For the past month, I’ve been using the iPad on the road. I left my MacBook Air at home and went to the company office and international trips carrying only the iPad as my main computer. This might seem weird for most people, but as you will see, I managed to get almost everything done just fine.
I started this experiment in my old 64GB WiFi+3G iPad 2, then switched to the third generation iPad when it was released in the U.S. (64GB WiFi+4G LTE model). The new iPad Retina Display is a big plus, since the increased resolution means much less eyestrain than when using a notebook.
The first thing you’ll notice is that you need a physical keyboard in order to do this. Typing on the glass is fine for casual use, but if you need to write a lot of text on the iPad, a keyboard is necessary. I researched a few cases which include a keyboard and make the iPad look like a notebook, but those feature not very good keyboards and defeat the purpose of extreme portability of the iPad. So I decided to use a Smart Cover and carry an Apple Wireless Keyboard in my bag. This way I can keep the keyboard away easily when I don’t need it, and I can place the iPad wherever I think it’s more ergonomically-friendly for me.
At work, I didn’t have much problems. My employer supports iOS and most of the tools I need are either available as native apps, or work on the browser. The only weird thing is to take the hands of the keyboard and touch the screen. I’d say it took about 2 hours for me to get used to that. Using multitouch gestures is a bit uncomfortable when using the iPad in this position (see the opening picture of this article), so I prefer to double-tap the home button in order to switch between apps.
So, remote VPN access, instant messaging, e-mail, writing documents and performing tasks on the web browser are activities that I didn’t notice much difference between the iPad and the notebook. The only problem I found was when I needed to take a peek at an e-mail message while writing another. I had to save the current message as a draft, switch to the other message, then reopen the draft. Pretty much the same problem we have in Mail when using it full screen on the Mac. Very annoying.
For web-based tasks, Safari will work pretty well. Except when you need to do something that requires posting a file. Since iOS doesn’t allow access to the filesystem, these kind of web forms won’t work.
Whenever I found a task I couldn’t do (or do well) on the iPad, I connected to a remote machine using iSSH, Screens (a VNC client) or RDP (Windows Remote Desktop client). That’s an acceptable solution and if your network connection is as good as mine, you won’t have many problems with lag. For SSH terminal access, it’s okay to use 3G networks and still be productive. But when VNC (or Remote Desktop) is necessary, you need a faster connection — it works fine over 4G LTE, by the way.
Reading long e-mails and documents is where the iPad really shines. The Retina Display makes everything look crystal clear and, since I can dettach the iPad from the Smart Cover, I can read in a much more natural position than I would when using a notebook.
Other advantages over a notebook show up at the airport: you don’t need to rely on crappy or overpriced WiFi, just ust your 3G/4G LTE connection and you’re always online. Inside the airplane, the iPad is also easier to handle than a notebook. And when relaxing, it’s a much better device to watch videos, read or listen to music — after all, media consumption is what it was designed for.
But not everything is great. The iPad is not suitable for all kinds of work. Some examples:
- software development: if you write a lot of code, you either have to find an editor that relies on Dropbox (and have permission from your employer to use it), or connect to a remote machine. If you rely heavily on IDEs or work on UI development, forget it.
- photo/video editing: there are plenty of photo and video editing tools for the ordinary people out there, but none for professionals. The iPad still doesn’t have enough power to fulfill the needs of these professionals.
- heavy MS Office users: those Excel power-users who rely on tons of macros and/or work on hundred-MB spreadsheets can also forget about the iPad for work.
I’m sure there are other dozens of tasks that cannot be accomplished on the iPad, but these are the ones I think will cover most people.
If you don’t fit in any of the categories above, or want a notebook replacement for your vacation trips, then the iPad is more than ready to fulfill your needs. If you don’t do a lot of typing, you don’t even need the keyboard.
So, speaking for myself, I am ready to sell my MacBook Air. I didn’t use it for over a month and I don’t miss it. I can do everything I need using the iMac + iPad combination and I came to conclusion I don’t need a notebook anymore.
What about you? Do you still need a notebook?