The iPad: A Real Computer?

I am not sure about the iPAD (I stopped upgrading years ago), but I know that my old Palm Tungsten PDA was a far more capable computer than most people realized- I even used it for some data acquisition applications. Never used it for playing games or surfing the web or listening to music, though...

Just a small note, probably considered off topic but........

If a device can "play games" and I mean the push the envelope, top of the line games of today? It can do anything your "work" computer can do.

In other words my Hobbit chasing down the servants of Mordor in the depths of Mirkwood forest in real time demands more from my computer than anything your CAD programs ever dreamed of.

Absolutely. Your games are generally far more computationally intensive than any CAD program. But my CAD programs occasionally output something that is actually useful...

Oh certainly, no argument from me here. I was just pointing out that if a machine CAN play todays games, it is definately a powerful computing machine and quite capable of handeling the "work" functions too.

As long as Steve Jobs is there - I will not consider buying one - I know that!

Excellent real-world assessment. One question- do you find any software limitations? Years ago, I ran in to difficulty trying to use traditional Apple software for data acquisition (trying to interface to test and measurement equipment), and Apple is notoriously light when it comes to CAD solutions. Their attitude back then (many years ago, was, "If you want to use the computer for something we didn't envision, you are on your own, and we are't going to give you the information you need to get there."). I have absolutely no experience with OSX or newer Apple equipment. Just curious. Perhaps a Linux-based Pad would be more attractive...I would have similar issues with a Windows-based software. It is a pity the old PalmOS tied- very, very good for mobile applications, versatile, easy to adapt to the problem at hand. It would be nice to have a Palm large enough that my aging eyes could read! One thing I can do with the Palm is take actual drawings (typically *.dxf format) to the field, view, add notations, etc. Also had some capability to download test data with the Palm- not that I was going to do any data analysis with it, but a great tool for moving data from field to office...

With regard to software availability: the only real issue we have encountered is with control system vendors who have all adopted a Windows development environment. We have encouraged them to migrate to OS X but the market is not there yet. Perhaps the Stunext Trojan will cause them to rethink the issue. Meanwhile we really do not rely on them for networking and communications. We just send instructions to their PLCs via TCP/IP and our XServers.

In any event, this issue has largely gone away. With virtualization we run Windows, OS X and a couple of flavors of UNIX on our Macs. OS X is fundamentally BSD with a Mac GUI + some really neat tools + OpenSource components.

I am surprised that you had trouble with DAQ - National Instruments was originally developed on Macs and their first commercial product was exclusively Macintosh. Of course that died off when Apple was in the doldrums but they have recently come back strong on the Mac.

I also don't understand the comment about CAD apps on the Mac. While it is true that the number of apps and vendors has been more limited than in the Windows world - how many CAD applications do you need? I am sure that you have seen that AutoCAD will soon release an OS X specific version and it is slick. But I personally like VectorWorks which recently has beefed up their machine design module. It is a LOT cheaper than AutoCAD or SolidWorks and the learning curve is very flat when compared to either of those apps. In general however, there are a lot of CAD Apss for the Mac - many of them Freeware or OpenSource. And - btw - a slew of CAD apps are appearing for the iPAD. Just Google CAD iPad.

Of course before the Palm there was Newton with drawing and handwriting recognition. But that is another story. Take a look at the story I referred to on Apple's website to get an idea of what archeologists are doing with the iPad - integrating Photos, CAD drawings, field notes and GeoLocation tags on the iPad.

My first experience with Apple and NI goes back to the early 1980's, trying to get an NI card to talk to an Apple computer (I don't remember the actual flavors involved). I solved the issue by purchasing a Hewlett Packard Integral Computer running HP-UX- two hours after turning it on (with no prior Unix experience) I had captured the data from the NI card. Back then, CAD was also done on a work station tied to a super computer (well, maybe an IBM 360, in some cases). HP in those days defined the ultimate in customer support- Apple's technical support was worse than MS, in those days. Of course, today I won't touch an HP product for any amount of money...

I ultimately migrated to Windows for one reason and one reason only- Excel. No one has come up with a spreadsheet solution that can compete with Excel- data analysis and graphics renditions (there are, of course, more sophisticated packages available these days for data analysis, but nothing, even today, beats Excel for a quick preview of the data). About 4 or 5 years ago, I got fed up with having to rebuild my Windows systems every six months or so due to corrupted registry or viral infection, that I began looking at Linux. I haven't looked back. My newest computer (a Toshiba laptop that has serious quality issues) I paid less than $700 for, and I run all of my data acquisition and CAD applications and FEA analysis, etc., mostly on free, OpenSource software that would have required a super computer back in my beginning days.

I would be very, very interested in a new Mac, because of the quality, and the fact that I can freely mix and match the operating systems. I am, unfortunately, a bit challenged financially, and I can not justify the price premium required to migrate to MAC. As to the iPad, while it sounds like a real solution to many of the issues I still deal with (no, I don't expect to be able to run FEA and such on it, but data acquisition in the field is still important). I am not convinced that the iPad will give me the operating versatility that I prefer- some of the other tablet computers may give me the flexibility.

Actually, the operating system wars are pretty much over with, thanks to Apple and Linux and VMWare and VirtualBox and so many others. I don't want to have to deal with limitations imposed by a particular operating system- whatever computer I use should function the same independent of the operating system I choose (or allow me to switch between different operating systems at will, depending on the application). Now, if we could just get the major software application developers to divorce themselves from the Windows api...

Your experiences give me hope for the future...

You should consider a used 15" or 17" MacBook Pro. So long as it is an Intel box you will be safe. All of the Intel systems run the latest and greatest OS X [10.6]. I just helped my neighbor acquire a used [very clean] MacBook Pro that we got for $800 + $29 for 10.6. He calls me every other day to thank me for convincing him to junk his Dell.

He is now talking about converting his small construction company to a Mac Shop by buying used Apple hardware.

If I lived in the US, the used market would be the way to go...Unfortunately, here in the Tropics, getting something from e-bay is a real test of one's perseverance, patience and stock of tranquilizers. Someday...

A good [highly rated] seller will arrange packaging, shipping and insurance. PayPal is the preferred method of payment.

I have sold used computer gear on eBay and shipped to South America, Europe and Asia. The buyers generally do not like FedEx because it is too expensive. For most stuff other than large monitors and workstation class towers US Priority Mail is cheaper but slower.

Nothing for sale at this time but I will let you know when something comes up. On the next hardware refresh we will be selling our G5 stuff but that only runs 10.5 - 10.6 run only on Intel hardware so be advised.

regards[]

One of the nice things about using Linux, you can get good performance out of older equipment...