I recently went on vacaton with my family and for my electronic gear, I only took my iPhone and iPad. It got me thinking how long it has been since I traveled with a laptop for personal trips. Several years ago, when I first got an iPad, I tried just using it for trips, but felt like my hands were tied behind my back. Over the last few years, I’ve found that while my laptop is a bit easier to use with the bigger screen and bigger keyboard, for most of my needs on the road, I consume content (web, books, movies, etc.).
On this last trip, I found that I still needed to connect to my server as well as back to my home network, With Prompt from Panic, I was easily able to SSH into my server and tweak server settings. In addition, I used a VPN and Screens to control my server at home. I also used Remote Patrol to look at the cameras on my house.
When I got home, I decided to get a keyboard for my iPad to complete my setup. Now it is easier for me to not just comsune content, but also to compose.
The only major things I can’t do when I travel is write code (I still do some personal projects here and there) and keep up with my accounting. Both are pretty minor and I’m quite pleased at not having to travel with a computer for personal trips; it kind of feels liberating.
The iPad is an excellent tool and as many people have already written, the iPad can be the primary computer for many.
I have an iPad Air 2 and love it but I can’t seem to live without a mouse. And, I find text editing on an iPad cumbersome; less writing, more editing.
If Apple comes out with this new 12″ MacBook Air it will be interesting to see how that impacts iPad as laptop use and sales.
I think it really depends on how much text editing you want to do; I did write a few pieces of email and a few blog posts using an iPad (before I got the keyboard) and didn’t have any problems. Now that I have a keyboard, it is getting easier (even though the keyboard is a bit small). There are definitely tradeoffs and I find myself using my iPad more when I’m at home to write posts as well.