I went shopping for my very own iPad at 8:30 AM March 12, the moment it first went on sale. Having had a chance to try out the iPad at the January 27 launch, I had wanted one for weeks. What follows is how what started out as a $499 purchase ended up with my putting $1,170.58 on my credit card. When I entered the Apple Store, I scrolled through the prices for the various models. Although the most affordable model, a 16GB Wi-Fi iPad, cost only $499 (excluding sales tax), after some soul-searching, I decided on a 64GB 3G model, even though it cost $829 and wouldn't ship until late April. Here's why: I've had a 32GB iPod Touch for a couple of years. I love it, but I was always frustrated by having to hunt for an unprotected Wi-Fi connection wherever I went.

Confession: I have repeatedly downloaded e-mail by freeloading on unprotected connections in various places in and around NYC. For example, when eating at a diner I frequent on New York's Upper West Side, I used to mooch a connection from what appeared to be an unsecured router in some apartment above the diner. One week, without warning, someone secured that connection and I was left to eat without being able to read e-mail or browse the Web…
So, how did I go from an $829 iPad to a $1,170 tab? In a word: Accessories.
(Source: ConsumerReports.org)