My parents, Mary, and grandparents went in on an iPad for me!

One was on order from Apple, but we went to the Tacoma Mall this morning and got in line early for the grand opening of the Tacoma Apple Store. We were able to snag one (and will be canceling the online order shortly).

I’m pretty smitten. I know what I said earlier: I wouldn’t want an iPad unless it could replace a laptop, but already I can tell it’s pretty close. I use my laptop for many things, and this would fill the gap on most of them. I wouldn’t want to code a website on it. But there’s a lot more I can do with it than I would have executed.

Typing is easier than I expected too (I’m writing this post on the iPad). I will probably invest in a keyboard at some point, but it’s not essential.

The apps are pretty fantastic, and they really make the whole thing sing. It’s a little harder than it should be for finding apps that are updates of iPhone apps I already have. But the apps designed for the iPad are all very high quality so far.

I’ve been playing with it all day, as you might imagine, and it’s pretty dang awesome. Here’s what I’ve liked best so far:

Netflix. Live streaming of videos right to your lap is pretty great. Same goes for Youtube. Mail. Both the gmail web app and the built-in Mail app are pretty well-done.

Tweetdeck. I use the new Twitter app on my phone but Tweetdeck does a good job filling the screen space of the iPad.

Now to find some good games …