You need a portable computer. Mobility performance and an affordable price all factor into your decision. You have the choice between the ultra small netbook and Apple’s iPad. The question is which one to choose.
Most netbooks have Internet access through cellular network antenna. This lets you stay connected with your friends online anywhere you go via 3g. Though iPad offers this feature; customers will have to pay extra to get the 3g-enabled model.
“The16Gb model without 3g costs $499 plus tax, and the same model with 3g option costs $629 plus tax,” said Jessica Wade, sales manager at Apple Store.
Hard drive capacity is what most users are looking for. While the simplest netbook can hold from 120 up to 500 gigabytes, the maximum capacity of the iPad is only 64 gigabytes. Seems like iPad is loosing positions, but there is more to compare.
The type of storage in iPad makes it more portable because flash storage can not be damaged physically, so when user drops the iPad, all the important information is protected. At the same time, hard drives that are used netbooks are fragile as glass, and if it falls, it looses all information.
“Hard drives, or solid state memory have more capacity, but they are absolutely not suitable for the portable devices because of its fragile structure,” said Apple technician George Mina.
The iPad, similarly to the iPhone and iPod Touch, has only one button, which makes it more portable because one button does not take that much space as the 114 buttons on a netbook. The iPad can be controlled by simple touch on its OLED screen.
The OLED screen used in an iPad is better then LCD screen on netbooks. This is because the picture is clearer and quality is better. OLED screens support higher resolution, which makes it more comfortable for a human eye.
All netbooks are running Microsoft windows operating systems like XP, Vista, and 7, which were created for desktop and laptop computers and absolutely not optimized for the netbook. Lack of optimization makes it pretty hard to use a big operating system on small screen. The iPad has a very user friendly interface, similar to the one in iPhone, which making it easier to use full power of its hardware.
“There are about 150,000 apps in the app store that makes the iPad more useful than any other portable device,” said George.
So in spite of a better hardware part, netbooks can not beat the portable and user friendly iPad.
