Got my unit from Irwan last Saturday, he was kind enough to pass me his personal unit after the 2nd shipment got delayed. Thanks to him I have been using it since then and have encountered no weird issues with it except that it does weigh a bit if holding with one hand in portrait mode and typing with the other.

Most of the costs here are usually from shipping fees, paying people to help buy for you and of course a little profit. Irwan's cost of 2400 to 2450 for the 16GB units were one of the fairest around.

Now if only someone brought in the apple sleeve, need to prop this guy up when typing in landscape >.<

Got to add the screen protector I order from Askar cannot come soon enough, this thing is really a fingerprint magnet >.<

For surfing it is all right, but holding it for long periods of time can be tiring so have to usually prop it on the legs. App wise I have only purchased Pages and GoodReader for iPad. I did not purchase Numbers and keynote because they do not export to MS office format only Pages does that so far. Typing replies and stuff is best done on landscape keyboard.

Only downloaded some free books. Not really into some of the selection there. But as some people mention, searching through the bookstore or the AppStore in the iPad can be a bit of a pain at times. Screen is good for reading and on the lowest screen brightness it is still readable.

Pretty easy to buy books, no issues. Been using a combination of US and MY iTunes account to purchase stuff.

You can buy iPad games and apps using your Malaysian Account on your desktop/laptop iTunes then sync it over. The on device iTunes app does not allow for users outside of US to connect to different country iTunes. Only some apps require to have US iTunes accounts like the Apple iWorks suite.

May be a batch issue. My first gen iPhone is still running fine albeit slower compared to the 3GS. I remember my first iBook taking forever to die before I could buy a new one

I bought a couple of games and apps for the iPad via the Malaysia Store and Pages (*part of the iWorks suite) via the US Store. For the Malaysian store, you basically have to search for the iPad games and stuff. So say when you search for IM+ it shows up as both an iPhone and iPad App.

I bought only Pages because it is the only thing that allows export back to MS Office format. Numbers and Keynotes do not and there are a lot of negative reviews about these two apps because of that.

Agree on this the iwork beta site is definitely a cool feature but somehow I wish that I can export Keynote/Numbers back to .ppt or .xls as majority of the office is using those formats. Can only hope for a version upgrade or keep praying that Dataviz releases an iPad version of Docs to Go

You can have the equivalent of those software on the iPad already albeit with some limitations. I am torn on the camera bit as I hardly use the in built camera on the macbook anyways. I don't think it is so much about the hardware but the software that makes or breaks the device and in this respect, Apple has once again shown the rest how it is done, of course this will spur more competition in the field which is always good for consumers.

no issues syncing movies on your PC to your iPad of course got to convert first

Used the same method as Edoras, only bit is that I have to whip out my iPhone to switch on the app but it is a small price to pay for convenience when using a wi-fi only device until we get wi-fi everywhere

I just remove the standard US pins from the adapter and used a spare from my macbook and it charges just fine. For people with older PCs/Macs they may find it difficult to charge (*US version or not does not matter) as the iPad requires a 10W adapter (*your iPhone only uses a 5W adapter) and most of the USB ports are not able to supply enough power to charge the device. I can charge it with my iPhone charger but it just takes longer.

Was carrying it out in the default plastic wrapped until that got too much dirt on it so had to ditch it. Now I just have to watch where I put the device and hope no scratches are on the back of the device.

You are getting that message because as the iPad is not supposed to be sold outside of US, they disabled access to other region iTunes store on the device. However as Edoras mentioned, you can still use the iTunes store on your PC/Mac and purchase stuff then sync it over This should tide you over until they have the international launch which I hope even if it did not include MY will allow us to access the MY store.

For Apple released Apps like Pages, Numbers and Keynotes you have to use the US iTunes account. For most of the games you can use the MY iTunes account but of course there will be a game or two that will only be available in the US account, never figured out why this is the case. For US iTunes you have to get the iTunes Gift Card to add credit in unless you have a US credit card.

That's the price of being an early adopter. I think if you work out the TCO based on the 16GB version it would work out something like:

16GB iPad - RM 2400 (*average figure used based on what I see in the forums)
iPad dock? - RM 170? (*not everyone will want it)
iPad VGA Adapter? - RM 170? (*not everyone will want it)
Apps - Numbers, Keynote and Pages Total to USD 30 so roughly put it as RM 100

You can see how the initial cost of ownership will be. This is a rough estimate for early adopters until we get our own launch here

This post has been edited by mAxPC: Apr 19 2010, 09:05 PM

Not always so, different people have different priorities so some tend to "invest" more into technology oriented areas but skimp on others. As for me I think I am the "cannot resist it, must have it" camp No matter what I told myself, I broke down and got myself one lol

Wouldn't say it sucks without multitasking now, would be good to have it when the update arrives but at the moment it is pretty usable albeit with some little constraints here and there and waiting for developers to come out with better iPhone apps, not only games.

Wooo a mobile walking hotspot awesome thing to have around. Can't wait to try the wrapping service

pretty much the same as how you would sync an iPhone. You cannot make it an external drive. If you got Pages then you can add files to it. If you got Numbers then you can add files to it. Other than that you can sync your photos, music and videos like how you would on an iPhone.

Agree on GoodReader. First app I repurchased for the iPad. Hmm I ought to give Air Sharing a try then As for iWork I only wish I could export to .xls and .ppt. They allow .doc though.

Think this was mentioned by Steve Jobs during the reveal.