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Decision time: Should you buy an iPad?

And if so, which model?

Decision time: Should you buy an iPad?
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It's April, which means the iPad is nearly here. Our American pals will be receiving their shiny Apple tablets on Saturday and us Europeans will be tapping, touching, dragging, and reading in HD before the month is out.

But should you buy one? Should you put your hand in your wallet, pull out some coppers, and order the iPad, or ignore it altogether because you're afraid you'll end up with Apple's next Pippen in your hands?

Well, you can rest easy. Plenty of people are counting on the iPad's success and its not going to go the way of the iDodo anytime soon. The publishing industry breathed a collective sigh of relief once the iPad was revealed, painting it as a Messiah-like icon that's tasked with fixing the magazine, book, and news industries in one fell swoop.

That means you've got every publishing house, news corporation, and book publisher in the world shovelling their creative energy into making the iPad a success. If this tablet isn't a revolution for the written word, there'll be more repercussions than you having a dud gadget in your collection.

But if you're still not convinced, here are some reasons to consider buying an iPad:

Gaming on the iPad

So far, the majority of games we've seen are just supersized, blown up, and high resolution version of iPhone games, complete with XL and HD monikers.

But that's just the tip of the iceberg. Games have always come on TVs or tiny handheld consoles - now there's something slap bang in the middle. In the same way that an iPad occupies the nebulous space between iPhone and laptop, it also hangs out neatly between the DS and the Xbox 360.

So now you have the screen real estate to pull off fully fledged PC and console games, but with the intuitive touch controls that the iPhone sports. Genres like word and puzzle games, strategy epics, and simulation games may have found their perfect home.

But here's the difference. The iPad is built more like a boardgame than a console. Its something you throw on the floor so that players can gather round it to play games like Scrabble or Monopoly. It could herald new genres and fresh possibilities for social gaming.

You'll have to wait and see what the creative types come up with, but its an exciting prospect nonetheless.

A revolution in home computing PCs suck. And Macs suck, too. They take forever to boot up, they're messy, a bother to navigate, and uncomfortable to use. When was the last time you said "ooh, who sung Last Train to Clarksville?" and dragged out your giant Sony Viao laptop, booted it up, loaded Firefox, and browsed to Wikipedia on the uncomfortable glide pad?

Since getting your iPhone your iPod touch, though, your emails, internet, and social networking tools are available at a click of a button. It loads up in seconds, everything is a whizz to navigate and even your dear old nan could use an iPhone. Once she's got her reading specs on.

The iPad could be the natural extension of this. Sitting on your coffee table, the accessible and intuitive tablet could be a brand new way to make computing a more natural and organic fit into your lifestyle. The iPad can be dragged out in any room and at any time, and passed around between family members.

Don't throw away your laptop just yet, but with enough support and some smart apps the iPad could make it far less necessary.

Books, magazines, and news

Now we've offended both PC and Mac fans, let's throw some more controversial statements out there. Books suck, newspapers suck, and magazines suck.

They're not terribly portable, for one. Ever tried to read a broadsheet on the tube? It's like moving a wardrobe. And all the paper it uses slowly killing the planet.

Publishers have dabbled with this sort of content on the iPhone, but not many people want to read content on a tiny four-inch screen. Blow it up to the iPad, though, and you might just have a digital magazine rack your palm.

Support has been incredible so far, with book publishers like Penguin Books, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, and Macmillan, and magazine powerhouse Condé Naste (GQ, Vanity Fair, and Wired) pledging to support the device with books and magazines.

The iPad has the potential to change the way we think about the printed word.

Wi-fi or 3G?

Unlike the iPhone, whose dainty figure slips in your pocket like a wet salmon, the iPad's focus isn't so much on portability.

In fact, a lot of iPad customers will likely sling it on the coffee table and snatch it during advert breaks to post on Facebook, check eBay auctions, and play Words with Friends HD. Assuming you actually live in the 21st century, your home will likely be a bustling wi-fi hotspot already and you'll be able to take your iPad from room to room without disconnections.

But if you're a big traveller, or commute to work, you might want to consider the 3G device. Some hotels are still living in the dark ages or charge exorbitant rates for wi-fi connectivity, and while some trains offer wi-fi, its spotty at best.

A 3G device will give you internet access almost anywhere in the country, allowing you to browse Safari, download your RSS feeds, and post to Twitter no matter your location. But the price increase is siginificant, and if you're planning on rocking the iPad with an iPhone nestled in your pocket, do you really need another always-connected device?

Take it from this (once) commuting iPod touch owner: yes, relying on wi-fi will knock out half your apps when you're heading to Marylebone, but think ahead and you can get a lot of functionality out of a wi-fi only device.

Most RSS readers can cache their entire load to your device for offline viewing, and apps like Read it Later and Instapaper (the latter of which is confirmed for an iPad release) can save interesting web articles to your device for disconnected reading.

If the majority of your iPad time will be dedicated to reading iBooks, magazines, cached web content, and playing all the great iPad games, you probably won't mind being disconnected from the web during train, plane, or tube journeys and you'll save a heap by going wi-fi only.

And if you're planning on having an iPhone in your pocket while you have the iPad in your bag, do you really need to shell out for a second 3G device, or could you Tweet on your iPhone while you read Stephen King on your iPad?

16, 32, or 64GB?

This question ties in nicely to the above wi-fi or 3G conundrum. If your iPad is going to spend the majority of its time at home, for browsing Pocket Gamer in bed, on the sofa, or on your patio, do you really need to fill it up with music and HD videos?

With apps like Simplify Music and Air Video you can already stream music and video from your PC or Mac to your iPhone, so you can get your music and films all throughout your house. Similar iPad apps will almost certainly be arriving soon.

But if you're planning on taking your iPad away from your home, think twice before being a skinflint and going straight for the cheapest, 16GB option. With higher resolution textures, iPad apps will be bigger than their iPhone equivalents. Plus, all those DVDs you ripped in Handbrake for your iPhone are going to look pretty damn ugly when blown up to the iPad's ten-inch display.

Once your iPad is filled with music, high resolution videos, books, magazines, and games, your 16GB model will be buckling under the pressure. It's worth thinking seriously about.

Maybe I should wait?

If you're not entirely sold on the tablet yet, you could do much worse than waiting a while. Apple isn't exactly shy about coming out with new models.

For example, if you were still rocking the first iPhone Apple put out you'd have far less memory and a slower processor, crappy GPS, a 2.0 megapixel camera, no video recording, and less battery life.

Who knows what Apple will put in the iPad 2GS. A camera? Multi-tasking? A toaster?

Maybe it's best to weather the storm for a while, see what everyone thinks, and jump on that bandwagon once the coast is clear.

Early adopters might be posting unboxing videos on YouTube and making the hype unbearable on forums, but they have to put up with unreliable first generation hardware, teething troubles, and the tumultuous marketplace as everyone slowly decides what prices to set everything at.

So, now we've made our case, it's up to you. Are you getting the iPad and if so - when, and which model?

Mark Brown
Mark Brown
Mark Brown is editor at large of Pocket Gamer