Thinking of bying a "pad", is XMBC reason to chose iPad2

I've been using XBMC on XBOX since it came, I'm really happy with it and have several XBOXes.
I mainly use it for looking on a couple of movies a week, streamed from a NAS.

The update of the XBOX version is not that frequent, so I'm thinking of some other way of running XBMC. (though I will keep my XBOX anyway)

I want something not expensive. An old computer is to bulky / noicy, a small dedicated media PC I think cost too much. I have run XBMC on my laptop and put it alongside my TV, but still, I prefer the XBOX for the simplicity and that I have no HD content.

I have thougt of an ATV2 - it is cheap, small and silent - but it seem to have some limitations.

I also want to have some sort of pad/tablet, and I'd prefer android... if it were not for the fact that XBMC is not available on it. So then the apple iPAD is a better choice (last apple product I bought was an apple][, though some old macintosches and now a iPhone4 has been bought by other family members).

Now iPAD2 will fall in price, iPAD3 is probably worth the $100 more... if it will be able to run XBMC.

I will only run it at home (WLAN), I would like to keep all my movies, mp3s on my NAS (which have a non working itunes server) - if on the move I have a android phone with free and fast tethering.

So, my questions;

Will an iPAD / HDMI soulution match a "normal" XBMC dedicated machine for playing on a HDTV? Or should I forget it?

Will the iPAD2 work good watching movies both on it's own and with a HDMI adapter? (Future HD content, though 720p OK for playback)

It it probable that an iPAD3 will very soon be able to jailbreak and install XBMC?

Is the XBMC for Android as likely (and as long time away) as iPAD3 will be jailbroken?

HDMI output isn't finished yet, and will come after Eden (XBMC v11) is out. iPad 3 hasn't been jailbroken yet. Over all, if you want a tablet XBMC, I'd say give it a month before making a major purchase.

I can't answer your questions about jail breaking etc., but In my opinion the iPad beats any android tablet hands down! I am a big android fan, and love my rooted desire hd running a custom firmware. I like it far more than my wife's iPhone 4s. It's for this reason that I bought an ASus eee transformer. However, the firmware was no match for the one on my phone, and none of the custom ones were anywhere near as good. I sold it, bought an iPad 2 and wow, it's so much better, more responsive, and the icing on the cake is being able to put xbmc on it. If you're mainly going to use it plugged into your telly then I would just pick up a cheap ipad2, your xbmc films look great on the screen anyway. Don't discount the apple tv either, I have one in my kids room and it does the job fine. And you can use your android phone as a remote for either the ipad or the apple tv.

(2012-03-15 00:28)Ned Scott Wrote:  HDMI output isn't finished yet, and will come after Eden (XBMC v11) is out. iPad 3 hasn't been jailbroken yet. Over all, if you want a tablet XBMC, I'd say give it a month before making a major purchase.

I'll do that... I'm also happy with my android phone as it is more "open", though, XBMC is an important issue when chosing for me, so I'll wait and see what will happen with HDMI and iPAD3... And even if the HTC desire S is good on android, pehaps the products like samsung tab is not... The main advantage would be exapndability, but, when using XBMC all media will be on my NAS. And I don't want to take the iPAD with me other than perhaps for my daugter to watch some movie when travelling, and for that 16GB should do it...

(2012-03-15 00:28)Ned Scott Wrote:  Over all, if you want a tablet XBMC, I'd say give it a month before making a major purchase.

I wish I'd read that 2 weeks ago.
And I imagine a hint is out of the question.

Is XBMC on windows 8 tablet edition now looking more likely than android?

Hmm still not installed XBMC on my iPad... it tends to get used by the Mrs more, if I jail break it to install xbmc will I loose the apps store etc?

No, you won't. But if a new version of iOS gets released you can't update your iPad or you will lose your jailbreak. You'll have to wait untill a jailbreak for the new version gets released.

Cheerz Carb0 I'll have to take a look around for a 'how to' guide...

Those Nova 7 with Jellybean at $200 look pretty tasty, will they be any use at all in an XBMC environment, even as a remote?