iPod touch touch: the portable mac?

[HappyDude20]

I just got my touch yesterday and love it.

I asked on the forums a few days ago if having a touch kept you off the macbook or computer overall. There were an array of answers ranging from a def yes and others saying no that they need certain apps only a laptop or desktop cAn provide.

I'm already off the MacBook cause of this touch and in fact am typing this from the touch. I downloaded a bunch of free apps last night and deleted most of the seventy I had but kept the useful ones.

What I'm mainly inquiring on this thread is how I can truly make my touch a main device. Obviously it won't replace my MacBook but aside from those items like I work or microsoft office or iPhoto or etc ..

How can I get most of my mac onto my touch ? In terms of my docs? It seems like the touch an do everything the mac can except for the regular apps and java script.

 

[mtbdudex]

touch: the portable mac?

No, the iPodTouch is much better than the MacPortable I paid $6k for back in 1989. Ha, I actually paid I think $1k for a 3MB static RAM card upgrade also.

vs

Seriously, I know where your thought is, but IMO the iPodTouch device is a supplement to your "electronic experience" arsenal.
Sure, you can use it instead of a "traditional computer" for many viewing related tasks, but for interactive tasks I still feel decent screen and "real keyboard" is most efficient.

Once the newness wears off it would be interesting to see the ratio of daily time spent on the various devices before and after purchase, the value for $ ratio thing, sorta like a Industrial Engineering study.
(a Grad student thesis.....)

 

[drstein]

I'm already off the MacBook cause of this touch and in fact am typing this from the touch. I downloaded a bunch of free apps last night and deleted most of the seventy I had but kept the useful ones.

what do you actually mean by being off the macbook? as far as i know, you can use the ipod as a remote, right?

but what screen are you looking at? youre using the macbook one, right?

from teh apps Ive seen, you cannot connect to a computer and show in the opids screen exactly the same as you see in your laptops monitor, can you? otherwise you cannot say you are PC free

and if you can, what application is it? xD

 

[puffnstuff]

what do you actually mean by being off the macbook? as far as i know, you can use the ipod as a remote, right?

but what screen are you looking at? youre using the macbook one, right?

from teh apps Ive seen, you cannot connect to a computer and show in the opids screen exactly the same as you see in your laptops monitor, can you? otherwise you cannot say you are PC free

and if you can, what application is it? xD

I do not think thats what he meant. He was just saying how useful the touch is and how it is like having a mac in your pocket.

VNC should show you exactly whats on your screen

 

[4DThinker]

If they would enable Bluetooth, then pairing with a keyboard and a printer, you might have a true replacement. Palm/Treo PDA users have been able to do that for a decade or so. From my point of view a PC has to have decent input and output. The touch keyboard isn't bad, but it's far from office-ready. As far as I know no one is printing from one yet.

 

[duncyboy]

I'm hoping to get my own place in the next 2-3 years and always planned to have a computer room somewhere but wireless and a laptop for general stuff around the house or maybe in the garden. Having got a 2G Touch this week I don't know if I'll do that now- might just use the Touch for the general browsing stuff, checking footy scores etc. It's been a pleasant surprise how well it works online.

 

[br0adband]

With the push for wireless mobility, with the Bluetooth chip in the iPt, and with the additional push to turn the iPt into a mobility computing and gaming platform, it would not surprise me one bit that before MacWorld in January we'll see an update from Apple that fully enables Bluetooth capability for such purposes. Maybe even some Bluetooth related products specifically for the iPt, headphones, mics, keyboards, etc.

Anything is possible...

 

[Muncher]

My prediction is that in a few years, Apple's PA Semi unit will produce some wicked fast ARM processor for the iPod touch/iPhone. Then we can talk about the iPod touch replacing a laptop.

 

[mzd]

afaik you still cannot edit docs and such with a touch. you can view them with AirSharing and the like, but not edit correct? that is a major limitation to going "macless."
unless you are using the VPN clients i guess.

 

[sandman42]

afaik you still cannot edit docs and such with a touch. you can view them with AirSharing and the like, but not edit correct? that is a major limitation to going "macless."
unless you are using the VPN clients i guess.

That's right -- no editing, only viewing. That said, Air Sharing (I think it's two words if you search for it on the App Store) is a pretty nice app. Let's you browse your Touch as a network drive, and move files to and from it (and create folders, etc, just like any drive). If you connect your Touch to two networks (like home and work), you could use it for tranporting files. And unlike a jump drive or portable HD, you can not only browse the folder contents on the Touch, but any file that is one that the Touch can interpret (e.g. PDF, JPG, Word, Excel, RTF, MP4, PPT, iWork, etc) can be viewed on the Touch by selecting it. This was a free app for a while, but now they're charging for it (though I think it's only $4.99 -- still a bargain).

 

[mzd]

yeah, i wish i had picked up Air Sharing when it was free. $6.99 now.

 

[HappyDude20]

I love my. Touch and am using it mainly now. The MacBook is only still open to convert some movies so I can put them on the touch. My MacBook use is mainly leisure as a college student though at times might need some apps only a computer can provide, I get that. But Goethe part I'm all set with the touch since it seems it can have everything the finder lists with the exception of apps and documents. I could really use the docs. I did Download air sharing for free knowig I was gonna buy a touch but haven't used of yet in coonfusion since I'm thinking I can only view my docs on my touch when I'm connected on my home network and can't take emwith me. Right? I'm confused on what it does exactly though I hear everyone saying it's a great app to have

 

[sandman42]

...since I'm thinking I can only view my docs on my touch when I'm connected on my home network and can't take em with me. Right?

No, not right. Once the docs are on your Touch, assuming they're a file type that the Touch can work with (PDF, JPG, Word, Excel, RTF, MP4, PPT, iWork, etc), you can view them on your Touch anywhere, whether you're connected to your network or not. I think you can load other types of files, say for transportation purposes, but you won't be able to view them on the Touch (haven't tried this, though).

This is one of the real strengths of Air Sharing, in my opinion. For example, I have a couple of big PDF files that I want to read so I loaded 'em on my Touch and now I can take them with me and read them anywhere.

 

[dasikes]

I recently sold my Dell laptop to supplement my purchase of a MacBook (for my high school graduation present, a few years back, my parents bought me a Dell Inspiron. Even though I needed a Mac, I didn't complain - free computer!).

I decided to hold off until the revised MacBooks. I thought I'd be full of anxiety and sitting around campus all the time wishing I still had a laptop.

Because of my Touch, I have yet to be in a situation where I needed a laptop. I have a G5 at work, and an iMac at home. Between the two, I have my Touch! And I don't feel like I'm missing out on a thing. It does everything I'd be using a laptop for, that's for sure!

 

[HappyDude20]

I recently sold my Dell laptop to supplement my purchase of a MacBook (for my high school graduation present, a few years back, my parents bought me a Dell Inspiron. Even though I needed a Mac, I didn't complain - free computer!).

I decided to hold off until the revised MacBooks. I thought I'd be full of anxiety and sitting around campus all the time wishing I still had a laptop.

Because of my Touch, I have yet to be in a situation where I needed a laptop. I have a G5 at work, and an iMac at home. Between the two, I have my Touch! And I don't feel like I'm missing out on a thing. It does everything I'd be using a laptop for, that's for sure!

so true! i feel a bit liberated to tell you the truth...i used to be on my macbook all the time, usually caught in the storm of useless internet browsing. you know how that goes, clicking from link to link and before i know it a few hours passed by. with the touch i only go on sites i need to and don't fiddle around on the web. it makes me realize whats important and what i need to do.

 

[HLdan]

I recently sold my Dell laptop to supplement my purchase of a MacBook (for my high school graduation present, a few years back, my parents bought me a Dell Inspiron. Even though I needed a Mac, I didn't complain - free computer!).

I decided to hold off until the revised MacBooks. I thought I'd be full of anxiety and sitting around campus all the time wishing I still had a laptop.

Because of my Touch, I have yet to be in a situation where I needed a laptop. I have a G5 at work, and an iMac at home. Between the two, I have my Touch! And I don't feel like I'm missing out on a thing. It does everything I'd be using a laptop for, that's for sure!

I completely agree with you. I just got my new 32GB 2G Touch and love it. When I get up from working on my iMac I go hang out at the coffee shop with my iPod Touch and it's like bringing my iMac with me. It's a true pocket Mac. I see the direction Apple is going now.