I will continue until it is dead.

I got a laptop six years ago, with a 1.5GHz processor, a 32 GB hard drive, 512 MB of RAM, a 64 MB video card, an 802.11g wireless card, a DVD-ROM drive, an ethernet port, a video out port, two USB ports, and a FireWire 400 port. That was six years ago.

The iPad has a 1GHz processor, an unknown quantity of RAM (but I'm willing to bet it's not more than 512 MB), integrated video, an 802.11n wireless card, no DVD-ROM, no ethernet, no video out, no USB, no FireWire, and it can come with 32 GB, but it'll cost extra. The iPad also has a 1024x768 screen, just like my six year old laptop.

The iPad, however, does not have a replaceable hard drive. It does not have an expandable RAM slot. It does not have the ability to run two, or three, or five applications side-by-side. You can get a keyboard for it, but that will cost extra. You can not change its operating system, unless Apple does it for you. You can not change its battery, unless Apple does it for you. You can not install any applications on it that Apple hasn't told you that you can install on it. The iPad is six years newer than my laptop, and in all that time, the greatest advancement in computational hardware that anybody can claim the iPad has over a mid-range laptop from 2004… is a faster wireless card.

Excuse me if I don't start to foam at the mouth at this $500 insult to Moore's Law.