Well, I did it. I'm now a member of iPad nation.
I just hate spending large chunks of money like this. If I can get over that hump, I'll be okay with it all. Between this and my iPhone 5, I'm into Apple for $1,000. But, at the same time, these are things (the iPhone, anyway) I use
every single day. And if this iPad thing goes the way I'm hoping, I could find myself using it a hell of a lot more than I've been using this iMac in the past six or so months. So if I can get a current, modern and powerful device from Apple that does what I need/want for $700 vs. $1,200+, I'm willing to give it a go. I may be pleasantly surprised at what I learn and how things might change.
I got off my shift at 3am and stopped by a Walmart close to the plant. They had the new fourth-gens in stock, to my surprise (I was the only customer in the whole store, I think). I got the 64GB, white, wifi-only model, plus a light gray Smart Cover to help keep the screen in good shape (and give me a little kickstand/easel if I need it). Oh, and a $25 iTunes card (but I buy those all the time, so I was just "recharging" my account...I prefer to prepay and then buy things on a whim, as I want, knowing it's already covered).
We went to a new schedule this week so I now have two off-days (Wednesday and Thursday) for the first time in over two months, so I thought "get it tonight, have all day and night tomorrow and Thursday to monkey with it...". So I did. Didn't make sense to get it smack-dab in the middle of a work cycle because all I do is sleep, work and drive to and from the plant (45+ minutes each way). So at least I was smart on the timing. I've got two days of lying around/goofing off ahead of me...
I intend to throw my entire music and photo library on here, and see if I can wean myself fully off the iMac with a few vector apps and some other art apps I've been researching. We'll see how it goes. Now, with the outage winding down and me getting an extra day of free-time, seemed like a good time. And I can take it into work at night and prop it up and watch rented movies or video podcasts I've downloaded here at home (I cover the overnight shift solo, so I can pretty much do whatever I want/need to help pass the time or "keep me company").
It'll be an interesting experiment. Either I wind up making this my device, or I find it's not or me and wind up selling it and my iMac for a MacBook Air in a few months? I'm open to wherever the path takes me. But I'm never going to know if I just didn't make the plunge and give it an honest shot.
It's still in the box. Believe it or not, I'm not going to fool with it tonight. I'm going to bed now. I'll wake up in the early afternoon and get into it with a clear, rested head.
BTW, I did get the last white, 64GB model they had in stock. So maybe it was meant to be?
They had other colors and capacities, but I was dead-set on this one...white iPhone, I gotta have a white iPad. Right?!
Okay, off to bed...I'm dead on my feet. Zzzzzzz.