Yes, I was thinking of the relative ease with which you can reset an iPod (and presumably an iPad) to factory defaults and the restore from backup vs. a MacBook

Yes, I was thinking of the relative ease with which you can reset an iPod (and presumably an iPad) to factory defaults and the restore from backup vs. a MacBook, and since the iPad you get back is not the one you send in, it seems like a logical precaution to take, but "equally important" was probably not the best way to put it.