A month with the iPad
I’ve had my iPad for little over a month now and I really am surprised at the amount of use it’s getting. I thought it would fill the void between laptop and phone as many suggest. It doesn’t, it hasn’t. My MacBook is, and has been, redundant for the past 5 weeks.
My main machine is an iMac, this handles my design, development and photo editing, not to mention my music and video collections. My MacBook was always my ‘lazing around’ machine. On my lap on the sofa, reading the news at the breakfast table, maybe the odd bit of BBC iPlayer late at night.
The iPad has seamlessly stepped into the shoes of my MacBook, it now delivers the news, the tv shows, the odd bit of music I want. But at a fraction of the size and sometimes discomfort of my (now) weighty laptop.
These are all no-brainers, but… the battery life is better, it’s quicker at some everyday tasks, it’s lighter and infinitely more portable. I haven’t reached for my MacBook in weeks, but only when it comes to ‘leisure’. The death of the laptop won’t be any time soon.
The iPad just isn’t suitable for work; typing at length, editing things, saving and exporting, these aren’t simple and easy enough… yet.
If you’re thinking of getting a new laptop for your everyday use, such as browsing, photo sharing etc, should you give a tablet a second thought? Well yes and no. The limitations might be a little too much for some people, small screens, netbook speeds, software limitations. But on the other hand, if you value ease of use, simplicity and portability, then an iPad may well be for you.