That's no small thing. Not only does this change the usability of the machine tremendously, it has quite a big bearing on battery life. In fact, battery life is directly affected by how it is used.
The iPad can be used in a way which is fairly close to how one would use a notepad. You click the "sleep/standby" button and off you go. The netbook/laptop is a workstation and so wants to soak up all of your attention for some interval of time.
Also, I bet that that $200 advantage is going to disappear in short order.
I'm not saying it's a small thing. This isn't a netbook vs. iPad argument. I'm saying the resume-from-sleep speed has to do with good Apple engineering, not the keyboardless form factor (which is what the OP was defending).
You have a good point there. I think if someone could engineer a tablet with a good instant-flip-up keyboard form factor, then this would be a big hit. It would have to be as fast and easy to use as slide-out keyboards on current smartphones.
(and, to a lesser extent, slow resume from sleep)
That's no small thing. Not only does this change the usability of the machine tremendously, it has quite a big bearing on battery life. In fact, battery life is directly affected by how it is used.
The iPad can be used in a way which is fairly close to how one would use a notepad. You click the "sleep/standby" button and off you go. The netbook/laptop is a workstation and so wants to soak up all of your attention for some interval of time.
Also, I bet that that $200 advantage is going to disappear in short order.