[jrockway]

Interesting. I travel a lot, and try to avoid taking too much with me. The Kindle + netbook is a good combination for me. I also take my happy hacking keyboard. (As for laptops, I think they are a waste of money. A quad-core desktop + netbook is cheaper than a decent dual-core laptop. And if you lose the netbook, it's no big deal. $300 and you have a brand new one.)

The problem with the iPad and devices like it is that most of my activities in front of a computer involve typing; writing or programming. Just sitting and reading content is nice, but that's what the Kindle is for. And if I need to type, I need a real computer. So the iPad is the form factor that I would like to carry around, but it's worse than a Kindle for reading and worse than a netbook for computing.

I also have a portable music/movie player, and a phone. Way too many devices, and yet they are all good at one thing and all suck at everything else. Sigh.

Edit: after re-reading this comment, I've realized that I've failed at traveling light. netbook, kindle, keyboard, phone, dc-dc-converter, archos, headphones. I wish I could combine all these devices into one :(

[bricestacey]

I think the argument over losing them is moot. At my library, we're looking into loaning netbooks because we can buy 3 netbooks for the price of a single laptop (and then double the loan period to 8 hours and let them leave the building), but how many people actually lose them? I think it's a justification for being cheap. That is reasonable for libraries loaning out tens of thousands of dollars worth of equipment, but appalling to me for any developer. Or perhaps I'm just out of touch?

The iPad, on the other hand, is cheap. It's portable. It covers all the bases (music, email, internet, photos, and the app store). When I was talking with my mechanic, his exact words were, "so you wouldn't need a computer anymore." Exactly. Suddenly, anyone, including you, can experience the best of mobile technology (and arguably consumer technology) for only $499. And then splurge on a decent laptop like a Macbook for "real work". If you actually need any better, you should be relatively rich, so buy a MBP. Heck, keep using your Kindle too. a laptop, Kindle, and iPad is still pretty light.

[jrockway]

I don't think anyone intends to lose or break their laptop, but it happens. I would rather be out $300 than $2000.