They’re advertising an iPad as a replacement for the things most people use a PC or Mac for.

An iPad is certainly not a viable PC replacement for me, nor most of HN I would guess. But for a lot of “casual users,” who really just surf the web, watch videos, etc, it’s great.

What’s way more interesting is how iPad has become appealing to a lot of “semi-power users,” like photographers and videographers. These are people who, twenty years ago, really needed to be computer savvy to do their work, but didn’t (and still don’t) think of themselves as “computer people.” Or to put that a different way, they “use a computer for work,” but they don’t “work on computers.” That audience has been greatly expanded as iOS devices have lowered the cost and skill barriers to entry making a lot of content creation possible.

For those of us who actually “work on computers,” I don’t see iOS devices ever being a great fit… or at least not any time soon. But for others, an iPad might do everything the user wants from a computer, and maybe do it faster and easier as well. That’s what Apple is advertising.