Hi ... I have an original iPad1, and an iPad3. Battery life on both is excellent - I think my iPad1 gets nearly 10 hours still; my newer iPad3 seems to get ~10 hours. And for most ways I use it, they really do go down at about 10% per hour of "ON" use.

If you play outdoor gigs and need to turn the brightness way up (which I've done), expect the battery life to be somewhat less ... but I've never had a problem getting through even the longest gig with either iPad.

Jim

Thanks Jim

Don't forget... dial down the brightness a hair on these things, you can squeeze a chunk more up-time from them. Along with defeating wireless, bluetooth and the like ('Airplane Mode').

I know you did not ask Donny but I have the Surface Pro. I adore it for a multitude of reasons but battery life is not one of them! Honestly .... four hours if I am lucky. I believe the Surface 2 is better but I can't imagine it would be on a par with an ipad.

I did have an ipad 2 and an ipad 3 ... the 3 was the one that introduced the retina display and it still gave a good 10 hours. Also that retina display is so glorious. If you don't want to splurge on a new one ( the ipad air) I would recommend the third generation just so that you get that wonderful retina display. You won't be disappointed on the little extra you would have to pay over an ipad 2.

Thank you all

Android ASUS Tablet + Keyboard. Both contain a battery.
ASUS are stating up to 16 hours which after having it for 3 years appears about right.
Using the Tablet alone, when plugging back into the keyboard the Tablet auto tops up from the keyboards battery...very satisfied owner.

It still boils down to the apps...

Pick which ones you want to work with, and the decision about which tablet to get is usually made for you...

There is still a plethora of professional tablet apps thats ipad only
Also the upcomming tyors yamaha apps will be ipad only
Thats because of the ipad closed system works much better against piracy

But if you only want to use the ipad for reading music, the android is just as good.

The thing is, if you use an iPad, and get the apps from the iPad store, the writers of the software get a guaranteed income (if the app is successful) and therefore, you are FAR more likely to get timely bugfixes and even new and better versions.

Tablets where the content is less well protected will tend to have apps that don't get as much support. That's a big factor, IMHO...