The problem with the iPad is it has no ethernet ports or DVD drive

...just kidding. But those were the main reasons people gave when they decided the MacBook Air wouldn't be successful a couple of years ago.

It's very interesting that in a laptop, those two features are considered critical. In a "tablet," they apparently are not.

This sounds like classic "positioning" in marketing: since you don't know what a table computer is, you don't have expectations. Since you know what a laptop is, you do. I have a MacBook (not Air). I don't remember the last time I used the ethernet port or the DVD drive. But I wouldn't have bought it without them.

Or maybe the difference is just that the tablet is cheap, and the Air was expensive.