Buy an Apple iPad Online

The original iPad touch went on sale on April 3rd 2010 (wi-fi version) with the 3G version available from late May.

Internationally, the Wi-Fi version has been available from 28th May in the UK. American and International buyers can of course get the iPad from Ebay - see below for Ebay listings. UK customers can get the ipad from PC World or Amazon.co.uk and US customers can get the iPad from Amazon.com - see below.

The next generation ipad (ipad 2) got launched in 2011 and has been available from March 11th for Americans and March 25th for Brits.

* it has two cameras - a still camera and a webcam. the web cam comes with a built in Facetime app, which allows you to video conference with other people who have Facetime (such as those who have an iPhone4). See the picture right for how Facetime will look on the iPad 2

* A new faster A5 processor, to make the iPad 2 even more speedy

* apps for the Mac now work on the iPad 2 as welll, giving users more to choose from

However the iPad 2 still doesn't have Flash enabled, so you can't use Adobe products on it. Everything else is still the same - see below for the original iPad features.

The official prices will be the same as the iPad 1

Apple iPad 2 MC755LL/A Tablet (16GB, Wifi + Verizon 3G, Black) NEWEST MODEL Best price $649.00 from Amazon.com

Apple iPad 2 MC763LL/A Tablet (32GB, Wifi + Verizon 3G, White) NEWEST MODEL best price $729.00 from amazon.com

Apple iPad 2 MC981LL/A Tablet (64GB, Wifi, White) NEWEST MODEL best price $715.00 from Amazon.com

Apple iPad 2 MC987LL/A Tablet (64GB, Wifi + Verizon 3G, White) NEWEST MODEL Best price $760.00 from Amazon.com

(For the iPad 1, click Where to buy the ipad 1)

You are able to read newspapers, magazines and books on it too - most of the major newspapers and magazines have built very cool apps that allow you to read them on the iPad - and the reading experience is very different from reading online news websites. For a start,. the magazine and newspaper apps have a menu bar at the bottom and allows you to slide your finger over and displays a small info box for each page so you can see what's in it before you select to read it. It feels a lot more like browsing a dead-tree version of a newspaper or magazine.

Can you run iPhone apps on the iPad? Yes, but note that the image doesn't scale up - it will still display the size it would have on the iPhone, so you get an oblong of picture in the middle of the iPad.

Negatives: no flash (which means you will struggle to access those movie websites which rely on flash to work). The word is that with HTML 5 coming, flash will become obsolete anyway (Apple thinks flash is a cpu hog and battery drainer). Finally, there is no built in USB port - what Apple have done instead is build a set of docks and dongles with USB ports, that you attach to your iPad, and these cost extra.

Though the ipad 1 had no camera and no video conferencing feature, both these have been corrected with the iPad 2, which means they cease to be negatives.

The operating system upgrade in mid-November sorted many of the original problems out - it introduced multi-tasking, introduced a game centre so you can enjoy social gaming/multi-player gaming on your ipad and there is also keyboard and dictionary enhancements and security enhancements for business users

All customer feedback so far is that it is very fast and responsive - so perhaps leaving off the Flash was a smart move. Also - browsing the internet on the ipad is a very different experience from browsing on a PC - you can use the touchscreen to zoom in on the bits you want, enlarge or shrink the page, it's a whole new way of dealing with the net.

For those who want to use the iPad to work on the go, the lack of a USB port makes it difficult to upload and transfer files to and from the iPad to your PC. However, Apple have built a series of dongles and docks that do have a USB port - they are an additional cost, but worth having if you are going to be doing a lot of work while traveling.

For UK customers, iPad 2 16GB Wi-fi + Free Delivery on all orders from PC World online £399

For UK customers, Buy iPad 2 32GB Wi-fi + Free Delivery on all orders, from PC World online £479.00

For UK customers, Buy iPad 2 (WiFi, 16 GB) Best price £410.00 from Amazon.co.uk

Apple iPad2 32GB Wifi Best price £485.00 from Amazon.co.uk

For UK customers, buy Apple iPad 2 3G + WiFi 64GB best price £640.00 from Amazon.co.uk

The 16GB, non-3G model will cost $499.

The 32GB, non- 3G model will cost $599

The 64GB, Wi-fi, non 3-G model will cost $699.

If you want 3G with your model, add $130 to the above prices.

For 3G, Apple has arranged a pay-as-you-go data plan from AT&T in the U.S. There are two tiers available as pay-as-you-go (without contracts): $14.99 per month for 250 megabytes of data, or $29.99 for unlimited data usage.

In the UK, the costs will be as follows:

16GB wi-fi version- £439
32GB wi-fi version - £510
64Gb wi-fi version - £612

Add £100 to the cost if you want a 3G version

The above are Apple's list prices. However due to shortgages of supply and extreme demand, some of the prices on Amazon are more expensive. The UK apple prices include the rise in VAT from Jan 2011.

For a fuller list of retailers selling the iPad, click the following Buy iPad website.

The Wi-Fi version will be available from April 3rd in the USA (in the UK it is expected at the end of May), and the 3G model of the iPad will be avilable in early May, in the USA only.

The international launch will take place in June.

Please note the Apple store is experiencing long waiting lists

You will want to protect your new iPad - see the following page for details of where you can buy the best iPad cases, covers and skins online

Please also see the following page on Best gifts for people with ipads which has some cool stuff that goes with the iPad, such as screen wipes.

This is different from the normal Kindles in that the screen has full color - this means you can view movies and videos and appreciate color in books. Because it is a color screen it doesn't have the eInk technology of the normal kindles (which is designed to be kind to the eyes). However given that the Kindle Fire can do so much more, this is a tiny point.

A big bonus is the free cloud storage Amazon is offering for amazon products. You should be able to store all your ebooks in the cloud, using the memory on your Kindle Fire just to store apps.

The Amazon Silk web browser is superior to the Ipad's Safari browser in that it can handle websites with Adobe flash and this means you can view videos and play games online using the browser.

Best of all they are selling it for just $199, which is less than half what the iPad costs. Click the link below to pre-order:

For UK customers, get the Archos 9 PC 8.9 inch Tablet Best price £329.00 from Amazon.co.uk

US customers, see below:

You load the books onto the ereader by connecting the digital reader to your computer via the USB port. The best aspect of this ereader is the access to public libraries and Google's free public domain titles. You don't have to buy George Orwell, let alone worry about the book being deleted from your reader (all George Orwell's books are out of copyright).

This is for those for whom the ability to read ebooks is the most important and who arn't fussed about having a gadget that also browses the net or allows you to watch movies on it. The eInk technology really does make a difference to how comfortable it is to read for several hours at a time.

List price $199

Sony have also announced a PRS-900 version which will have a 7 inch display and free 3G wireless access to eBook store (but no web browsing access).

For UK customers, get the Sony Reader Touch Edition Digital Book PRS600 Best price £279.99 from Amazon.co.uk

US customers, see below:

The key difference between the Sony Dash Personal Internet Viewer on the one hand and the Apple IPad, Archos 9 and HP Slate on the other, is that the Sony Dash doesn't run on an operating system - it's a touchscreen portable media player rather than a portable computer. Business users will probably shun this - it's been designed for those who like to play games on the go while listening to music or watching videos. It's like the Playstation Portable (PSP) with a bigger screen and the internet added on, and should do well in the teen market.

It also has a wedge shape, which means it stands on it's base, and can be used as a clock radio as well.

The price is $199.99

Hewlett launched the HP Slate 500 in late 2010.

Here are the features of the HP Slate:

* 8.9 inch display
* weighs 1.5 pounds
* 1024 x 600 pixel resolution
* 1.86 GHz Intel Atom Z540 processor
* multi-touch display
* Windows 7 operating system
* Internet Explorer 8 browser
* built-in webcam (inward-facing) plus built in 3 megapixel camera (outward-facing)
* wi-Fi and bluetooth connectivity plus optional 3G
* built-in USB port and headphone/microphone jack
* 5 hour battery life
* Wacom digitizer
* plays movies, videos and MP3s
* 64Gb flash memory
* stylus/digital pen option for those who don't want to use the virtual keyboard

You should be able to connect virtually to your office using the Remote desktop function, and the built-in webcam will allow video-conferencing and Skyping, which might make the HP Slate a hit with business users. The HP Slate will also be able to handle Flash when browing the internet, which means your browsing experience will be no different than browsing on your PC. Plus the HP Slate allows multi-tasking - so you should be able to work and listen to music at the same time, or have several functions open at the same time.

One possible downside to the HP Slate is the battery time - 5 hours is a bit short. All apps written for the Windows 7 operating system should run on the HP Slate.

Hewlett Packard have just released the HP Slate. It's available on their website, and on ebay (see below). They've also released the HP Touchpad, which is webOS based. Click Buy HP touchpad for further details.