…you might want to think things through. Yes, it’s an awesome feat of technology in its own right (we covered some of the highlights here) but it does have a lot of limitations. By far the largest limitation is that it runs on an iPhone platform—not an open operating system like you’d normally have on a cheaper standard netbook. As such, the iPad’s platform ties pretty much everything you want to run on it to Apple’s own services.

Specifically, you’ll be pretty much tied to iTunes for buying and loading content to the iPad. This tablet’s drive—whether you plan to pick up the 16, 32 or 64GB capacity—can only be filled using iTunes, the iBookstore, or whatever third party app from the App store that you might be able to pick up for it. Since it doesn’t run Mac (or Windows, for that matter), you can forget about loading it up with media files and software like you would with a netbook at half the iPad’s $500 starting price.

Options

Ease of use is probably where it shines the most. As a 1.6-pound mobile internet device that you can use comfortably while lying back on a couch, it’s pretty handy. But again, your networking options are limited—I’d rather have a touchscreen device with a full operating system that allows me to pull multimedia content and documents from the desktop PC in the next room. Ditto for the browser; while the previews gushed about the browser’s capabilities, it apparently won’t support Flash objects–an issue that prompted Adobe to suggest that the iPad will prevent people from accessing “70 percent of games” and “75 percent of video.” At the very least, you’re going to have problems with sites such as Hulu and ESPN–both of which use Flash objects.

There are a lot of other tablet or touchscreen options available within the same price range that can give you way more, thanks to the emergence of Intel’s new Atom processor and Windows 7. They’ll be around twice as heavy, but at least you get a keyboard with it. Essentially, for all the neat things the iPad can do (let’s whittle them down to the basics: photos, videos, music, internet browsing, eBook-reading, gaming), you can also do with a full-featured tablet PC. It might not have the nifty interface, the support for the multitouch gestures, or the light and compact frame that the iPad touts, but you get the same features, more connectivity options, and multiple times the storage space (standard hard drives range from at least 160GB to 250GB these days) that you can do with as you please.

And if you really like the concept of having a light touchscreen tablet to carry around the house, we expect quite a lot of hybrid notebook/tablets to come out this year—the type that lets you detach the screen from the keyboard base, but with a more open, full-featured operating system. The Pine Trail Atom processor and the Windows 7 OS is still relatively new, and Google’s own Chrome OS is just around the corner. If you’re a Mac-user or a plain old Apple fanboy, maybe we can hope that they come out with a full-featured tablet that runs on a lighter version of the Mac OS (a hypothetical Mac OS Starter Edition, if you will), hitch it with an Intel Atom, call it the MacPad, and blow us away with a competitive price tag. (And if they ever do, you heard it here first. Because calling it the MacPad would just be too obvious to ignore, right?)

You’re not going to stop at $499…

Unless you’re swimming in disposable income, then you’re thinking about value. Let’s assume that you want to pick up the entry-level model. What do you get for the iPad’s $499 starting price? You get the iPad and the necessary power and sync cables. If you want the Keyboard Dock (for typing text longer than a URL or short email messages), you need to shell out an extra $69. The basic Dock (without the keyboard) for syncs, charging, and adding audio jacks, will sell for $39. If you need to protect your iPad—and you will, if you plan to travel with it—the iPad Case goes for $39. USB ports and SD card readers? You’re going to have to shell out $29 for an iPad Camera Connection Kit to dump photos from your camera to your iPad.

Now, if you’re planning to shell out $499 for at least the entry-level iPad, make sure to save up for at least the $69 keyboard dock and $39 iPad Case for protection, as these are must-have accessories that add roughly $110 to the iPad ownership bundle. And get ready to go nuts shopping at the iBookstore for books, iTunes for music and movies, and the App store for applications too. We’re pretty sure that someone’s going to figure out how to add non-Apple content to the iPad soon, but that involves a little technical know-how as well as a considerable amount of risk. So if all you want is a simple device for books, multimedia, and browsing—without having to fiddle with hacks and potentially risky third-party content, you need to go through Apple’s stores.

Still, we won’t argue with the fact that the iPad is a cool device and we’re not going to deny the fact that if we had an extra $610 (for the base model plus must-have accessories) just lying around, we’re going to join the line in front of the Apple store when they launch. But it’s not a must-have that the iPod—and in some cases, the iPhone—was. Some people can’t live without their iPods, some can’t function without their smartphones, and some people could be fired if they didn’t have a notebook or netbook. But if you already have at least a smartphone and a laptop, you’d be forgiven if you didn’t feel like shelling out an extra $499 (sans accessories) for this cool new toy.

Tags: Apple, iPad, Opinion, Tablets

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