Our tech James was going to wait for the iPad Wi-Fi + 3G, but he just happened to walk past the Apple Store the day the iPad Wi-Fi debuted…

James bought the 16GB Wi-Fi iPad, which he says is indeed an amazing device, and is easily as much of a paradigm shift as the original iPhone was, if not more.

James is able to functionally leave his laptop at home 90% of the time, and the iPad is small and light enough that he can always have it with him. The iBooks app allows him to get some reading done when he takes to the subway.  James has re-ordered the 3G iPad, which will be much much much more functional for him as he’s constantly out and about.  We’ll give a report on that later this month.

James’ only minor complaint is that some of the apps available for iPhone aren’t quite up to speed for iPad yet:

• Office2 app interfaces with Google Docs pretty well, and Pages and Numbers are pretty sweet.
• Server Admin Remote has been updated for the iPad, but still waiting for iStat to follow suit.
• A couple of different VNC clients are already out — waiting to see who rises to the top.

James says he’s hoping for a Firefox and an Apple Airport Utility for the iPad as well.

You can check out an iPad at your local Apple Store or take the guided tour online here.

A word of caution from James when using your iPad in public — you may not be able to use it without being stared at or talked to.  Yes, it’s that stupendous.

The Apple “tablet” that has been the subject of much speculation over the past year made its debut last week.

Advertised as “the best way to experience the web, email, photos, and video,” the iPad features a 9.7 inch Multi-Touch display, and is only 0.5 inch thin.  With a weigh of only 1.5 pounds, the iPad is incredibly portable.

As of last week, the iPad can run almost 140,000 of the apps on the App Store — even the ones that you’ve already downloaded on your iPhone and iPod touch.  A new app to the iPad is iBooks, which allows users to read and buy books from the built-in iBookstore.

The iPad is reasonably priced, with models starting at $499 for the 16GB + Wi-Fi and topping out at $829 for the 64GB + Wi-Fi + 3G.  The Wi-Fi only models ship in March, with the 3G models following in April.

Engadget published a good hands-on evaluation of the iPad, with the pluses (beautiful screen, super fast CPU, great eBook reading experience) and the minuses (no multi-tasking, no camera and no Adobe Flash).  For all the technical specs and the promo video, visit Apple’s website.