After sitting in front of a laptop screen all day, I could never read a book on the same kind of screen. An iPad would kill my old eyes, backlit or not.

The Kindle is great, small, portable, but the size is just too small for those same old eyes. Yes, I can increase the font size, but who wants to press down that often?

My Kindle DX is perfect. More expensive than Kindle, but costs less than the iPad, and is lighter. It is not just a niche textbook reader. I can see the text without eyestrain, and without page-downing as often (I like to make up words...).