Differences between an iPad and a PC?

Factual Questions
1

I have been ambushed by my god-daughter’s mother into going with her to buy an iPad.
I don’t know jack about iPads. Never even seen one, other than in the case at WalMart, and haven’t really been interested. I told her so, but, she said “You know about computers”. “LOL” I said.
So, I know just about everything that PCs do, and how to do it (i.e., get the program). But, still don’t know jack about iPads.
What do they do similar to PC’s? What do they do differently? I read the GQ about the mp3–> iTune thing Mp3 files to ipad 4 - Factual Questions - Straight Dope Message Board, but, it may have confused me more. I was amazed to understand that the iPads don’t have USB connectors.
So, what I need instruction on, besides the main differences, is:

  1. How does one transfer anything?
  2. Can one download music?
  3. Can one watch streaming video?
  4. Use Google Voice?
  5. How does one download anything?
  6. Is the Apple counter at WalMart a good place to get one, or a bad place?
  7. Are there different sizes?

My goddaughter’s money is burning a hole in her pocket, so she will buy one tomorrow. Should I try to steer her to, I dunno, just another laptop, or a Kindle or something? I think she’ll mostly use the iPad to download, communicate, and impress her buddies!

Thanks,
hh

2

others will elaborate, but it’s basically a large iphone without the phone. you should therefore compare it to a smartphone rather than a PC. it does not double as a laptop for example, with one viewed as a productivity tool and the other a media consumption device.

3

OK, thanks. But, since you say a large iphone w/o the phone, does this mean that there is no microphone that one can use, say, for Skype, or Google voice?

Thanks again for the help,
hh

4

The iPad is basically a media consumption device. And it doesn’t really have a file system that all software can access. You’re expected to install iTunes on a “real” computer (Windows PC or Mac), and use that to transfer data to/from the iPad.

If you want a tablet that works more like a stand-alone PC (e.g. has a file system, and not dependent on iTunes to transfer data), you may be happier with an Android tablet like the Nexus-10.

5

Wow! Very helpful. Can one get these in stores, or online only?

Thx,
hh

6

There is a whole, huge, and wild debate worldwide on this very subject: especially Apple vs Android.

So. A tablet is a young persons pc-light (or lite if you prefer ;)) which allows for simple games, web browsing, Facebook et al, and yes, Skype with a wi-fi connection. Uses a touch screen and generally the only connections are USB plus Bluetooth and wireless. No disc drive. Very light and portable.

By contrast a laptop pc is far more powerful with many more software options. Some of the latest Windows 8 pcs have touch screen capabilities but cost more than a tablet, and are heavier. No longer cool.

And then there is Apple vs Android. Apple produce attractive machines and are the masters of marketing - if you could glaze a candy bar and sell it for 50% more than other candy bars - you’d call it iCandi. :smiley: Tastes the same but all your friends are buying them.

Apple however lock their buyers into their software and licensing.

The competition use Android as the operating system which is much more freely available to software developers and does as good a job as the iproducts.

Personally I’d buy an Andoid tablet for her and there is plenty of choice. The Nexus has very good reviews. My son uses a Sony S which he loves despite my pleading that he buy at least a net-book. I think the touch screen technology appeals to modern yoof.

Personally I’d buy a light model laptop but I am so old school… :smiley:

7

You don’t need itunes to transfer stuff to an iPad, I use Dropbox which works well.

8

The use case will dominate a choice of device.

The iPad became so popular because it didn’t try to be a general purpose computer. It was the idea that tablet computers should run a standard desktop OS and tools that doomed Microsoft’s initial forays. Apple made the connection that most people don’t want or need productivity applications on a personal device. They also realised that there was an opportunity to address a large fraction of the populace that was not comfortable managing their PC. Apple are derided for the walled garden approach, usually accused of creating it with the desire to totally control the flow of money to their benefit. There is some truth to the claim, but it misses the crucial thing. 99% of users are not geeks, and don’t want to be concerned with the geeky issues that come with a more open platform. Apple lock down the platform so hard that it is actually hard to get into any sort of trouble. Time will tell how much they will need to open things up as the competition (mostly Android, but including Windows, and maybe RIM and other minor players) adds more freedom.

The thing about an iPad is to not confuse it for a computer. It is a computer in the same sense a smart TV is a computer, or your phone is a computer. It has a computer in it, but it isn’t a general purpose computing platform like a PC. It is a personal consumer device that provides a set of functions - like web browsing, video calls, music, photo library, a simple camera (people taking photos with their iPad look idiotic, but it works) and for the yoof (and not so yoof) of today, games. Don’t forget games.

You can make an iPad into a limited personal productivity device - you can get apps that provide word processing, spreadsheet, presentations, and get a keyboard for it. But it isn’t very popular use for the platform.

An iPad is the defualt device for a tablet in much the same way that Windows became the default operating system and the Windows PC, the default personal computer. It is popular, it is the best supported platform, most other people you interact with will have one. And so on. Apple devices have a couple of hidden advantages. Apple are pretty good at supporting their products as they release new software. Eventually the new versions of the operating system will make demands on the hardware that older devices just can’t manage, but until then your iDevice will be fully supported with new operating system releases. Android vendors have had a terrible reputation for abandoning their products with no support or updates. They are getting better now, but it wasn’t good, and significantly annoyed a lot of people. Also, iDevices have a very good second hand value. There is probably no good reason for this (apart from the good support Apple provide) but the reality is there.

For the use case described, and especially if the goddaughter has her heart set on one, it is easily the right choice. There are a range of versions. Two sizes, a range of memory, the big ones have two different screen resolutions, and optional cellular data connection. I rather like the mini, but that is just me.

9

To endorse and expand a point Francis Vaughn makes, Android and iPad are arguably in-kind competitors, but there is a big difference in managing them. iPads are for people who don’t want to have to become computer hobbyists to keep their device functional.

To the PC (or Mac) user, I think the biggest surprise is that, whereas the PC has a filesystem that is independent of the applications, and you might begin working by navigating to the file and then doubleclicking it, on the iPad there is a whole separate filesystem for each application. As already mentioned. To the user, there is no way to navigate from one island filesystem to another. The user’s mental model is that each application feels like an entirely separate computer system built around that one application. I am sure people will point out that there are exceptions to this, but they are small exceptions. For example, you can get apps that modify a picture you took with the camera app. But those apps would only have access to the photos, not any of the storage spaces of the other apps. There’s nothing corresponding to Windows Explorer or Mac Finder.

Then there’s a real surprising twist in the road. There actually IS a kind of a Windows Explorer, and it’s the iTunes program running on your PC. Because iTunes kind of lead the way into needing to move data between the desktop and little Apple portable appliances, it became the default way of moving other stuff, like if you want to copy photos from the PC to the iPad, or copy all the .pdfs of Scientific American back issues to the PdfReader app. Which reminds me I have to clear some memory today…

One other thing – iCloud. I have an iPad, and iPhone, an iMac, and a session of Safari (web browser) running on my work PC, and they all sync through iCloud. Convenient things like my calendar, contacts, to-do lists, and reminder notes, are all updated in every possible combination of directions. You don’t have to use any of this, but if you want to, it’s quite an advanced system.

10

I don’t have an iPad, but I have an iPod which is very similar but much smaller.
An ipad is completely different than a PC. You can buy software for a PC at any store (online or physical store), and install it on your PC. You must download all the software for the ipad (called “apps”) through apple, and you don’t have as much of a variety as you’d find on a PC, or a Mac. Being glorified ipods, the ipads are primarily designed and used for music, games, internet browsing, and some other software. There is some productivity software for the ipad/ipod, but it seems to be marketed mainly as an entertainment device. I can check next time I go to my sisters (she has an ipad) but I’m pretty sure the ipad DOES have a USB connector that hooks the pad up to your PC.

  1. You can connect your ipad to the computer and transfer your games, apps, photos, and music back and forth. You would need to download a computer program called itunes which manages your ipad/ipod software. There are, as others said, other programs besides itunes you can use but I don’t want to complicate the issue too much for a beginner. I always used itunes and have no problems with it.
  2. Yes you can Download music from itunes. You can download whole albums or individual songs. Individual songs usually cost a dollar, although there’s some variation. You can also download music videos, movies, and television shows through itunes, pricing varies. Once you pay for and download something through itunes, it will “remember” what you paid for and can re-download it at any time without paying for it again. If you have music mp3’s on your computer you can also transfer those to your ipad. You can also transfer videos not bought through itunes to your ipad, although you may have to run them through a computer program to convert them to ipad format.
  3. If you connect your ipad to the internet (more on this in a bit), you can connect to Youtube and watch videos. Not sure about other forms of videos on the internet, ipads do not support flash, for example, so you won’t be able to watch flash videos. ipads/ipods normally connect to the internet through a wi-fi connection (if you have a wireless router and home you can connect it to that easily). They do make ipads that have their own internet connection. You need to pay for the internet service with those, and they cost more than the wi-fi only ipads.
  4. I don’t know anything about Google Voice so I can’t answer this.
  5. see #2. itunes and the “app store” are installed on your ipad automatically, and if you are connected to the internet you can download music, apps, videos, tv shows, and movies directly from your ipad. What’s the difference, why use itunes on the computer and then transfer rather than downloading directly from the pad? Well in my case I have a lot more stuff than my ipod will hold, so I go into itunes on the computer and select which items i want to transfer, and only transfer some of my stuff over. Although, as I said you can re-download anything you’ve already paid for at any time. I just find it more convenient that way.
  6. I got my ipod at Walmart and have no problems with it. The reason I got it there is if I do have a problem with it, the Walmart is about 15 minutes away. The nearest Apple store to me is about 45 minutes to an hour through one of the busiest areas of the city. Another point is no matter where you buy your device, you can always take it back to an apple store for repairs (make sure you register it when you buy it). I dropped my ipod on the driveway once and the screen cracked really bad. I took it to the apple store, and they said they’d give me a brand new ipod for free! It was less than a year old. If it’s older they’ll also fix it for a fee. It doesn’t matter where you buy it, walmart doesn’t have substandard versions or anything, and you can always take it to an apple store for repairs.
  7. There are ipad1, ipad 2, ipad 3, and an ipad mini. I believe there is an ipad 4 coming out also. I’ve heard the ipad 3, while being the most powerful, is very heavy and can get uncomfortable holding it for long periods of time. I have also heard people who have ipad mini’s say they really like them.
    ipads also come in different memory sizes, 16gb, 32gb, and 64gb. The 64gb versions run 700-800 dollars, so they can be expensive.

One other thing, accessories. I would strongly recommend you get a nice sturdy case. I personally think the screen protectors are a rip-off as the screens themselves seem extremely durable and scratch resistant. But you definitely need a case that will protect it from accidental drops. I am not talking about a laptop style “carrying case” that you use to tote it around. I mean a form fitting case that fits over the ipad but leaves the screen visible. This stays on your ipad at all times, and protects it from drops (assuming you get a nice sturdy one and not some cheap $10 paper thin plastic one).
With the ipods at least, they come with a USB cable that you can plug into your computer. The computer will charge the pod, but it is VERY slow. I bought a device that plugs into the wall that has a USB slot on it. Plug the ipod cable into it, plug it into the wall, and it charges MUCH faster - completely drained to completely charged in 30/40 minutes. Don’t know if ipads come with a wall charger but if they don’t you’ll definitely want to get one. They run $5-20.
They also sell keyboards that attach to the ipad, carrying cases, arcade style controllers (icade), and more.

11

Hey, all,

Thanks for the education and valuable input!
Off I go!

Thanks again,
hh

12

You might also look at the Asus 200 at Best Buy for $449. It’s a touch screen laptop running windows 8. This could be a candidate for a laptop that’s cool. It’s got an 11.6" touch screen, good keyboard, 2gb Ram and 300gb hard drive. Just go to Best Buy and compare it with the iPad and see which one fits.

My nephew has one and it’s pretty sweet for the price.

13

And if you really want a PC Tablet that does what a PC can, then see here.

14

Two last minute additions.

  1. Don’t overestimate the need to transfer data to and from a tablet. After watching my family use iPads for the last 3 years, this is often a non issue. Even among hardcore computer jocks.

  2. Since you are probably dealing with a teenager, don’t underestimate the coolness factor and peer pressure that can make a non-iPad turn you into a lame god parent.

15

And a third since nobody addresses the GoogleVoice question.

It works just fine but the GoogleVoice App does not allow VOIP. For that I added a free App called TalkATone and can make and receive calls to my GV number on the iPad.

16

Or if you are dealing with a non teenager. When my family bought me the iPad for Christmas, they got a Kindle-branded bag to wrap it in, just to mess with me. It did.

17

This seems to apply to smartphones as well. I recently bought a Samsung Galaxy Express phone. It’s a great phone but my 15 yo niece already made fun of it just because it’s not an iphone 4 or 5.

18

Don’t believe anyone who says the iPad is just for consumption.

Painting

Photo editing
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/06/technology/personaltech/apps-and-accessories-help-make-the-ipad-a-scaled-down-darkroom.html?_r=0

DJing

Creating music
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-31747_7-20022874-243.html

New Yorker covers

Business and education

19

That’s pretty funny. An ex-GF of mine once put a brand new Blu-ray player in an old Betamax VCR box. And she wonders why she’s my ex.

(I still have the Blu-ray player, though.)

20

Sez you.