E-mail and the mini

[Zeeinnm]

I use G-mail and I assume I can easily save an attachment to the mini from an e-mail, to be read off line, but want to be sure before I buy one to replace my netbook.

 

[chickenwingfly]

I use G-mail and I assume I can easily save an attachment to the mini from an e-mail, to be read off line, but want to be sure before I buy one to replace my netbook.

You can only save attachments (or rather, open, then save) of known filetypes for apps that support "Open in...". These apps have to register with iOS as "openers" of a given extension.
I think PDF and images will open directly on the mail app (thanks to the safari engine running inside I guess).
Other filetypes, depend on the apps you have installed (example here).

So, in short, you need to make sure you know what filetypes you would need, then search for apps that can open them (which is gonna be not so easy because there is nothing like an official database, google is your friend), and probably not all of them will be free.

If that's what you need the Mini for (replacement "netbook" for checking mail) then yeah, but otherwise have in mind iOS can be quite limited on the way it handles files (there is no concept of filesystem for the end user).

 

[Zeeinnm]

Per the Apple site under "mail attachment support"
Viewable document types: .jpg, .tiff, .gif (images); .doc and .docx (Microsoft Word); .htm and .html (web pages); .key (Keynote); .numbers (Numbers); .pages (Pages); .pdf (Preview and Adobe Acrobat); .ppt and .pptx (Microsoft PowerPoint); .txt (text); .rtf (rich text format); .vcf (contact information); .xls and .xlsx (Microsoft Excel)

So if I can view these attachments. i can save them? Assuming i am viewing while on-line?

 

[Night Spring]

So if I can view these attachments. i can save them? Assuming i am viewing while on-line?

You can view them, but in order to save them, you need apps that handle those file types. There are some good file management apps you can get, like GoodReader or FileBrowser, both of which should handle most if not all of those file types. Another option is to get Dropbox, and store your files there. That way you can access your files from both the iPad and any other computers/devices you may have.