few more years.  The battery lasts for over 5 hours for most routine work.
7. It’s solidly built, there is minimal flexing, and the screen hinges are fantastic.
8. It's very quiet and I can hardly hear the fans.  During heavy workload, however, it can get loud and the underside of the laptop can get pretty warm...
9. The touch pad is the best I’ve ever ever used and the cursor doesn’t keep moving around when I touch the touchpad by mistake while I’m typing (a big BIG problem with most Windows laptops)
10. The screen is only mildly reflective and shows good colors.
11. THE SLEEP MODE

The sleep mode is fantastic in Macbooks.  After you close the lid, it goes into sleep mode with blinking LED lights (which are supposed to last for about 20,000 hours so no need to worry seeing them blink).  It loses about 10% charge per day which means it would probably last 10 days in sleep mode.  I know this is kind of available in Windows as well, but it doesn’t last so many days.

Another great thing about the sleep mode is that if I join the display port adapter to an external monitor, I don’t need to open the laptop to wake it up; I can just use an external keyboard and use the laptop closed, like a Mac mini / desktop.  This is the setup I use at home...On my PC laptops, I'd have to open the screen, wake up the laptop, then close the screen back down and use the external monitor....

Sure I’m going to miss out on the latest processors and architecture, but the laptop is more than adequate for my uses.  Here’s to a few more happy years with my laptop!!!