I like tech products that are light, easy to carry, and with long lasting batteries. It is because of my affinity towards nifty gadgets that I had decided to replace my original MacBook Air with the new 2016 MacBook. Yes, not a Pro, not another Air, but just the MacBook. The one with only one USB-C port, and a headphone jack (thank goodness?).
Some time back, I switched to the iPad Pro bandwagon too. First the 9.7-inch one, and then the 2nd generation 12.9-inch one. Complete with the Smart Keyboard and the Apple Pencil. Why? Because I strove to lead the hippie lifestyle. Because I was convinced that I could replace my laptop with the iPad.
Alas!
While I loved the 10+ hours of battery backup I get with my current iPad Pro, there are still a couple of things that piss me off, vis-a-vis the laptop I own:
- Believe it or not, the 12.9-inch iPad Pro is actually larger and heavier than the laptop I own!
- Sometimes, I just miss the trackpad. It feels so much easier to use than the touch interface of iOS 11.
- There are still a few set of tasks that I find much easier to achieve on the laptop – screen sharing the Mac Mini at home, ssh login into clients’ servers, making presentations etc.
In the upcoming weeks, I plan to write about my experiences about using the iPad Pro as my primary computing device. Well, I will still continue to use the MacBook when I am in the office. But for every other scenario, especially when I am traveling, I am going to compulsorily leave the MacBook behind, to force myself to tackle all usual scenarios with just the iPad.
It’s going to be a few very interesting upcoming weeks.
