I use my iPad on a stand beside my computer, with a bluetooth keyboard, for email. The idea is to keep the email monitor separate from the computer display so I can focus on one or the other. It's not a bad setup, although sometimes I tend to forget and fire up gmail on my mac. The typing experience is great, though - the text selecting shortcuts from OSX are all there.

I bought my mother an iPad for christmas (got her the 16 GB 3G version for when she's stuck at her store). My biggest concern was typing, so I also opted for the keyboard dock instead of a bluetooth keyboard or a case.

So far, she really likes it. The first thing she figured out was that the dock plugs into the computer and the iPad plugs into the dock, so she didn't even know about the onscreen keyboard until I told her to unplug it (about 30 minutes after she got it).

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to really observe how she uses it, as she lives a few thousand miles away, but she seems to really enjoy it, compared to her slow, heavy, unreliable, and virus-laden Windows laptop.

I have the Bluetooth keyboard, but it (sadly) doesn't solve that: the apps are just not mature enough for serious typing in many situations (especially if that "typing" includes "coding").

I've heard people say that. I can definitely understand some may type slower. I prefer a physical keyboard for long form writing, but I'm actually pleasantly surprised at how quickly and accurately I can type on the virtual keyboard. It's pretty comfortable for me to write a 2000 word piece on an iPad. For some though, they won't be comfortable doing it.