It seems that even Ben Brooks has had second thoughts on using an iPad as his primary machine.
In this post he talks about his experience sending his trusted MacBook Air to Apple to get it repaired and facing the prospect of being without a computer for the whole week.
When I travel I typically only take the iPad, unless I know I need a Mac for a specific something, so this wasn’t an unproven theory. The idea of a week going iPad only was something I simply wasn’t willing to do, and I think I know why: there’s a stigma that I perceive to be attached to the iPad.
I work in an office, like a real office with older people, and I think that they view the iPad as a toy and not a work machine. I think they view the iPad as something for consumption, not creation. Who knows how they actually view it — this is how I think they view it. And that mattered more to me than I thought it would.
This is a valid point indeed. It’s quite common to believe that you can’t create content on the iPad. The truth is – as we’ve discussed before – that you can actually create content on it. Only some specific tasks require a laptop.
I’ve managed to survive without a laptop for more than sixteen days and despite the fact that at the end I caved in and started using my old iBook G4, I convinced myself that if you don’t have a proper computer with you, you can be productive solely with an iPad.
By the way, I typed this post using with my iPad safely sat on a United Airlines economy class seat table and couldn’t have been happier.
iPad is a “new animal” in the work environment. Probably most people were looking suspiciously at computers two decades ago. The thing is how one actually makes use of the iPad in order to be productive and not just for the sake of it..
PS: You only typed or you also sent the post using United’s wifi on board?
The new animal concept fits perfectly with what the iPad is.
I just typed the post on the plane. No wifi available unfortunately