Turn Your iPad into a Netbook for Under $150

By Jane McEntegart
published

Turn your MID into a kind-of netbook.

iPad or netbook, iPad or netbook? The former is more expensive and it's considered a very casual device because of its OS and the fact that its touchscreen keyboard isn't exactly conducive to productivity. Still, there's something to be said for touchscreen displays and the iPad is awfully sleek. If only you could mash the two together for some kind of super-device netbook. Well, you actually can, as long as you're willing to spend more money and don't mind sticking with iOS.

There are already a couple of different ways to make your iPad act like a laptop, not least of which involves Apple's own Bluetooth keyboard, but we're kind of enchanted by this sexy solution. The Crux 360 is both an iPad case and a keyboard in one.

Pricing is set at a moderately steep $149 and you can order from Crux's website. Failing that, you could buy a real 9-inch netbook for less money and with a full-featured OS that will let you do a lot more than the iPad. Your call.

Source: Crux via Engadget

Jane McEntegart
43 Comments Comment from the forums
  • festerovic
    oCrap, there's some new iCrap!
    Reply
  • for the iPad thats a little schiz
    Reply
  • pacapaca
    "Failing that, you could buy a real 9-inch netbook for less money and with a full-featured OS that will let you do a lot more than the iPad. Your call."

    Saw the article title and immediately thought the same thing. Even for a base iPad 16GB, you'd end up spending over $700 for what will essentially be a slow netbook with a touch screen. I guess if you bought an iPad before realizing how gimped it is without a real keyboard, this might be a decent addon...
    Reply
  • didymus03
    Umm, no thanks. I'll stick with my dual core, dual gpu, dual battery, dual touch-screen (capacitive and digital pen), tablet-pc. It runs windows 7, plays games such (as Borderlands, SC2, Fallout 3), has better resolution and a bigger screen... and the list goes on and on. I paid less for it than I would for an ipad + crux combo and for all the advantages my only disadvantages are that it's a bit thicker and heavier - but not that much.
    Reply
  • nottheking
    Jane McEntegart"Failing that, you could buy a real 9-inch netbook for less money and with a full-featured OS that will let you do a lot more than the iPad. Your call."Best line I've seen in a news post in quite a while; sums it all up quite well.

    Still, interesting to see what's been made; while Apple's products have almost never been known for the capabilities they brought for the price, they HAVE always been known for pushing miniaturization in ways that arguably go too far: MP3 players small enough to swallow, laptops thin enough to slip out of your hands, and phones tiny enough to not have glass without it cracking. So to see an iPad-based netbook is INTERESTING, even if not PRACTICAL.
    Reply
  • hellwig
    Something tells me money is no option for the Apple faithful. Of course, this isn't branded by Apple, so it probably won't catch-on. Of course, Apple might release something similar in the future, and people will praise Apple for its ingenuity.
    Reply
  • liveonc
    So now I can play Crysis on an iPad? Is there an App for that & how can iAvoid holding it wrongly? ;-)
    Reply
  • Travis Beane
    I actually like the idea.
    Reply
  • orionantares
    If I was going to spend that much I'd just buy an HP tm2t to get something that could actually be useful in that configuration.
    Reply
  • molo9000
    Pointless. The iPad is meant to be an entertainment device, not a netbook.
    Reply