Do You Love Your Ipad?

I rarely take mine out of the house. The Menu Planner ap has been a lifesaver for me, however, and I love my ipad.

I do love mine. I have the iPad 2. I use it for the usual stuff: e-mail, Facebook, internet, and reading the newspaper (I get the NY Times). I also like to read on it (I have the iBook and Kindle apps), and do crosswords (let me tell you, crosswords on an iPad is a wonderful, wonderful thing). It's very useful in the kitchen, as I have the AllRecipes app and have a lot of my favorite recipes saved on there. It can just sit upright (I have a folding cover that allows it to stand up) right there on the kitchen counter. Very easy, and smaller than all of my cookbooks!

Aside from that, we use it for FaceTime with family who live out of the country. My kids love to shoot videos with it (a hilarious imitation of Gangnam Style, most recently LOL). My youngest is a YouTube nut and loves to watch My Little Pony and a bunch of Disney channel stuff on there. Angry Birds, SongPop, Hanging With Friends... all popular with my kids on the iPad.

The funny thing is, my husband's uncle bought it for us 2 years ago, and when I opened it, I thought, "What am I ever going to do with this thing??" But I use it constantly every single day. Love it. Can't live without it.

I'm not trying to discourage you from the IPad (my SIL LOVES, LOVES, LOVES hers), but have you considered a laptop or netbook? Those would both have keyboards. I guess I'm thinking about Facebook and looking things up at the kitchen table. I use my laptop for things like that.

I have a Nook Color. Not as fancy as the IPad, but it does have a touch screen. I love it, but it is a touch screen and has a "pop up" keyboard. Not at all the same as a keyboard on a computer, as you have to touch each letter very differently. You don't just type away.

Just a thought :-) Good luck making a decision.

I have an iPad 2. I love using it. I use it for email, Facebook, Yahoo news, my church website, Recipes, and Mamapedia. I use it with my son for Starfall, Reading Teacher, National Geographic for Kids, and PBS sites. I also have the iBooks application. Flashplayer doesn't work unless you get an application. I use Puffin Web browser to solve that problem. It is really cheap and totally works.

All you mamas (papas) having trouble with using Mamapedia or other sites that use Flashplayer on your iPad or iPhone should try the Puffin Web browser application. My husband uses it on his iPhone. The little icon for Puffin is cute, like the bird. You can bookmark your favorite sites in Puffin, and it saves them when the program needs updating. The only problem I have run into with Puffin is playing games on the PBS dinosaur train site. Sometimes it doesn't run smoothly, but Puffin is greatly improving this with each update.

Prior to getting my iPad, I wasn't too keen on the idea of using a touch screen. I got used to the touch screen pretty quickly. Now it doesn't bother me at all. You can totally touch type as well. As for using the camera function, I am not a big fan of iPad for this. It is heavy as a camera and hard to keep steady while taking a photo. Many photos I take using the iPad are often blurry. I almost never get a blurry photo when I use my digital camera. So, ipad for a camera gets a "no" from me. Otherwise the iPad is great for portable internet access.

Mamapedia does NOT work well with the iPad. The advertisements on this site block many of the fields you need, like the Questions header.

I have the iPad 1, and I love it, but I don't think I could do the touch screen on the mini--my fingers aren't that delicate. For times that you need to type, you can get a separate keyboard to attach to it.

I seriously use my iPad the most in the kitchen, for recipes, so I don't have to print out the recipes I find online. I just prop it up in my cookbook holder, and it works wonderfully.

I haven't read the other responses so forgive me if I repeat. I love my ipad...I am actually on my second one, my husband bought me the first generation a few years ago and then for my anniversary in Feb, he bought me the #3 so now the kids get to play with the #1 and the #3 is mine, mine, mine :-) That being said, I recommend you really go play around on them at Best Buy before committing to the mini version. My daughter has a Nook which is the same size as the mini ipad and I HATE playing on it. I find it way too small. Even on the larger ipad, if you do any extensive typing, it can be a challenge. I ended up buying the ipad cover with the attatched keyboard because it is much easier to type long emails or answer posts like yours on the more traditional keyboard. I love to take my ipad to ChickfilA or McCalisters and just eat a salad and surf, my idea of peace and quiet :-) LOL

I have an iPad 2 and enjoy it, mostly. I love being able to play games, watch Netflix or use the internet on a larger screen than my phone from anywhere in the house or wi-fi enabled, but don't like the fact that I can't access any Flash videos or Flash-based websites on the iPad. I rarely use it for pictures, just when it happens to be right by me and only take it out of the house if I know I'm going to be waiting a long time someplace with wi-fi. I have no problem using it for Mamapedia, even though I know others do. I love the fact that my 3.5 year old can easily work it and has a bunch of educational games that she loves to play. Otherwise, it's nice to have all my music available, be able to watch Netflix in bed, be able to play a bunch of random games...basically it's a fun toy. I wouldn't have spent the money on one myself, but I'm glad my in-laws bought me one last year. If you're going to be using it with kids, definitely spend the $50 and get the heavy duty case like Guardian Defender or Otter Box. My daughter has dropped mine (thump, thump, thumpity, thump, thump) down our stairs and it was fine.

LOVE IT!! So easy to travel with it. I'm on my second one. My first didn't have the camera but after seeing some gorgeous photos a friend took with her iPad, my husband got me the newer one for our anniversary. I passed my old one on to my 87 year old mother who LOVES it.
I prop it on the counter to cook from recipes-glass wipes clean!, read books on the Kindle app, email, google, FB. It won't work as your ONLY computer because it is NOT a computer. There are still some things it can't do. But I find it indispensable and have it with me all over the house and frequently when I am running around.
I don't know one single person that has ever said "I wish I had gotten a tablet instead of this silly thing." Not one.

I absolutely LOVE mine!! However I can go without it, of course I also love my iPhone and I admit I prefer it over anything else (tech).

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I absolutely LOVE mine!! However I can go without it, of course I also love my iPhone and I admit I prefer it over anything else (tech).

We pass my ipad around all day long. I received it as a gift last Christmas, which makes it an older model, but it works fine.

There are a lot of school based apps for your son to use. I take it everywhere. It fits inside my purse and use it while I wait for my daughter to ice skate or on my breaks at work.

My husband has an iPad Mini, and he's been very happy with it. Wish I had one!

Regarding the comment below that it's the same size as the Nook, it is actually somewhat larger. The screen is less long and narrow, and measures close to 8 inches diagonally rather than 7-- which adds more space than you'd think. (I've used both.)

I bought my kids the Ipad mini. Make sure you get cellular wifi, if you dont you can not use it at the park or outside your house unless there is free wifi. To use it outside the home you will need to put it on your cell phone plan. Its $30.00 a month with AT&T. Dont buy the Ipad without cellular wifi.The Ipads come with wifi or you can get cellular wifi. I made the mistake of buying just wifi and I returned it for cellular wifi. That way my kids can use them anywhere outside the home if we are some place that does not offer wifi.

Love it! Love it for the reasons you will love it. The camera, the online access.. Information without having to make calls. Maps, store hours, coupons....being able to be anywhere and able to read at any moment. We play games even while waiting in lines.. I can keep up with people at any time.

I was given an iPad from my friend last year. She was ill and we had a business, so we could do FaceTime with each other and also our clients. I could be at a clients home and show my friend the work we were doing.. She could advise, she also was able to thank our workers etc. all through the iPad in real time..

We have wireless Internet in our home through our cable company.. But I also can switch over to cellular, when I am out and about, if there is not free wi if.. I bet in Houston, most places have free wifi.. In Austin, most of the parks and other public place have city wide wifi.. I love it when I travel. I can find info in a moment.

LOVE my iPad!!! These things are made for us everyday people (you know, the non-technical.) . Soooo user friendly. I can't type half as fast on the touch screen as I can a regular keyboard but I don't need to type all that much. I have the full size. Don't think I would want the mini. I can just use my phone if I need smaller and convenient. I like the big screen. The camera is nice but I can't imagine you will take it everywhere you go just for the camera....but maybe. My kids love to Facetime my parents. Its a free and live phone call. My parents think it is soooo cool! It fits nicely in my average sized purse. My biggest problem is that my son wants it all of the time. Getting used to loading apps, rather than logging on to the regular website you go to, was an adjustment. For example, I don't find the Facebook app as easy to manuver as the regular website but some people disagree. It's fine, really. You don't have to load the apps tho, you can just go to the site using Safari, which is the Apple web browser. I don't think you will be disappointed. Oh, and iPads don't get hot like laptops!

I love, love, love my iPad. Never use my computer anymore.

I have a friend that has one that the only thing she uses it for is entertaining her 3 yr old in the car.
I would not buy one at all.
I am not a fan of apple they think WAY too highly of themselves and you can get other tablets for less that do the same things , with the exception of itunes.
I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10 inch ,I LOVE it. I am not restricted to what itunes has to offer. I can download from different sources. With ipad you HAVE to get everything from apple and they don't play nice with other things that aren't apple.
I can do anything on my Galaxy tab , even change the channel on my cable box and control my roku box, netflix and pandora. Galaxy tab comes in a 7 inch as well.
Right now the 7" is 200 and the 10" is 350 at best buy. I pad mini runs 429 , ipad runs 400-700 . Memory in the Galaxy tab is expandable ( microSD slot) , it's not expandable in the ipad, you get what you start with and that's it.

Just do some research, go to the store and put hands on them. But don't go to the Apple store all they have is Apple you can't compare when there's only one type there. There are a lot more tablets out there than just the ipad and will do what you want.

I earned a free iPad. If I didn't earn one, we probably would not own one. With that being said, I LOVE it!!! I love the convenience. I love the touch pad. I love how easy it is to use. I love laying on the couch and browsing the web. I love catching up on my shows (ABC has an app). If it broke tomorrow, I would replace it!

We bought one for my in-laws for Christmas. We like to Skype, and it's much quicker/easier on the iPad. When I call them to Skype, it takes them 5 minutes to boot up their computer (take the lap top out of of the closet, plug it in, turn it on, etc.). The iPad is on in 1 second!

LOVE it!! I do not take it to the park to take pictures. I will take pics with it around the house.

Go for it!!!!