Going Even Lighter: Can The iPad 2 Replace A 13″ MacBook Pro For Road Use?
MacsOnly!’s Bill Fox has posted an interesting ramble on an ongoing downsizing trend in his own digital journey, chronicling how he’s migrated from desktop computers to 17″ PowerBooks to a 15″ MacBook Pro, then a MacBook Air, a 13″ MacBook Pro, and is now wondering if he can transition again to the iPad 2.
Fox notes that he didn’t buy an original iPad largely because he didn’t think it could replace a notebook in enough situations, but that the iPad 2’s enhanced feature set (Facetime camera and thinner/lighter/faster) and a year of software development have changed the game enough to change his mind, at least enough to give a try at going lighter, but just how good it will be in a business environment is an open question. Can the iPad 2 replace Fox’s 13″ MacBook Pro for enough business trips to make it worthwhile? He notes that at this point it does look like the iPad 2 might be able to serve as his sole computing device when he travels if he’s careful about assessing his requirements on a trip by trip basis, but he need to really do it to see for sure, and he’ll report soon on use of the iPad 2 after traveling with it as his sole computing device.
I’ve been made a somewhat similar transition in my own digital odyssey, starting out with desktop Macs back in the early ’90s, then switching to a PowerBook 5300 in 1996, moving on to a WallStreet PowerBook G3 Series. I briefly went desktop again in 2001 with a Power Mac G4 Cube, but after a few months swapped it even for a used Pismo PowerBook. I downsized to a G3 iBook in 2002, went back up to a 17″ PowerBook G4 in 2006, but downsized again to a 13″ aluminum unibody MacBook in 2009. I’ve been mulling where the iPad fits in my future, and have decided to get one, although whether it will be an iPad 2 or a remaindered or refurbished iPad 1 with more memory at a cheaper price is still being mulled. We’ll see after I get my hands on an iPad 2 after its Canadian release on Friday.
Another alternative would be a MacBook Air. Or should I stick with a form factor I know I like and get a 13″ Core”i” MacBook Pro? Decisions, decisions.
You can check out Bill Fox’s observations at:
http://www.macsonly.com/032311.html