'Everyone always leads in with the "I thought it was useless" bit.'
Experience. The iPad is far from the first device in the tablet form factor, and far from the first tablet device to promise a revolution. It is, after all, not even the first Apple tablet device.
I think the problem has been that tablets have always lagged behind even laptops in what they could afford in terms of processing power and such; it wasn't until the Great Stagnation of CPU speeds and the relatively recent focus on low-watt-yet-powerful CPUs and GPUs that the segment became viable. No longer does it feel like you've stepped ten years back in time when you turn on a tablet. You have, except with a much better graphics card, but a ten year old-ish machine with a better graphics card is still a decent machine for most uses, so you don't feel it. Smartphones rode the same wave a few years ago. (Plus the work on faster browsers helps a lot too, even an older machine feels a lot faster on those.)
It's also pretty easy to think that a laptop is good enough. I know, because I still think a laptop is good enough for me. Perhaps my usage is abnormal but I spend a lot of time on my laptop typing, and I don't just mean for programming.
Experience. The iPad is far from the first device in the tablet form factor, and far from the first tablet device to promise a revolution. It is, after all, not even the first Apple tablet device.
I think the problem has been that tablets have always lagged behind even laptops in what they could afford in terms of processing power and such; it wasn't until the Great Stagnation of CPU speeds and the relatively recent focus on low-watt-yet-powerful CPUs and GPUs that the segment became viable. No longer does it feel like you've stepped ten years back in time when you turn on a tablet. You have, except with a much better graphics card, but a ten year old-ish machine with a better graphics card is still a decent machine for most uses, so you don't feel it. Smartphones rode the same wave a few years ago. (Plus the work on faster browsers helps a lot too, even an older machine feels a lot faster on those.)
It's also pretty easy to think that a laptop is good enough. I know, because I still think a laptop is good enough for me. Perhaps my usage is abnormal but I spend a lot of time on my laptop typing, and I don't just mean for programming.