I like Apple, but I am not a fan boy that immediately buys everything they put out.  I waited a year before switching to the iPhone, and have only recently started using a Mac as my primary personal computer.  As someone who is relatively cautious in my purchases of new gadgets, I’ve viewed the iPad with a healthy degree of skepticism since it was announced earlier in the year.  I have a laptop, a Kindle and an iPhone, so the iPad has always seemed a bit frivolous to me.  This is not something I need, and up until now it hasn’t excited me enough where I would take the plunge simply because I want it.

But now I see the reviews in advance of the release tomorrow, and I’m starting to think I really, really want one, and that this devise really could be a game changer.  Below are some snippets from the more respected reviewers, to show you why I’m excited.

Walt Mossberg of Wall Steet Journal

My verdict is that, while it has compromises and drawbacks, the iPad can indeed replace a laptop for most data communication, content consumption and even limited content creation, a lot of the time. But it all depends on how you use your computer.

If you’re mainly a Web surfer, note-taker, social-networker and emailer, and a consumer of photos, videos, books, periodicals and music—this could be for you. If you need to create or edit giant spreadsheets or long documents, or you have elaborate systems for organizing email, or need to perform video chats, the iPad isn’t going to cut it as your go-to device.

Stephen Fry of USA Today

It is possible that the public will not fall on the iPad, as I did, like lions on an antelope. Perhaps they will find the apps and the iBooks too expensive. Maybe they will wait for more fully featured later models. But for me, my iPad is like a gun lobbyist’s rifle: the only way you will take it from me is to prise it from my cold, dead hands. One melancholy thought occurs as my fingers glide and flow over the surface of this astonishing object: Douglas Adams is not alive to see the closest thing to his Hitchhiker’s Guide that humankind has yet devised.

David Pogue of New York Times

The iPad is so fast and light, the multitouch screen so bright and responsive, the software so easy to navigate, that it really does qualify as a new category of gadget. Some have suggested that it might make a good goof-proof computer for technophobes, the aged and the young; they’re absolutely right.

And the techies are right about another thing: the iPad is not a laptop. It’s not nearly as good for creating stuff. On the other hand, it’s infinitely more convenient for consuming it — books, music, video, photos, Web, e-mail and so on. For most people, manipulating these digital materials directly by touching them is a completely new experience — and a deeply satisfying one.