I do the exact same thing, and maybe that's what some people want now . not a complicated computer that will crash a lot, get a virus and take 2-4 minutes just to start it all up (turn on the machine and get on the net), maybe they want a device that will just turn on and play in seconds, a simple device that " just works".
i have done it many times, can't be arsed getting on the laptop, so i just get the iphone out and do a quick search. but is that device worth so much money?
In all fairness, I don't ever shut down/restart or even hibernate my laptop until I need to. Even when I'm on the road, throwing it in and out of my bag. I open the lid, and I'm able to use it within 5 seconds, if that.
But the laptop has got so good at burning my nuts off, I've bought one of those belkin laptop rests, which are good, but it's still a pain in the arse. Plus, I only get 3 hours out of the laptop and I have to remember to plug it in, or sit there with it plugged in, which I do most of the time anyway. After extended use browsing on the laptop, I find myself with a sore wrist and shoulder from fannying with the touchpad or control stick in the keyboard. If I want to share something with the missus sat at the other end of the sofa, it's an awkward affair trying to pass it over to her, or swivel it around, usually resulting in an expression of "WTF are you passing my that for?!".
You can look at the iPad from two perspectives, form and function. Far too many are getting hung up on function. Yes, I'd love a tablet in this form that had an Intel i7, 12GB RAM, ATI HD5700, 256GB SSD, OLED and so on and on. But those that are disappointed with this device, you've just got to get real and take some compromises like multitasking/background processes. 10 hours of usage in a device this small comes at a cost, even if most of it is battery. IPS LCD is a serious boost from traditional LCD.
At the other end of the spectrum, you create a full powered PC tablet that will weigh 2-3 times heavier, with a single core Atom CPU, no acceleration, poor screen, and not even a sniff of a developer ecosystem designing apps to run on this format (for now mind). And it costs 2-3 times more too.