wilbur
Hi Jim,

I guess the answer is, "It depends on what you want your laptop to do."

For the past 10 years or so I've been what a lot of people might refer to as an Apple fanboy, although I just think I am making rational decisions in my choice of computers. My main computer is a 15" MacBook Pro that is on its 5th year. I think the iPad is really cool. I'm not going to get one at this point, for these reasons:

1. I like the larger and higher resolution screen on my MBP (1400x900 vs. 1024x768).

2. I'm used to typing on a regular keyboard, although I play with the iPad keyboard each time I'm at the Apple store, and I am getting used to it, slowly.

3. Hard drive capacity. I have a lot of photos and music, more than the 64GB capacity that the iPad would be able to deal with.

Now, of these issues, (1) is personal preference, and may not be an issue for your daughter. (2) is surmountable with practice. (3) is just me -- your daughter may not need to carry 6,800 photos (and counting) with her, or need to have as much music on her at all times.

If the only computing device I had was an iPad, and it had a higher resolution screen and more storage, I could do everything I need to do on it that I can with a laptop.

Hope this helps!