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Using a Tablet As Your Primary Computer
harrymcc writes "Three months ago, I started using an iPad 2 (with a Zagg keyboard) as my primary computing device--the one I blog on, write articles for TIME magazine on, and use to prepare photos and other illustrations that go with my writing. I now use it about 80 percent of the time; my trusty MacBook Air has become a secondary machine."
Congratulations.
Curiosity was framed; ignorance killed the cat. -- Author unknown
I'm sorry, this isn't a story. This is a blog entry, and a short one at that.
Sent from my CR-48
My primary mobile development machine is now my iPad2. Using svn hooks and an apple bluetooth keyboard I've managed to quite effectively work remotely.
SSH is required from time to time, but frankly it's quite seldom once I got all the svn hooks set up correctly
Personal Computers aren't a jack of all trades and a master of none. They are a master of freedom and convertibility, the ability to do whatever you want. Enjoy your tablet, I'm not sure I could.
To offset political mods, replace Flamebait with Insightful.
So it's like an expensive netbook, but you can only run programs approved by Apple?
What's the point?
No surprise considering his "primary computer" was a macbook to begin with. No real computing was likely done.
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I've tried pretty much the same thing using an Asus Transformer TF101. It has been less than a success.
Basically the tablet is great for email, which fortunately I write a lot of, but rubbish for office productivity. Word processing, spreadsheets and presentations are all difficult to create and edit with the installed Polaris Office. The original article above mentions Hootsuite. I use Hootsuite for managing my social networks. On an Android tablet, the experience is less than stellar. The Hootsuite app is clearly built for a mobile phone. In a web browser though, Hootsuite is brilliant. Sadly, web browsers on an Android tablet are largely crap at dealing with Javascript. And I've tried pretty much all of them. I need at least 4 (standard Google Android browser, Opera, Dolphin HD and Firefox Beta) to ensure that I will be able to load and interact with all websites I come across. Google Docs also fails in a web browser, and the app is once again mobile phone focussed.
The battery life of the Transformer is brilliant, especially with the dockable keyboard, which makes writing anything of length bearable.
A while ago I installed Ubuntu 11.10 as a dual boot operating system. I now use this OS much, much more on the Transformer. It's not perfect and a few things don't work, such as the mini-HDMI out, but when it comes to browsing and office productivity, I find this much more useful.
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When youd add a physical keyboard to it, it's just not a tablet any more, functionally. It's either a two-piece notepad, or if the keyboard is attached, even with just a cover, it's a notepad period.
The form factor changes. I expect tablets to be just one piece. A salient feature of a tablet is the LACK of a keyboard.
But if he was saying that adapting his tablet for everyday uses onle required adding a keyboard, well, doh. This is news for nerds? Not for a few years.
By TFA measure, my X41t is a tablet. Oh, sure, it needs a stylus and comes with a keyboard, and most of the logic is in the 'keyboard part', but it's touch sensitive (just the touch of the stylus, I know), has an onscreen keyboard etc. and folds over so it's just screen. and the stylus.
In today's world, it isn't what most people think they mean by 'tablet'. Adding a keyboard muddies this even more.
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
And it wasn't pretty Somebody points out that a tablet can only be a good primary computer if one's primary work is non-computer intensive, like an editor with a light workload; use-iPad-for-everything people get defensive about the technical rigor of their work, and computational significance of their needs; comments section gets shut down due to hurt feelings.
your thin skin doesn't make me a troll
Other than that, he states "This hasn’t been one of those experiments-for-the-sake-of-experimentation in which someone temporarily forsakes a PC for another device in order to write about the experience". Of course not. He had to justify his purchase (to himself, I suppose). Why else would he devote a blog post to "Hey look! I can write and take pictures with an iPad!"
He could just as easily written about blogging/taking pictures and emailing them to himself on a phone - because he bought an external keyboard.
Just some background, I am an Oracle DBA who is oncall every second week. I used to carry around my laptop, power cable and iphone while I was on call. I managed to get my hands on an iPad and used it for light reading, email, etc. I tried to use it while on call but it was too painful. SSH on the thing is nice if your in a bind, but you don't want to be using it for an extended period of time. Just think about trying to use vi, yikes.
Anyways, I picked up a Zaggmate keyboard for it. I now carry it primarily while I am on call, much easier to tote around than my 17" laptop. Has a better battery life and 3g built in. I don't have to worry about draining my phone at the same time as my laptop.
However, if I am traveling I take both the laptop and ipad. While the ipad is good for short periods of work, it is still painful for long periods. And its also not suited for alot of tasks, which you don't realize until you actually try to do them.
So I would agree to a point that 80% of work can be done on an iPad but its that other 20% that kills you. I could also walk to work but that would take an extra 2 hours each way than using my car.
The macbook air is light, small, easy to carry around. I am not sure why you would use an iPad over it. I've heard quite a few people say the opposite as the guy in the article. Once they bought air's they barely used their ipads. Once you factor in the cost of the keyboard, ipad, your almost at an air anyways.
"Thanks to the remote control I have the attention span of a gerbil."
Because Time magazine's target audience has a sub-90 IQ.
I think the master point he made was that it's actually the OS he likes. Or rather the lack of an OS to deal with. No real responsibilities to manage. Just a pure application interface. He also liked the long battery life.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
Netbook: $300.
iPad: $500. iPad keyboard: $50. Cellular data connection at $60 per month for 36 months: $2,160.
I just saved over $2,400 by switching to a netbook.
I don't think anyone is pushing the idea that tablets can fulfill every need of every computer user. I'm not sure what you are responding to.
"Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
My 13 year old daughter got an iDevice for her birthday (an iPod Touch -- seems like an iPhone without the sim card to me).
She's had a great time buying idiotic wallpaper "apps" (branded / licensed from her favorite TV shows), and silly games like Angry Birds, etc.
Also getting Email and wasting time on facebook (and of course buying a playing music).
This prompted the Dad speech: "when I was your age, we had C-64's. They plugged into the TV and you could write your OWN games".
Her eyes lit up. "I want to do that" she said. ... she had a couple of amusing ideas for angry birds knock offs.
Of course, starting from 0 might take a while to get there.
It started me thinking. The C-64 could suck you into programming real easy. Because with a few one liners you could change the screen color, make some noises, etc etc. It peeled back the curtain a little, and let you see how the thing you just bought worked, and how you could make it do neat things, and it didn't take a lot of effort to get there.
How in the hell could I even start my daughter down this path today?
I guess we'd have to download the Apple developer tools, XCode, get some sort of iDevice development license, and ... damn I don't know I guess some sort of iPhone simulator or something to run on the computer to act like it was an actual iDevice (since there's no way in hell you're getting your code onto one outside of the app store).
If she managed to entertain some enthusiasm through that ridiculous process, then her eyes would glass over as I began to explain how compiling works, header files, etc, etc, etc.
The greatest thing about computers is that they are creativity machines. You can use them to make just about anything. But these iDevice walled gardens are bullshit mini-televisions or game consoles. You can't DO anything other than consume, or produce approved content: pictures, emails, blog posts, maybe audio.
I'm disappointed by that. They could be so much more, for a new generation.
I don't think anyone is pushing the idea that tablets can fulfill every need of every computer user. I'm not sure what you are responding to.
You're exactly right, no one is pushing that idea. However, the fact that this is posted on Slashdot (where a disproportionate number of users are software developers, engineers, and other professions that require high powered computing) kinda implies that some of us can replace our desktops with a tablet. We know we can't and never will (unless the conditions laid out by the GP are satisfied), so this is just another one of those articles that are completely irrelevant to this demographic. What's next, links to Cosmopolitan articles?
I don't understand the comparison - how is a cellular data connection any more essential to the ipad than the netbook?
A netbook lets me run any application I want while offline, regardless of whether or not the manufacturer of the netbook has approved the application. In order to run any application that Apple has not approved on an iPad, I would need to run the application on a remote server and then install SSH or VNC to use it.
s/hardcore gaming/gaming/
It's not a matter of cpu, it's a matter of input devices, i cannot play stuff with a tablet that could be done with a 166mhz mac, simply because i need a keyboard and a mouse or even a wheel more responsive than the accelerometers.
So, the label hardcore is not proper IMHO, as it implies super cards and rigs, while in reality one might simply want to fire up a pc for an old assault cube.
---- MISSING MISCELLANEOUS DATA SEGMENT --- [sigdash] trolololol
None of the errors pointed out by xaxa actually exist. You got trolled.
They did when I posted, they have been corrected.
The author has posted in the comments admitting this.
Thanks for assuming I'm trolling, but I have better things to do with my time.