What size iPad should I get (16 or 32GB)?

I am trying to figure out which iPad I should get. I don't plan on putting my music on it since I have a 32GB iPhone 3GS and a new Nano that travel with me. I will probably use it mostly to couch surf the web and for reading or movie watching when I travel for work (which is quite often). I may end up loading it with photos as well and a few games as well. My wife also wants one, but I plan to get a Wifi iPad now, and get her a 3G version when it comes out so we can have flexibility. We rarely travel at the same time for work, so we would plan to swap the 3G version whenever we travel. I am debating between the 16 and 32 GB. Any recommendations?

Thanks in advance!

If you don't want to load a lot of video/podcasts/music/apps, then get the 16. I loaded mine up so i got the 64GB. Love video podcasts.

The 16 sounds big enough for you. I looked at 10-12 iPad apps and their size was comparable with the iPhone app sizes.

Thanks guys. I am thinking the Wifi only version I'll go with the 16 and the 3G will be a 32GB. I am hoping to pick ut up after work tonight.

Depends on which apps you get. The Elements, for example, is 1.75 gb. Granted, it's an outlier now, but what about future apps? I've already filled mine up and it's a 16 gig. I'm going to have to trade up to 32 gig just to have room for apps; definitely 64 if I will want to put any content on it.

Wow buying 10-12GB of apps will not be an easy task. There are probably only 2-3 types of apps in the GB range. I was looking at the iWorks package of numbers, pages, & keynote and combined they are only 120MB! Elements and GPS apps are huge but probably not a lot of people are going to be getting those. This is only my opinion based on my iPhone usage and my comparison of ipad app sizes.

A hundred of those 50-150 mb apps can add up quick.

I agree but good luck finding 20-30 of them, much less needing them. Again it's just my opinion.

btw what is The Elements? I'm not near iTunes.

I have the same plan. I bought the 16GB wifi and have a 3G version on order.
The 16GB holds a good amount of apps but movies eat up a ton of space - more than 1GB each, which is something I'd like to have on hand for traveling, especially. So I'm glad I ordered the larger 3G model. I'd say go with the 32GB. It's nice to just keep stuff on there and not have to pare down all the time or have to be selective when syncing things over.

Periodic table of the elements. Comes loaded with content - info, spinnable 3d images of objects that represent each element, audio...

Sounds pretty cool for a high school or college person needing that info. I'll have to check it out tonight. Thanks.

I agree. That's why I bought the 64gb one. I don't have to worry about filling it up to much. I put about 10gb of music and 40 gb of video so far and have 6 books and over 1000 photos.

Oh no doubt with 50 Gigs of media and 1000 pics you have to have the 64GB but if you didn't put and music, video, or pictures on it could you imagine how many thousands of apps you could install? If the average app was 5 Megs then 200 apps would be 1 gig. So you could get 12,000 5MB apps on this bad boy!

I'd recommend the 32GB model (64GB if you can afford it). I didn't plan on loading lots of media on it (so I bought the 32GB model). I have a 1000 tracks of music, 100's of photos, 2 dozen apps, dozens of books, comics, 4 full length movies and I still have 22GB free. But I can see how space can be taken up by apps... there are already a bunch of iPad apps that are "must-have"... and there's many more to come.

As a compromise, I went with the 32. I figured that it should be enough memory to last me until upgrade time.

I was going to get the 16 gb...for the same reasons as the OP. However, I came to the realization that I do want to put movies on it and the apps are going to do nothing but get bigger. I'm not so sure I'm going to be able to get the 2nd gen, I want it to last to probably the 3rd gen, so I opted for the 32 gb. I have a 16 gb 3G and carry music on that. Don't plan on listening to music on the iPad, especially when I'm probably going to be upgrading to the newest rendition of the iPhone this summer and will upgrade to a 32 gb (or a 64 gb...if available). I loaded about 100 songs, two movies (full-length) and Season 1 of The Unit and the season of Band of Brothers. After a bunch of apps, I've still got almost 9 GB free...and that's negotiable as I take video off the device as needed. My video takes up 16 gb by itself...but I've got a lot of video on there right now.

I would go with the larger of the two devices. You mentioned that you will be using it for movies and that can take up quite a lot of space. I got the 64Gb iPad but that's mainly because I wanted my music, videos, pictures and apps on there. There is 32Gb of music so decision was easy.
Hope you enjoy whichever one you get!