For now, Apple pitches the iPad as a computer that fully engrosses you in a web page, your e-mail, or media because-apart from playing music in the background-you can't really do two things at once on it, and its non-finger input solutions are still in their infancy.

An impressively built tablet computer; featuring a clean industrial design borrowed from Apple's MacBook Pro computers; internal components derived largely from its iPod touch and iPhone pocket devices; and stable; multi-touch software.

Cannot serve as a standalone computer; in addition to iTunes dependence, horsepower is presently shortchanged by limited, iPhone-class multitasking that forces all third-party applications to occupy and waste entire screen; lack of camera similarly limits value for video communications.

T he Apple iPad… There it is, after months of rumors and speculations with Steve Jobs' keynote speech, last January, as the highlight, Apple's newest product is on our desk, to play the leading role in this Apple iPad review.

Definitely a superb present, judging by how much it has been used in the past few days.

Is it worth it? Put it this way. If you never bought one, you wouldn't miss it. But buy it and you'll soon wonder how you lived without it.

Brilliant user interface; lovely LCD screen; great form factor and design; WiFi support

Quite an expensive gadget; expensive accessories; no Flash support

Yes, it's a little bit thicker: 9.4mm, compared to the 8.8mm iPad 2. And it's a skootch heavier: 1.44 pounds, or 1.46 pounds if you get Wi-Fi + 4G; the iPad 2 ranged from 1.33 pounds for Wi-Fi to 1.35 pounds for the AT&T version of the Wi-Fi + 3G. We bet you won't notice.

Same price; quad-core graphics; better camera; LTE speeds; gorgeous high-resolution display

iPads with A5 and A5X processors haven't been jailbroken; same storage capacities as iPad 2

I got the iPad 2 at the time when it was very popular. It is still a great tablet, but compared to more recent tablets it is lacking. The build quality is awesome and I don't have a single scratch on the screen so far. In today's standards, the pixelage is bad and the speed is a little slow.

Durable; Easy to use; Large screen

Low pixel density; Horrible camera

Of course the iPad is not solely an entertainment device. It offers serious functionality such as such as simple-to-use email and a fine e-reader for, y'know, "books." At the same time, it lacks the goods under the hood to make it a viable alternative to a true "tablet computer," for mainstream work...

Big; gorgeous screen; Works with current iPhone/iPod touch apps; Up to a 64GB of memory (and 8+ hours of battery life) in a slim package; Movies; music; internet and more; big enough to share and intuitive to operate

How are we supposed to hold it for long periods of time; Onboard sound is severely limited; No flash support; Charging is not as simple as it could be

So should you get the iPad? Well it really depends on what you want to do with it. On the one hand, if you're looking for a netbook replacement, you're definitely not going to find it here - while the iPad can do a bit of lightweight word processing and presentations, the many drawbacks mean that...

: Gorgeous screen; long battery life; extensive application support

: No USB port; no memory card slot; closed file system

Full of ads and software that all farm your personal information, I downloaded a clock, it wanted permission to view and edit my contacts, can someone people tell me why a clock would need to see my contacts?

There are two ways I could write this Apple iPad review: the pessimistic way or the optimistic way. For a device that has polarised the gadget community as to whether it is the "second coming" or merely "sucks", the thing that both approaches have in common is a chance to cause a debate.

Watch movies; play games; read books; great screen

Will cost you to fill it with useful stuff; can't multitask yet; limited to what Apple offers you