His iPad is the ‘laptop’, his Macbook Air is his ‘desktop’.
No, I no longer wish I had an 11in Air. What I have here – a third-generation iPad and an Apple Wireless Keyboard – is better. I have better-than-good native iOS apps to handle almost all of my mobile needs. When only a desktop app will do, I have VNC, and/or the wonderful OnLive Desktop service that allows me to run Microsoft Office on a virtualised Windows 7 server.
My MacBook is still the go-to machine when speed and convenience are required. At 10 megabits per second or faster, VNC works well enough for live typing and editing, but, yeah, it’s not As Good As Being There. And in most hotels, you’re lucky if the in-room internet doesn’t require you to drop a phone handset into an acoustic coupler and then insert some coins.
The proof is out there that it definitely can be done, especially in the last six months since iOS 5, but, there’s a majority out there, myself included, that doesn’t yet feel comfortable with using a tablet for everyday use the same way i do with my Macbook.
For example, I like to have a tab of BBC iPlayer or YouTube running while browsing something, but if i do this on an iPad, the YouTube or iPlayer link will pause/stop and i have to dedicate the screen to their apps or tabs to keep it playing.
I love the way magazines such as Wired or The Guardian run on the iPad, and i’m sure it looks even better with the retina display, but i’ll wait and see for what iOS 6 brings if it can brings features more on par with how i use my Macbook.
