If you were at all considering buying a laptop for casual use or an ultra-portable device that is bigger than a cell phone, pay attention to news coming from Apple on Wednesday.  They are expected to release the iPad 2 at that time, likely for an April delivery date.   Some customers have expressed to me an interest in the iPad recently.   Here is some advice that I hope acts as a guide:

However, as much as I love the iPad — one should not expect it to do everything that a laptop could do.  We live in this Burger King society, right?  Everything has to be our way.  The people who have had the best experiences with the iPad are ones who have changed their work flow and preferences to fit the iPad.  As weird as it seems, its not the other way around.

Ultimately, the iPad is not a substitute for a first computer.  If you use a laptop as your primary computer or have a desktop, I think the iPad can be a great compliment to an existing setup.  There may be a few activities (ex. certain websites) that you will always have to access on your primary computer.