Ipad as only computer for extended travel
September 5, 2010 9:24 AM   Subscribe

IPad as only computer for 4-5 months?

We will be spending the winter/spring in Co Kerry Ireland and I am considering buying an Ipad to take as the only computer. Advantages: light, portable, Vodafone and O2 support the Ipad with 3G, unlocking is not necessary and 95% of our use is email and internet. We had DSL installed in the cottage we let and I do plan on install wireless (no problem I see). My biggest concerns are that the closest Apple Store is 5 hours away and I do not want to take another computer. I do not have a sense how dependent the Ipad is on having a computer available for updates, restoring etc. I know I will not be able to back up the Ipad. Are there other things you think I should consider using it as the only available computer. If I do not buy it I am purchasing a new notebook in the mid 3 lbs. I will soon be going for three weeks before our winter move and only doing carry on--portability is a real issue as I do not want to take a laptop bag. I will be taking some inter European trips and will also take only one bag. Also, If anyone has a suggestion for a light weight, simple and reliable wireless router I can take along to install it would be appreciated.
posted by rmhsinc to Computers & Internet (23 answers total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
Printing is the main problem (right now). But you can always email documents to someone with a printer
posted by schwa at 9:32 AM on September 5, 2010


Supposedly in November the iOS 4.2 update will include a way to allow for wireless printing.
posted by msbutah at 9:41 AM on September 5, 2010


I would also recommend keeping your work in the cloud, a la Evernote or using the IMAP connection with GMail, so that should the iPad fail it's got a copy of your important stuff online without doing an iTunes backup.
posted by msbutah at 9:43 AM on September 5, 2010


I would consider how OK you are about typing stuff without a real keyboard. That, for me, would be the dealbreaker. I could probably live with one of those little bitty netbook keyboards for that long, but not a keyboard on a screen. Then again, I do type a lot.
posted by rhymer at 10:02 AM on September 5, 2010


I have had an Ipad for a few weeks, and I will caution you about the quirks of its particular version of Safari. Aside from the whole Flash thing, occasionally I will notice some other little thing that would work in Firefox or Chrome that doesn't behave right in Safari (I don't know how much is iPad Safari and how much is just poor HTML to begin with, fwiw). 99% of pages will be fine, but it would suck to really need one particular thing on one page that doesn't display right, when you're without access to any other computer.
posted by slow graffiti at 10:02 AM on September 5, 2010


To rhymer's point, absolutely get yourself a bluetooth keyboard that will work with the iPad. Typing more than a few sentences drives me batty on the touchscreen. The keyboard was the best accessory I bought for it.
posted by txsebastien at 10:20 AM on September 5, 2010 [3 favorites]


Maybe twice in the past months I have had the iPad (I got it the day of the US release) it has frozen and requested a connection to itunes. One of those times was when I was in Wales and I was fortunately planning on going to the London Apple shop in a few days anyways. If I hadn't, it would have been unusable until I found someone with a computer with itunes (doesn't need to be your own account in my experience).

I'm happy with mine as pretty much my only computer for work and school but I do not require too much in a computer. I rarely plug it into my iMac at home. I DO heavily use air video to limit the actual media on the iPad. I think you can use multiple servers so having a friend that would willingly update the server with more movies for the long winter night would be a bonus.
posted by saucysault at 10:21 AM on September 5, 2010


(I don't have a horse in this race, but am interested in the topic.)

I use an old iPod touch when travelling. No keyboard, but I usually don't compose anything of large size. Stocks, email, weather, directions/maps, tunes plus a dozen convenience apps is most of what I want to do when travelling. (My trips are usually day trips or a week or less.)

If you plan to type something big, you'll enjoy a keyboard. If that's not an issue, then it would seem an iPad would work.

Tradeoffs are everywhere. The netbook you are considering, like any computer you are considering, including the iPad, will excel at certain things and be deficient in others. Personally, I think you are probably doomed to equal unhappiness with either choice, it's only the specifics that differ. Nothing does everything or everyone would own one.

If you are going to buy an iPad, anyway, buy it now and get a sense of how it meets your travel needs. If it fails, sell it on ebay and buy a netbook later. It's only a trip and only a few dollars.

Last consideration... you might be a big hit with your popular new toy if you take an iPad, or just another owner of a crippled and inadequate winders box. I know what I'd choose.
posted by FauxScot at 10:22 AM on September 5, 2010


One other thing about iPad's version of Safari: Some websites recognize the browser as MobileSafari, and give you back the 'mobile' (simplified) version of their website. This is slightly annoying.
posted by Wild_Eep at 10:23 AM on September 5, 2010


Agreeing with slow graffiti, if you haven't purchased one already, see if you can borrow one and try out your favorite websites, online banking, etc. Every now and then there will something that doesn't work as it should. You can always get an external keyboard or keyboard dock if you will be doing a lot of typing.
posted by tamitang at 10:24 AM on September 5, 2010


I like the iPad, but I'd recommend a Netbook first.
posted by schmod at 10:38 AM on September 5, 2010 [2 favorites]


I used an iPod Touch as my only computer for about six months (this ended like a week ago when I bought a laptop). I did this because my laptop was so slow and awful it wasn't worth using. I could have bought a new laptop then, but I knew I'd be moving cities (in the end I decided to move countries as well) in six months' time and decided I'd rather buy a new laptop once I was settled in and not have to deal with carrying it on the plane or anything.

I found it fine, and the best thing about it was that it actually made me use the internet less. I'd go online until the battery ran out or the small screen became intolerable, and then I'd just read or play guitar or something. That might not be what you're looking for, but I used the internet tons then, and I use it tons now, so it was kind of nice to cut back a little. Temporarily.

The battery was the main issue for me -- that and typing. I write, and there was no way I was going to write any fiction on that thing (or long answers to AskMe questions). A keyboard might be a good solution for you.

The only other thing I can think of right now that really bothered me was not being able to use some web sites because of Flash. Some YouTube videos were unavailable as well.

I realize an iPad is different from an iPod Touch, but it seems to me they are similar enough that these issues might apply. I love, LOVE, my iPod Touch, by the way. Best birthday present I ever got.
posted by Put the kettle on at 10:59 AM on September 5, 2010


Supposedly in November the iOS 4.2 update will include a way to allow for wireless printing.


I'm not sure this update can be installed without a connection to a computer running iTunes. Updates can be fairly large. You might be able to buy any other software or media and other things you need wirelessly, though there may be size limits on 3G. You don't need a good Apple Store to give support as much as any good store that supports Apple products.
posted by ZeusHumms at 11:08 AM on September 5, 2010


I got an ipad on Friday, and while it's very cool it's disappointed me on a few fronts so far. Disappointment #1: I can see my google docs, but I can't edit them. Apparently there is a 15 dollar application I can buy that will let me do so, but a couple I've already tried have failed, so I'm hesitating to make the plunge and buy more apps. I feel very restricted in what I can do with it because of this.

The email interface is beautiful, though. If you just want to browse the web and send email, I think you'll be fine on a functional level. But if you want to rely on the cloud, it seems that the ipad has been effectively neutered.
posted by Hildegarde at 11:08 AM on September 5, 2010 [1 favorite]


Metafilter's own Charlie Stross has written about using the iPad for extended runs. I'm going to be lazy and just paste some URLs below, but the short of it is that he feels he can go for about 2 weeks before he starts missing a real computer—but he's also the kind of person accustomed to writing his own code.
http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2010/06/gadget-patrol-ipad-a-month-on.html
http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2010/07/holding-pattern-1.html
http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2010/05/ipad-writing-stuff.html
posted by adamrice at 11:18 AM on September 5, 2010 [1 favorite]


And for a contrarian view, jwz: iPad just-slightly insufficiently futurey. My biggest complaint is the onscreen keyboard, and even with the Bluetooth keyboard, the modifiers (other than shift) don't work. Tab doesn't work. Esc doesn't work. How are you supposed to use vi without escape? Yes, I can use ed just fine, but sometimes I like to see the whole file.

Other than that complaint, iSSH provides most of what I need for remote connectivity via ssh or ssh tunneled VNC. I no longer carry a laptop with me 90% of the time.
posted by autopilot at 12:33 PM on September 5, 2010


Response by poster: Thanks much for the comments and links so far--I appreciate the factual and opinion posts. If I do not get an Ipad I will be getting a 13" (+/-) for around $1,000. Probably Toshiba/Samsung/Fujitsu. My much beloved light weight Fujitsu is getting tired.
posted by rmhsinc at 1:02 PM on September 5, 2010


No need to spend $1000, though, unless you want to. A $300 netbook is all the computer most people need.
posted by jrockway at 1:42 PM on September 5, 2010 [1 favorite]




You don't mention what you will be using an iPad or netbook for, so it's hard to give a useful answer to your question, but I can tell you about what it's been like for me so far.

I'm in the middle of a three week trip to Japan. I wanted to travel light, so I decided to leave the Macbook at home, picked up a bluetooth keyboard, and brought the iPad and a little collapsible stand. I'm a grad student on a short research trip, so the main things I needed to do were take notes and keep up with e-mail. I also needed something to do the usual browser stuff, and keep up with RSS feeds.

The best thing you can do is to just buy an iPad and see how it fits into your life for a few weeks. That's the only really good way to see if it'll be enough for you. I've been using mine since June, and now I prefer it over my macbook for everyday browsing, videos, quick e-mail checks, and RSS feeds. There are a lot of things that Safari isn't good for, but there are often apps that make life easier. (For instance, it's painful to use my banking websites in Safari, but both of the banks I use have nice iPhone apps which work perfectly well on the iPad.)

I use Evernote to take and backup notes, which is the main work I need to do while I'm here. This has been quick and easy, and other some minor syncing hiccups, there were no problems that a stable internet connection couldn't solve. (I would not be saying this if I didn't have the Bluetooth keyboard. I find the on-screen keyboard horrible to type anything more than three lines on.)

Everything I type on this thing ends up synched somwhere on the Internet, whether it is Evernote or Gmail, so I don't worry about losing data. But I think four or five months without access to a real computer would make me worry a lot. The iPad has been stable and reliable for me so far, but I feel like I'd be pushing my luck if I knew I wouldn't be able to back up and restore the iPad at its home computer in a few weeks. I'm not expecting things to go horribly wrong with this iPad, but if they did, it would be a bit of a disaster. I may not lose any crucial data, but I could be stuck with factory default software, if the thing were still working. (I don't think it's possible to re-download purchased apps if they are deleted from the iPad. They need to be restored from a backup in iTunes.) The iPad works very well on it's own, until something goes wrong.

Another problem is the many, tiny things that don't quite work right yet on the iPad. The big problem I've had with it during this trip is the horrible support for Word files. I need to write or edit word files on occasion for work, and though I wasn't expecting to have to do anything during this trip, something did come up. Fortunately, I was able to download Pages easily, and read and change the text of the file well enough. Unfortunately, Pages can ruin formatting information, and doesn't do change tracking. That was a problem for my employers. I was technically able to do what they needed me to do, but in the most inconvenient way possible for them. I would absolutely not want to have to revise a Powerpoint or Excel file on this.

My guess is that the iPad (with a keyboard) will be enough for the 95% web/e-mail stuff you mention. It depends on how critical the remaining 5% is. For me, in the worst case, I would have had to delay doing something for three weeks at the most. If there was anything that couldn't wait that three weeks, which I couldn't do by borrowing someone else's computer, then it would have been major enough for me to cut my trip short.

Hope this helps.
posted by mariokrat at 5:31 PM on September 5, 2010


I got a 3 lb, 11.6 inch Acer for $100 less than the iPad. Of course, it has a sucky ALPS touchpad.
posted by orthogonality at 7:22 PM on September 5, 2010


If you do get an iPad, you might want to consider investing $29.95 in the LogMeIn Ignition app. Then if there's anything you can't do on the iPad, you can log into your home computer (assuming you have one and can leave it on all the time you're gone) and do whatever you want. I carry my iPad with me everywhere and run my home computer from it all the time. And be sure to sign up for Dropbox and get the Dropbox app for accessing your files. And the camera connection kit for uploading any photos you take with a digital camera.
posted by Joleta at 7:23 PM on September 5, 2010


Another vote for a netbook, whether instead of or as a supplement to an ipad. Our little Samsung netbook was around £200 (and we could have got it for under £150 if we hadn't wanted the white one) and has a keyboard I'm happy to type on for hours on end. We use Windows 7 with some of the crap stripped out and for browsing, word processing and simple video editing it's basically the same experience as our full-fat PCs. We use a little USB stick for Readyboost rather than upgrade the memory from the shipping 1gb.
posted by ArmyOfKittens at 1:21 AM on September 6, 2010


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