iPad Air v laptop which and why ?

Strawberry HillBilly

Xmas present choice here....looking for your advice.

I have the choice between an iPad air or a laptop, if you had the choice which would you choose and why ?

Pretty much a surfer, bit of browsing on boards.ie etc., but as my son has expressed an interest in coding, I thought maybe laptop would be better.

One final question, is there a way to connect a DVD drive to an iPad for uploading music?

but43r

Really depends on how you are intending to use the device.
From what it sounds like, you are planning to have either one or the other.
Although Tablets have come a long way and do most things these days, I don't think they can fully replace a laptop yet.

Tablets are perfect for doing small tasks like browsing the web, watching videos etc but aren't that great for typing or as you mentioned you might want to use it for coding.

Toshiba Satellite U940 would be very comfortable to use and you still get the proper keyboard for when you need it.
There are even better Ultrabooks out there but this one seems to be the best in that price range.

Kenno90

If you want a media consumption device, e.g watch videos, browse the web, music etc and portability is very important then you'll be happy with an ipad.

Want to do any work on it for example use word/excel or code on it in any way then get a laptop.

I've both and use both a lot, but i only use the ipad if i want to quickly check something , or watch a video.

and AFAIK you'll need a computer to upload the music. You can either store them in the cloud and get them from there. but iOS is pretty restricted in how it gets its music. It is apple after all

5crabs

"One final question, is there a way to connect a DVD drive to an iPad for uploading music? "

There is no way to hook up a DVD drive and your iPad, however you can consider buying a external drive which is specially designed to connect to iPad like this one, http://www.seagate.com/external-hard-drives/portable-hard-drives/wireless/seagate-satellite/. Another solution is use a DVD converter (Handbrake or others like this one)to grab the video and audio contents from DVD disc onto your computer, and then sync them to your iPad via iTunes program.

Strawberry HillBilly

Thanks All for the advice, looks like IPad for play and laptop for pay so.

As I am really more browsing / mailing than anything serious at the moment I think iPad initially and save up for the laptop in the New Year sales.....incentive to give the fags !