Do I Need an iPad?

On our trip to LA this past weekend, we stopped by an Apple store. Meg and I were standing next to each other playing with iPads while The Queen was watching us. Meg really enjoyed using it and was already thinking about how she could use it if she had one.

I loved the interface and the size. I didn't think that the size was right before I actually got to use one, but now I think it is great. I was just trying to figure out how I could justify the purchase.

Meg was playing with it for a while before asking The Queen how much it cost. She really wanted to get one and told her that she had her own money. When The Queen told her how much it cost she said that she needs to count her change. I did not have the heart to tell her she did not have enough money. Instead I told her that there was no need for her to buy one. I told her that if I buy one, she can rent it from me for fifty dollars an hour. She counter offered one dollar per hour. I countered back with twenty dollars per hour and told her that I could not pay for it at the rate of one dollar per hour. She agreed.

I was not being serious with her, but obviously she was really thinking about it. She valued it enough to agree to pay me twenty dollars per hour for using it. Wow! She really wants an iPad. Now I just need to be able to justify it in my mind.

So far, the three major downfalls in my mind are that it does not play PowerPoint presentations, it does not have any ports other than the standard iPod/iPhone dock connector and that it has to be synced with a computer. I think it should be a stand alone device with the necessary USB, firewire and HDMI ports.

I searched a lot this week to see if there was an easy way to convert a PowerPoint presentation to play on the iPad. My presentation has embedded video, so it is not just a bunch of static slides. This makes it much more difficult to convert. I guess I will just have to keep on searching.