Updating on Ubuntu is way simpler than on a Mac. No competition. And I reboot less often with updates on Windows 7 than I do on Snow Leopard.
I'm glad you like the iPad. I picked one up and found it too heavy to be practical. Likewise I find the OSX GUI sort of sucky, preferring my KDE3 set-up.
But that's me; it's all anecdotal.
And while I haven't wasted much time solving arcane problems, that's because the problems I do have seem to have no solution at all. On Linux, I can google for instructions, try a few things, and a few hours later I'll have fixed what was bugging me. On OS X I'm stuck with it.
Every single morning, while sipping coffee and waiting for my omelette to finish cooking, I catch up on the latest news through Reeder, the first RSS reader I've actually enjoyed using. I also check my mail to see if there's anything important I need to respond to right away.
When I'm finished eating and catching up to the latest news, I grab my iPad and go upstairs for my exercize. While doing strenght training I use my iPad to quickly make a note of how many reps and how much I lifted. After I'm done with my strenght training, I take a run either outside or on my threadmill. If I take the run on the threadmill, I'll use the iPad for watching a video, either South Park or TED.
After I've showered, groomed, brushed my teeth and flossed, it's time to start working. When I work my iPad is always lying on the desk next to my laptop. I use it for:
* Displaying my ToDo-list (the Hit List)
* Displaying the email I'm working on.
* Displaying some relevant notes to the work I'm doing (Evernote).
* Displaying a PDF or website containing documentation to what I'm working on.
* As an extra screen (AirDisplay) for Photoshop tool pads and similar.
* VNC or SSH to another computer
* The occational check of HN, Twitter or Facebook.
* Calculator
* Calendar (Week Cal HD)
Yup, everything I've mentioned could be done on a normal laptop. However, it's incredibly useful to have an extra screen for displaying relevant information that'll never be obscured by application windows covering the information.
After I'm satisfied with my work for the day, I might hang out with my friends, perhaps take a picnic in the park. My iPad is always accessible in my manpurse. If a customer has an emergency problem, I can quickly and easily log into their server and fix the problem (Textastic/Prompt). If I get a brilliant idea, I'll note it down in Evernote and analyse it with the Business Model app. Maybe I want to think deeply about my business - I'll just open Dropbox and read through some business documents about future plans or surf on some of my competitor's sites through Mercury Browser.
When I'm back home I might do some more work or chill out with some games. Perhaps I'll open Rage HD and have one of the most immersive and physically exhausting gaming experiences possible through the Virtual Window control mode.
Right before I go to bed, I write in my diary (Day One) and finish my TODO-list for tomorrow.
The thing that most people missed before the iPad was they didn't understand what its purpose was (myself included, although I was neutral on the device rather than negative). You pick one up though and it's simply a joy to use. There's no booting it up, battery life is great, it's sufficient for Web browsing, reading email and generally consuming various sources of information. Updates are a breeze (of both the OS and apps). The payment ecosystem is built in.
The iPad is for me the most used gadget I think I've ever bought. For the foreseeable future I think it's easily justifiable (for me, having sufficient disposable income) to buy the new model every year. Not because I need it (I have the iPad 2 and could easily have lived with the iPad 1 for another year).
But it's simply a joy to use.
Apple has a great history now of taking things that suck and making them great. Using computers, generally speaking, sucks. Updating tends to be awkward and haphazard. You end up wasting huge amounts of time solving arcane problems (on Windows and even more so on Linux).
In years passed I used to like buying PC parts, assembling a PC, installing the OS and so on. Now? I just can't be bothered. I'm happy to pay a premium to someone (which only seems to be Apple these days) to solve these problems for me. Not because I can't solve them but because I just don't care and I value my time more.