I just grabbed my iPad, dock, and case and I’m ready to start living in the 21st Century. Say what you want, but the iPad is clearly a new way forward in terms of user interaction and portability. In fact, I regret that I don’t have a long haul flight to test this thing out on because this device may be the elusive missing link between full-bore laptop and underpowered netbook for which we’ve all been searching.

On the whole, the iPad is nothing revolutionary: if you know iPhone, you’ll know this thing. But Numbers, Pages, and Keynote, the office suite that isn’t Office, is amazing on the iPad and iBooks are already a big hit around our house. Thankfully, Apple includes an A.A. Milne Pooh book for the kiddies.

Hyperbole without experience is hype so I’m going to ruminate on this thing this week and report back shortly. However, if you’re in the market for a netbook, this may be your solution. The jury is still out on WiFi v. 3G/WiFi (I’m leaning 3G/WiFi) but it’s still a fascinating product.