After a couple of days of preparation, today I begin my latest technology experiment: can I survive with just an iPad?
I’m often struck by the silliness of me switching back-and-forth betwen the iPad and the MacBook Air throughout the day. I always held on to the Air, though, because it seemed necessary for longer writing and for work assignments. After reading a couple articles, though, and doing some more research on my own, I decided to make a few purchases and see if I really could put the Air away.
The first purchase was a Zaggfolio iPad keyboard case. The biggest issue for me with the iPad is the keyboard. I can do some simple typing with it. But if I want speed, accuracy, and the ability to type for extended periods, I needed a real keyboard. While there are a number of iPad keyboards out there, this one consistently gets the best reviews.
I also added a few apps to help recreate what I do on the Air. Numbers for spreadsheets, which are essential for me when I’m attempting to do stats quickly for football and basketball. Textexpander Touch to help with bulk text I need to repeat often. Blogsy as an iOS MarsEdit replacement. I’m sure I’ll add a few more as the experiment continues.
There are a few things that I will not do on the iPad. I will not edit photos. That will still be done on the Air. Same with downloading and managing music. The Air will be running in the office, connected to a monitor, mostly as a print server and for the girls’ computer needs. But I will not constantly be picking it up to bash out a blog post or return a lengthy email. And while I’m not covering any sports right now, I will do some test runs to see if I can still do all the things I need to do once I am in the field again.
So that’s my new project. I’ll report back in a week or so to update you on my progress.
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