Is my iPad 2 up to the job?

January 14, 2012 10:41 PM

Is my ipad2 up to the job? I have to give the same hour-long presentation in three separate sessions in one day. I am planning to use Keynote on my ipad2 attached to a projector but I'm worried about battery life on the iPad. Does anybody have experience using their iPad in this way? I will of course, turn off every battery draining thing I can find. I could also switch to my iPhone 4S if I had to, I guess. Will I be okay for three presentations?
posted by tamitang to Computers & Internet (11 answers total)

3 one-hour presentations? The battery life on the iPad 2 is exceptional. Apple's specs page says "Up to 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching video, or listening to music". I think you'll be fine.

Is there anywhere you can plug in with your USB charger, to ease your worries?
posted by santaliqueur at 11:00 PM on January 14, 2012

If everything you need is on the pad, switch it to Airplane Mode. My understanding is that it stops the pad from looking for connectivity, which is something of a power drain. I was able to watch movies on a 12-hour flight with no problems.
posted by MShades at 11:53 PM on January 14, 2012 [4 favorites]

Recently I was watching a lot of video on my iPad 2. Two hours a day for about a week. It was still at about 60% charge at the end of that.

You'll have no problem at all.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 1:33 AM on January 15, 2012

Why not simply bring the charger? Will you give the presentation in a room without power?
posted by themel at 1:46 AM on January 15, 2012

If there is a lead to the projector there has to be a socket for the adaptor. Bring it along for safety.
posted by epo at 3:42 AM on January 15, 2012

Best answer: Driving an external display is not a significant power drain. I routinely run slides off mine for hour long meetings and it has no apparent effect on battery life.
posted by Lame_username at 4:15 AM on January 15, 2012

Response by poster: Thanks Lame_username. FYI to those of you suggesting I just plug it in, the external display uses the same port as the power plug, at least for the AVG adapter, so that's not possible. Mainly I needed to know how much of a drain the external display would be.
posted by tamitang at 4:40 AM on January 15, 2012

You can always charge between sessions. I've done that at conventions/conferences before. It shouldn't be too hard to ind a seat along a wall near a charger.
posted by Caravantea at 5:16 AM on January 15, 2012

If you're in a dark room (as I'd expect you'd be giving presentations), just open the device settings to turn the screen brightness all the way down.

The display puts out enough light in a dark room that you'll be able to see and use the iPad just fine, and the battery will last even longer between charges than the listed 10 hours.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 5:54 AM on January 15, 2012

You'll be fine.
posted by Nelson at 9:39 AM on January 15, 2012

Agreed, you will be fine and yeah I'd turn off the wifi and anything that does push notifications. I use my iPad for this sort of thing, but I often just use it with the Remote app [i.e. it's connected via bluetooth to a laptop that is connected to the projector, I can walk around with the iPad]. If you could do something like this, you could also plug it in, just as an emergency backup.
posted by jessamyn at 10:07 AM on January 15, 2012