Separating work and pleasure

John Jiang
Jul 10, 2017 · 2 min read

I bought the new 10.5” iPad Pro recently. I wasn’t sure that I had a use for one, it can’t do anything that my iPhone or MacBook couldn’t do already. I mean… sure, the pencil is pretty neat, but that’s not the reason for me to use it.

I love my iPad cause it offers a clear separation of concerns. The phone is for when I’m on the go. The MacBook is for when I’m at work or trying to do work. The iPad is for when I just want to consume content without other distractions. Yes. The iPad stops me from procrastinating when I’m procrastinating on the iPad.

I don’t have my work email setup. I don’t have any way to code on my iPad. It stops me from checking my work emails and realising that I need to finish some “last minute change”. Too many times I’ve caught myself working at 10pm on some “last minute change” that ended up being more than just a “quick fix”. The intention is clear, when I’m on the iPad, it’s to enjoy myself.

Sometimes though, things are just easier on the laptop, like filling out forms. However, after getting the Smart Keyboard, there’s absolutely no reason to switch to my Mac any more. In fact I’m typing out this post on my iPad and it’s an absolute joy to use. The keyboard works remarkably well and I can type on it just as fast as I can on a regular keyboard.

With the iOS 11 beta installed, multi-tasking is awesome. It’s the one thing that turned me away from getting an iPad in the past. It always felt too limiting (even though I’ve never used one for long periods of time).

With iOS 11 and the Smart Keyboard, (other than coding) I’ve yet to find a situation where I needed to grab my MacBook. It’s a breath of fresh air having nothing work related on my iPad. No work emails. No HipChat messages. No code.

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