iPad Bye Bye laptop! Jailbroken iPad here I come!

[Medic311]

i don't think an iPad could replace the computer completely yet, but what it can do is replace your mobile computer (laptop).

with the BTC Mouse app + Logitech BT keyboard case + BT mouse, now someone could get away with just having a desktop and an iPad

for anything that requires a real computer, simply logging into Log Me In to remote access into the desktop solves that. of course this would require a data plan, of which many iPad owners have (not most, but many).

i have a laptop but it's a 15.6" whopper. i am seriously considering just leaving it at home as my "desktop" per se, and using my iPad 3, 32GB LTE for a mobile solution. one might as why - answer is all day battery life, LTE, instant on, small, lightweight...list goes on.

downside is that most of what i do would need to be done through Log Me In or through Smart Office 2 / CloudOn. luckily i have a 2GB/mo LTE data plan so i'm good

 

[Thegolem]

for anything that requires a real computer, simply logging into Log Me In to remote access into the desktop solves that. of course this would require a data plan, of which many iPad owners have (not most, but many).

We don't have data plans anymore in the u.k so...As Morrissey once sang "America is not the world".

 

[Medic311]

We don't have data plans anymore in the u.k so...As Morrissey once sang "America is not the world".

really? what happened? (i've been out of the loop)

 

[Uofmtiger]

That defeats the object.

Owning and borrowing once to update some gadget they may or may not have aren't the same thing. I don't need to buy a UHaul van when I want to move. For rarely occurring circumstances that require use of something, it isn't necessary to waste money on buying it.

The OP may never need the use of PC. I was just saying if one isolated issue came up that required one, it should be easy to access one. My local library has them available for free.

 

[Thegolem]

really? what happened? (i've been out of the loop)

Just the market drove them to do away with them kinda thing I guess.

----------

The OP may never need the use of PC. I was just saying if one isolated issue came up that required one, it should be easy to access one. My local library has them available for free.

I understand that but for an iPad to truely replace A PC it would still defeat the object if you need to use a PC. If I did it I'd want to be confident I'd never need a PC or it wouldn't feel right,

 

[Uofmtiger]

I understand that but for an iPad to truely replace A PC it would still defeat the object if you need to use a PC. If I did it I'd want to be confident I'd never need a PC or it wouldn't feel right,

It doesn't make sense to not own a plane when I might need one to fly across the country once a year....

At some point economics come into play. Using a computer once a year for some possible random update to a gadget (you might never need) is hardly worth the expense. If that was the only thing you needed a computer for, why waste the money and space? If that update never happens, your money has been wasted.

Btw the OP has not said that they own gadgets that get random updates via a PC. I am just saying that if they did, it probably wouldn't be worth buying a computer to get that update.

 

[faroZ06]

Extra Storage
[/COLOR]

Not really; it's more of a video streaming thing.

 

[waa1futs]

It doesn't make sense to not own a plane when I might need one to fly across the country once a year...

At some point economics come into play. Using a computer once a year for some possible random update to a gadget (you might never need) is hardly worth the expense. If that was the only thing you needed a computer for, why waste the money and space? If that update never happens, your money has been wasted.

Thank you! Couldn't have put it better myself (and bolded for emphasis) =)

Naysayers like to come up with a lot of random events that will never happen to me in an effort to tell me how purely an iPad wont work like they somehow know what will happen in my life

- It will work for me because I know it will, and no one on the forum knows this better than me.
- I don't have any of the random issues the naysayers try to conjure up.
- If I do have a once-every-5-years situation where I absolutely MUST have a pc (life or death) then I could borrow a family/friends or use one at the library or a college campus. For 99.999% of the time the iPad alone will work for me better than a laptop would.

Btw the OP has not said that they own gadgets that get random updates via a PC. I am just saying that if they did, it probably wouldn't be worth buying a computer to get that update.

No, I don't. Of course the naysayers never even asked if I did. The only two gadgets I have now is an iPad & iPhone (both of which I am perfectly happy with as is and will NOT be updating firmware) plus a bluetooth mouse, keyboard, and game controller (none of which need firmware updates).



p.s. Thank you to those who have constructive (praise, ideas, or even criticism are all included) comments in the thread. I really do read all of them and appreciate it.

 

[ZBoater]

Owning and borrowing once to update some gadget they may or may not have aren't the same thing. I don't need to buy a UHaul van when I want to move. For rarely occurring circumstances that require use of something, it isn't necessary to waste money on buying it.

The OP may never need the use of PC. I was just saying if one isolated issue came up that required one, it should be easy to access one. My local library has them available for free.

Or looking at it another way, if I can just make do without the things you need a real OS for, you can live with just a smartphone, you don't even need an iPad.

Some of us however live in the real world, where we have to create/edit PowerPoints were Quickoffice doesn't cut it. Or work on a really complex spreadsheet. You know, real work, not student stuff. The computing world contrary to popular belief if not just email, browsing and Netflix.

Listen, if you want to limit yourself to what an iPad can do because you can't afford or don't want a real computer, knock yourself out. But don't dilute yourself into equating the two experiences. You are choosing to limit what you can do, and that is certainly your choice. So if you want to borrow someone's PC or go to the library when you need to do one of these "weird" and "rare" things, knock yourself out.

I was recently at the Amazon site wanting to manage my Kindle documents and the iOS browser choked, as it often does in complex sites. I had to go to my MBA and finish what I was doing. But I guess you could cancel your Amazon account since you don't need a Kindle and will read everything on the iPad, right?

 

[Night Spring]

Listen, if you want to limit yourself to what an iPad can do because you can't afford or don't want a real computer, knock yourself out. But don't dilute yourself into equating the two experiences. You are choosing to limit what you can do, and that is certainly your choice. So if you want to borrow someone's PC or go to the library when you need to do one of these "weird" and "rare" things, knock yourself out.

Relax. It's not like it's some kind of irrevocable decision. If the OP, or anyone else who decides they can live with an iPad as their only computer, finds somewhere down the line that their needs have changed and an iPad alone doesn't cut it anymore, then they can always get a full computer at that point. In the meanwhile, they don't need to have a big desktop or laptop they don't use gathering dust in their room taking up space, and they certainly shouldn't waste money buying a computer because it might be useful "some day."

 

[Medic311]

It all comes down to personal decision.

Can we move on and go to iPad Mini rumors now? lol

 

[ixbilalxi]

Although I wont be going laptop less, this post was definitely persuasive and makes me wish for an ios6 jailbreak to come out so i can use a BT mouse.

I hated the moment in the morning before university classes started where I would decide if I needed to bring my laptop as well as the iPad(always brought ipad). Usually this was because I would need to write documents or make research powerpoints.

If i can keep the macbook at home as a dedicated desktop machine than I will be happy.

 

[Medic311]

Although I wont be going laptop less, this post was definitely persuasive and makes me wish for an ios6 jailbreak to come out so i can use a BT mouse.

I hated the moment in the morning before university classes started where I would decide if I needed to bring my laptop as well as the iPad(always brought ipad). Usually this was because I would need to write documents or make research powerpoints.

If i can keep the macbook at home as a dedicated desktop machine than I will be happy.

i'm lucky, i held out on the iOS 6 upgrade lol.
tomorrow on the way home from work i will be buying a bluetooth mouse and then in the evening i will be jailbreaking my iPad (already jailbroke my iPhone 4S). i can't wait to try it out. if it goes well, then i'll be buying that logitech keyboard case.

 

[iThinkergoiMac]

It's for him, not for you. The iPad is a great work machine.

Obviously. Hence the last bit of my post, where I said if it works for him, that's great! My only point is that the iPad isn't ready to be generally considered a primary computing device. Just like there are some people whose only computing device is an iPhone or other smartphone. So long as it works for them, great, but those devices aren't considered a primary device. They're getting there, but I still maintain that until they can self-diagnose, they can never be a primary device.

 

[viperGTS]

I'd like to see how this works out for you (no sarcasm intended). Keep us posted!

 

[iThinkergoiMac]

It doesn't make sense to not own a plane when I might need one to fly across the country once a year....

FWIW, this analogy doesn't quite stand up under scrutiny. An airplane, once bought, is extremely expensive to use and must see regular maintenance, whether or not it gets used very often. A computer, OTOH, is very inexpensive to use (electricity is cheap) and can be stored for VERY long periods of time with no maintenance whatsoever.

Naysayers like to come up with a lot of random events that will never happen to me in an effort to tell me how purely an iPad wont work like they somehow know what will happen in my life

- It will work for me because I know it will, and no one on the forum knows this better than me.
- I don't have any of the random issues the naysayers try to conjure up.
- If I do have a once-every-5-years situation where I absolutely MUST have a pc (life or death) then I could borrow a family/friends or use one at the library or a college campus. For 99.999% of the time the iPad alone will work for me better than a laptop would.

Many of us are not coming up with random events, but things we must deal with on a day-to-day basis. I do graphic and video work, so an iPad could not possibly work for me, but that doesn't mean it won't work for you. But, if something does go wrong with your iPad (and it's slightly more likely because it is jailbroken), you will need a computer to fix it. You can use a friend or family member's computer, but what happens if they're not available?

I do practically everything on my computer, so an iPad doesn't have enough storage or horsepower to do what I need. At the same time, we need early adopters like yourself. Like it or not, these mobile devices are the future of consumer computing. People like yourself are pushing the boundaries of what they can do, and will find limitations (and possibilities) we didn't know existed. Bravo. Best of luck to you.

And, just to be clear, I'm not being sarcastic.

 

[faroZ06]

Obviously. Hence the last bit of my post, where I said if it works for him, that's great! My only point is that the iPad isn't ready to be generally considered a primary computing device. Just like there are some people whose only computing device is an iPhone or other smartphone. So long as it works for them, great, but those devices aren't considered a primary device. They're getting there, but I still maintain that until they can self-diagnose, they can never be a primary device.

Sorry, I didn't see that. Well, the predictable solution is that the iPad or iPhone could eventually become powerful enough to handle all of the heavier PC tasks, and Lightning could eventually be as fast as Thunderbolt, thus opening the possibility for a hub to be used for anything you need like a keyboard, mouse, display, etc. Then it could also run Mac OS (or as it's been shamefully called, OS X) with tight integration with iOS.

 

[z06gal]

I have a MBP and an Ipad and the iPad, as much as I love it, will never replace my laptop. To each his own as they say

 

[Mainsail]

It takes a little imagination

It doesn't take much imagination to believe that some time, in the not to distant future, an iPad will have the same computing power as...say a Macbook Air does today. Technology moves non-linear, so less than 5 years would not be a stretch...just guessing.

The challenge will be adapting the OS to work with both types of interfaces (desktop and touch). I think this can be done with some type of docking arrangement that toggles between the two forms of operating systems. Windows 8 hybrid tablet/laptops are attempting to do this now, but I am not sure they have it right because they merged the touch and desktop into one operating system. I can't imagine trying to use the Microsoft Office Ribbon with a touch interface...could be ugly.

Anyway, in the meantime, I am doing more and more of my day to day computing stuff on the iPad. I realize that the desktop interface is superior to touch for certain functions, but I have been surprised at how much work I can get done on the iPad. Yesterday, I wrote a three page proposal including embedded graphics and tables using Pages on the iPad. It was painless. Actually, it was kind of enjoyable.

 

[Menneisyys2]

Bottom line is the iPad as my only device works for me now that the final two pieces of the puzzle came out in the last week: BTC Mouse & Bridge.

Yup, it rocks. I've posted a full review of it to https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1465193/

 

[Uofmtiger]

FWIW, this analogy doesn't quite stand up under scrutiny. An airplane, once bought, is extremely expensive to use and must see regular maintenance, whether or not it gets used very often. A computer, OTOH, is very inexpensive to use (electricity is cheap) and can be stored for VERY long periods of time with no maintenance whatsoever.

I don't think you grasp a simple analogy. I will spell it out for you. If he only needs to use something once and it costs several hundred dollars or more to purchase, it makes economical sense to borrow the item if it is readily available. Computers are available to the OP via public libraries and family, so if some random emergency occured and he needed one, it would be easy and free to use one.

In the case of the OP, he says he currently doesn't need a computer and the iPad fits his daily needs. I am okay with that.

 

[Thegolem]

It doesn't make sense to not own a plane when I might need one to fly across the country once a year....

At some point economics come into play. Using a computer once a year for some possible random update to a gadget (you might never need) is hardly worth the expense. If that was the only thing you needed a computer for, why waste the money and space? If that update never happens, your money has been wasted.

Btw the OP has not said that they own gadgets that get random updates via a PC. I am just saying that if they did, it probably wouldn't be worth buying a computer to get that update.

To me this is a theoretical exercise in whether or not an iPad can replace a PC to the extent I wouldn't have to worry about what would happen in the event I couldn't use a PC I don't own. You seem to be looking at it from the perspective of how it could be made to work which it could but as I initially posted on this thread that defeats the object.

 

[Night Spring]

but as I initially posted on this thread that defeats the object.

Seeing above remark made me go look back at your initial post, and I saw:

What I find curious about this is Steve Jobs himself talked about 'post PC devices' as if he wanted to bring about the demise of the PC,and by that he meant Personal Computers 'in general' not 'just windows PC's,(this was at ATD and Walt Mossberg asked him specifically about this) but when it came to the iPad he could have made it able to pick up some of the hard drive work that personal computers can do. Why didn't he? Do they think it will result in less Mac sales? Is there some kinda secret deal with Microsoft to align against Google that has led them to want to keep PC sales going?

I think the iPad's lack of a file system is Steve Jobs being too much ahead of the time, as in when he got rid of the floppy drive while everyone was still very much using them. I believe Jobs envisioned a system where everything is in the cloud, and there is no need for "hard drive work." So the iPad doesn't have traditional file management system like in the PCs, because the goal is to eventually get rid of file management from the PCs also. Whether that ever works out, we'll have to wait and see. So one requirement of making the iPad your sole computing device is that you have to be willing to let go of the traditional file management paradigm. Me, I'm not exactly bothered by the iPad not having a user accessible file system, but then I don't have any plans to make the iPad my sole computing device, either.

 

[Mainsail]

I agree with Night Spring. The ipad was probably designed with a long range vision of cloud computing. As I increasingly use the ipad rather than a traditional computer, cloud computing has become a bigger part of the way I do stuff:

Icloud for system and settings backups
Icloud for in-app backup and storage, such as iwork documents
Dropbox for sharing files
Flickr for storing and sharing photos
iTunes purchases for music
iBooks purchase for books
App Store purchases for apps
.......anyway, you get the picture

I never sync my ipad to the family laptop. Also, I am using cloud storage on other family devices to facilitate sharing and compatibility. A resident file system on a computer encourages the paradigm of local storage on one device rather than accessibility of files across many devices.

I know some people will scoff at this, but the iPad's file limitation forces the move to the cloud, which makes files more accessible to users across platforms and reduces the need to maintan local backup systems. It might have some downsides, but it also has some pretty compelling advantages.

 

[qbricc]

Looking ahead

Reading the posts related to this topic, I again see two methods of thinking. The old style of computing has local storage and high powered devices at it's heart, the new style is about ease of use and a shift to cloud computing.

The question people need to ak themselves is this, if you stick with Apple's ecosystem which method will you adopt. Everything Apple has done in recent history shows their hand.

Low storage device, no moving parts or drives, iCloud, lack of file system and iOS all point to the second strategy.

The problems many have with this new method will slowly fade and the new generation of computer users will carry their digital lives in their pockets.

If anyone has evidence against this version of the future then by all means present it.