why my family and i love the ipad.

I have the iPad 32GB, with Wifi and 3G. I use it mostly for business on the go. Instead of taking notes on paper in meetings I touch type them on the iPad and I can e-mail the notes to myself and others.

As a designer, I often sketch ideas as I have them so I use the Adobe Ideas app to roughly draw my ideas and they are saved, exportable and easy to manage.

I also have access to the internet, my e-mail and calendar, and find catching up on my e-mail or my online reading in bed at night a far more enjoyable task on the iPad than on my laptop because of the rich experience, one-task-at-a-time approach and comfort of holding a lightweight device.

There are some great social apps that I use such as Facebook, Twitter, FourSquare and Skype. Sometimes I use my iPad in the kitchen because I have fabulous recipe apps.

I get a lot of entertainment out of my tablet - it has my music, books and movies as well as games. When I buy digital media, it saves me physical space in my house, although if I read a good book, I can't pass it on to a friend.

I have two young children - Darcy is two and Ronan is five and they are able to use and play with the iPad even though neither can read. We have some arcade games like Pacman, board games like Uno, chess and checkers, then some of the latest games like Lego NinjaGo and AngryBirds. The interactive books for kids like Toy Story and Alice in Wonderland are simply amazing. My boys give it a solid "cool" rating.

My younger brother, Gabriel Gibbon,11, just parted with his life savings for an iPad 2. "I like the different apps, in particular games as there are so many options," he says. "My best so far are Angry Birds, Hungry Shark and Smurfs.

"I mainly use my iPad for games and searching the internet, and I'm just starting to use e-mail. When I'm older I'll get on to Facebook."

I take my iPad when we travel as a family. It saves me packing books and games for the kids. If we get stuck somewhere and they are bored, they can watch a movie.

What I love about my iPad is the ability to have so many features and functions available on the go and how it fits into and improves my everyday life. As a result, I have decided to give up my laptop and switch to a more powerful desktop computer with a larger screen.

The iPad is a truly incredible piece of technology, design, innovation and usability. At a price similar to the cost of some cellphones, I think it is worth investing in if you can.

Katherine Farrell

Digital creative director, Discovery

Twitter: @kathfarrellz