Starting April 3, Apple is selling iPad from its retail/online stores and most Best Buy stores. The early reviews of iPad are generally positive. Wall Street Journal described iPad as a potential “laptop killer”. New Times Review described iPad as a new kind of machine designed and built by professionals.
The base price of iPad with Wi-Fi is
- $499/£429 – 16GB
- $599/£499 – 32GB
- $699/£599 – 64GB
Apple will also sell iPad models with 3G connection in late April with base price
- $629/£529 – 16GB
- $729/£599 – 32 GB
- $829/£699 – 64GB
What is the Real Price of iPad?
If you are interested in buying an Apple iPad and budgeted for only the base price, you may be in for a surprise. You may have to shell out much more to use it as your netbook/laptop.
Remember, iPad is a new kind of Apple device. It is neither an iPod nor a computer, something in between. When you buy iPad, you only get a dock connector to USB cable and 10W USB Power Adapter. Apple has a number of cool accessories for more money. Pretty soon the market will be flooded by iPad specific gadgets.
You may not need all of them, but you may need to buy a few of them to use the iPad effectively, if not to its fullest.
Additional costs do not include all the apps and the books that you may end up buying. BTW, the cost of good iPad apps will be above $5 (not around $1 that one pays for iPhone apps). It is not clear whether Apple will charge iPad users for firmware updates, just like it does for the iPod touch.
It is better to consider what other accessories you will have to buy to use the iPad effectively (at some point soon, if not immediately) and add it to know the real cost of iPad.
How Much More Do You Need to Spend to Use iPad as a Computer/Netbook?
iPad is an ideal device for consuming contents, but not for producing content. You can watch movies, listen to music, and browse your way to glory without spending anything extra. It is great as a device for entertainment. However, to use iPad as a computer and do even a little bit of work you may have spend more money.
3G Data Plan cost at least $14.99
AT&T has two data plans for iPad in US.
- 250MB data plan for $14.99 per month
- Unlimited data plan for $ 24.99 per month
The $15 per month plan is only useful for a simple email/browsing (no roll over). The good news is that there are no contracts; you can sign in and sign off at any time. However, if you already have iPhone you end up paying more (unnecessarily). Apple and AT&T have to do something about it. It is not a good idea to have both the 3G iPad and iPad mini.
Protecting Your iPad Costs $39/£30
Mobile computing is a key aspect of iPad. If you plan to travel (even a bit) with your iPad, you might want to protect your iPad with iPad Case. iPad Case from Apple costs you $39. You may also want to consider getting a scratch proof screen for iPad. If you wait long enough, there will be more cheaper options to protect your iPad.
Documents on iPad Costs $30
To use iPad as a computer you may need to create presentations, spreadsheets, and word documents. You can do that in iPad. No MS Office in iPad. Apple has come up with app based office solutions from iWork, called Keynote, Numbers, and Pages. You can easily share these iWork documents as Powerpoint, Excel, Word, and pdf. The catch is that it costs you $30 for all the three apps.
External Keyboard Costs $69/£55
iPad onscreen keyboard is not so great. New York Times review says that “When the iPad is upright, typing on the on-screen keyboard is a horrible experience; when the iPad is turned 90 degrees, the keyboard is just barely usable (because it’s bigger)”. You may need to buy an external keyboard to be productive with iPad. There are are two options; one with a dock which you can use it to charge your iPad and the the other is a wireless keyboard. Both the keyboards cost the same, $69.
Directly Transferring Images to iPad Costs $29/£25
If you want to transfer images and videos to your iPad from your camera without a computer, you may want to buy iPad camera connection kit for $29. The kit has two connectors that will allow you to connect the iPad to the camera and SD card. You can use kit to transfer image files not any other file types.
Presentation Display Costs $29/£25
If you want to project the keynote presentation or show slideshow of photos or show videos on a big screen, you need to spend at least $29. Apple sells iPad doc connector to VGA adapter for $29. There are also composite, component cable connected for $49 each from Apple.
The Bottom Line Price
The bottom line is, to make the iPad work for you, you have to spend more money. It is obvious, so set the money aside. It is up to you decide on what you need and how much more can you spend to enjoy your iPad to its fullest. However, it does look like that there is an overhead of at least a $100 within a few months of iPad purchase. Lets face it, we all like to fool ourselves by not considering this cost as part of iPad. It is all part of Apple’s strategy.
Other Accessories for iPad from Apple
Other accessories available for iPad include a Dock, composite AV cable, component AV cable, and ear phones. The dock for iPad can only be used with iPads. However, the composite & component cables and the earphones are compatible with other Apple products like iPods.
iPad Dock: $29
Apple Composite AV Cable: $49
Apple Component AV Cable: $49
Apple Ear Phones: $29/$79
Related posts:
- Apple iPad: Price Related FAQs
- Apple iPad Tips and FAQs
- Apple iPad 3G Hits US Stores on April 30 at 5 pm
- iPad 2 Effect: Original iPad Costs $100 Cheaper from Apple
- Apple to Sell iPad in Nine More Countries this Friday
- Apple iPad 3G Ships by 7th May
- Apple to Sell iPad Wi-Fi in China from September 17
uh, if you added USB and SD card slots etc it wouldn’t cost 499, with a dongle I can choose if I need USB and I can choose if I want to spend money on it.
MIsleading title – should be “The Real Cost of Apple iPad if you want to buy lots of accessories and add-on applications”
This is so true – you do need to buy at least half of those accessories to have an iPad that functions in all the ways that you would expect it to. Sneaky little Apple Macsters!