You all know I want an iPad. You all know I sold my soul to Apple a long time ago. Most of you forgive me for that, and I appreciate your indulgence. Makes me feel loved.

What I want you to know, though, is that the iPad lust that fills my geeky little heart isn’t just about my love of all things shiny and Apple and “i” related; I see in the iPad what might be the world’s ultimate entertainment device. And I love nothing more than being entertained (and a Boddington’s Pub Ale in the magical foaming can is one of my favorite forms of entertainment, in case you were wondering what to get me for Zomby Appreciation Day).

I see utility in the iPad; I see it running some convenient apps that will let me make presentations and stay in touch when traveling without necessitating carrying a clunky laptop, half-assed netbook, or my not-yet-paid off expensive laptop. I’ve not yet met a netbook that I enjoy using, I generally travel either with my cheap laptop running Ubuntu (vacations and the like) or the expensive laptop (traveling for work to non-exotic locales). So, I see it bringing some usefulness into my life in that direction, but that really isn’t the point.

When people compare the iPad to a netbook, I can’t help but think they are really missing the point. When they compare it to any of the current crop of e-readers, I think they are closer (because I think it competes for the same dollars) but not quite there. When they compare them to portable game systems, I think they are close but thinking too small.

I have to buy a work computer, so the iPad doesn’t compete directly with that. It simply can’t do the things that I need from a work computer--but, then, neither can a netbook, an e-reader, or a portable gaming machine. The iPad isn’t competing for the work computer money for most of us. What it is competing for is that next tier money that could conceivably go into any number of products. Why buy an Touch or a Kindle or a PSP when your iPad can outdo the grand majority of the features of the others? And while it is more expensive than any one of those individual products, it doesn’t look terribly expensive when you think of the devices that it might replace in your life.

But don’t stop there.

For me, the iPad also competes for the money that I might otherwise put into a new set top gaming system or even a new TV because, ultimately, it has more usefulness to me as an entertainment device than the others do. I love the Xbox 360. It’s an amazing gaming platform and some of the games on it are phenomenal. Having grown up with Pong, I’m still staggered by what gaming devices have become. But if it came down to choosing between a new Xbox and a new iPad, I would choose the iPad. I’m sure it won’t be a spectacular gaming device, but, for all my Xbox love, I only spend a few hours a month playing on the thing. The rest of the time it acts as a glorified DVD player. The iPad I would likely use on a daily basis for any number of tasks.

And while the iPad won’t compete for my magazine, newspaper, and book money, I’m hoping that it will change the way that I consume all of the above. I would prefer to keep the majority of my reading material on a device like the iPad--I’ll still enjoy real books, but right now the books and magazines tend to pile up until I can get to reading them. Can the iPad help me de-clutter my life? I might be engaged in wishful thinking on that point. Most of my reading is smaller magazines and a few (expensive) foreign publications that are unlikely to be offered for subscription on an iPad any time soon. But I have high hopes for the future.

I also tend to travel with a few books and a handful of magazines to help me pass time in airports and on airplanes--something that I won’t need to do with an iPad in tow. For that matter, if the airport bookstore is closed, I’ll go online and download something to read wherever I happen to be.

For me, the iPad will replace the need for the Kindle that i had been thinking about, free me of one Linux laptop that I will probably give or sell cheap, become my near-perfect travel companion, and be far more convenient for surfing, reading, and playing than my current crop of electronic entertainment devices. I want it not only for what it can do and for what I imagine it can do, but for what I know developers will surprise me with over time.

This little bit of mental meandering is brought to you by the letter B and the letter G (with an assist from Jerry D).

Update:
Read the PC Magazine review. An even handed review from Walter Mossberg. David Pogue’s review is not all flowers and rainbows, but it might just be the smartest of the bunch.