Are you just on your way out to buy an iPad? Have you really thought about the decision you’re making? Like a lot of people this weekend I very nearly went out and bought one but after some careful thought I then realised my iPod Touch was all I ever needed anyway, read on to find out why and save yourself a tidy sum of cash.

I do want to state though, this is definitely not an article to slate the iPad, because for the right consumer this is going to be a great product and something they’ll really enjoy, just that you really need to ask yourself the question, is it the right product for me.

So where does the iPad fall down? To start it’s not what you’d describe as truly mobile, in other words it really isn’t going to fit into a pocket, and then on the other hand it’s not fully featured so it can’t replace dedicated devices in the home or office.

Really, if you’ve got a 42″ LCD in the house, what are you most likely to watch movies on? If you have any serious web development or graphics work to do you’re going to open a laptop or switch on the desktop, right?

Here comes the good bit. Forget the iPad, and think about the iPod Touch for a moment.

The iPod Touch is a fantastic little device to increase your productivity, being a truly mobile device means you can take it anywhere and work anywhere. Most people are probably thinking why not an iPad, but at the end of the day it’s the massive price difference and the fact that it’s still not really that discreet, so you’re still going to get people in public places having a good look at your business as they pass against using a smaller iPod or iPhone which are largely ignored these days.

Just as a note for anyone worried about battery life of the iPod Touch against the iPad, don’t be. It’s not great but I’d class myself as a regular user and it only needs a quick charge once a day or every other day, and if you’re caught out away from the computer to charge it up it can be charged via a standalone power cable or battery packs that can clip straight on.

As for the iPad, I couldn’t really justify the extra cost today for something that’s not really mobile, and not as featured as a laptop for work purposes. Really just to watch movies, surf the net and play games on when I already have dedicated devices to do that on in the home anyway.

If you really want to find out how to make the most of your iPod Touch as a web professional read the rest of my article at www.imextras.com and you’ll soon realise you never really wanted an iPad in the first place.