My buddy Dave and I have been having intense discussions about the iPad the last couple of weeks. He is in the market for a new MacBook Pro and prior to January 27th he was pretty confident he was going to be buying the new Apple tablet. After it was announced he was enraged with the “lack” of features. I really couldn’t see myself ordering one, and I still won’t. But the more I have thought about it, the more I could see how it could work for me.

Let me preface this by saying not all of these things might be possible yet, but this is what I was thinking. First, I came to the conclusion that thinking of this as a mobile computer just didn’t make sense to me. It’s too big to be carried without a bag, and if I need a bag anyway, why not take my MacBook Pro? So then I started thinking, could this be the most absolute perfect “couch” computer ever?

I have a Mac Mini media center. I have been using the new Logitech TouchMouse app to control it from my desk/couch. It works really well and would be even better on something as big as the iPad. Of course there are other media center control apps, like Apple Remote, VLC Remote and Boxee Remote. But let’s go a step further. What if AT&T created an app that like you control your U-Verse DVR from your iPad? Or what if someone created (and this might already exist) some sort of bluetooth IR adapter? So now you can basically use your iPad as a universal remote. Some of the Logitech Harmony remotes cost about $150.

Then of course, there is the rest of the iPad. I have become pretty ADD about watching TV. It’s hard for me to watch TV without being on my computer or iPhone. This is where that magical middle ground Steve Jobs talks about makes sense. Usually when I am on my phone or laptop while watching TV I am checking scores, using Twitter or Facebook or browsing the web. All of these things (I have heard) are amazing on the the iPad. Plus the size means it’s not in the way and its not heavy and hot on your lap like a laptop. And if the web browsing experience is as good as advertised, this seems like a perfect use case.

I have also heard that when you dock the iPad it can be used as a pretty solid digital picture frame. So when it isn’t being used, it could sit there and be pretty.

Now there are a ton of holes in my plan. The most obvious one being that if the iPad is your universal remote, it can’t leave the living room. And because there is no multitasking switching back and forth to the remote apps would take time.

Overall though, I can definitely see more use cases for the iPad than I thought. At $500 w/o 3G it’s still too steep to me for a “couch” computer. At $500 w/3G it’s mobile features become more useful (you can’t get mobile data for that cheap anywhere). There is still over a month until the the iPad gets released, so there may still be more to change my mind.