On March 7, doors to electronic stores all around the country opened to thousands of people standing in line to get their hands on a new iPad 3, which promised consumers higher-quality photos and faster 4G connection.

An article published a few months ago on CNN.com said our children will grow up knowing how to use only touch-screen technology and that computers with actual QWERTY keyboards will be a thing of the past.

I was disappointed after reading the article because I’m not a big fan of tablets or touch-screen keyboards. Not having a physical QWERTY keyboard to easily and quickly do tasks like opening new tabs, adding symbols and including special characters is the biggest reason I don’t like them.

To me, an iPad is only for browsing the Internet and doing activities that don’t require heavy use of a keyboard.

So for a student who needs a laptop to write papers, take notes in class and use other applications like PowerPoint and maybe Photoshop, an iPad is a big inconvenience.

With all the hype of the new iPad, I figured I might as well see why people wait in line for hours to get their own. For an entire week, I used an iPad as my own personal computer.

Not owning an iPad, I checked one out from the Undergraduate Library. Not wanting to drive myself crazy, I let myself use my actual laptop to type up my Daily Illini articles or to write any big papers that were due.

Throughout the week, my dislike for touch screens kept growing. It was impossible to connect to the Internet in my dorm because the ethernet cable didn’t connect to the iPad. Also, the screen was too small, which made it hard for me to have many applications like Skype, Pages and the Internet open all at once like I can on my laptop.

During my classes, I saw only a small amount of students using iPads, maybe one or two in every class. As far as using iPads for actual schoolwork, I don’t know many people who do. I usually see people only reading on their iPad or using the Internet when I’m on the bus or sitting at the library. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone type out papers or do class projects on it.

The new features on the iPad 3 aren’t as extreme as I thought they would be.

The biggest emphasis Apple put on the new features was the amount of pixels that it uses and how the quality of photos and video would be better.

But the CNN article was right when it said that touch screens are becoming more commonplace. You can’t step foot into a T-Mobile or AT&T store without seeing displays with nothing but touch-screen phones.

Even a step inside Mia Za’s on Green Street shows how common they are; the restaurant has a touch-screen menu on their wall. Even the guy sitting next to me on the Greyhound as I typed this is using a touch-screen phone to scroll through Facebook.

Melissa is a freshman in Media.