iPad envy

I've been an apple fangirl for some time. I love my iMac and  would never go back to a windows computer for two reasons. 1. Viruses and 2. Speed. I have a 24 inch iMac. It's two years old now and just as fast as the day I got it. I also have an old mac mini G4 running tiger. The only problem is that it's too slow to stream youtube or hulu but great for checking email, reading recipes, facebook etc. It sits in the kitchen. In our family, we have 3 iphones, an ipod touch and several versions of nanos no one uses anymore. Yes, I love my Apples.

I have a couple of friends with iPads. I have been playing with them at the apple store too.  Every time I have one in my hands, I love it. I think "this would be really cool." Apple is a master at the emotional response. Pick one up and you'll have a hard time putting it down. Here is the problem. I can't justify buying one yet. I was toying with the idea of getting a macbook pro. I would love to be able to work on websites from anywhere and not be tethered to my desk. I use Rapidweaver for some of my websites and it's a mac only program. If iPad did that, i would have one already. I carry an old dell laptop running the latest Ubuntu OS. It's a bit heavy and the battery life is down to an hour. I can check my email, facebook, surf the web from coffee shops or while waiting for the kids, etc. I can't use Rapidweaver on that either so it's really just a big netbook. Isn't that what iPad is?

I definitely would like to have all the functionality of my iphone in a format that is easier to see. In some ways iPad really is a giant ipod touch, or iphone, but there is more. I love the calendar format. I want that on my big iMac too. The screen size is perfect and it's much thinner when you pick it up than you think it would be. One friend carries it in her purse. It's a really nice book reader and surfing is so intuitive, it's strangely natural, hypnotic almost. I just can't justify it yet. I will resolve myself to envying other peoples ipads...for now.