"I'll first say that "purchase a .. iPad for their next computer." is completely ridiculous. A tablet cannot fill the needs of a user yet"
You'd be surprised by how many people just use a computer to check their email and browse the web, all of which can be handled on an iPad simply and beautifully. My Wife and Mother have both stopped using computers altogether, iPad is all they need.
This. The percentage of laptop users out there who actually seem to "need" a laptop is a lot smaller than we might think it is. Maybe even a minority of all laptop users.
Pretty much everyone I know who isn't a hacker, gamer, or Excel jock can get by with just an iPad for the sum total of their computing needs (web, Facebook, email, Angry Birds).
If you have Pages for iOS, an iPad stand, and an Apple wireless keyboard, you can actually get by pretty well using the iPad for word processing, assuming you sit at a desk to write.
