Stunning iPad's a 'Game-Changer'

The revolutionary iPad's a winner that largely lives up to Apple's hype, according to overwhelmingly positive early reviews. The tablet computer could easily replace the laptop for users focused on consuming instead of creating content, and who can live without a mouse—and Flash, say reviewers.

• The device is "basically a gigantic iPod touch," writes David Pogue at the New York Times. Hardcore techies will find lots to dislike, he notes, but regular people will find it "infinitely more convenient than a laptop" for consuming books music, video, photos, and browsing the web.

• Apple has reinvented the tablet to create "one of the best computers ever, gushes Andy Ihnatko at the Chicago Sun-Times. The user experience is "instantly compelling and elegant," he writes. "It’s a computer that’s designed for speed, mobility, and tactile interaction above all other considerations."
• Apple has "pretty much nailed it," with this formidable rival to netbooks, the Kindle, and portable game machines, writes Edward Baig at USA Today, noting that the iPad will run just about all of the 150,000 iPhone apps available.
• This touch-screen device "has the potential to change portable computing profoundly" if people see it as an alternative to heavier computers instead of just another gadget to carry around, writes Walt Mossberg at the Wall Street Journal.

(More iPad stories.)