My Asus Eee Pad Transformer with maxed specifications (32Gb storage, 3G & wifi and keyboard dock with SD-card reader, USB-slots and about 8 hours extra battery-time) costs me the same as an 16GB 3G iPad 2. That's a 16GB storage and keyboard dock in delta, and not in Apple's favour.
It may be a more favourable comparison if you go for the plain iPad, but Apple doesn't sell them any more, at least not where I live.
Anyway: Putting out "iPads are cheaper" as blanket statement like that is either uninformed, dishonest or plain trolling.
Fewer ports are better with HIPAA. You don't want somebody sneaking out data on a card. You don't want doctors with all their personal crap on the tablet, so what does it matter if there's 2x the storage on a Transformer? Do you put 2-3x times the ram in a dedicated app server just because?
In this case, everything a consumer wants is antithetical to what the hospital wants. I think you're the one trolling, talking about consumer needs in a locked down situation.
Also, seriously?
'My old account evidently got flagged "troll" for speaking against the Apple-worship cult found on HN.'
HIPAA does not enforce anything related to the number of ports or any other such nonsense. Most hospitals use standard laptops and desktops with more ports than a tablet will ever have.
My point was that compared to the Android-option the iPad is more expensive. The minimum config Transformer is cheaper than the minimum config iPad.
I've even backed my statement up with numbers. What part about that is trolling? You are the one with blanket-statements and no data.
Also, seriously? 'My old account evidently got flagged "troll" for speaking against the Apple-worship cult found on HN.'
PG emailed me telling me I had been a bad boy. Now that account is thrown in the deep end of the QOS pool and the site is slow as fuck unless I log on with another account. Besides that votes are not recorded (which is easy to verify using two accounts) and the account is not allowed to submit stories to HN at all.
for many, the value proposition of apple products means that they less expensive—that is, they cost less frustration. this is not always so—you consider a card reader and usb-slot and keyboard dock to be a net win, but not everyone feels that way, and considering the dearth of honeycomb apps still, it's no surprise that not everyone feels that way.
anyway: putting out (and i paraphrase) ipads aren't a better value for most is either uninformed, dishonest or plain trolling.
for the record, i like the transformer—great screen, pretty fantastic hardware, but good is hardware without great software?
