Anyone have an ipad?

[madskye]

I need an ebook reader and a little laptop for work. I was thinking an ipad would fill both purposes? My husband is pretty adamant that an ipad is not a laptop, and won't work. I have two friends who do have ipads who say he is wrong. For work, I would be looking to:

-read and respond to email
-review and approve pdf's (approval via email, but I need to be able to open, view, and store them)
-create powerpoint presentations

I have some big documents and art that I need to save seasonally. Can an ipad do those things?

[cchrissyy]

I do have an ipad, got mine ASAP when they came out, with the idea that I would use it as an ebook reader and a part-time laptop replacement. Pretty much, I wanted to use my laptop at home and have the ipad be my portable computer. I got the most expensive model.

It rocks as an e-reader. It's good for email and one-window-at-a-time internet usage. but I do find it seriously limtiing for the type of work I actually need to be doing. I do use a remote desktop program to log in to my "real computer" and remote control it, and use the programs and files that are stored only there.
Today, the most helpful thing it did was played a video for an hour to entertain my kids while I worked at the desk.
I'm about to take a long trip with the ipad, leaving the laptop behind. honestly, this might not work out.

[marinak1977]

I have an Ipad that I intend to use for ordering my reference library for work. It's good for email, pdfs, and internet. However, I don't think I would use it for making a presentation or formatting a document. I'd get a netbook instead. JMHO

[poppan]

We have an ipad and it's a great e-book and video player, but IMHO not a laptop substitute for anything that is typing-intensive (my emails are, but I would think that depends on the type of work you do). I didn't think you could get powerpoint on it, but I'm not sure. The lack of a keyboard drives me nuts, personally. Truth be told, I don't even like to use it as a browser (the touch screen isn't very precise when you try to click on an MDC post, for instance...)

[cchrissyy]

Yesterday, I got the little keyboard - the wirless bluetooth one that works with ipad and all other apple products, not the ipad specific keyboard with the doc.

anyway, using the ipad for typing and internet and emails was way faster with the keyboard. it's just $60, well worth it. And immediate to set up, the devices just found eachother automatically.

[Ola_]

I think the PDFs and reading email would be just fine. Typing is a bit more cumbersome with the on-screen keyboard so I wouldn't be writing long emails or whole documents or anything. And not sure about powerpoint.

I'd probably go for a small macbook instead.

[Carita]

Originally Posted by cchrissyy

I do use a remote desktop program to log in to my "real computer" and remote control it, and use the programs and files that are stored only there.

what program do you use? Is the ipad pretty decent at that? I too am thinking about buying and using the ipad for logging into my work computer, e-mail, web surfing, and teaching...

[cchrissyy]

I use "logmein" free service, plus for the ipad i use their $30 ignition app rather than going in using my internet browser the way i would when logging in remotely from my laptop.

i had "gotomypc" before and didn't like it, too slow and choppy.

[JudiAU]

I have it and love it for email/web/apps but don't think I would want to create new media on it. Email and pdfs-- fine. New powerpoint - yuck. Too difficult to manipulate and the screen is too small. I am not a laptop fan generally. If you have some access to a desktop or another computer it would be fine.

I would personally get an ipad and a used desktop model with a big screen.