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MPA>iPad for my work needs?

G

gianthobbit

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 20, 2010
332
0
I am in quite a mental dilemma here. I am really torn between the commons sense and productivity the new MPA could bring to my business/work and giving up key features of the iPad. I have listed below the specific pros and cons for each for my particular use case. Could I get some objective feedback from some fellow Mac fans? Thanks much!

P.S. For budget reasons its a either or for me, cant have both :(, also I am looking at the 11 inch model of the MPA.

iPad Pros
  • Better Battery life
  • Lighter
  • Usable in more situations
  • A lot invested in apps (>$100)
  • Portable video player for my daughter
  • Amazing digital Bible (again invested quite a bit in digital versions)
  • Comic Book reader
  • Instapaper
  • eBook Reader (torn here however, I love to collect books so I am not completely sold on this)
  • Love Things on the iPad for my to dos
  • My daughter loves playing with the iPad
  • Keynote- This one is pretty huge for me. 2-5 times a week I do my sales pitches with keynote on the iPad and its the perfect device for this purpose
.

iPad Cons
  • Email not as good (gmail user, use many attachments)
  • Can’t do email attachments (60-70% of my emails have attachments of some type)
  • Can’t edit WordPress sites, again a pretty major thing I do on my PC that the iPad cant...
  • Feature creep with my iPhone 4. I honestly feel bad sometimes as my iPhone does what my iPad, and it sits there unused alot.
  • Not a true laptop replacement for my user needs- I am not able do the email, website editing, and other things on here so I really am tied to my main computer (iMac). Would be nice to be more portable especially when out of town or to just get out of the office once in a while.

MPA Pros
  • Full Computer expierence
  • Real Keyboard
  • Can do all the my email activities
  • Can do all website editing activities
  • Still can do keynote (although I think the iPad is much better, more intimate expierence etc.).
  • Instant on and stand by that I have grown to love from the iPad

MPA Cons
  • Significatnly less batterly life (50%). Although I rarely if ever would use it for longer thant 5+ hours so not sure how important this one is for me. My concern like with previous laptops is that the battery would really degrade over time (never owned a Apple laptop so not sure here).
  • More expensive (after I sell my iPad I would still have around $400 to pay)
  • Giving up the great UI of iOS on a large device and general iPad awesomeness

Thanks again!
 
Are you considering the iPad vs 13" MBA? Do you have another computer? If you don't, there's no way I could recommend the iPad as your only "computer." It sounds like you've got a tough decision. A lot on your list, especially for the iPad, seemed like "it'd be nice to have" X feature as opposed to necessities.

I'm a little confused though. You already own an iPad and possibly want a new MBA, right? Why not just add the 11" MBA and keep the iPad? How much are you expecting to get selling your iPad?
 
dissolve said:
Are you considering the iPad vs 13" MBA? Do you have another computer? If you don't, there's no way I could recommend the iPad as your only "computer." It sounds like you've got a tough decision. A lot on your list, especially for the iPad, seemed like "it'd be nice to have" X feature as opposed to necessities.

I'm a little confused though. You already own an iPad and possibly want a new MBA, right? Why not just add the 11" MBA and keep the iPad? How much are you expecting to get selling your iPad?
Click to expand...


MPA=MBA... my bad.

Yes I am considering an either or situation. Unfortunately I dont think I could afford and mainly justify having two high end devices in almost the same category and use case. I have a 3G 16 GB iPad with accessories I am hoping to get $600-650.
 
gianthobbit said:
MPA=MBA... my bad.

Yes I am considering an either or situation. Unfortunately I dont think I could afford and mainly justify having two high end devices in almost the same category and use case. I have a 3G 16 GB iPad with accessories I am hoping to get $600-650.
Click to expand...

Ok that makes sense; for some reason I was thinking of the base iPad. Do you have any other computers? If not, definitely, definitely MBA. If you have a desktop already, it's a pretty tough decision. I think I'd still say MBA. I don't own an iPad, but I view it as an "extra" beyond having a mobile computer. I know the screen is larger, but after using iPhones and iPod Touches, I can't imagine getting a lot of work done without a proper keyboard. Since you have a lot invested in iPhone/iPad apps, I'd suggest MBA for now and save up for an iPad in the near future.
 
i find the ipad as only a gadget for people who have already everything and need a new thing to show around , the MBA offers much more and next year with osx lion and the app store coming to osx ..... there is not much that speaks for the ipad
the MBA is not much more expensive if you configure the iPad with 64gb , then there is the advantage at the MBA its not much heavier not much bigger ,it offers a better graphics, more ram ,better an bigger screen and a proper keyboard ,trackpad, runs OSX , and all apps you can throw at it you can even install windows if you cant help it , its a proper laptop in a small package and
not just another netbook
 
the iPad is alright if you have a laptop and a computer , for holidays if you want to read some emails , or let the kids watch a small film on the journey , or get them to play the odd small game that runs on it , maybe for storing photos too , and maybe you can read a ebook on the beach ,but thats about it ,
its not even close in performance of a average dual core atom powered netbook ,but costs more then a netbook , and on netbooks you get the triple boot option :windows7,osx snow leopard , ubuntu all proper operating systems
and a big step up from that ,with a proper core 2 duo processor comes the MBA
 
MacHamster68 said:
the iPad is alright if you have a laptop and a computer , for holidays if you want to read some emails , or let the kids watch a small film on the journey , or get them to play the odd small game that runs on it , maybe for storing photos too , and maybe you can read a ebook on the beach ,
but its not even close in performance of a average dual core atom powered netbook ,but costs more then a netbook , and on netbooks you get the triple boot option :windows7,osx snow leopard , ubuntu all proper operating systems
and a big step up from that with a proper core 2 duo processor comes the MBA
Click to expand...

These are going to be the most missed features, my kid (5) loves it and it was nice for reading. I could always get a kindle though....
 
appleuser1984 said:
there is a wordpress editor for iphone. So it should work on the ipad as well
Click to expand...

This editor is more for making posts, what I need is the real deal to do training on, install plugins, upload photos etc.

Also, I thought I mentioned this but my main computer is a iMac (27inch).
 
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