There is one major difference between the two...the development environment for the iPad doesn't run on the iPad itself, so you end up with a general purpose computer, anyway, if you want to hack.
That said, you can be hacking an iPad for a minimum investment of about $1600. $500 for the iPad, $100 for the Dev Program, and $1000 for a MacBook.
That said, you can be hacking an iPad for a minimum investment of about $1600. $500 for the iPad, $100 for the Dev Program, and $1000 for a MacBook.