If there is any way you could borrow one from someone for a week (maybe someone who has upgraded and still has the old one), you've got a shot.
Tablets aren't for everyone. There is a significant percentage of people that get an iPad (or other tablet) and either get bored with it after the novelty wears off or get frustrated with it's limitations when compared to a laptop. And despite what any fanboy tells you, those differences are significant.
Funny thing is tablets work best for people that are extremely savvy - use an RSS reader copiously and can whip around the web efficiently without a lot of typing. There also great for airport travel.
If you use your computer mostly at home, the only thing they are really better for than a laptop is as a book reader (and the cheap Kindles with the paper screens are the best at that). They can be an absolute pain in the ass for certain types of tasks i.e. serious web reasearch, anything requiring more than minimal typing, shopping on a lot of sites, etc
Hope that helps. Sounds like you are screwed