Ready For The Switch To Tablet Computing Full Time?

TechCrunch columnist MG Siegler on his personal ParisLemon blog says he’s very close to ready go with the iPad as his main computing device. He still prefers a physical keyboard, but has found Logitech ‘board the iPad he says he “quite love(s)” so there must be something else holding him back.

Siegler says he prefers writing with his iPad and keyboard to working with a PC because he can do it without getting distracted by open apps/tabs, but concedes that when it comes to tasks other than composition, he’s still not quite as comfortable with the tablet as with a PC.

He also concedes that he typically gets 95 percent of a task completed on an iPad, but saves the remaining 5 percent for when he’s back at his MacBook, having it in his head that he’ll be able to do it quicker or more completely on the computer.

Many of us would say it’s more than just in his head.

Mark Crump also says 2014 will be the year of the great PC to tablet shift for him. He notes that for a long time, he never thought he’d be able to give up the Mac as his primary personal computing device, but thanks to some advances in hardware and third-party app development, he’s ready to center his personal computing around the iPad, which he says that ever since buying his first iPad in 2010, he knew it was a matter of when, not if, the iPad and iOS would become his primary personal computer.

However, Crump concedes one point up front, affirming that it will never be possible for him to do his day job on an iPad because he deals with incredibly technical documents that need the full might and power of Office to be executed, so when I refers to his ìdaily driver, he’s talking about his general personal use.

Another thing the iPad can’t do, at least in practical terms, is post image files to Web articles in WordPress, which makes going all iPad impossible for those of us who need to do it routinely. Thene there’s exporting and uploading a book to Amazons Kindle Direct Publishing service, another iPad impasse.

Crump also acknowledges that the biggest hassle for any of his iOS tasks is how apps are required to sandbox their data. He says he keeps hoping Apple will announce some sort of a way to allow apps to access data, even if itís something like a document version of iPhoto so he could use any music or text editor that fits the needs of a specific task. Me too, Mark, but i”m not holding my breadh in anticipation.

Of course, one workaround would be to just switch to a Microsoft Surface Pro, or other tablet that supports a real desktop operating system.