Experiments in an iPad Only Week

Earlier this week, my MacBook Air stopped working. No idea. No lights. No problems leading up to it. Nothing.

I’ve used MacBook Airs for almost a decade and love them. They are cheap, work well and have terrific battery life. This time, I’m not sure what happened. I’ve made an appointment with Apple but they couldn’t get me in for almost a week.

In the interim, I’m living the “iPad only” life.

Here’s what I’ve learned:

• Not having to worry about charging my iPad is wonderful. Sure, I charge at night but during the day… no worries.
• Most of what I do on my MacBook Air I can do on the iPad- OmniFocus, DayOne, Spark for email… it’s all just as good on the iPad.
• The things I can’t do… are annoying. Sure you can ninja-concoct a workflow for doing podcasts on an iPad but come on…nothing beats editing video or audio on a Mac.
• Grading papers is both ok and frustrating. As a college professor, the extra real estate of a bigger screen makes a big difference. On the flip side, being able to take the iPad on to the couch and not have my legs burning from battery usage is just as nice.
• An iPad is fun to use. Think about a car you’ve loved- it’s fun to drive. I l-o-v-e my iPad because it’s portable and all that but what’s most striking is the “fun factor”. There’s just something about an iPad that makes it fun to use.

Do I want to go “iPad only” for much longer? No way. Has it been a fun stop along the way? You bet.

What’s been your experience when you’ve had to go iPad only?