Quote Originally Posted by BackWoodsCoder View Post
I do enjoy using my iPad as an entertainment device, and now that iOS 5 is on it I enjoy using it for light web browsing as well (before it was just a PITA and 10 mins of trying to get to my sites made me shut it down and switch to the PC in frustration). It served a great purpose on our vacation this year. I didn't have to lug around a heavy laptop, laptop bag, laptop charger through two airports. On the plane my fiancee and I were able to load up a movie and comfortably watch it together (most airline trays never give me enough room to push back the LCD into a favorable viewing angle). Plus the iPad fit in her purse so I wasn't tasked with carrying it. It worked great for sending a quick email or checking facebook while on vacation. I felt less nervous about bringing it to the beach where it made an excellent radio for us to use.

I don't ever see it as a replacement for a desktop, I enjoy using it but it still gets way less use than my desktop sees. I don't like the fact that they're not upgradable, at all (not just restricted to apple tablets either). The hardware nerd in me just hates the fact that I can't open this thing up and replace parts as needed. I can't put in extra RAM, or a bigger hard drive, things I can do on a laptop or PC easily. If I want to make my tablet better, faster, stronger, well I have to suck it up and buy a newer model. I will always hate that regardless of the device simply because a 50 dollar RAM upgrade will always be more favorable (to me at least) than a 500$ hardware purchase. Also, and this just seems ridiculous to me, I prefer using a tablet over a laptop for extended use because I don't feel like I just microwaved my crotch when I'm finished. Plus they're lighter than the laptops so that makes extended use a lot easier to bear as well.

Tablets are great, in a few years I don't see anyone making netbooks any more and I see more of these "transformer tablets" taking over that space (and most likely the consumer grade laptop space as well).
I agree with your point about it not being upgradeable, but given the fact most of the stuff you do on today's tablets doesn't really require beefier specs, and with game makers being slow to bring over console quality type games, I don't worry too much about that aspect. Once the content catches up with the hardware, I'm sure I'll be ready for a full-fledged upgrade anyway.

And to your point in bold, I know exactly what you mean.