So here is the scoop. I am going to buy the new iPad 2. I am not sure what I have said about it in the past posts, but none of those matter. I am taking the plunge into the tablet market.

I have recently got myself over to the nearest Apple store to check one of these bad boys out. I got enough evaluation time alone with one to be able to make my decision. I am, though, going to give some reasons to this decision mostly because it will make me feel better, and because my testing did no go without seeing any flaws. I did put all bias aside for this.

So I want to start with the negatives for the iPad 2. I do agree on how they decided to make it very, very thin, but I do no like how they took some of the width off of the bezel (area around the screen). My main beef with the first iPad was that there was not enough space for you to hold the thing on the side of it without touching the screen OR working out the first two knuckles on your hands. Minor issue. Another thing right off the bat were the cameras. This isn't a huge deal for me because at no time will I most likely EVER use the rear facing camera. With this in mind, I wish Apple would have put all the effort they put into the back camera, into the front facing camera. Made it better instead of putting two crappy ones in there. Fair enough. For the cons, thats about it. Like I said, I passed on the first device so I don't have anything else to compare it too.

The Pro's are basically what you saw in the Apple Key Note. Bangin' processor, really slim (but still sturdy), added memory for better Safari experience, and iOS 4.3 takes the cake in the OS department.

For me, this is the way to go. I could invest in the first iPad for $100 off, but I am looking for this to replace my laptop; which is will successfully do. I only use this laptop to surf the web, check Email, Facebook, Twitter. I have a desktop to do all my serious computing on, and if worst comes to worst, I have an Apple bluetooth keyboard that can be attached to the iPad 2 for lengthy typing purposes if it ever comes to that point.

iPad 2 is a great device. If I was a owner of the first one, no, I would not upgrade. But this seems like a good time to jump into the tablet market. I don't think that Apple made a good move making it this thin though. To make the iPad 3 be another huge step, they are going to have to do some serious innovating to get everything to still stay in that small of a package and weigh the same or less.

Woo!