In my experience, yes.  The iPad works great and we use both 1st & 2nd gen.

I have an iPad Air that I don't use much.  (After I got it I started using my iPhone as I had envisioned using the iPad--frustration of smaller screen beats lugging an extra device around for my purposes).  But to the point, in what little I have used my iPad, it is as smooth and pleasant experience as my iMac and my iPhone.

I have had horrible experience with PCs and I (rightly or wrongly) equate all tablets and smartphones other than Apple products with that.  I have a friend who has the newsest (I think a new one may be about to come out though) Samsung Note (huge phone--a phablet).  It freezes up and has issues akin to what drove me away from PCs.

How big of a screen do you want?  I will be upgrading my old 4S to an iPhone 6 Plus pretty soon.  I think that screen will be big enough to even more comfortably do what I had envisioned for my iPad and lug one device around instead of two.  Don't overlook the possibility that a 6 Plus may accomplish what you need and double as your phone.

I read online material, docuмents, PDFs, books, etc. on my little 4S screen all the time.  I am sure the 6 Plus is going to be very nice for such use for me.

As for my iPad, it is a great device.  I intend to start using it more as laptop substitute.

What I want to know is why everyone wants to put their grimy fingers all over the screens.

Do you have a touch-screen?  I used to think the same thing.  But it really isn't that bad.  I am in a white-collar job.  So my hands are typically free of dirt, grease, etc.

My iPhone is in an OtterBox Defender case and my iPad is in a Griffin Survivor case.  Both have screen protectors.  I occasionally wipe them down with an old t-shirt.  They rarely have so much as a hint of a smudge.

Now the people dragging their fingers across unprotected screens still make me cringe.  Many--perhaps most--do this.  But it doesn't have to be like that.  Whenever I take my phone out of the case to clean the case, my phone is surprisingly in the condition it was in out of the box 3 years ago.

Quote from: TKGS

What I want to know is why everyone wants to put their grimy fingers all over the screens.

Do you have a touch-screen?

I have one pc that is a laptop with a mouse.

I have a tablet (I guess) that is a touch screen that uses the new Windows operating system and I can't figure out how to do almost anything.  A lot of it seems to be that it often wants to be online and, living in a rural area, there are no Wi-Fi connections available.  This is a problem for my Kindle as well, though that's not as much of a problem since the Kindle (Paperwhite) is very simple and I can do almost all of it's ordinary functions through my pc or offline.

I also have a new iPod that has a touch screen.  My wife has a phone with a touch screen.  And what if find is that the oils in the fingers make the screens have to be constantly cleaned.    

What I want to know is why everyone wants to put their grimy fingers all over the screens.

This question doesn't make any sense. And you can get one of those tablet pen things anyways so you don't touch anything.

I have an iPad and I find it really useful whenever I'm doing schoolwork. I also make sure to have my hands clean when using it.  

I have a kindle fire hdx and I want to get a new one but can't decide which one to get. The main thing that I'm looking for is that the internet will not crash and that the tablet will not freeze up and things like that.

I was wondering if the Apple tablets don't have these problems. Do they ever freeze up or the internet crashes suddenly and things like that?

In computers, Windows does this all the time but Apple products don't have these problems. Is it the same with the tablets?

I use the Apple Ipads, when I'm not using the Apple big desktop.  Never had a problem with them - and that's par for the course for Apple products.  

The Ipads can't do what the big desktops do, but they are one third the price and so convenient to just carry them around wherever you go.