Date: 2011-04-13 18:22:43 Created: 2011-04-13 14:20:53
I got my Ipad about eight months ago. It dramatically reduced my Iphone usage and pretty much reduced my Imac to two main tasks: syncing/storage and development. Everything I could do on the Ipad I pretty much preferred to do there.
Once everything else could move around on the Ipad, I guess limiting development to one corner of one room started to seem way too restrictive. My main reason for getting the Macbook air was really to make my development portable.
And it has. It is a lovely machine and I use it as much as I can. The really interesting now thing will be to see where the usage balance settles between Air and Ipad in the longer run.
Most of the creative things I do involve text (code or prose) and pretty low performance requirements. With a lovely keyboard and more than enough power, the Air enables me to be creative virtually everywhere I bring it. And with my usage focused on this, battery life usually is no issue, neither is the lower degree of connectivity (I have 3G in my Ipad, but not for my Air).
Right now, it is the Air which ends up next to the bed each night. It is the air being typed on right now (in bed, as a matter of fact). The Ipad does the morning news and mail, and watching of TED talks. Yes, consumption in general feels nicer on the Ipad.
Another really interesting question, I think, is this: would I have got an Ipad if I had got the Macbook air first? Would I have found motivation for it? Does the needs of one person ever really motivate both a Macbook and an Ipad? Clearly I found a need for a Macbook after getting an Ipad, but would it have worked the other way round?
Perhaps there is an easy way to find out: if I end up getting an Ipad 2 the answer will clearly be ”yes”.
Thinking about it, the fact that I have a perfectly fine and adequate first-generation Ipad seems like more of a stopper for getting a 2 than this Air does …