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+--- Thread: Discounted iPad 3 or used 11" Macbook Air as secondary device (/showthread.php?tid=147089)
Re: Discounted iPad 3 or used 11" Macbook Air as secondary device - Phy - 01-11-2013
I got a refurb iPad 3 about 5 months ago, and now my MacBook seldom gets opened.
I love the app Photo Transfer that lets me air-transfer photos both ways between desktop and iPad!
Re: Discounted iPad 3 or used 11" Macbook Air as secondary device - Black - 01-11-2013
11" Air.
Re: Discounted iPad 3 or used 11" Macbook Air as secondary device - sekker - 01-11-2013
One additional important difference between the iPad and the MBA is the option to add LTE to the iPad.
I've had both a wifi and an LTE iPad. The LTE antennae transforms the iPad into a completely different device, especially if you are doing ANY traveling. Even in town, it's very useful. I was in-between sites recently, and I was able to connect and do some nice work over a 90 min break because I had my iPad handy. If I hadn't had the LTE, I would have either had to find some wifi hotspot somewhere, or go back to work.
Instead, I had a leisurely lunch.
If you are traveling out of town, the iPad is even more powerful due to the Always-on connectivity.
IF you don't need or want such an option (after all, we wouldn't want to stop hearing from you on MRF), then the 11" MBA is almost the exact same size as the iPad retina plus a cover/case.
Re: Discounted iPad 3 or used 11" Macbook Air as secondary device - NewtonMP2100 - 01-11-2013
just use a lot of purell......
Re: Discounted iPad 3 or used 11" Macbook Air as secondary device - guitarist - 01-11-2013
sekker wrote:
One additional important difference between the iPad and the MBA is the option to add LTE to the iPad.
I've had both a wifi and an LTE iPad. The LTE antennae transforms the iPad into a completely different device, especially if you are doing ANY traveling. Even in town, it's very useful. I was in-between sites recently, and I was able to connect and do some nice work over a 90 min break because I had my iPad handy. If I hadn't had the LTE, I would have either had to find some wifi hotspot somewhere, or go back to work.
Instead, I had a leisurely lunch.
That suggests the "work" required wasn't too demanding, and didn't involve much typing or editing!
I like the idea of people in Health Care, Physicians, using iPads. The way they scribble, and the minor amount of lengthy typing that would be required anyway, it could be a real advancement in office management. Similarly, Airline crews are replacing gigantic heavy manuals and documents they used to have to lug around, with the nearly weightless by comparison iPad. It really does have a role in the workplace that's well suited to something an iPad does very well.
Re: Discounted iPad 3 or used 11" Macbook Air as secondary device - sekker - 01-11-2013
guitarist, I've made my peace with the iPad keyboard. I can type reasonably complex emails and related documents on the iPad. Though I agree that it is not as good an input device as the MBA.
Which reminds me that another option that the OP could consider would be the addition of a quality BT keyboard for the iPad. I have a nice one from Logitech. When I'm traveling to a science conference, I often have terrible wifi.
With the iPad, no problem - I break out the keyboard, pop in the iPad, and now I have 10 hours-worth of internet with a device and a decent (though less quality than this MBP) input device.
Re: Discounted iPad 3 or used 11" Macbook Air as secondary device - guitarist - 01-11-2013
sekker, those are good points.
As I reflect on my comments here, it reveals an overwhelming longing for a laptop. A MacBook Air has been on my horizon for too long, and the horizon keeps moving further in the distance.
It's the first time since 1996 I've had no laptop at all. I didn't realize what life without one would be like until I made myself accept using an iPad as a temporary substitute--and temporary turned out to be longer than planned. Part of me really enjoys the iPad, part of me resents it. My fingers want to do things, habits from being a portable computer user, and I am forced to accept the limits. Which colors my opinion in unfairly negative way.
I'd bet that most here who have and don't mind doing word processing and various content-creating tasks on an iPad also DO have a laptop, somewhere in their life, as well. I think those of us who have a desktop computer, and an iPad--but no laptop--are the exception.
Laptops are extremely common, and easy to take for granted.
I like the iPad's on-screen keyboard, by the way, a lot. For quickly answering an email, or typing a paragraph or two, I prefer it. It's more direct and useful than pairing it with a keyboard--which sort of defeats the purpose of a tablet, which is super-thin, portable, convenient.
Re: Discounted iPad 3 or used 11" Macbook Air as secondary device - sekker - 01-11-2013
I actually think this is a prime example where an LTE MBA would be the ether solution.
Or a good windows 8 touchscreen ultrabook with LTE that have been announced.
Re: Discounted iPad 3 or used 11" Macbook Air as secondary device - silvarios - 01-11-2013
guitarist wrote: Here's the thing. I can't stand those moments, using my iPad, when I want to use it the ways we take for granted we can use a laptop. When typing text, for example, and I wish I could navigate a cursor via a trackpad, or reach for a mouse, and there isn't one.
This. I have an Apple Bluetooth keyboard and I find the experience only slightly better than just typing straight on the iPad.
guitarist wrote: The competing platforms (the Surface, for example) are smart to make a hybrid product that responds to mouse gestures. Even if you sync a bluetooth keyboard to an iPad, you still have to touch the screen, there's no choice. It's mandatory.
Normally, I prefer Apple's design and Apple's wisdom in such matters, but as a consumer, with no laptop option, I find it vexing. My impulses are limited by the design. And I think it's aimed more at protecting Apple's product categories (not cannibalizing potential sales of its own products) than it is at serving the user's needs, frankly.
Agree. What's weird is the fact I can connect an older Symbian smartphone to my HDTV via HDMI and then control it with a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. Still a compromise, but it works surprisingly well. I really wish my iPad supported an external clicker. Even if it required a touchpad like the Magic Trackpad.
Apple does have a bit of history of artificial product stratification. Too bad really.
Re: Discounted iPad 3 or used 11" Macbook Air as secondary device - silvarios - 01-11-2013
Lew Zealand wrote: I've paired an Apple BT KB to the iPad exactly once and just having arrow keys made it significantly easier to use vs. touching the screen for cursor positioning while typing.
It was better, but not good enough, in my opinion, to serve as a full substitute. I actually went back to typing with the iPad keyboard because the iPad plus external setup felt too much like a kludge and only solved the most basic problems.