Macworld’s Dan Moren says that for almost two years now he’s started nearly every morning by reaching for his iPad before he even gets out of bed to check email, catch up on Twitter, read some comics, and surf some websites. I’ve kept a similar routine since buying an iPad 2 last spring, although less the Twitter, which remains an unacquired taste, and the comics, but I do check the weather forecast and the morning’s news headlines.
However, Moren says when it s time for work, he puts down the iPad and switches to Mac, which is likewise my routine.
However, he notes that as the iPad s hardware and software have developed since its launch in 2010, and especially since the recent release of iOS 5, he’s been wondering whether that platform handoff is really necessary, or could the iPad replace a Mac for work? Or, more precisely, what sorts of work can it do now? What sacrifices will still be required, and can you actually get things done with it?
To find out, Moren vowed to go Mac-less for three days, using his iPad instead of my laptop for everything. He chronicles how things went here:
http://macw.us/yBbYEU
I haven’t tried going cold turkey, or anything close to it, but I have been trying to use the iPad more and more for production tasks, partly to help justify the hardware investment, and partly because I’ve been seduced by the portability, silence, instant-on, and speed. However, at its current stage of development, I would evaluate the iPad as not yet being remotely close to a satisfactory replacement for a Mac or PC as a production platform. Dan Moren’s article explains some of the reasons why.
